https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Ak001&feedformat=atomMoodleDocs - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T02:15:14ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.39.6https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Hosting_for_server_admins&diff=62705Hosting for server admins2009-09-08T09:38:38Z<p>Ak001: Corrected typos</p>
<hr />
<div>Once upon a time the technical sophistication required to get a "server" up and running was such that this area was limited to those who already had the technical know-how or who were willing to put in the time and resources to become systems administrators. For good or ill, that is no longer the case. Now just about anyone can have a "server" up and running on almost any box that they find lying around and, while this may have increased access to a wide range of software, it has also increased some network perils.<br />
<br />
Much of the initial development of the web was done with Unix and the tools that were available with Unix distributions. An open variant, Linux, shares many of the tools with Unix and is very prevalent today. System administration on *nix systems has become simpler as vendors and developers have offered GUIs for system administration. OS X is an example of marrying a Unix OS to an advanced GUI.<br />
<br />
The fly in the ointment, as it were, is MS-Windows. Windows, initially based on MS-DOS conventions, rules the desk top and has made major inroads into the server environment. Many use Windows as a server because they believe it easier to manage than other OSes. As the number of users increased many wanted to use open software tools on this proprietary platform.<br />
<br />
However, from the standpoint of being able to offer Moodle to a population, the critical factors are that your OS has to support the building/compiling of a web server, a SQL database and PHP5. As the systems administrator it is your responsibility to manage the hardware, operating system and basic apps necessary to support your <br />
[[Hosting_for_moodle_admins_advanced|Advanced Moodle Admin]].<br />
<br />
==Operating Systems==<br />
<br />
System administrators have to be able to install and manage an operating system<br />
<br />
==Networking==<br />
<br />
<br />
==Applications==<br />
<br />
<br />
==Security==<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
[[experimental:Finding_and_Selecting_A_Web_Host]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Themes_FAQ&diff=53005Themes FAQ2009-03-20T04:11:34Z<p>Ak001: Punctuation correction</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Themes}}==How do I install a new theme?==<br />
<br />
# Unzip the .zip file to an empty local directory.<br />
# Upload folder to your web server to the /moodle/theme/[Theme Name]. (Replace [Theme Name] with the name of the theme you have downloaded.) Ensure the new theme folder and its contents are readable by the webserver. Change Read and Write permissions (CHMOD) for the files and folder to 755 - Owner read/write/execute, Group read/execute, Everyone read/execute. Incorrect permissions may prevent display of the newly installed theme.<br />
# Choose your new theme from within Moodle via ''Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme selector'' (or ''Administration > Configuration > Themes'' in versions of Moodle prior to 1.7).<br />
<br />
==How do I create a custom theme?==<br />
<br />
See [[Creating a custom theme]] and/or [[Make your own theme]].<br />
<br />
==How can I get the New Moodle2 theme for my site?==<br />
Not til Moodle 2.x comes out and it will be a "sort of". The new look (refered to as "Moodle2") for Moodle.org was made public just before the close of 2008. The Moodle2 look has various things hard coded into its fabric. The good news is that many pieces of the look are available.<br />
<br />
==Will I lose my courses, language files, logo, etc. if I switch my theme?==<br />
Switching themes only changes the appearance of your site, not the content within it. The logo is a part of the theme and will be lost when you switch.<br />
<br />
Follow these instructions to [[Creating_a_custom_theme#Adding_a_Logo|add a logo]] to a theme.<br />
<br />
== Are there tools which help me creating and editing themes? ==<br />
<br />
The single most useful tool is the '''Firebug''' add-on for the [[Firefox]] web browser. Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page... See [[Development:Firebug]].<br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
<br />
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=29 Themes forum]<br />
* [[CSS FAQ]]<br />
* [[Development:Firebug]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:FAQ]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Themes&diff=53004Themes2009-03-20T04:07:23Z<p>Ak001: Corrected spelling / usage</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Themes}}<br />
A Moodle theme is a pre-designed user "view" (interface) that can be changed by the site administrator, teacher, or student. While robust, it does not affect how Moodle functions, just how it looks. Moodle comes with a standard set of themes and there is a [http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id=6552 large free library] available to download. <br />
<br />
==Moodle themes==<br />
Moodle has a powerful themes system that allows for a variety of effects through the use of XHTML and CSS.<br />
<br />
* Themes may be [[Theme settings|selected]] at site level, course level and/or user level.<br />
* Each page is individually-addressable via CSS, allowing you to pinpoint exact items.<br />
* Our CSS class naming system uses simple English, is consistent and easily understood.<br />
* New modules can tell Moodle what styles they need and automatically include these in the stylesheet.<br />
* Themes can be based on the ''standard'' theme, which is very plain but functional. You simply override styles you want to change by adding to the stylesheet in your own theme. This means that if you upgrade Moodle later and new styles are needed, your custom theme will still work without any changes, because the new classes will be defined in the ''standard'' theme.<br />
* Themes can also be based on any other theme. This allows you to easily create families of themes, or variations on a theme. For example you might create a spectrum of pastel shades for use in different courses, but with the same basic layout and logos. You may also want to create a family of differently-coloured themes for accessibility purposes.<br />
<br />
==Theme selector== <br />
<br />
Moodle has a number of themes for you to choose from using the theme selector, including an interactive theme called [[Chameleon]]. Chameleon uses Ajax technology to enable you to easily design your own theme or enhance an existing theme. The Ajax editing interface for Chameleon loads for administrators only. <br />
<br />
Alternatively, you can download a theme from the Moodle.org [http://moodle.org/themes Themes database].<br />
<br />
== Creating your own theme ==<br />
<br />
If you plan to work on your own theme please create a new one (with its own named subfolder) and use Moodle's theme system to base your theme on an existing theme such as ''standard''. If you just modify one of the delivered themes it will be overwritten by the next Moodle update.<br />
<br />
See [[Creating a custom theme]] and/or [[Make your own theme]] for some tutorials. <br />
<br />
To distribute your theme, zip the theme folder and submit to the Moodle.org [http://moodle.org/themes Themes database].<br />
<br />
== Installing a theme ==<br />
<br />
To install a theme:<br />
# Unzip the .zip file to an empty local directory.<br />
# Upload folder to your web server to the /moodle/theme/[Theme Name]. (Replace [Theme Name] with the name of the theme you have downloaded.) Ensure the new theme folder and its contents are readable by the webserver. Change Read and Write permissions (CHMOD) for the files and folder to 755 - Owner read/write/execute, Group read/execute, Everyone read/execute. Incorrect permissions may prevent display of the newly installed theme.<br />
# Choose your new theme from within Moodle via ''Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme selector'' (version 1.7+) or ''Administration > Configuration > Themes'' (older versions).<br />
<br />
== Theme system changes ==<br />
<br />
Themes have improved a great deal in recent versions of Moodle. If you are using your own theme and want to upgrade, please refer to one of the following:<br />
* [[1.6 theme upgrade]]<br />
* [[1.7 theme upgrade]]<br />
* [[1.8 theme upgrade]]<br />
<br />
==Core themes==<br />
<br />
Themes included in Moodle 1.9 are [[Chameleon theme|chameleon]], cornflower, [[Custom corners theme|custom corners]], formal white, metal, oceanblue, orangewhite, orangewhitepda, standard (default), standardblue, standardgreen, standardlogo, standardred, standardwhite, wood<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPUB_ReBPeg Installing 3rd Party Modules and Themes in Moodle video]<br />
* [[Themes FAQ]]<br />
<br />
[[es:Temas]]<br />
[[fr:Thèmes]]<br />
[[ja:テーマ]]<br />
[[pt:Temas]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Roles_and_permissions&diff=35262Roles and permissions2008-04-27T08:17:09Z<p>Ak001: Corrected phrasing</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Roles}}{{Moodle 1.7}}Roles and capabilities in Moodle 1.7 onwards provides great flexibility in managing how users interact. Prior to Moodle 1.7, there were only six roles possible: guest, student, non-editing teacher, editing teacher, course creator, and administrator. Whilst these roles may still be used, it's now possible to create additional roles, and to change what a given role can do in a particular activity.<br />
<br />
==Definitions==<br />
;Role<br />
:An identifier of the user's status. The status depends upon permissions given for one or more capabilities in a context. <br />
::For example Teacher and Student are standard user roles. The identifier indicates they probably have different capabilities in some contexts. <br />
;Capability<br />
:A description of a particular Moodle feature. A list of many capabilities can be seen in the [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Category:Capabilities capability category index page].<br />
::For example [[Capabilities/moodle/blog:create|moodle/blog:create]](writing blog entries) or "Backup course" are two capabilities. Note the "<nowiki>mod/blog:create</nowiki>" notation is a common to identify a capability.<br />
;Permission<br />
:A setting for a capability. Can be any one of four: not set/inherit, allow, prevent or prohibit.<br />
;Context<br />
:A "space" in Moodle. <br />
::For example: a course, activity module or block can each be a context. <br />
::Some contexts can contain multiple contexts in their space, For example, a course can contain a lesson, assignment, forum and quiz modules, plus blocks.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*[[Development:Roles]]<br />
*[[:Category:Capabilities]]<br />
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=6826 Roles and Capabilities forum]<br />
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.7]]<br />
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]]<br />
*[[How permissions are calculated]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Roles]]<br />
<br />
[[cs:Role]]<br />
[[es:Roles y capacidades]]<br />
[[eu:Rolak]]<br />
[[fr:Rôles et capacités]]<br />
[[ja:ロールおよびケイパビリティ]]<br />
[[ru:Роли и возможности]]<br />
[[de:Rollen und Rechte]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Development:NWiki_roadmap&diff=34944Development:NWiki roadmap2008-04-18T21:44:59Z<p>Ak001: /* NWiki roadmap */</p>
<hr />
<div>This page is to talk about the (likely) entrance of NWiki into 1.9 core. <br />
<br />
= NWiki roadmap=<br />
Right now DFwikiteam is focussed in the following issues: <br />
== XHTML Strict ==<br />
*NWiki complies with XHTML transitional. April 2007<br />
*NWiki complies with '''XHTML Strict''' mid May '07 <br />
** this affects main engine <br />
** blocks not finished yet (some javascript to look up to)<br />
<br />
==Logs and stats==<br />
We need to ckeck out stats and logs with nwiki.<br />
<br />
== Code Tunning : new wiki api==<br />
There's a big issue in the code, the $WS variable that acts like a big set of global variables. <br />
*We are getting $WS smaller day by day<br />
