Moodle is missing a number of the social networking tools that are essential to e-learning 2.0. Students need more control of their learning than Moddle provides. Some was introduced in Moodle 1.6. But, without consensus their doesn't appear to much progress.

Some faculty have been running ELGG next to moodle and report this provides greater collaboration.

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=36400

Need to investigate how this can be done...

Did notice that the calendar feature is very easy for users to manage, so they can manage their schedule. Not bad.


On MoodleBuzz the announcement about Athabasca choosing Moodle... social constructionist approach... student centered learning.

I had never seen a comparison of this type... bb as behavioralist... moodle as constructivist. Interest... I'm still not seeing it... but will keep looking. An LMS is an LMS... but what I am seeing is the ability to construct connections a bit easier... but still instructor decides. So, if I had a course and wanted every student to create their own blog (external to the LMS so they can retain and own their material...) can I do that? I can see how to add a link to an external blog... but can the student initate this? I think I need a student account.

What a shock... a google search on adragogy and web 2.0... first entry... my tltknowledgelog.wordpress.com... hmmm...

I've had trouble decided how to approach the Moodle site development because I didn't have a topic. Today it occurred to me that I could structure that site as a course for teaching teachers about Web 2.0... what I really intend is for students to use it to develop their own PLE... but to do so I need to do research into the process, tools and, etc

So... Judy Connell's statement about how her graduate program wanted her to focus on the "old" web and Tim Berners Lee objection to renaming the Web to Web 2.0 illustrate interesting focus and a jumping off point for this environment.

So... develop the site as a teaching tool... and then bring in some case studies? I want people to actually do something with this. How can I make it happen... for anyone other than myself? Must I complete an IRB proposal??

Log of Moodle Work (09/09/06)

Listened to a Webcast by the founder of Moodle.org (Dougiamas). His focus is on the LMS, opensource and "free" nature of the product, though he did describe his doctoral work as being captured in his Moodle site. His entire dissertation is in Moodle, with all references as hyperlinks, etc. I've heard a lot of conversation about the fact that scholarly publication is behind the technology times. However, I must say I want to see my dissertation in nicely bound format... right next to my already published books! I'm certain I'll make heavy use of technology to get me there!

In developing this site I'm exercising the skill of the participant in Web 2.0 / elearning 2.0

What skills do doctoral students need to have to make effective use of Web 2.0? I think that's going to be the focus of the Moodle site I have... at this point. Or, i might make it multi-topic.

I do want to include a community for practice. Currently thinking of inviting, in addition to Norman and perhaps Odis Simmons as my mentor: Vicki Caruana, Ben Levy, Kim Fabrizio, Glen Gatin, Trudy Powers... not sure who else. Will invite them in after the site is generally structured.

At the moment I think there need to be three broad sections:

1. Adult Learning Theory
2. Technology Expectations of Doctoral Students
Library Resources
Email
Writing Tools
Reference tools (EndNote, RefWorks)
In a distributed environment -- collaboration (via telephone)

(Expectations of faculty probably not relevant, but there's certainly a disjoint)
Somewhere in here fits a discussion of Bloom's taxonomy
3. Enter Web 2.0 (the illuminating web)
Blogs
Wikis
Podcasts
as tools of interaction and collaboration
4. Integrate with e-learning 2.0
5. Doctoral competencies supported by e-learning 2.0
6. Articulate the gap
7. Close the gap -- personal learning environment


This log created using writely at www.writely.com. I retain the file locally, make necessary updates, and post to the moodle-k-log.blogspot.com blog.

Books on my table:

Cross, K. P. (1981). Adults as Learners: Increasing Participation and Facilitating Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Glaser, Barney G. (1993) (Ed.). Examples of Grounded Theory: A Reader. Mill Valley, California: Sociology Press

Glaser, Barney G. (1992) Theoretical Sensitivity. Mill Valley, California: Sociology Press

Glaser, Barney G. (1998) Doing grounded theory: issues and discussions. Mill Valley, California: Sociology Press

Knowles, M. (1990). The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species (4th ed.). Houston, Texas: Gulf Publishing.

Senge, P. (1999). The Dance of Change. New York: Doubleday.

Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday.


Shadow Divers (for my Book Club)


All things on the web that help me understand how to be an efficient and effective user of technology

9/8: will be adding more by Manuel Castells particularly around the digital divide

Log of Moodle Work (09/04/06)

This log created using writely at www.writely.com. I retain the file locally, make necessary updates, and post to the moodle-k-log.blogspot.com blog.

After working with Moodle for awhile, several things occur to me.

• Moodle is not that much different form other LMSs... at least as far as I've gone to this point.
• Blogs, Wikis, Writely, etc are not integrated into the tool. In a way this is a good thing, as it allows either the designer or the student to pull in the tool that works for them and makes their work independent from the existence of the course. So, the course can be for delivery of content and organization, while flexible to bring in other tools.
  
• At this point I've added, as the designer, a blog and a writely link. I'd like to see how collaboration can be facilitated through this.

I think it will be important to compare this to elgg and nuvvo for additional flexibility... I'm not sure... and need to look at Drupal, integrating a podcast... that will probably happen through the blog? Dunno yet.

One of the things that is really interesting and really challenging is the variety and ease of use IF you have a basic understanding of the mechanics of blogging. For example, using Writely I can post directly to my blog, IF I know the blog title and the blog service I'm using. It doesn't work flawlessly, in that republishing seems to be a challenge. Of course, the help refers to the user forum... and tonight the user forum is being moved to Google Groups (since Google just bought Writely!)

So... I'm going to look at attaching a wiki to this... as I'm still not entirely convinced that a wiki makes it as a collaborative tool. What do we mean by collaboraiton anyway? !!

And, when there are so many choices, it's really a challenge to integrate. So in a PLE... would the student be expected to figure all this out on their own? I don't think so... but how... exercises on experimenting with Blogs? Wikis? Podcasts? Given the overall lack of digital literacy I find in my students I'm a bit skeptical. And... in many cases... if it isn't required and/or graded it isn't worth doing! So much for self-directed learning!

Test Blog for Moodle Development

The moodle site is...