Moodle Update at LCC

Lane's version of Moodle is updated periodically, and one such update took place this month. It may appear that some familiar icons are missing. However, do not worry! The functions are still available, but they are organized in a different manner. Check out Kevin Steeves' fabulous blog for details on the changes.

Change?
Photo by SomeDriftwood

Grammar resources

Wow! Aliscia Niles has shared a fabulous find, Quill, which provides interactive, adaptive grammar lessons and practice activities as well as opportunities for students to engage in peer review.  Learn more about this open educational resource and its uses for instruction by reading Aliscia's blog post.

Quill by Sure2Talk

Highlights: Spring 2014

The Digital Collaboration Faculty Fellowship aims to increase student success in developmental education and beyond by creating a framework and virtual space for instructors to share their instructional materials, learning objects, modules, OER (open educational resources), and pedagogical strategies across disciplines and departments.

Nineteen faculty members from four departments have participated in the project sharing well over 130 learning objects and curricular materials digitally thus far. Specifically, participants have contributed:

• Online training for tutors,
• Self-paced online placement test preparation resources for new students wishing to begin math or writing courses,
• Countless screencasts, interactive web-based lessons and practice activities, study guides, Prezis, Haiku Decks, Moodle quizzes and assignments, and even entire courses, 
• Instructional materials for use in online, hybrid and traditional face-to-face courses, and
• Commentary on the pedagogical uses of multifarious tools in developmental education.

Learn more about the Digital Collaboration Faculty Fellowship.

More SoftChalk workshops coming soon!

SoftChalk is offering some great options for training including "An Overview of SoftChalk Create" on May 6 at noon (PDT) and "TextPoppers, Images and Hyperlinks" on May 8 at noon (PDT).

View the complete schedule here!

What is SoftChalk, and what can instructors do with it?

SoftChalk allows instructors to develop interactive online lessons and practice activities for their students. These can be added to Moodle as SCORM packages that feed directly into the Moodle gradebook, albeit not 100% seamlessly.

Check out these online grammar modules to see one example of a SoftChalk lesson or the Math Placement Preparation site for another.

Welcome New DIG Co-Lab Participants!

Wow! Spring must be the time to dive into new projects with renewed energy. We have an incredible group of dynamic faculty members who have joined the DIG Co-Lab Faculty Fellowship this term!

Many are making blog posts left and right, sharing materials, and helping each other. Take a look at Alise Lamoreaux's Haiku Deck explaining, "What is a Course Syllabus?" linked to her blog, Amy Gaudia's Prezi on "Calm Confident Test Taking," or Stacey Zinniker's Prezi for her own course outline.

This term promises to be a fruitful one for DIG participants!

"group brainstorming" photo by lynn Dombrowski

Experimenting with badges

It's now possible to issue digital badges in Moodle, so I decided to experiment with an "English Grammar" badge in one of my writing courses in Winter. Students who demonstrated proficiency received a badge at the end of the term, and the badge became a part of their Moodle profile.

I had a good number of questions about digital badges... Did the badges motivate students? Were they more willing to complete course work? Did they care about badges? How many students would earn one?

At the end of the term, 20% of students in the course earned a badge, and I surveyed all students about their experience to learn more about their thoughts on badges. While the results were somewhat mixed, more students expressed a positive opinion about badges. Many were neutral; however, a few expressed strong opinions. Comments ranged from, "Yes -- it motivated me!" to "Honestly, I could care less about the badge system."

I will repeat the experiment this term, so stay tuned for more results.

Some results from Moodle digital badge survey

Step on the gas?

What is the impact of accelerating developmental education sequences? Is acceleration effective? Do more students reach and complete college-level courses if they take accelerated courses instead of a traditional developmental writing or math sequence? It does stand to reason that with fewer exit points, students are less likely to leave the "pipeline," and according to CCRC research released this month, the answer is a resounding "yes."

This evidence supports developmental education redesign efforts underway at Lane Community College including the Academic Learning Skills Department's accelerated developmental writing sequence, the collaborative Math/ALS Math 10 + 20 = 1 term learning community, and the new math pathways endeavor, which will create an alternate pathway to college level math with a focus on statistics instead of algebra.

"Acceleration"
photo by BƐƞ

Students Screencast!

Instructors use screencasts for a variety of purposes such as creating tutorials, mini-lectures, or providing feedback, but what about asking students to create screencasts in order to deepen their learning?

Learn more about how one teacher, Kate Lewis, utilizes screencasting in her classroom by having students create the videos. This provides an opportunity to differentiate instruction as students are asked to focus on an area of individual difficulty. Imagine the possibilities as students become producers of media; the instructional uses are limitless.