*We are witting a new internal API to create an internal layer of services for developers.<br />
<br />
'''Done!!!''' Two main layers for developers have been written and working inside of the Nwiki distributions since May 2007. <br />
[http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/file.php/4/wikiAPIdoc/index.htmlThe PHPDoc documentation is available here].<br />
<br />
=== PHPUnit testing===<br />
* a set of PHPUnit tests have been developed to ensure the quality of the thing.<br />
* test case descriptions have been written to help developers and maintainers<br />
[http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/mod/wiki/view.php?id=22&page=Wiki+Unit+Tests+Documentation&gid=0&uid=0 NWiki PHPUnit documentation]<br />
<br />
== shall we trim nwiki ?==<br />
NWiki is Huge ! As many have said we implement a lot of features that maybe are not necessary for everybody. <br />
We could have a reduced set of nwiki into the oficial distribution and a 3rd party and a extended version as 3rd part plug in.<br />
Things that could be taken outside:<br />
===Maybe we keep them===<br />
* wiki course format<br />
* discussion pages ?<br />
* grading in wikis ?<br />
* ranking and votes?<br />
<br />
===Most likely===<br />
* integration with tiddlywiki ? [[Tiddlywiki integration]]<br />
<br />
=== New upcoming toys ===<br />
In June 2007 will come new features that need to be sorted in or out of the basic distribution<br />
* [[Wikibook]] [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=72909 wikibook in the forum]<br />
* PDF Generation<br />
* Timeline-like wiki history browser<br />
* Import / export from openoffice writer and (eventually) msword<br />
<br />
== Migration issues ==<br />
So far the data migration works fine. No bugs reported without attending.<br />
== rethink wiki permisions and roles ==<br />
* a user can discuss the page while he cannot edit the page<br />
* the teacher cat FIX a markup for a wiki in the wiki options form.<br />
<br />
==Tracked issues==<br />
There are several bugs and improvements listed in Moodle's [http://tracker.moodle.org/secure/IssueNavigator.jspa?assigneeSelect=specificuser&assignee=dfwikiteam tracker].<br />
==More?==<br />
Let's rememeber to complete the PDF export thing (HTML Editor wiki pages are not exported)<br />
Expected mid june<br />
<br />
==Even More features Implemented==<br />
<br />
=== Wiki Templates ===<br />
<br />
* Add templates so that some content can be made available to all groups when they start using a wiki <br />
Implemented, in release June 2007<br />
=== mailto ===<br />
* a mailto link for dfwiki <br />
has already ben developed must be included in next release [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=38991 mailto dfwiki forum thread]<br />
<br />
==And finally==<br />
Dynamical online import from mediawiki utilty... :-D<br />
<br />
= Old DFwiki requests =<br />
Use this page for requests of bugfixes and new features on the [http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/course/view.php?id=4 NWiki] <br />
The [http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/course/view.php?id=4 DFwikiteam] will keep a sharp eye on the list.<br />
<br />
== Miscellaneous ==<br />
*We need to implement some [[Special pages]] like mediawiki's [[Recent changes]].<br />
*Section edit.<br />
*borrow some interface ideas from OUWiki<br />
<br />
== block wikipage ==<br />
<br />
Would be useful to have a block with the content of a wikipage.<br />
<br />
If you select 'social' course format you have the option of inserting a social activities block... I don't get that option for the DFWiki, but I think I should so I can add other Moodle activities... <br />
<br />
otherwise, when I go to admin/site I can choose to display a topic section where I can put activities and this may be an alternative solution.<br />
<br />
Note: In theme [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=42325 Including wiki page in other Moodle resources] was announced filter, which can include wiki-page into any filterable place. In summ with existing html block it sounds like solution for this suggestion! --[[User:Ne Nashev|Ne Nashev]] 07:52, 26 March 2006 (WST)<br />
<br />
<br />
== Including wiki page in other Moodle resources ==<br />
I suggest add to standard filters (like Autoformat, Markdown) tag which allow include content (not a link) of wiki page (without editing). This will allow to use wiki as general place for storage texts and use them in resources, lessons and so on.<br />
<br />
Note: In theme [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=42325 Including wiki page in other Moodle resources] was announced this filter<br />
<br />
<br />
-----<br />
The words "Change to one of the following editors" tells the new user to change to an editor other than the default editor. As this works now, the choice cannot be changed once selected.<br />
<br />
In order to avoid this confusion, the teacher should be able to make the default editor the only choice.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, the option "Change to one of the following editors" could be moved down below the buttons: save, preview, cancel.<br />
<br />
That way new users will be more likely to use the default editor and not lock themselves into one of the other options.<br />
[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=39191 forum tread]<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
== Moodle wide metawiki==<br />
<br />
We need a metawiki index to easily link between wikis.<br />
The idea is to have admin tool to manage the wiki-names to be able to <br />
refer easily from one wiki to another like this:<br />
<br />
<nowiki> [wiki-name:wikipagename|label to link]</nowiki><br />
<br />
== Special wiki pages ==<br />
<br />
=== Wiki reference. ===<br />
To implement biblio references... a link like <br />
<nowiki>[ref:refname]</nowiki> Will lead us to a editing page with a form (maybe a [[database module]] form) to enter the biblio reference ( title, author, isbn, link , pages ... and so on )...<br />
Once we got that any page with a reference to a biblio ref will get printed at its bottom the complete reference and a link to it. <br />
<br />
This feature proposal comes within the [[wikibook]] line of work<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
== weird course interaction stuff ==<br />
If you select 'social' course format you have the option of inserting a social activities block... I don't get that option if I select DFWiki, but I think I should so I can add other Moodle activities... (using Moodle 1.6)<br />
<br />
Otherwise, when I go to admin/site I can choose to display 1 topic section where I can put activities and this may be an alternative solution.<br />
<br />
Also if I modify a course that had a different format, such as topics ,to be DFWiki the course crashes and you cannot get back to original course format because of the error it throws up.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*[[wiki]]<br />
*[[Dfwiki]]<br />
*[http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/course/view.php?id=4 DFWikilabs]<br />
*[[Development:Wiki requirements]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Development:NWiki_roadmap&diff=34943Development:NWiki roadmap2008-04-18T21:44:41Z<p>Ak001: /* NWiki roadmap */ Spelling correction</p>
<hr />
<div>This page is to talk about the (likely) entrance of NWiki into 1.9 core. <br />
<br />
= NWiki roadmap=<br />
Right Now DFwikiteam is focussed in the following issues: <br />
== XHTML Strict ==<br />
*NWiki complies with XHTML transitional. April 2007<br />
*NWiki complies with '''XHTML Strict''' mid May '07 <br />
** this affects main engine <br />
** blocks not finished yet (some javascript to look up to)<br />
<br />
==Logs and stats==<br />
We need to ckeck out stats and logs with nwiki.<br />
<br />
== Code Tunning : new wiki api==<br />
There's a big issue in the code, the $WS variable that acts like a big set of global variables. <br />
*We are getting $WS smaller day by day<br />
*We are witting a new internal API to create an internal layer of services for developers.<br />
<br />
'''Done!!!''' Two main layers for developers have been written and working inside of the Nwiki distributions since May 2007. <br />
[http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/file.php/4/wikiAPIdoc/index.htmlThe PHPDoc documentation is available here].<br />
<br />
=== PHPUnit testing===<br />
* a set of PHPUnit tests have been developed to ensure the quality of the thing.<br />
* test case descriptions have been written to help developers and maintainers<br />
[http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/mod/wiki/view.php?id=22&page=Wiki+Unit+Tests+Documentation&gid=0&uid=0 NWiki PHPUnit documentation]<br />
<br />
== shall we trim nwiki ?==<br />
NWiki is Huge ! As many have said we implement a lot of features that maybe are not necessary for everybody. <br />
We could have a reduced set of nwiki into the oficial distribution and a 3rd party and a extended version as 3rd part plug in.<br />
Things that could be taken outside:<br />
===Maybe we keep them===<br />
* wiki course format<br />
* discussion pages ?<br />
* grading in wikis ?<br />
* ranking and votes?<br />
<br />
===Most likely===<br />
* integration with tiddlywiki ? [[Tiddlywiki integration]]<br />
<br />
=== New upcoming toys ===<br />
In June 2007 will come new features that need to be sorted in or out of the basic distribution<br />
* [[Wikibook]] [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=72909 wikibook in the forum]<br />
* PDF Generation<br />
* Timeline-like wiki history browser<br />
* Import / export from openoffice writer and (eventually) msword<br />
<br />
== Migration issues ==<br />
So far the data migration works fine. No bugs reported without attending.<br />
== rethink wiki permisions and roles ==<br />
* a user can discuss the page while he cannot edit the page<br />
* the teacher cat FIX a markup for a wiki in the wiki options form.<br />
<br />
==Tracked issues==<br />
There are several bugs and improvements listed in Moodle's [http://tracker.moodle.org/secure/IssueNavigator.jspa?assigneeSelect=specificuser&assignee=dfwikiteam tracker].<br />
==More?==<br />
Let's rememeber to complete the PDF export thing (HTML Editor wiki pages are not exported)<br />
Expected mid june<br />
<br />
==Even More features Implemented==<br />
<br />
=== Wiki Templates ===<br />
<br />
* Add templates so that some content can be made available to all groups when they start using a wiki <br />
Implemented, in release June 2007<br />
=== mailto ===<br />
* a mailto link for dfwiki <br />
has already ben developed must be included in next release [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=38991 mailto dfwiki forum thread]<br />
<br />
==And finally==<br />
Dynamical online import from mediawiki utilty... :-D<br />
<br />
= Old DFwiki requests =<br />
Use this page for requests of bugfixes and new features on the [http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/course/view.php?id=4 NWiki] <br />
The [http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/course/view.php?id=4 DFwikiteam] will keep a sharp eye on the list.<br />
<br />
== Miscellaneous ==<br />
*We need to implement some [[Special pages]] like mediawiki's [[Recent changes]].<br />
*Section edit.<br />
*borrow some interface ideas from OUWiki<br />
<br />
== block wikipage ==<br />
<br />
Would be useful to have a block with the content of a wikipage.<br />
<br />
If you select 'social' course format you have the option of inserting a social activities block... I don't get that option for the DFWiki, but I think I should so I can add other Moodle activities... <br />
<br />
otherwise, when I go to admin/site I can choose to display a topic section where I can put activities and this may be an alternative solution.<br />
<br />
Note: In theme [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=42325 Including wiki page in other Moodle resources] was announced filter, which can include wiki-page into any filterable place. In summ with existing html block it sounds like solution for this suggestion! --[[User:Ne Nashev|Ne Nashev]] 07:52, 26 March 2006 (WST)<br />
<br />
<br />
== Including wiki page in other Moodle resources ==<br />
I suggest add to standard filters (like Autoformat, Markdown) tag which allow include content (not a link) of wiki page (without editing). This will allow to use wiki as general place for storage texts and use them in resources, lessons and so on.<br />
