Thing+12

As we learned in the last "Thing", Moodle is an exciting educational technology that easily lends itself to creating "hybrid" classes (online and in-classroom). We saw and thought about possible applications from a very broad perspective. In this "Thing", we get to dig a little deeper and take a look at some of the specific things that Moodle has to offer. On this discovery journey, you are going to get to log into a Moodle demo course and check out some of the things Moodle has to offer and dream about possibilities for you and your students.
 * A quick note: One of the Challenge items from our last discovery was to get your own Moodle shell set up. If you're interested in Moodle, It might be worth your time to do that now so that, when you learn about the specifics, you can apply them right away and get playing!
 * Discovery Exercise**
 * 1) Go to the [|Moodle Demo Course] (top one) and create an account.
 * 2) Once your account is created, go back to the [|Moodle Demo Course] and enroll in the course (on the left hand side).
 * 3) Check out 3-5 things in the demo course. They walk you through a pretty easy demonstration of each of the things you could use within Moodle. (If you're at a loss, check out Assignments, Quizzes, Choices, Forums, Wikis and Workshops .)
 * 4) Blog about your experience with Moodle! (If you're at a loss, check out the prompt ideas below.)
 * Discovery Resources**
 * [|Getting Started for Teachers]
 * [|Moodle Demo Course]
 * [|Teaching Do's]
 * [|Teaching Don'ts]
 * [|Teaching Good Practices (k-12)]
 * Blog Prompt Ideas**
 * What specific things are especially interesting to you in Moodle?
 * What applications that we have already learned about do you see in Moodle?
 * What ideas do you have for the use of specific Moodle applications in your area?
 * If you were to start with just one thing in Moodle, what would you be sure to do?
 * What solutions are there for students who do not have internet access at home? (How do we, as educators, bridge that inequality and still utilize Moodle to its potential?)
 * Challenge (optional)**
 * E-mail Gary Blok (if you're a member of district 833) and ask him to set you up with a class in Moodle for one of your classes. And then read this: [|Getting Started for Teachers]
 * If you already have a Moodle class, try one new thing that you learned about in the [| Moodle Demo Course].
 * Check out the " [|Teaching Do's] " (like "encourage students to learn together") and " [|Teaching Don'ts] " (like "Don't get overwhelmed by Moodle").