This week has seen a ton of growth in one of my teachers. Last week, he started his first Moodle page. Three embedded videos on pages were his starting point.
Throughout the day yesterday, the teacher checked in as he built his first quiz. After school I ran an “Intro to Moodle” session. I had seven people who came to learn the very basics. My star teacher opened his course for the first time and set an enrollment key.
After giving a quiz on paper for the first class this morning, he came and asked if it was really possible to take the quiz digitally. And, so second hour his class came to the lab to take the test on Moodle. There were bumps as we moved through the first class. Mostly, though, the challenges were with the computers themselves. I spent the first class in the lab, but I barely checked in for the last class.
The raw excitement of this teacher today was a highlight of my week. He was able to follow the class average. He was able to check on individual students. And, the scores were in te grade book by the end of the day. I hope that I can keep the momentum growing- and that it snowballs throughout the building.
On a side note, we were one working computer short in each class. I pulled out my iPad as an experiment. It was a perfect chance to watch the way the program worked on the different device. We learned which accent to use to correctly match the Spanish answers in Moodle. I actually wished that I had Guided Access set up for this one instance of passing off my device.
The computer lab was a hindrance today. It took time to travel from the classroom to the lab. The computers were slow to log in, and a few with issues held up the entire class. Many students finished the test near the end of the hour. With the iPad, this quiz would have taken half the time. Instead of the trip to the lab for technology which became a true event, the tech can fit smoothly into a class’s curricular journey.