<br />
Note: In theme [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=42325 Including wiki page in other Moodle resources] was announced this filter<br />
<br />
<br />
-----<br />
The words "Change to one of the following editors" tells the new user to change to an editor other than the default editor. As this works now, the choice cannot be changed once selected.<br />
<br />
In order to avoid this confusion, the teacher should be able to make the default editor the only choice.<br />
<br />
In the meantime, the option "Change to one of the following editors" could be moved down below the buttons: save, preview, cancel.<br />
<br />
That way new users will be more likely to use the default editor and not lock themselves into one of the other options.<br />
[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=39191 forum tread]<br />
-----<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
== Moodle wide metawiki==<br />
<br />
We need a metawiki index to easily link between wikis.<br />
The idea is to have admin tool to manage the wiki-names to be able to <br />
refer easily from one wiki to another like this:<br />
<br />
<nowiki> [wiki-name:wikipagename|label to link]</nowiki><br />
<br />
== Special wiki pages ==<br />
<br />
=== Wiki reference. ===<br />
To implement biblio references... a link like <br />
<nowiki>[ref:refname]</nowiki> Will lead us to a editing page with a form (maybe a [[database module]] form) to enter the biblio reference ( title, author, isbn, link , pages ... and so on )...<br />
Once we got that any page with a reference to a biblio ref will get printed at its bottom the complete reference and a link to it. <br />
<br />
This feature proposal comes within the [[wikibook]] line of work<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
== weird course interaction stuff ==<br />
If you select 'social' course format you have the option of inserting a social activities block... I don't get that option if I select DFWiki, but I think I should so I can add other Moodle activities... (using Moodle 1.6)<br />
<br />
Otherwise, when I go to admin/site I can choose to display 1 topic section where I can put activities and this may be an alternative solution.<br />
<br />
Also if I modify a course that had a different format, such as topics ,to be DFWiki the course crashes and you cannot get back to original course format because of the error it throws up.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
*[[wiki]]<br />
*[[Dfwiki]]<br />
*[http://morfeo.upc.es/crom/course/view.php?id=4 DFWikilabs]<br />
*[[Development:Wiki requirements]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Upgrading&diff=33881Upgrading2008-03-21T13:08:04Z<p>Ak001: /* Check the requirements */</p>
<hr />
<div>Moodle is designed to upgrade cleanly from one version to the next. Please refer to [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.7]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]] or [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]] for particular considerations related to the upgraded version. <br />
<br />
Changes that have been made to the original code, such as installing a contributed module (non-standard module) or a site edit of a php file, may not upgrade. This includes modifications to standard themes, that will be overwritten during an upgrade.<br />
__TOC__<br />
When upgrading a Moodle installation you should follow these steps:<br />
<br />
==Check the requirements==<br />
Spend some time re-reading the [[Installing Moodle | installation documentation]] and documentation for the new version. Check the system requirements for the version you are upgrading to in ''Administration > Server > [[Environment]]''.<br />
<br />
== Backup important data ==<br />
<br />
Although it is not strictly necessary, it is always a good idea to make a backup of any production system before a major upgrade, just in case you need to revert back to the older version for some reason. In fact, it's a good idea to automate your server to backup your Moodle installation daily, so that you can skip this step.<br />
<br />
There are three areas that need backing up:<br />
<br />
=== 1. The Moodle software directory itself ===<br />
<br />
Make a separate copy of these files before the upgrade, so that you can retrieve your config.php and any modules you have added like themes, languages etc<br />
<br />
=== 2. Your data directory ===<br />
<br />
This is where uploaded content resides (such as course resources and student assignments) so it is very important to have a backup of these files anyway. Sometimes upgrades may move or rename directories within your data directory.<br />
<br />
=== 3. Your database ===<br />
<br />
Most Moodle upgrades will alter the database tables, adding or changing fields. Each database has different ways to backup. One way of backing up a MySQL database is to 'dump' it to a single SQL file. The following example shows Unix commands to dump the database called "moodle":<br />
<br />
mysqldump -u username -p -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql<br />
(The "-a" switch is deprecated and should be replaced by "--create-options")<br />
<br />
Substitute your database user account for username. The -p flag will prompt you for the password for the username specified by -u.<br />
<br />
If your database host is different from the host you want to execute the backup command (usually the web server), you have to specify it with the -h option to mysqldump:<br />
<br />
mysqldump -u username -p -h databasehost -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql <br />
<br />
You can also use the "Export" feature in Moodle's optional "MySQL Admin" web interface to do the same thing on all platforms. This interface can be downloaded from http://download.moodle.org/modules/integrations.php. It is an integration of PHPMyAdmin for the Moodle administration interface.<br />
<br />
== Install the new Moodle software ==<br />
<br />
=== Using a downloaded archive ===<br />
<br />
@Do not overwrite an old installation unless you know what you are doing ... sometimes old files can cause problems in new installations. The best way is to rename the current Moodle directory to something else, then unpack the new Moodle archive into the old location.<br />
<br />
Linux<br />
mv moodle moodle.backup<br />
tar xvzf moodle-1.1.tgz<br />
<br />
Next, copy across your config.php, any other plugins such as custom themes, and your .htaccess file if you created one:<br />
<br />
cp moodle.backup/config.php moodle<br />
cp -pr moodle.backup/theme/mytheme moodle/theme/mytheme<br />
<br />
=== Using CVS ===<br />
<br />
You can use CVS for updating or upgrading your Moodle.<br />
First you need to do a CVS checkout in your (empty) Moodle root directory.<br />
<br />
You can use any of our [[CVS_for_Administrators#CVS_Servers|CVS Mirror servers]]. Just replace '''SERVER.cvs.moodle.org''' in the instructions below with the name of the mirror server you chose!.<br />
<br />
'''For Linux servers'''<br />
<br />
To do a CVS checkout of Moodle, you first have to logon to the Moodle CVS server.<br />
<br />
<nowiki>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle login</nowiki><br />
No password for anonymous, so just hit the Enter button.<br />
<br />
Go to the directory where you want the Moodle root to come and type<br />
<br />
<nowiki>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle co -r MOODLE_18_STABLE moodle</nowiki> <br />
(where MOODLE_18_STABLE is the desired version)<br />
<br />
To update, just go into the Moodle root directory and update to the new files:<br />
<br />
cvs update -dP<br />
To update to a new version type in the following and change 18 to whatever newest version upgrade number is<br />
cvs -Q update -dP -r MOODLE_18_STABLE<br />
<br />
Make sure you use the "d" parameter to create new directories if necessary, and the "P" parameter to prune empty directories.<br />
<br />
'''For Windows servers'''<br />
<br />
You can use Tortoise CVS to do the initial checkout and the updates.<br />
<br />
If you have been editing Moodle files, watch the messages very closely for possible conflicts. All your customised themes and non-standard plugins will be untouched.<br />
<br />
Don't forget to visit the admin page after the CVS update process has completed.<br />
<br />
== Finishing the upgrade ==<br />
<br />
The last step is to trigger the upgrade processes within Moodle.<br />
<br />
To do this just visit the admin page of your installation e.g. ''<nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin</nowiki>''<br />
<br />
It doesn't matter if you are logged in as admin or not. If you are upgrading from some older versions you would not be able to login before the upgrade anyway.<br />
<br />
Moodle will automatically detect the new version and perform all the database or filesystem upgrades that are necessary. If there is anything it can't do itself (very rare) then you will see messages telling you what you need to do.<br />
<br />
Assuming all goes well (no error messages) then you can start using your new version of Moodle and enjoy the new features!<br />
<br />
Please note that if you are running a large scale of moodle site (e.g. have more tha 10,000+ courses and 40,000+ users), make sure that you do your own performance profiling testing before you upgrade to Moodle 1.8.x, as there are still quite a few outstanding (unresolved) performance issues in 1.8.x for large user base installations.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems] forum<br />
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]]<br />
*[[Installing Moodle]]<br />
*[[Installation FAQ]]<br />
*[http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/howtoupgrademoodlewithcpanel.swf How to upgrade Moodle with cpanel tutorial]<br />
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]<br />
*Using Moodle forum discussions: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=26731&parent=125858 Using cvs], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56915 Upgrading from 1.5.2 to 1.7], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56991 Upgrade nightmares.... any help appreciated], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=62463 After upgrading i get "Your site may not be secure." msg]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Installation]]<br />
<br />
[[es:Actualización de moodle]]<br />
[[fr:Mise à jour]]<br />
[[ja:アップグレード]]<br />
[[nl:Upgraden]]<br />
[[zh:升级]]<br />
[[pl:Aktualizacja]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Upgrading&diff=33880Upgrading2008-03-21T13:07:50Z<p>Ak001: /* Check the requirements */</p>
<hr />
<div>Moodle is designed to upgrade cleanly from one version to the next. Please refer to [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.7]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]] or [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]] for particular considerations related to the upgraded version. <br />
<br />
Changes that have been made to the original code, such as installing a contributed module (non-standard module) or a site edit of a php file, may not upgrade. This includes modifications to standard themes, that will be overwritten during an upgrade.<br />
__TOC__<br />
When upgrading a Moodle installation you should follow these steps:<br />
<br />
==Check the requirements==<br />
Spend some time re-reading the [[Installing Moodle | installation documentation]] and documentation for the new version . Check the system requirements for the version you are upgrading to in ''Administration > Server > [[Environment]]''.<br />
<br />
== Backup important data ==<br />
<br />
Although it is not strictly necessary, it is always a good idea to make a backup of any production system before a major upgrade, just in case you need to revert back to the older version for some reason. In fact, it's a good idea to automate your server to backup your Moodle installation daily, so that you can skip this step.<br />
<br />
There are three areas that need backing up:<br />
<br />
=== 1. The Moodle software directory itself ===<br />
<br />
Make a separate copy of these files before the upgrade, so that you can retrieve your config.php and any modules you have added like themes, languages etc<br />
<br />
=== 2. Your data directory ===<br />
