I apologize for the tardiness on this week's posting. I began an itinerant stint out in the village of Platinum this week, and have been busy getting set up, acclimated and rolling forward with classes. Last night was the big Halloween slumber party at the school. Plenty of fun, games, scary movies and junk food were had by all, but it was a very late night.
On to this week's topic-how I teach myself and troubleshoot with my LMS.
Currently I use two LMS. I'll start with my secondary, which is NCCERConnect, virtual classroom made by Pearson to support their various NCCER curricula. Getting started was a bit of a chore for me initially, and I probably could not have pulled it off without their channel of YouTube tutorials. Once I found it, it made a world of difference for me. In fact, let's take a moment of thankfulness for YouTube. It seems that no matter what it is you are trying to accomplish, somebody out there has recorded an informative video to help you along. If only bandwidth allotment issues were not something we had to deal with...
On to my primary LMS, and the real focus of my coursework here, Moodle. For me, and the things I have tried to do up until taking THIS course (Thank you Nicole :-) ) my Moodle help searches have all been one-stop shopping so to speak. We at LKSD have been so fortunate to have a coworker, Andrea Pokrzywinski, who has set up a Moodle help page on our LKSD Moodle.
Many of the things on there are tutorials created by others on YouTube, but the nice thing is, she has it all laid out in a logical sequencial format, and is super easy to find. In getting started in Moodle 2, between her page and her willingness to help me out in a bind, Andy has been a real lifesaver. What you see above is just the tip of the iceberg on that Moodle page. I don't know what access others at Kodiak district have to this page, but if you can access it, it is a great resource.
The best title I could think of for this week's post is "Gratitude." YouTube, Andy P, and Nicole F are my sources for learning how to improve what I provide to my students via my LMS.
Quyana cakneq!
Brian,
ReplyDeleteas I wrote in my post on this topic, we all would like to have some good formal training for LMS, but the reality is that we need to figure it out on our own most of the time. For this reason establishing a solid and reliable PLC is absolutely priceless... not to mention the only way to keep your mental sanity :)
This is why I think that it is very important connecting and sharing with other educators. Not all districts are officially very "sharing" oriented, so it is up to us educator to take the initiative and seek out for resources and share what we can.
Andy and Nicole are amazing resources for sure, but there are also more people out there who will be happy to share with you and some who would need you to share with them. I see it as a way to "paying forward". :)
I hear ya! My Moodle courses have a lot of room for improvement too. Where to begin? Well I guess with the 'low hanging fruit' as you put it:) I can imagine how wonderful it is to have Andi as a resource. Knowing who to shoot a quick phone call at to fix a Moodle issue and move on is soooo important. I feel like I'm good at figuring it out usually on my own. But, the security of knowing someone knows more than me and they are willing to help a friend out is reassuring too!
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with your title, Brian. The resources Andy has set up and YouTube and the vastness of Andy and Nicole's knowledge make me feel like I can do anything in Moodle. Unfortunately, what I know is so limited it is often difficult to come up with the right questions. I am learning a lot this semester just by playing and leaning on the available training. THANKS TO ALL!!!
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