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Moodle, eXtension and a little Twitter- social learning, communities of practice and 140 characters.
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new options in distance based educational programming
Paul TreadwellMay, 2010
A guiding principle?
The technology and tools we use should be consistent with the underlying principles that guide our work.
Something new under the sun?
What has changed? Greater awareness of the power of
technology to connect:▪ People to people▪ People to resources
Increase in technical facility▪ Deeper penetration of technology into daily
life▪ Necessity of use
Connecting people and resources
2 (plus) tools to discuss today: Moodle:▪ Building social learning opportunities
e-Xtension:▪ Building communities for educators
And a little Twitter:▪ Building connections with 140 characters
What is MOODLE?
Software that allows you to: Build online courses Foster learning communities
Why Moodle?
Facilitates anytime-anywhere learning: Moodle incorporates elements such as:