<br />
This is where uploaded content resides (such as course resources and student assignments) so it is very important to have a backup of these files anyway. Sometimes upgrades may move or rename directories within your data directory.<br />
<br />
=== 3. Your database ===<br />
<br />
Most Moodle upgrades will alter the database tables, adding or changing fields. Each database has different ways to backup. One way of backing up a MySQL database is to 'dump' it to a single SQL file. The following example shows Unix commands to dump the database called "moodle":<br />
<br />
mysqldump -u username -p -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql<br />
(The "-a" switch is deprecated and should be replaced by "--create-options")<br />
<br />
Substitute your database user account for username. The -p flag will prompt you for the password for the username specified by -u.<br />
<br />
If your database host is different from the host you want to execute the backup command (usually the web server), you have to specify it with the -h option to mysqldump:<br />
<br />
mysqldump -u username -p -h databasehost -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql <br />
<br />
You can also use the "Export" feature in Moodle's optional "MySQL Admin" web interface to do the same thing on all platforms. This interface can be downloaded from http://download.moodle.org/modules/integrations.php. It is an integration of PHPMyAdmin for the Moodle administration interface.<br />
<br />
== Install the new Moodle software ==<br />
<br />
=== Using a downloaded archive ===<br />
<br />
@Do not overwrite an old installation unless you know what you are doing ... sometimes old files can cause problems in new installations. The best way is to rename the current Moodle directory to something else, then unpack the new Moodle archive into the old location.<br />
<br />
Linux<br />
mv moodle moodle.backup<br />
tar xvzf moodle-1.1.tgz<br />
<br />
Next, copy across your config.php, any other plugins such as custom themes, and your .htaccess file if you created one:<br />
<br />
cp moodle.backup/config.php moodle<br />
cp -pr moodle.backup/theme/mytheme moodle/theme/mytheme<br />
<br />
=== Using CVS ===<br />
<br />
You can use CVS for updating or upgrading your Moodle.<br />
First you need to do a CVS checkout in your (empty) Moodle root directory.<br />
<br />
You can use any of our [[CVS_for_Administrators#CVS_Servers|CVS Mirror servers]]. Just replace '''SERVER.cvs.moodle.org''' in the instructions below with the name of the mirror server you chose!.<br />
<br />
'''For Linux servers'''<br />
<br />
To do a CVS checkout of Moodle, you first have to logon to the Moodle CVS server.<br />
<br />
<nowiki>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle login</nowiki><br />
No password for anonymous, so just hit the Enter button.<br />
<br />
Go to the directory where you want the Moodle root to come and type<br />
<br />
<nowiki>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle co -r MOODLE_18_STABLE moodle</nowiki> <br />
(where MOODLE_18_STABLE is the desired version)<br />
<br />
To update, just go into the Moodle root directory and update to the new files:<br />
<br />
cvs update -dP<br />
To update to a new version type in the following and change 18 to whatever newest version upgrade number is<br />
cvs -Q update -dP -r MOODLE_18_STABLE<br />
<br />
Make sure you use the "d" parameter to create new directories if necessary, and the "P" parameter to prune empty directories.<br />
<br />
'''For Windows servers'''<br />
<br />
You can use Tortoise CVS to do the initial checkout and the updates.<br />
<br />
If you have been editing Moodle files, watch the messages very closely for possible conflicts. All your customised themes and non-standard plugins will be untouched.<br />
<br />
Don't forget to visit the admin page after the CVS update process has completed.<br />
<br />
== Finishing the upgrade ==<br />
<br />
The last step is to trigger the upgrade processes within Moodle.<br />
<br />
To do this just visit the admin page of your installation e.g. ''<nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin</nowiki>''<br />
<br />
It doesn't matter if you are logged in as admin or not. If you are upgrading from some older versions you would not be able to login before the upgrade anyway.<br />
<br />
Moodle will automatically detect the new version and perform all the database or filesystem upgrades that are necessary. If there is anything it can't do itself (very rare) then you will see messages telling you what you need to do.<br />
<br />
Assuming all goes well (no error messages) then you can start using your new version of Moodle and enjoy the new features!<br />
<br />
Please note that if you are running a large scale of moodle site (e.g. have more tha 10,000+ courses and 40,000+ users), make sure that you do your own performance profiling testing before you upgrade to Moodle 1.8.x, as there are still quite a few outstanding (unresolved) performance issues in 1.8.x for large user base installations.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems] forum<br />
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]]<br />
*[[Installing Moodle]]<br />
*[[Installation FAQ]]<br />
*[http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/howtoupgrademoodlewithcpanel.swf How to upgrade Moodle with cpanel tutorial]<br />
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]<br />
*Using Moodle forum discussions: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=26731&parent=125858 Using cvs], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56915 Upgrading from 1.5.2 to 1.7], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56991 Upgrade nightmares.... any help appreciated], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=62463 After upgrading i get "Your site may not be secure." msg]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Installation]]<br />
<br />
[[es:Actualización de moodle]]<br />
[[fr:Mise à jour]]<br />
[[ja:アップグレード]]<br />
[[nl:Upgraden]]<br />
[[zh:升级]]<br />
[[pl:Aktualizacja]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Upgrading&diff=33879Upgrading2008-03-21T13:07:19Z<p>Ak001: /* Check the requirements */</p>
<hr />
<div>Moodle is designed to upgrade cleanly from one version to the next. Please refer to [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.7]], [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.8]] or [[Upgrading to Moodle 1.9]] for particular considerations related to the upgraded version. <br />
<br />
Changes that have been made to the original code, such as installing a contributed module (non-standard module) or a site edit of a php file, may not upgrade. This includes modifications to standard themes, that will be overwritten during an upgrade.<br />
__TOC__<br />
When upgrading a Moodle installation you should follow these steps:<br />
<br />
==Check the requirements==<br />
Spend some time re-reading the [[Installing Moodle | installation documentation]] and docuemntation for the new version . Check the system requirements for the version you are upgrading to in ''Administration > Server > [[Environment]]''.<br />
<br />
== Backup important data ==<br />
<br />
Although it is not strictly necessary, it is always a good idea to make a backup of any production system before a major upgrade, just in case you need to revert back to the older version for some reason. In fact, it's a good idea to automate your server to backup your Moodle installation daily, so that you can skip this step.<br />
<br />
There are three areas that need backing up:<br />
<br />
=== 1. The Moodle software directory itself ===<br />
<br />
Make a separate copy of these files before the upgrade, so that you can retrieve your config.php and any modules you have added like themes, languages etc<br />
<br />
=== 2. Your data directory ===<br />
<br />
This is where uploaded content resides (such as course resources and student assignments) so it is very important to have a backup of these files anyway. Sometimes upgrades may move or rename directories within your data directory.<br />
<br />
=== 3. Your database ===<br />
<br />
Most Moodle upgrades will alter the database tables, adding or changing fields. Each database has different ways to backup. One way of backing up a MySQL database is to 'dump' it to a single SQL file. The following example shows Unix commands to dump the database called "moodle":<br />
<br />
mysqldump -u username -p -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql<br />
(The "-a" switch is deprecated and should be replaced by "--create-options")<br />
<br />
Substitute your database user account for username. The -p flag will prompt you for the password for the username specified by -u.<br />
<br />
If your database host is different from the host you want to execute the backup command (usually the web server), you have to specify it with the -h option to mysqldump:<br />
<br />
mysqldump -u username -p -h databasehost -C -Q -e -a moodle > moodle-backup-2007-04-01.sql <br />
<br />
You can also use the "Export" feature in Moodle's optional "MySQL Admin" web interface to do the same thing on all platforms. This interface can be downloaded from http://download.moodle.org/modules/integrations.php. It is an integration of PHPMyAdmin for the Moodle administration interface.<br />
<br />
== Install the new Moodle software ==<br />
<br />
=== Using a downloaded archive ===<br />
<br />
@Do not overwrite an old installation unless you know what you are doing ... sometimes old files can cause problems in new installations. The best way is to rename the current Moodle directory to something else, then unpack the new Moodle archive into the old location.<br />
<br />
Linux<br />
mv moodle moodle.backup<br />
tar xvzf moodle-1.1.tgz<br />
<br />
Next, copy across your config.php, any other plugins such as custom themes, and your .htaccess file if you created one:<br />
<br />
cp moodle.backup/config.php moodle<br />
cp -pr moodle.backup/theme/mytheme moodle/theme/mytheme<br />
<br />
=== Using CVS ===<br />
<br />
You can use CVS for updating or upgrading your Moodle.<br />
First you need to do a CVS checkout in your (empty) Moodle root directory.<br />
<br />
You can use any of our [[CVS_for_Administrators#CVS_Servers|CVS Mirror servers]]. Just replace '''SERVER.cvs.moodle.org''' in the instructions below with the name of the mirror server you chose!.<br />
<br />
'''For Linux servers'''<br />
<br />
To do a CVS checkout of Moodle, you first have to logon to the Moodle CVS server.<br />
<br />
<nowiki>cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle login</nowiki><br />
No password for anonymous, so just hit the Enter button.<br />
<br />
Go to the directory where you want the Moodle root to come and type<br />
<br />
<nowiki>cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@SERVER.cvs.moodle.org:/cvsroot/moodle co -r MOODLE_18_STABLE moodle</nowiki> <br />
(where MOODLE_18_STABLE is the desired version)<br />
<br />
To update, just go into the Moodle root directory and update to the new files:<br />
<br />
cvs update -dP<br />
To update to a new version type in the following and change 18 to whatever newest version upgrade number is<br />
cvs -Q update -dP -r MOODLE_18_STABLE<br />
<br />
Make sure you use the "d" parameter to create new directories if necessary, and the "P" parameter to prune empty directories.<br />
<br />
'''For Windows servers'''<br />
<br />
You can use Tortoise CVS to do the initial checkout and the updates.<br />
<br />
If you have been editing Moodle files, watch the messages very closely for possible conflicts. All your customised themes and non-standard plugins will be untouched.<br />
<br />
Don't forget to visit the admin page after the CVS update process has completed.<br />
<br />
== Finishing the upgrade ==<br />
<br />
The last step is to trigger the upgrade processes within Moodle.<br />
<br />
To do this just visit the admin page of your installation e.g. ''<nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin</nowiki>''<br />
<br />
It doesn't matter if you are logged in as admin or not. If you are upgrading from some older versions you would not be able to login before the upgrade anyway.<br />
<br />
Moodle will automatically detect the new version and perform all the database or filesystem upgrades that are necessary. If there is anything it can't do itself (very rare) then you will see messages telling you what you need to do.<br />
