Skills Assessment

I attempted to use Moodle's quiz module for a short Word vocabulary test today. First of all I found out that the module is good for some questions but not for others. Its great for multiple choice and true/false - those are easy and it will even randomly place answers for each student - which is nice in a computer lab where everyone can see each other's screens. I tried using the short answer feature - that one didn't work as well. I had to go back and re-score about 8 tests that wrote something correct - but not my choice of word. I wanted to use matching for vocabulary - but the module makes you list the name number of words and definitions and I wanted extra definitions.

So, as an assessment tool, its OK but not great. I think in the future I might use it for a quick pop quiz just to check understanding. I do like the Journal module in Moodle. The students write a private message to me and I can respond back to them and I can give them a grade or not.

I am struggling with assessment a little in my implementation. I keep going back to my goals and asking myself "What does this look like and how do I know the students are meeting these goals?". Right now I am not sure if my assessments up to this point are accurately anwering that question.

Tables for organizing research

Today's lesson had two goals:

• Research John Holland's 6 personality traits for careers.
• Introduce how to use TABLES to organize information.

Before I started the lesson, I asked students to log into Moodle and answer a one question survey about their previous knowledge of how to use tables. The results were:

• I have never used tables before - 2 students
• I've used tables before but don't know how to create or modify them - 4 students
• I could figure out how to use tables with help - 3 students
• I know how to create and modify tables - 8 students
• Tables are awesome - I use them all the time - 0 students

This information was very helpful to me when I later started the demonstration because I focused my extra help on the students who were unfamiliar with tables.

The Lesson:

I asked students look google "john holland" + career and see what information is listed. The students quickly found out that John Holland was a researcher who organized careers by personality traits: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, conventional. Students bookmarked several sites for further investigation.

I introduced the idea of using a table in Word to organize information. Students created a 8x3 table as I demonstrated how to merge & split cells, make cells larger or smaller, and add columns or rows.

The students then used the information from the various sources to write a description of each personality trait and list some careers in that category.

Observation:

• All students were actively engaged in the research of personality traits.
• Most students access 2-3 websites for their information.
• Those students who were not familiar with tables asked for some specific assistance but most of the students did not have any difficulty creating the tables.
• I only observed two students copying and pasting information from the websites to their document - even though I asked them to put the information into their own words.

CMS: Using Moodle

I unveiled the launch of Moodle today with my Computer Applications students. After a few problems of email authentification, all of my students can now access the site. My goal for using Moodle is to create a space where I can communicate with my students and also encourage communication between students.

Since I am new to Moodle, I am slowly rolling out different modules. I started with a discussion forum to encourage communication between students (a get to know each other activity) and asked them to update their profile with a photo. Since my class is mixed grades 9-12 - having photos should help everyone learn names and hopefully overcome the territorial behavior associated with my computer students (they sit at the same computer everyday!).

The overall reaction was positive to the site. Accessing the forums and blog areas wasn't difficult for anyone (thank you MySpace) and all student were actively engaged in the activity.