DigitalTechNurse

Please find below posts exploring and evaluating Moodle as a digital technology. This blog will outline: Exploring how Moodle will impact our course Evaluating Moodle for our use Integrating Moodle into our learning and teaching practice As you will see in the below posts Moodle is being implemented for our course in 2019. We are still on a huge learning curve as to what we can achieve within Moodle, but very excited so far on what it offers. In 2019 future cohorts of my program are being transitioned from a USB where course material was provided to a Moodle platform. Hence, I feel by choosing Moodle as the selected technology for this blog will hopefully enhance my understanding and scope of exactly what it can do. So sit back, relax and lets enjoy this journey of finding out what exactly Moodle can offer for student engagement, teaching and learning. Given Moodle is the new platform that we will be implementing in 2019, I thought what do I need to know? Well the first ...

As with any Registered Training Organisation the technology used needs to be assured of being a quality system which protects our students privacy and is compatible to our organisations systems. So far, Moodle has been accommodating of this and working well integrating with our current Student Management System 'Wisenet'.  We have recently upgraded to Windows 365 and have seen some delays with systems responding, however our I.T. Department seems to be ironing out a few of the issues. The beauty of Wisenet and Moodle working together is once students are enrolled in the course they are sent personal log on details directly by the systems without having to rely on human application.  This is hopefully going to cut down on students being missed due to data entry (human) errors. Touch wood things seems to be working well with Moodle, Wisenet and Turnitin. The tests undertaken with dummy students seems to show no issues with students being able to log in to access course mat...

With the integration of Moodle into our course we are seeing a huge change to our digital connection with our students. This is a decision that has been in the making for a few years and through engagement with students and other key stakeholders we are finally seeing it become a reality. A report by Mason, Fleming Paxton & Singh (2017) talks about the importance of engaging not only students and key stakeholders but also experts in digital technology. What this report highlighted to me was there are many positives and negatives to a digital approach. The issues raised in the report were also similar themes discovered when conducting our own needs assessment into the benefits of Moodle. Key themes included: Reducing the geographic distances of our students The ability for digital technologies to limit physical and cognitive barriers The ability for students to have instant information and education with a click of a button Issues with internet connectiveness due to remote...

For the past several months we have developed dummy test sites within Moodle to trial the functions and the appropriateness for our course context. We appreciate with any new platforms there will be teething problems however, we feel by taking the time to modify requirements to meet student engagement needs will be paramount. Having the dummy sites has proven to be invaluable and allowed us to implement several changes and inclusions into this learning platform such as: Course content broken down into Modules with all study guides, readings and assessments in the one location Discussion board/forums Ability for students to upload their assessment via turnitin and for educators to mark directly Upload pre-recorded webinars Quizzes to test current knowledge Discussions with our Instructional Designer on how we can make the landing page and banners more engaging by including course branding Ensuring that Moodle (Learning Management System) can talk directly with Wisenet (Studen...

Ultimately, I see Moodle as a constructivist style of learning. The work by Ernst Von Glaserfeld and Jean Piaget highlights that digital learning focussing on students actively being involved in their learning.  http://cmapspublic3.ihmc.us/rid=1LGVGJY66-CCD5CZ-12G3/Learning%20Theory.cmap The TPACK Framework (Technological, Pedagogical, Content, Knowledge) also highlights the importance of utilising current technologies to engage and continually adapt.  http://tpack.org As discussed in   https://www.fondation-mines-telecom.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2014-higher-education-digital-age.pdf  a digital leaning platform seems to change the transmission of knowledge and shift the teacher focus to a learning process. The students are learning to learn.

For positive student experiences and engagement we need to ensure we provide a quality and reliable one stop learning shop. We want a mixture of pedagogical and theoretical strategies to enhance our students learning experience. We want to bridge the tyranny of distance for our students by providing equitable and engaging learning environments no matter where they are sitting. We want their learning experience to be enhanced by engagement with not only the teacher but also their peers. We ultimately want a scaffolding approach to their learning. Meaning the students play a major role in their own learning process. Lev Vygotsky developed 'The Zone of Proximal Development' which explored the distances from the student undertaking a task with a teacher or peer guidance or independently. The outcome Vygotsky described was learning occurred in all the zones   https://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html  which only highlights the importance of using Moo...