<br />
Assuming all goes well (no error messages) then you can start using your new version of Moodle and enjoy the new features!<br />
<br />
Please note that if you are running a large scale of moodle site (e.g. have more tha 10,000+ courses and 40,000+ users), make sure that you do your own performance profiling testing before you upgrade to Moodle 1.8.x, as there are still quite a few outstanding (unresolved) performance issues in 1.8.x for large user base installations.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems] forum<br />
*[[Upgrading to Moodle 1.6]]<br />
*[[Installing Moodle]]<br />
*[[Installation FAQ]]<br />
*[http://otaru-jc.ac.jp/hagley/howtoupgrademoodlewithcpanel.swf How to upgrade Moodle with cpanel tutorial]<br />
*[http://youtube.com/watch?v=ufAmf_jm_p8 How to backup a whole Moodle site video]<br />
*Using Moodle forum discussions: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=26731&parent=125858 Using cvs], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56915 Upgrading from 1.5.2 to 1.7], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=56991 Upgrade nightmares.... any help appreciated], [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=62463 After upgrading i get "Your site may not be secure." msg]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Installation]]<br />
<br />
[[es:Actualización de moodle]]<br />
[[fr:Mise à jour]]<br />
[[ja:アップグレード]]<br />
[[nl:Upgraden]]<br />
[[zh:升级]]<br />
[[pl:Aktualizacja]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Cron&diff=31890Cron2008-02-05T14:09:27Z<p>Ak001: </p>
<hr />
<div>Some of Moodle's modules require continual checks to perform tasks. For example, Moodle needs to check the discussion forums so it can mail out copies of posts to people who have subscribed.<br />
<br />
The script that does all this is located in the admin directory, and is called cron.php. However, it can not run itself, so you need to set up a mechanism where this script is run regularly (eg every five or ten minutes). This provides a "heartbeat" so that the script can perform functions at periods defined by each module. This kind of regular mechanism is known as a '''cron service'''.<br />
<br />
The cron.php script looks through the mdl_modules table (assuming the default table prefix of course) in the Moodle database for modules scheduled to have their cron functions run; it then looks in each such module directory for a function called module-name_cron in the lib.php file and runs it. It also looks through the mdl_block table for blocks scheduled for their cron methods (object functions) to be run; it then, for each such block, runs the cron method for a new object associated with that block (I'm omitting details for the benefit of non-programmers; programmers can read admin/cron.php for themselves). These files (the lib.php files and the files where the block classes are defined) can contain cleanup functions, email functions or anything that needs to be run on a regular basis. For example, cron will trigger the system to create the backups of courses at the time specified in the administration settings. It also triggers any messaging module or forum email notifications, but not all functions are called each time the cron runs. Some functions, such as unenrolling students who have not logged in or deleting old copies of log files, are only run occasionally. The cron.php file has a section which will randomly call these core tasks approximately 1 in 5 times the cron runs.<br />
<br />
Note that the machine performing the cron '''does not need to be the same machine that is running Moodle'''. For example, if you have a limited web hosting service that does not have a cron service, then you might choose to run cron on another server or on your home computer. All that matters is that the cron.php file is called regularly.<br />
<br />
The load of this script is not very high, so 5 minutes is usually reasonable, but if you're worried about it you can reduce the time period to something like 15 minutes or even 30 minutes. It's best not to make the time period too long, as delaying mail-outs can slow down activity within the course. Remember that mail-outs also wait for the editing time to expire before being queued for sending.<br />
<br />
First, test that the script works by running it directly from your browser: ''<nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin/cron.php</nowiki>''<br />
<br />
If cron is called from the command line by any user logged in to your Moodle it will create a temporary admin environment in order to run and then log the user out. You can disable command line running of cron by disabling the appropriate section in the cron.php file.<br />
<br />
Now, you need to set up some of way of running the script automatically and regularly.<br />
<br />
==On Windows systems==<br />
<br />
There are two different ways for setting-up Moodle cron.php on Windows systems:<br />
<br />
*Use the '''Moodle Cron package'''. The simplest way is to use this little package [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/sourceforge/MoodleCron-Setup.exe MoodleCron-Setup.exe], which makes this whole thing very easy by installing a small Windows service. Run it and forget about it! :-)<br />
*Use a '''Scheduled Task'''. If you prefer to use the built-in Windows Scheduler or are having trouble with moodle-cron-for-windows package, you can use wget for windows or php from the command line and setup a scheduled task. Just follow these steps:<br />
** Choose either the '''php.exe/php-win.exe (command line binary)''' or '''wget'''<br />
::The php.exe or php-win.exe binary (for PHP version 5 or later) is installed in your php folder (e.g. c:\php) will give you better performance when running the cron script.<br />
::If you want to use wget, download a compiled version of wget for windows from the native GNU Win32 ports (http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/), from Heiko Herold's wget for windows page (http://xoomer.virgilio.it/hherold/) or Bart Puype's wget for windows page (http://users.ugent.be/~bpuype/wget/). If you use Heiko Herold's package, copy all of the .DLL files to your C:\Windows\system32 directory. Copy the wget.exe file to c:\windows (this makes sure wget is always in the search path).<br />
:* Setup a '''Scheduled Task'''. <br />
:: - Go to Start >> Control Panel >> Scheduled Tasks >> Add Scheduled Task.<br />
:: - Click "Next" to start the wizard:<br />
:: - Click in the "Browse..." button and browse to c:\php\php.exe or c:\windows\wget.exe and click "Open"<br />
:: - Type "Moodle Cron" as the name of the task and select "Daily" as the schedule. Click "Next".<br />
:: - Select "12:00 AM" as the start time, perform the task "Every Day" and choose today's date as the starting date. Click "Next".<br />
:: - Enter the username and password of the user the task will run under (it doesn't have to be a priviledged account at all). Make sure you type the password correctly. Click "Next".<br />
:: - Mark the checkbox titled "Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish" and click "Finish".<br />
:: - In the new dialog box, type the following in the "Run:" text box: <pre>c:\windows\wget.exe -q -O NUL http://my.moodle.site/moodle/admin/cron.php</pre> or <pre>c:\php\php-win.exe -f c:\moodle\admin\cron.php</pre> Replace "c:\moodle" with the path to your moodle directory or "my.moode.site" with the name of your site.<br><br><br />
:: - Click on the "Schedule" tab and there in the "Advanced..." button.<br />
:: - Mark the "Repeat task" checkbox and set "Every:" to 5 minutes, and set "Until:" to "Duration" and type "23" hours and "59" minutes.<br />
:: - Click "OK" and you are done.<br />
* '''Test your scheduled task'''. You can test that your scheduled task can run successfully by clicking it with the right button and chosing "Run". If everything is correctly setup, you will briefly see a DOS command window while wget/php executes and fetches the cron page and then it disappears. If you refresh the scheduled tasks folder, you will see the ''Last Run Time column'' (in detailed folder view) reflects the current time, and that the Last Result column displays "0x0" (everything went OK). If either of these is different, then you should recheck your setup.<br />
* '''Logging cron output'''. You may want to log the output of the cron script as it executes, in case you see the job is producing errors, backups are not being completed or users are experiencing delays in receiving forum emails. To do this, adjust the command so that it uses the php.exe and stores the output in a file called (for example c:\moodle\admin\cron.log). Here is an example of the php.exe command:<br />
<pre>c:\php\php.exe -f c:\moodle\admin\cron.php > c:\moodle\admin\cron.log</pre><br />
<br />
==On web hosting services==<br />
<br />
Your web-based control panel may have a web page that allows you to set up this cron process. <br />
<br />
If you are using CPanel, login then look for the heading "Advanced" on the page. Click on Cron Jobs -> Advanced (unix style). Enter the following for the cron to run every 30 minutes.<br />
<br />
Email address for output: emailaddress@mydomain.con<br />
Minute:*/30<br />
Hour:*<br />
Day:*<br />
Month:*<br />
Weekday:* <br />
Command: wget -q -O /dev/null http://www.mydomain.com/moodle/admin/cron.php<br />
<br />
Click Commit Changes. Check your email for the output. An example is shown below:<br />
<br />
[[Image:Cpanel-cron-setup.JPG]]<br />
<br />
For other systems, look for a button called "Cron jobs". In there you can put the same sort of Unix commands as listed below.<br />
<br />
<br />
If you don't have permissions to run the 'wget' command on the server, you can use this php command:<br />
<br />
/usr/local/bin/php -q /real/path/to/script/admin/cron.php<br />
<br />
For example: <br />
<br />
/usr/local/bin/php -q /home/username/public_html/moodle/admin/cron.php<br />
<br />
If you don't know what is the real path of your Moodle folder you can use the PHP command realpath.<br />
<br />
Another alternative, if you do not have permission to run the 'wget' command, may be to use a curl command.<br />
<br />
For example:<br />
<br />
curl --silent --compressed http://mydomain.com/moodle/admin/cron.php<br />
<br />
==Using the command line on Unix==<br />
<br />
There are different command line programs you can use to call the page from the command line. Not all of them may be available on a given server.<br />
<br />
For example, you can use a Unix utility like 'wget':<br />
<br />
wget -q -O /dev/null <nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin/cron.php</nowiki><br />
<br />
Note in this example that the output is thrown away (to /dev/null).<br />
<br />
A number of users of Moodle have found that 'wget' sometimes fails. Especially if you have trouble with email digests not being sent on a daily basis to all users, an alternative command that solves the problem is:<br />
<br />
php <nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin/cron.php</nowiki><br />
<br />
The same thing using lynx:<br />
<br />
lynx -dump <nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin/cron.php</nowiki> > /dev/null<br />
<br />
Note in this example that the output is thrown away (to /dev/null).<br />
<br />
Alternatively you could use a standalone version of PHP, compiled to be run on the command line. The advantage with doing this is that your web server logs aren't filled with constant requests to cron.php. The disadvantage is that you need to have access to a command-line version of php.<br />
<br />
/opt/bin/php /web/moodle/admin/cron.php<br />
<br />
==Using the crontab program on Unix==<br />
<br />
All that Cpanel does is provide a web interface to a Unix utility known as crontab. If you have a command line, you can set up crontab yourself using the command:<br />
<br />
crontab -e<br />
<br />
and then adding one of the above commands like:<br />
<br />
*/30 * * * * wget -q -O /dev/null <nowiki>http://example.com/moodle/admin/cron.php</nowiki><br />
<br />
The first five entries are the times to run values, followed by the command to run. The asterisk is a wildard, indicating any time. The above example means run the command ''wget -q -O /dev/null...'' every 30 minutes (*/30), every hour (*), every day of the month (*), every month (*), every day of the week (*). <br />
<br />
