Colin Matheson’s Blog

Well writing the teacher survey took longer than I thought. While a lot of the questions came to me quickly (3 hrs), organizing (4 hrs), editing (4 hrs), and then turning into an online form (4 hrs) took quite a bit of time.

I still plan to convert the ed tech profile survey into a Moodle feedback format so that I can have all the data in one place and my users don’t have to log into a totally unique site just to complete the survey.

I am trying to convince my boss that the main ed tech profile survey is way too cumbersome for teachers and we should just use the alternate/extension survey.

I have negotiated time with the high school to do some surveying during staff meeting time. I think I need about 1 hour total for all of the data, so I am concerned that the teachers will undergo survey overload if I do it all in one session. However, if I spread it out I may have have the luxury of having the teachers use paid time to complete the surveys.

I certainly know that surveys can feel like a waste of time, so I want to make the experience as painless as possible. I also hope that I can show results and benefits to the teachers after they complete the survey. However, that won’t help me with buy in when I am giving the surveys.

I have some generic student tech use data from an earlier survey, but I want to work on getting survey/interview data that is focused on the use of web 2.0 technology in class and their experience with Moodle.

Which of these do you have an account with and how often do you use them:

1=don’t have, 2=almost never use, 3=monthly use 4=weekly use 5=use more than 1 per/week

Personal email

MySpace

Facebook

Twitter

Customized homepage

YouTube/other video sharing

iTunes

Flickr/other photo sharing

Online discussion forum

Blog

Wiki

Moodle page

Other classroom website

Other personal/professional website

Which of these tools/tasks do you think would benefit your teaching and your student’s learning

NA=no opinion/knowledge 1=very little benefit 2=slight benefit 3=significant benefit 4=great benefit

Student producing videos

Teacher produced videos

Sharing student videos online

Students sharing pictures

Student audio podcasts

Teacher audio podcasts

Teacher blog

Student blogs

Teacher wiki

Student wiki

Online quizzes

Online discussion forum

Access to online tutors

School provided student email

Electronic portfolios

School based social network

Moodle page

Interactive whiteboard (Smartboard)

Student response system (clickers)

Document camera

Voice amplification system

Video camera

Scanners

Digital camera

Cell phones

Rate the following concerns you have towards adopting new technology in your class

1-this isn’t a concern for me at all

2-this is somewhat a concern

3-this is a concern to me

4-this is an important concern

5-this is a very important concern

Time to learn and practice

Time to create lessons

The software is too difficult

Lack of access to training

Lack of knowledge of best practices

Need to see subject specific examples

Difficulty grading

Concerns about monitoring student activity

Things change too fast

Can’t get computer lab time

Students lack access at home

Technical issues/glitches

I am already actively involved in professional development in some other area (list)

Curriculum is already full

Need to focus on standards

Agree or disagree 1 strongly disagree 2 disagree 3 Neutral 4 agree 5 strongly agree

Technology will transform my classroom.

Previous adoptions of new technology enhanced learning

Using technology in the past has been rewarding.

Email saves me time.

The ability to use office software is an important job/college skill.

The ability to use web 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis, social networks) is an important job/college skill.

The ability to create and share multimedia projects is an important job/college skill.

Familiarity with learning online is an important job/college skill.

Technology should be taught in technology class.

Technology should be embedded, pnd in other classes.

I need to teach digital citizenship (online behavior, copyright, privacy and security)

The ability to communicate online is a different skill than other forms of communication

I have used the internet to find lesson plans/resources for my classroom.

My students have used the internet to find information to complete assignments for my class.

I have shared information/collaborated on the internet with other teachers/professionals.

My students have shared information/collaborated on the internet with others to complete my class assignments.

The aeries gradebook has made me more organized.

The aeries gradebook has helped me communicate with students and parents.

The aeries gradebook is easy to use.

If you use Moodle answer the following 3 questions

Moodle has made me more organized.

Moodle has helped me communicate with students and parents.

Moodle is easy to use.

Reading other Capstone Proposals and receiving comments from my peers was incredibly helpfull. Partially because it helped me maintain perspective. The Capstone is supposed to be achievable by a person and I shouldn’t try for something that I can’t produce. I think setting the milestones was the most important step in my proposal process. I have added the dates to my Outlook calendar which will help me keep on task.

I shared my Capstone project topic with others in my online professional network (twitter, but I should also post on classroom2.0 and Moodle.org) and I have several people interested in my results. On a side note, many Moodlers I know are Australian and the wildfire that just broke out will ripple through the Moodle community.

My main goal now is to get quality survey questions written and to keep looking for any research in the use of LMS/VLE/CMS in the K12 setting. The assessment course we took last semester had some ideas for writing good survey questions which will serve as my guide.

I was glad to put a lot of work in to get the formal proposal written, but haven’t had much time to work on the Capstone since. Next week is a break in school and so I will have some solid time to work on neglected projects.

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Introduction: This is the last semester of my Master’s in Instructional Science and Technology (MIST) at California State University at Monterey Bay (CSUMB). At the start of the program I was interested in making learning modules for teachers to learn how to use Moodle. However, my work has shifted from focusing on designing instruction to finding best practices in web 2.0 (especially Moodle) and finding barriers to the adoption of these tools.

Statement of Need:
Current benefits and drawbacks of Moodle in the secondary setting need to be analyzed.
Teacher’s knowledge of Moodle need to be analyzed.
Examples of best practice need to be collected and shared.

Method: Interviews, surveys, and observations of classroom technology use will be used to gather information about teachers. The factors that will be analyzed are: access to working technology, technology proficiency/comfort, knowledge of educational technology, time available in classroom, time available outside of class, motivation, and teaching philosophy/methods. The same methods will be used to assess student opinions towards Moodle.

Expected Result: The data will be used to find the best methods for increasing the use of Moodle and its interactive elements in secondary education.

Well its been a week since I got on Twitter and started really checking out other folks blogs. I have to say I am impressed with the multitude of voices. My RSS reader is full of posts from Moodle.org and various cool blogs. As I timidly begin to add to the chorus, I have to wonder, what is there to say. While information and opinions are great, there is a burble point at which one more widget decreases the utility of all previous widgets. A quote about design I heard on Civ IV is paraphrased as: “a designer knows when her job is done, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

If we were to trim away at our info world, what would we remove?

At the same time, if I turn my ears away from the conglomo-net-noise and tune into the world of my semi rural school, I don’t hear much. There isn’t much in the way of electronic pulse at this node of the network.

Can I get my peers hooked into this pipeline?

Should I?

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