Help! They want me to

Moodle...

Joan Kollewyn, Lucie PratteRocky View Schools, Alberta

Rocky View Schools

Rocky View Schools is shaped like a horseshoe around the west, north, and east boundaries of Calgary. We have 42 schools and are home to 18,000 Kindergarten to Grade 12 students, making it the fifth largest school division in the province of Alberta

Rocky View Schools

In 2008 RVS launched its new vision with the three-year plan – a roadmap to move to 21st Century Learning. Its theme “Engaging 21st Century Learners” included new foundation statements, six goals, and related outcomes and strategies.

Engaging 21st Century Learners

RVS 3YP Goals:

• Learners have their basic and diverse needs met.

• Learners are competent, qualified, and dedicated.

• Learners are civic, social, and environmental stewards.

• Learning opportunities are distinct, continuous, and systematic.

• Instruction challenges and engages the learner.

• Learners work in 21st century learning environments

RVS Learning Model

The learning model guides our

instructional design and is centred on our

learners.

Background• All teachers have a MacBook

• All schools wireless and infrastructure enhanced

• Plone was used for student access to teacher information – only to retrieve information

• Through our 3YP, teachers, especially at the high schools, were expected to create "anytime, any place, any path, any pace" access to information for students.

• Rocky View Virtual School/WeConnect

Comfort Learning Panic

Seth Sandler Jan 2011

Based on thinking that

learning does not occur in

comfort or panic zone but in the learning

(challenge) zone

Professional LearningMoodle

Stage 1 - Learning Zone

•PL targeted High Schools only and most teachers volunteered

•PL Centrally developed/Centrally based

•Offered to schools/admin

•Created online PL courses in Moodle

•Brought in a trainer from Remote Learner

Professional Learning

• 3 facilitators for the district

• Created Moodle 1 introductory course – put teachers in the role of student

• Moodle 2 – teachers given a shell and worked on creating their first course

• Both courses were facilitated and offered every three months

• Some teachers liked this, many did not

Professional Learning

Stage 2 - Panic Zone

• PL became contextualized and school based

•Moodle in place for a year and many had not looked at it – were still relying on Plone

•Administration in many schools set deadlines

•Students needed a more interactive environment and were requesting Moodle access for all courses

Professional Learning• Staff were more comfortable with school based

PL in Moodle

• Champion Model – created Moodle leads in each school

• Schools facilitated Moodle 1 and 2 in their buildings with varying degrees of success

• Few standards were implemented

• No consistency

Professional Learning

Stage 3 - Pushing the Comfort Zone

• Support from specialists in schools on demand but also support from peers in the schools

• More conversations focused on the end goals of the courses

• Move teachers to creating more interactivity and move away from having all PDFs and worksheets

Where we are now• Creating master courses to be shared through

the division or school / can be copied and repurposed

• Moving into middle and elementary schools - as virtual staff rooms/AISI/ some Communities of Practice

• District Leadership housed in Moodle and Google Sites

• Used with support staff

• Provides a corporate record

Now

Fewer staff in the Panic and

Comfort Zones and

more working in the

Learning Zone.

Professional LearningAfter more than 10 years teaching online, the core group of

weConnect teachers developed a common layout for Moodle courses based on experience and from current research. The goal is to have the courses easy to use from a student’s perspective.

• Recommendations for Expectations and Standards

• Recommendations for Physical Layout

• Instructional Design Framework

• Communication with students and parents

Art 30

This course is taught in a ‘blended’ situation where online students and in-class students are in the same course. The teacher use the same Moodle content for all

students and had no experience in online course design

Science 30

This course is taught in face to face only and is content rich! The teacher chose to have a shell for each unit rather than have all of her content in one shell. She uses a variety of technologies in her class and Moodle is an access point for all

classes as well as holding content.

forensics 35

http://moodle.rockyview.ab.ca/course/view.php?id=2463

This course is taught to online students only. An effort is made to minimize the number of tabs and keep the

screen ‘clean’ and streamlined

• Rocky View Schools - Engage With Alberta Education

• Rocky View Schools http://www.rockyview.ab.ca/

• Rocky View Schools 3YP http://www.rockyview.ab.ca/3yp_2

• Rocky View Schools Learning Model http://www.rockyview.ab.ca/3yp/assets/Learning%20Model-June-09.png/view

• Moodle 2.0 training http://moodle.rockyview.ab.ca/course/view.php?id=2647

• http://sethsandler.com/productivity/3-zones/

• http://squaretwocoaching.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/from-comfort-zone-to-panic-zone/

Lucie PratteRVS Learning Specialist lpratte@rockyview.ab.ca

Joan KollewynRVS Learning Specialist

jpkollewyn@rockyview.ab.ca