The "O" of "-O" is the capital letter not zero, and refers the output file destination, in this case "/dev/null" which is a black hole and discards the output. If you want to see the output of your cron.php then enter its url in your browser. <br />
<br />
* [http://linuxweblog.com/node/24 A basic crontab tutorial] <br />
* [http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=crontab&apropos=0&sektion=5&manpath=FreeBSD+6.0-RELEASE+and+Ports&format=html Online version of the man page] <br />
<br />
For '''beginners''', "EDITOR=nano crontab -e" will allow you to edit the crontab using the [http://www.nano-editor.org/dist/v1.2/faq.html nano] editor. Ubuntu defaults to using the nano editor.<br />
<br />
Usually, the "crontab -e" command will put you into the 'vi' editor. You enter "insert mode" by pressing "i", then type in the line as above, then exit insert mode by pressing ESC. You save and exit by typing ":wq", or quit without saving using ":q!" (without the quotes). Here is an [http://www.unix-manuals.com/tutorials/vi/vi-in-10-1.html intro] to the 'vi' editor.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=41827 Cron - can someone give me a quick confirmation of function?] forum discussion<br />
<br />
[[Category:Installation]]<br />
<br />
[[es:Cron]]<br />
[[fr:Cron]]<br />
[[nl:Cron]]<br />
[[sk:Cron]]<br />
[[pl:Cron]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Development:Repository_API&diff=30216Development:Repository API2007-12-14T13:56:21Z<p>Ak001: </p>
<hr />
<div>Repository [[Wikipedia:API|Application Programming Interface]] (API) is a group of functions that work with Java. The development aim is to make Moodle flexible enough to link to any repository of these functions so that Moodle users can use them to find files for use in Moodle, as well as storing their own documents there.<br />
<br />
To do this we will implement a layer in Moodle that takes care of the details, so that as far as Moodle modules are concerned there is just a single coherent "File system". <br />
<br />
==Major Tasks==<br />
<br />
===Create Repository API===<br />
<br />
API is basically a class library of functions that expose the Java Service Request ([[Wikipedia:JSR|JSR]])-170 functionality. For example, there will be simple functions like get_file(), search_files(), insert_file() etc (not actual names) as well as more detailed functions for handling versions, metadata etc.<br />
<br />
Plugins will extend this class, overriding certain functions with local implementations of that functionality. Plugins will also publish information about what functionality they support. For example, some repositories may be read-only, so everything to do with writing needs to be disabled in the interface.<br />
<br />
===Create File-based Repository Plugin===<br />
<br />
This simple plugin will implement as much as needed to replicate the functionality that we have now (with the exception that data is not course-based any longer).<br />
<br />
===Create JSR-170 Repository Plugin===<br />
<br />
This simple plugin really just "passes through" commands between Moodle and an external JSR-170 compliant repository (eg [http://jackrabbit.apache.org/ Jackrabbit] or [http://www.alfresco.com/ Alfresco]).<br />
<br />
===Convert Moodle code to use the API===<br />
<br />
Basically, wherever Moodle reads/writes files the code needs to be converted to use the repository API instead. Some of the hardest work will be in the area of Roles and Permissions.<br />
<br />
===Build Admin interface===<br />
<br />
The admin interface allows the admin to add new repositories and set them up for use in Moodle. The admin may also decide which people can see certain repositories based on Role.<br />
<br />
===Build new user interfaces===<br />
<br />
Wherever people deal with files (resources, forum attachments etc) they need a "file picker" to let them select and interact with the repository. This file picker needs to then pass back information to the context where it was called (eg pass the path of a file back to the resource-adding page).<br />
<br />
If there is only one repository configured, then the interface just shows actions possible with that repository. If there is more than one repository then the user sees a menu in the picker to switch their "current" repository.<br />
<br />
==Outstanding issues==<br />
<br />
===Access controls===<br />
<br />
How is it controlled who can see what in the repository? At the moment there is some basic access controls. There are site files, which anyone can see, and course files, which only people enrolled in a course can see, and user files, which belong to a particular user. Then in those various categories, there are files that all roles can see, and ones (e.g. backup files) that only teachers can see.<br />
<br />
So what I am saying, is that how do Moodle Roles and capabilities correspond to access restrictions enforced by the repository. Suppose there is a file in the repository that only a teacher can access. How can we stop the teach adding that image to a page of Moodle content, which will just leave the student seeing a broken image icon because they don't have access to that image?<br />
<br />
Is it possible to use the same model that the [[Question_contexts | 1.9 question bank]] does, where a resource is ascribed to a context level? [[User:Matt Gibson|Matt Gibson]] 06:43, 3 October 2007 (CDT)</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=Development:Web_services_API&diff=28569Development:Web services API2007-11-12T02:41:34Z<p>Ak001: /* A word on Encryption */</p>
<hr />
<div>== Overview ==<br />
<br />
<br />
The Web Services API provides Moodle with a web service interface to allow exchange of data and information with other systems.<br />
<br />
For example,<br />
# Manage user data - send and retrieve the information,<br />
# Manage course enrolments - add/remove teachers and students,<br />
# Course management - create new courses based on templates,<br />
# Gradebook info - extract grades information from Moodle.<br />
<br />
==XML-RPC background==<br />
The XML-RPC service allows other servers to contact your Moodle server and request that it call a function. The Moodle server might do something, like create a user, or it might fetch some data and serve it back to your host.<br />
<br />
To communicate like this with another Moodle host, you'd normally use the Moodle Network [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_Network] features, but it's also possible for other kinds of program to contact your Moodle, using plain-old-XML-RPC, bypassing Moodle Network's encryption or signed-message features.<br />
<br />
Plaintext networking is only likely to be useful if you have another application which:<br />
* is not a Moodle<br />
* is completely under your control (for security reasons)<br />
<br />
==A word on Encryption==<br />
There's really no voodoo going on in the Moodle encryption and signing process. We've tried to stick to the W3C's XML-ENC and XML-DSIG standards, and because our implementation of them is fairly simple and naive, getting your application to mimic that behaviour is not (as we say) rocket science. The Mahara implementation of XML-ENC/XML-DSIG uses some PHP5 features that make things even easier, so that might be a useful starting point for adventurous hackers.<br />
<br />
==But if I'm not using Encryption?==<br />
Then you need to tell Moodle to privilege the machine on which your application is running, and allow it to use the XML-RPC service without having to sign or encrypt its messages. You can do this at /admin/mnet/trustedhosts.php, which you can browse to in the admin panel at<br />
Networking:XML-RPC hosts<br />
<br />
I recommend that you enter something like this (assuming your application's IP address is 192.168.0.7):<br />
192.168.0.7/32<br />
<br />
That's all you need. Moodle knows your server is friendly, and will XML-RPC with it, without requiring it to encrypt or sign anything.<br />
<br />
==What can Moodle's XML-RPC do?==<br />
By default, we've strictly limited the functions that can be remotely called. These fall into four categories:<br />
* special 'system' functions<br />
* methods of an authorisation object<br />
* methods of an enrolment object<br />
* functions in a module<br />
<br />
==But what if I have a death wish or something?==<br />
Don't worry - we've thought of you too. If you want to do something that's not in that list, there is a special 'shoot-yourself-in-the-foot' switch that you can enable by tweaking a field in your database. This switch - if enabled - would allow the remote application to do ANYTHING to your Moodle that has a corresponding function anywhere in the code, so I'm not telling you where it is.<br />
<br />
==Tell us!==<br />
Oh alright then. In your config table, the row with the 'name' mnet_dispatcher_mode, should have a 'value' of 'promiscuous'. Please don't do that. There are other ways to enable whatever it is you want to enable, so please exhaust those first, however, if you do enable this and your site does got pwned please tell me so I can laugh and high five my co-workers.<br />
<br />
==So - back to those four categories of function we were talking about==<br />
The system functions return information about the services and methods that your API is making available to remote servers. These functions are:<br />
* system/listMethods<br />
* system/methodSignature<br />
* system/methodHelp<br />
* system/listServices<br />
Missing from this list is a non-standard method, that we implemented to help with key-exchange and key-rotation:<br />
* system/keyswap<br />
This method returns the public key that your Moodle and Mahara peers will use for message encryption and signing. It is always possible to call this method from any host without signing or encryption, otherwise Moodles would never be able to exchange keys, and for that reason, it might be really useful to use as a test function. If you get a result back from this function, you have a foot in the door to setting up plaintext XML-RPC between your application and Moodle.<br />
<br />
==Methods of auth and enrol objects==<br />
Let's say you have an enrolment class called 'enrol_plugin_bribeme' with the method "buy_me_beer" and you want to be able to call it via XML-RPC. First, your class' constructor must not require arguments. The despatcher should be able to just ask for your enrolment object and get it... end of story.<br />
<br />
Second - enrol_plugin_bribeme must have a method called mnet_publishes which returns information about the "buy_me_beer" method. The method should return an array of associative arrays with the following structure:<br />
$yummy_beer = array();<br />
$yummy_beer['name'] = 'yummy_beer'; // Name ('Yummy Beer!') goes in lang file<br />
$yummy_beer['apiversion'] = 1;<br />
$yummy_beer['methods'] = array('buy_me_beer');<br />
return array($yummy_beer);<br />
<br />
The $yummy_beer['methods'] array can contain any number of method names. The $yummy_beer['name'] element is the name of this service, and this will appear in the admin interface to allow the service to be enabled and disabled for different hosts. You enter an identifier here, and the actual name goes in the appropriate lang file - in this case lang/en_utf8/enrol_bribeme.php. Note that the _name and _description suffixes are required:<br />
<br />
$string['yummy_beer_name'] = 'Yummy Beer';<br />
$string['yummy_beer_description'] = 'A service to bribe your sysadmin with promises of gourmet beer.';<br />
<br />
When you're writing your method, it's good practice to add a docblock with @param and @return values, because Moodle will read that information and provide it on to remote servers who call the introspection methods (e.g. system.methodSignature). This information is updated every time you hit /admin/index.php, so if you update the docblock for your function, you need to visit that page to have Moodle's introspection recognise your edits.<br />
<br />
So - once you've implemented your method, you're ready to call it from your application. Your XML-RPC client needs to pass a function name to Moodle's XML-RPC server, that allows the server to identify the file and function to execute. The name you pass is a concatenation of the path to the file, and the name of your function, e.g.<br />
<br />
"auth/bribeme/auth.php/buymebeer"<br />
<br />
==Functions in Modules==<br />