Image from Wikipedia

Learn to Screencast!

Lane faculty are cordially invited to attend a workshop to learn to screencast!

Details:

Wednesday, March 12
3:00 p.m.
ATC

Why learn to screencast?

Screencasts are short, easy-to-create videos that can be used to provide instruction or feedback to students, and they provide the option for students to view the video multiple times, pausing at any time to take notes if desired. Instructors can use them to provide feedback on papers, to provide mini-lectures, or as tutorials on how to do something online such as search for relevant articles or submit a file on Moodle.

Please RSVP to Adrienne if you plan to attend.

What does a screencast look like?

View some of these examples: Math homework problem, Using moodle (for instructors), or Grammar: parallelism lesson.

"Return to Screencasting"
photo by Remy Sharp

Ready for Open Educational Resources?

Lane faculty librarian, Jen Klaudinyi, developed a thorough guide to OER (Open Educational Resources). Not only does the guide introduce faculty to OER, it also provides resources that instructors may utilize to find existing OER as well as additional details about copyright, fair use, and options for creating their own original open educational resources. Thank you, Jen, for such a fabulous, useful tool!

By the Numbers #2

In July I took an "inventory" of DIG Co-Lab collaboration. With more faculty participating, creating, and sharing their work now, I think it is an opportune moment to take stock once again.

Inventory of the First Ten Months of Collaboration

3 terms
13 dedicated faculty members
3 departments
131 blog posts
130+ learning objects, videos, quizzes, courses and other digital resources shared
11 awards to faculty members thus far


subtotal: immeasurable professional development
total: endless, inspiring innovation!

(inspired by "The First Four Months of My Journey," a poem by Guillermo Gomez-Peña from his Warrior for Gringostroika)

Learn more bout the Digital Collaboration Faculty fellowship here, or review the project outline if you're interested in participating.

Mash-ups: More on MyOpenMath

MyOpenMath has great potential for use in developmental math classes, and it is an OER (Open Educational Resource) to boot! Learn how Julie Pfaff has used it in her ABSE classes by reading her blog post. It is possible to create courses on MyOpenMath and export them as Common Cartridge files, which can be imported to Moodle using LTI (learning tools interoperability). This allows an instructor to combine MyOpenMath content and exercises with their own instructional resources and activities in the Moodle platform. In addition, MyOpenMath exercises that are integrated into Moodle via LTI feed directly into the Moodle gradebook for seamless integration of MyOpenMath content within a Moodle shell.

David Lippman, creator of MyOpenMath, explains the process of how to export a MyOpenMath course as a common cartridge file and import it into Moodle, activating exercises with LTI in his video.  Below you will find an image of MyOpenMath exercises integrated in a Math 10 course; the puzzle piece icon in Moodle designates "external tools," and in this case, the exercises are fully integrated into Moodle.

Robust applications such as MyOpenMath were once only available from textbook publishing companies; now, such resources are not only free online but also provide instructors with the possibility to create their own "mash-up" of OERs and instructor-developed resources within a single platform. Opportunities abound.

Screenshot of MyOpenMath homework activities in Moodle

Upcoming SoftChalk Trainings

There will be several SoftChalk webinars in the month of February, and these training opportunities or "short courses" last just one hour and are conducted online, so instructors can easily participate from virtually anywhere.

SoftChalk provides faculty with an opportunity to create interactive practices and lessons, which can be used in online, hybrid, or traditional face-to-face courses. SoftChalk can be a great tool to add to your repertoire as it is relatively easy to use. Check out the Math Placement Preparation site and Academic Learning Skills' grammar modules to see examples of interactive SoftChalk lessons.

Learn more about the upcoming webinars.

"What types of content will you use?"
Image by Giulia Forsythe

Math for everyone!

Faculty members at Lane have developed a variety of resources for students to use to help prepare to take the math placement test. These are available for everyone, and they include a Moodle shell with practice problems for each section of the placement exam, an online interactive practice site accessible by students and community members alike, and a review focused on Math 10 replete with videos and exercises.

Edzell Arts Arithmetic

State of Oregon Dev Ed Redesign

Check out what is going on at the state level -- the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development has convened a task force to analyze best practices in developmental education redesign and make recommendations for their implementation. View the website to find out more. 

Thanks to Susan Reddoor of Academic Learning Skills and Ben Hill of Mathematics for representing Lane in this important endeavor!

Image by Felix Burton

Grammar for everyone!

Lane's Academic Learning Skills Department now provides free, interactive grammar modules online. These are available to everyone! Students may wish to use the modules before taking a placement test or while taking more advanced writing courses to brush up on their skills. Come share in the fun! After all who doesn't need a little grammar review once in a while?

photo by Katie Krueger