Reflecting on my experiences in creating a Moodle lesson, I thought about what was the most difficult part of the assignment. In short, in my experience, I found the creation of my assessment quiz particularly challenging. Essentially, as I later found out, this was a particular task that could actually be accomplished in multiple ways. In short, I believe the way I original completed the task ended up being the more difficult and challenging way. Specifically, I could not figure out how to add questions to my quiz. In fact, I do not believe this aspect of Moodle was very intuitive. In other words, the way an individual edits a quiz is entirely different then the way they would edit the rest of the elements present in the interface. For example, for all other elements in the Moodle interface, an individual selects the edit icon next to the element to adjust the contents within the element. Contrarily, for the quiz, you actual click on the element itself as if you were going to access the quiz. Basically, this is easiest way to add questions to a quiz, but, as I mentioned before, it is far from the most intuitive. Ultimately, the way I added question was through the question bank. In short, I added question to the bank and then had to reference it by clicking on the link to the quiz and asking it to pull the questions from the bank. In the end, I believe this was one of the most confusing and difficult parts of the assignment.
Essentially, for most of the difficult parts or problems that arose, I accessed the Moodle support forums to determine the best course of action for my issue. In short, I found the forums extremely helpful on a variety of problems I encountered. For example, I had an issue trying to figure out how to add discussion forum activities to the gradebook, and I ultimately found the solution on the Moodle support forums. Additionally, I also struggled to find the exact option that opened my links in a new browser window. Within the Moodle support forums, I found a variety of answers and ways to address that particular issue. In fact, many of the discussion forums users there had experienced many of the same issues I encountered building my first course in Moodle. Thus, I found it extremely helpful. In fact, the only issues I found using the forums was that many of the users assumed I also had administrative access to make changes. Although I am sure this is generally not a problem when creating a real course, I did find it limiting and confusing sometimes. Therefore, I would highly recommend scanning each discussion thread before diving too deep into executing an action. In other words, sometimes a thread can lead you down a path of completing an action only to find out that you do not have administrative privileges to actually complete it. Nevertheless, I would definitely suggest to an individual the benefit of using the Moodle support forums to address a problem or issue that arises in online teaching.
Overall, when reflecting on this assignment, I thought it provided great insight into online teaching. In short, I think this might be one of the most beneficial assignments I have completed in the EDTECH program. Essentially, the assignment provided real world experience on teaching in an online environment. Furthermore, not only did it provide many lessons on the development of an online course, but it also provided a unique look as to what my current and former instructors did in developing my online educational experiences. Specifically, this activity made me have a new appreciation for online teaching, and I unexpectedly found excitement in my course development. In other words, I found it exciting to use modern technology to instruct individuals. It felt really empowering that the Moodle technology allowed me to be creative and educational at the same time. Basically, I believe this assignment has restored my excitement for education, and I cannot wait to explore online teaching more in the future. In fact, I have again decided to reexamine my professional path to determine if online teaching would be the right course of action for me after graduation. In short, it has always been in the back of my mind, but this activity helped to bring it to the forefront again. Therefore, I look forward to exploring more of online teaching. In the end, I believe it is one of the most rewarding things an individual can do.
Finally, the most rewarding thing about this particular project was the support that I received from my classmates. Essentially, the chance and ability to interact with them on a particular project was extremely beneficial. Their support and advice on my particular course helped me immensely during this activity. In fact, I believe that everybody going through the same lesson helped provide each individual with a unique perspective on developing a course for the first time (Kamens, 1997, p. 93). In a sense, I believe this experience helped the class as a whole in becoming more involved with each other. In other words, it was extremely rewarding to benefit from the various experiences my classmates had gone through in their professional lives and during this project. Their insights and suggestions really helped me refine my course and even taught me different ways to achieve specific tasks. Thus, I would classify this aspect of the project to be the most rewarding experience I had. In fact, I wish I had experienced more of these encounters during my time in the education technology program. Ultimately, I believe it would have provided me an even more realistic look at teaching online and give me the confidence in knowing that I am able to effectively construct a course in an online setting (Kamens, 1997, p. 93). Thus, I look forward to the rest of my time in this program. In the end, I hope it is filled with more activities that can utilize the various viewpoints and strengths of my classmates.
Kamens, M. W. (December 07, 1997). A model for introducing student teachers to collaboration. Teacher Educator, 33, 2, 90-102.