The mechanics of XML-RPC are such that there are few functions that it would be useful to call directly from a remote server; you'll almost always need some kind of wrapper function to establish a security context or identify the server that's making the request. Partly for this reason, and partly so that it would be really obvious which functions are available to remote servers (i.e. really difficult for someone to call some arbitrary function in Moodle), we mandated that all XML-RPC-callable functions should be implemented in a special file called rpclib.php, so if you want to call a function in mod/forum/lib.php, you'll need to create a file called mod/forum/rpclib.php, and implement a wrapper function in that file that calls the function in mod/forum/lib.php.<br />
<br />
For rpclib.php files, it is still also necessary to create an mnet_publishes function, but it must be named with a prefix of the module name, e.g. forum_mnet_publishes. This function must return an array in the same format as the one detailed above for auth and enrol plugins. Let's look at that in a little more detail by reviewing the method from the auth_plugin_mnet class.<br />
<br />
For the benefit of administrators, your functions must be grouped into "Services". Some of the services that we've already implemented include sso_idp; the 'Single-Sign-On Identity Provider' service, and sso_sp; the 'Single-Sign-On Service Provider' service. You can see that the mnet_publishes method for that plugin returns an array with two elements. These elements provide information on the sso_idp and sso_sp services.<br />
<br />
/**<br />
* Provides the allowed RPC services from this class as an array.<br />
* @return array Allowed RPC services.<br />
*/<br />
function mnet_publishes() {<br />
<br />
$sso_idp = array();<br />
$sso_idp['name'] = 'sso_idp'; // Name & Description go in lang file<br />
$sso_idp['apiversion'] = 1;<br />
$sso_idp['methods'] = array('user_authorise','keepalive_server', 'kill_children',<br />
'refresh_log', 'fetch_user_image', 'fetch_theme_info',<br />
'update_enrolments');<br />
<br />
$sso_sp = array();<br />
$sso_sp['name'] = 'sso_sp'; // Name & Description go in lang file<br />
$sso_sp['apiversion'] = 1;<br />
$sso_sp['methods'] = array('keepalive_client','kill_child');<br />
<br />
return array($sso_idp, $sso_sp);<br />
}<br />
<br />
Remember that if you're writing such a function for a module, the function name must be prefixed with your module name, e.g. modulename_mnet_publishes.<br />
<br />
The name that you give your service is entirely up to you, but you need to create a language file in (for example) lang/en_utf8/mod_forum.php to store your service name and description, for example:<br />
<br />
$string['sso_idp_name'] = 'SSO (Identity Provider)';<br />
$string['sso_idp_description'] = 'A description of the SSO IDP service that allows an admin to know if he needs it or not.';<br />
<br />
Note that your service name (in this example 'sso_idp') is suffixed with _name and _description.<br />
<br />
Turning back to the mnet_publishes function, your associative array has an 'apiversion' key, that allows you to provide more than one version of your API. This is really provided for future use, and isn't implemented in the code yet. We anticipate that eventually APIs will have to change, and this should allow newer Moodles to still be able to communicate with older Moodles. While this is unavoidable, it's something that we want to put of for as long as possible.<br />
<br />
Finally, you provide a list of method or function names that constitute the service. When an admin enables this service for a host, he's really permitting the host to remotely call the methods or functions that you list here.<br />
<br />
Calling a function remotely will require your XML-RPC client to pass something like this to the Moodle XML-RPC server as the function name:<br />
"mod/forum/rpclib.php/somefunction"<br />
<br />
==Other Implementations==<br />
XML-RPC won't work for everyone. If you're planning a REST or SOAP service, please consider putting your work into mnet/soap or mnet/rest, so that it's alongside mnet/xmlrpc. The work we've done in the mnet directory might be useful to you as well, so rather than re-invent the wheel, have a look at our code to see if it meets any of your needs.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=965 Web Services forum] <br />
<br />
[[Category:Developer|Web services API]]<br />
[[Category:Administrator]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=15702The Good Teacher2006-09-11T11:33:48Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 5: The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The Pretty Good Teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she persevered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he replied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about the effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle community at moodle.org where she found other teachers like herself and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 3: The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4: Mr. Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5: The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surprisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6: The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good possibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7: She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 8: Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting module? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]<br />
[[fr:Une bonne enseignante]]<br />
[[ja:良い先生]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=15701The Good Teacher2006-09-11T11:32:33Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 4: Mr Dougis you've got an email */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The Pretty Good Teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she persevered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he replied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about the effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle community at moodle.org where she found other teachers like herself and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 3: The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4: Mr. Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5: The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6: The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good possibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7: She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 8: Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting module? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]<br />
[[fr:Une bonne enseignante]]<br />
[[ja:良い先生]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=15700The Good Teacher2006-09-11T11:31:33Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The Pretty Good Teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she persevered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he replied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about the effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle community at moodle.org where she found other teachers like herself and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 3: The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4: Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5: The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6: The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good possibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7: She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 8: Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting module? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]<br />
[[fr:Une bonne enseignante]]<br />
[[ja:良い先生]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=15699The Good Teacher2006-09-11T11:29:38Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The Pretty Good Teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she persevered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he replied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about the effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle comunity at moodle.org where she found other teachers like herself and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 3: The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4: Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5: The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6: The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good possibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7: She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 8: Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting module? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]<br />
[[fr:Une bonne enseignante]]<br />
[[ja:良い先生]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=15698The Good Teacher2006-09-11T11:27:54Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 6: The next day */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The Pretty Good Teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she persevered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he relpied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about the effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle comunity at moodle.org where she found other teachers like herself and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 3: The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4: Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5: The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6: The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good possibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7: She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 8: Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting module? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]<br />
[[fr:Une bonne enseignante]]<br />
[[ja:良い先生]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=15697The Good Teacher2006-09-11T11:26:38Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 1: The Pretty Good Teacher wants to be a better one */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The Pretty Good Teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she persevered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he relpied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about the effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle comunity at moodle.org where she found other teachers like herself and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 3: The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4: Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5: The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6: The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good posibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7: She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 8: Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting module? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]<br />
[[fr:Une bonne enseignante]]<br />
[[ja:良い先生]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=9468The Good Teacher2006-05-10T15:14:38Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 2. The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Douguis */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The good teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she perservered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2. The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he relpied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about th effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle comunity at moodle.org where she found other teachers like her and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4. The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5. Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6 The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7. The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good posibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.<br />
<br />
