What is Moodle? Simply put, Moodle is similar to Blackboard. ”[It] is a learning management system that lets you provide documents, graded assignments, quizzes, discussion forums, etc. to your students with an easy to learn and use interface. Moodle is open-source, meaning that the programming code that runs it can be changed to meet the specific needs of users and institutions. Moodle is also free to download and use; there is no licensing fee.”
Teachers and students can use Moodle as a tool for communication in a classroom setting. For those interested–administrators, teachers, and students can explore a demo version of the program.
Should teachers use interfaces such as Moodle and Blackboard to replace traditional classroom instructions? My answer is no, and I argue against this from the perspective of a student. Currently, I am taking a distance learning course. We meet for two sessions at the beginning of the semester, and two sessions at the end of the session. The rest of classwork is completed online through the use of “discussions.” The discussion tool in the program (Blackboard) we are using is a great asset to a teacher. When required, every student has an opportunity to communicate to each other regarding the teacher’s assigned topic or proposed question. But is this enough? From my standpoint, it isn’t. I am an audio/visual learner. This curriculum approach works against me, and not for me. I read, and complete the assigned classwork; however, I feel I am missing something vital to my learning–direct instruction. I’m sure some of you are wondering…well, why did she take an online class? Simply put–I had no choice. This class is required, and it was the only one available.
I believe that Moodle and Blackboard programs should be used in conjunction with direct instruction. In his article, “Using Moodle? Dump the Textbook,” Romeo Marquis disagrees. He says that add-on approaches aren’t enough. He writes: “Teaching must be redesigned to take advantage of the capacity of the online tools and resources at our command.” He sees the traditional classroom/text as problem for students who learn in various ways; he believes that using Moodle will cover all these various learning styles. His article lacks one thing: the student’s perspective. He presents several example of teacher’s successes with using such a program, but he fails to mention student reactions/responses to such this type of instruction. In this study, statistics show that 35% of students “preferred classroom learning.”
A student writes: ” I hate, I hate, I HATE my school’s online course. [...] It would be about a thousand times easier for me if it was [it was] in person instead of via a web server the equivalent of some tin cans and a string.”
Don’t misread my dispute. I, without doubt, am against pure “traditional” lecture. Students do have various learning styles, and it is important for us to incorporate different elements of instruction within our curriculum. I believe that Moodle and Blackboard should be used as tools to facilitate our instruction as an enhancement to the lesson, especially when teachers have so much to share with our students and little time to do it. If you simply use Moodle and Blackboard to facilitate discussion, then the “informal” becomes “formal.” When I say formal, I mean, we lose that element of teaching that student’s need–direction. What do you think?
