Moodle and Mahara Making your VLE and e-portfolios work for you

1. Moodle and Mahara Making your VLE and e-portfolios work for you

2. 2006 ICT Strategy Numerous review meetings 2010 draft ILT strategy 2006 Moodle Intro Widespread staff dev program 2007 2007 main trainer leaves 2008 ILT Champions 2008 time cut 2008 VLE Coordinator Late 2009 Site reconstructed Early 2010 New course Models Early 2010 All staff training Sept 2010 eLab opened Mahara 2010/2011 Short/long training July 2011 Moodle 2.0 upgrade 2009 e-Learning team Why has the journey taken this form? Early 2011 All staff Moodle 2.0 training

3. Drivers • College development plans • Self assessment reports • Team based quality improvement action plans • Learner voice • A shared vision of opportunities • E-learning trends and technologies • E-learning Committee

4. Reality • College development plans – overarching statements • Self assessment reports – data focused • Team based quality improvement action plans – data focused • Learner voice – growing as expectations rise, it is heard, but is impact significant? • A shared vision of opportunities – Vision exists with individuals • E-learning trends and technologies – constant change but dialogue often focuses on technology and not content • E-learning Committee – exists but has little formal decision making ability, makes decisions autonomously to move VLE forward • ILT / e-Learning strategy – remains in draft

5. Overcoming staff barriers • Leadership – advise • Shared team vision – model, plan, agree course structures and team expectations and leadership • Agreed standards – publish • IT skills – audit, review recruitment • Staff development – flexible, accessible • Support for staff – clear help pathways • Infrastructure – fit for purpose • Creativity – highlight features

6. Overcoming student barriers • Course availability – monitor course offering • Access rights – monitor course membership • Content – audit courses, feed back to SLT, clarify students expectations • Opportunities to interact – review delivery • VLE access – review resourcing • Having a voice – promote with students/staff

7. How did we start? (Moodle demonstration) • Formed an e-Learning Committee • Identified the key issues • Visited other colleges for inspiration and good practice • Reviewed all content • Consulted and removed outdated courses and content • Created courses to reflect complete college offering • Created a group of trainers (LRC Staff) • Demonstrated structure to teams and responded to concerns • Publicised a minimum entitlement for students • Agreed periodical review dates

8. How are we moving forward? • Being highly proactive and creating model courses/tasks and reviewing and promoting with staff and students • Attending team meetings – spreading the word • Linking e-learning LRC staff to teams – publicity • Showcasing good practice • Amplifying student voice – publicising and sharing feedback • Communicating - notifying • Customising training 1-1, group, team, school, college, full day, twilight • Integrating the Intranet into the VLE

9. Building interaction (Mahara demonstration) • Mahara is providing the inspiration • Project briefs actively encouraging students to become more reflective • Discussion and reflection will be forming part of assessment • Students are actively blogging, personal/study • Some staff feed back in MP3 and Flash format • Students are commenting on each others work • Staff are modelling views • Views are providing students with coherent structure for each project • Staff are working on a series of subject and enrichment views that support the VLE.

10. Mahara / Moodle • Introduce together – visual and interactive features of Mahara do engage students and teachers. • Create subject views and share with teachers • Model assessment opportunities • Encourage interaction and peer reviews • Run classroom based workshops getting students started • Train teachers to manage groups and views • Clarify Mahara / Moodle relationship

11. If you get it right Moodle and Mahara will… • Raise delivery standards • Improve accessibility and flexibility • Encourage interaction and reflection • Stimulate creativity • Provide a coherent learning experience • Deliver flexible assessment opportunities • Integrate student information in one place • Support learners whole college experience • This is our vision…….

12. Impact on the college • Increasing examples of blended learning • Responding to timetable pressures • Increasing interaction and reflection • Measureable systems are in place. Structure and contents are meeting standards • Culture of change is emerging • Team wide visions are becoming clearer • Teachers (most) are embracing change • Student feedback is improving (interactivity)

13. To summarise • Have a strategy • Agree standards • Audit regularly • Plan with teams • Remove barriers • Provide options • Involve students • Invest heavily in staff development • Share good practice • Embrace change • Maintain momentum