=== Act 8. She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 9. Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting mod? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=9467The Good Teacher2006-05-10T15:05:31Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 7. The next day */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The good teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she perservered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2. The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Douguis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he relpied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about th effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle comunity at moodle.org where she found other teachers like her and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4. The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5. Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6 The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7. The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good posibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.<br />
<br />
=== Act 8. She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 9. Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting mod? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=9466The Good Teacher2006-05-10T15:04:38Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 5. Mr Dougis you've got an email */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The good teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she perservered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2. The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Douguis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he relpied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about th effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle comunity at moodle.org where she found other teachers like her and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4. The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5. Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6 The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7. The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good posibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop be here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy. <br />
<br />
=== Act 8. She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 9. Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting mod? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=9465The Good Teacher2006-05-10T15:03:47Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 2. The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Douguis */</p>
<hr />
<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The good teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she perservered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2. The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Douguis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
<br />
"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he relpied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about th effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle comunity at moodle.org where she found other teachers like her and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4. The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5. Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situatiuon like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6 The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7. The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good posibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop be here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy. <br />
<br />
=== Act 8. She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 9. Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting mod? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
<br />
[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
<br />
[[es:La buena maestra]]</div>Ak001https://docs.moodle.org/23/en/index.php?title=The_Good_Teacher&diff=9464The Good Teacher2006-05-10T14:29:00Z<p>Ak001: /* Act 5. Mr Dougis you've got an email */</p>
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<div>== THE GOOD TEACHER ==<br />
<br />
=== Act 1: The good teacher wants to be a better one ===<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.<br />
<br />
Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.<br />
<br />
She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).<br />
<br />
She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)<br />
<br />
She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.<br />
<br />
Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example: <br />
* She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.<br />
* She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.<br />
* She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.<br />
* She even started using an LCD projector.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she perservered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.<br />
<br />
Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.<br />
<br />
But she couldn't say what those things were.<br />
<br />
=== Act 2. The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Douguis ===<br />
<br />
One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.<br />
<br />
She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?<br />
<br />
The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.<br />
<br />
She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order investigate. Really, he did.<br />
<br />
She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.<br />
<br />
"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.<br />
<br />
"What are they working on?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."<br />
<br />
"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.<br />
<br />
"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."<br />
<br />
"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in the newspaper article. What is it?"<br />
<br />
"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.<br />
<br />
"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."<br />
<br />
It did not look like the students were having any trouble.<br />
<br />
"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.<br />
<br />
"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.<br />
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"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he relpied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."<br />
<br />
"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.<br />
<br />
"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."<br />
<br />
And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.<br />
<br />
She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.<br />
<br />
During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.<br />
<br />
"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.<br />
<br />
"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to compliment and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."<br />
<br />
"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.<br />
<br />
"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."<br />
<br />
"How so?" She really wanted to know.<br />
<br />
"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about th effects of global warming, too."<br />
<br />
"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"<br />
<br />
"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a survey about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.<br />
<br />
Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch witrh the moodle comunity at moodle.org where she found other teachers like her and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.<br />
<br />
=== Act 4. The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling ===<br />
<br />
By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school computer lab. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.<br />
<br />
Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?<br />
<br />
A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.<br />
<br />
Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.<br />
<br />
Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so.<br />
<br />
=== Act 5. Mr Dougis you've got an email ===<br />
<br />
She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."<br />
<br />
An exchange of emails ensued.<br />
<br />
"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.<br />
<br />
"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"<br />
<br />
"The majority of them did," she answered."<br />
<br />
"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
It was a good question.<br />
<br />
"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."<br />
<br />
"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.<br />
<br />
First she planned a very icy and angry response. But after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.<br />
<br />
"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil. <br />
<br />
She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.<br />
<br />
"What would you advise your students to do in a situatiuon like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.<br />
<br />
She decided to give Moodle another chance.<br />
<br />
=== Act 6 The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back ===<br />
<br />
<br />
This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.<br />
<br />
Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.<br />
<br />
Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.<br />
<br />
She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.<br />
<br />
In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.<br />
<br />
Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new LCD projector for that.<br />
<br />
She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).<br />
<br />
The next day, they went to the lab.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.<br />
<br />
After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surpisingly good.<br />
<br />
As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.<br />
<br />
While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.<br />
<br />
That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it. <br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.<br />
<br />
=== Act 7. The next day ===<br />
<br />
When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.<br />
<br />
"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.<br />
<br />
"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"<br />
<br />
When they said yes, she was not very surprised.<br />
<br />
"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."<br />
<br />
They thought of several good posibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."<br />
<br />
Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.<br />
<br />
"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.<br />
<br />
"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.<br />
<br />
The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.<br />
<br />
"Why don't you stop be here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."<br />
<br />
The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.<br />
<br />
When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."<br />
<br />
And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy. <br />
<br />
=== Act 8. She kept on moodling ===<br />
<br />
And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy. <br />
<br />
After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.<br />
<br />
And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.<br />
<br />
=== Act 9. Unexpected role-reversal===<br />
<br />
One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.<br />
<br />
"Glad to share," he said, and smiled. <br />
<br />
"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"<br />
<br />
"So there's a podcasting mod? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.<br />
<br />
"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.<br />
<br />
"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."<br />
<br />
And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.<br />
<br />
=== Epilogue ===<br />
<br />
She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences. <br />
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[[Category:Teacher]]<br />
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[[es:La buena maestra]]</div>Ak001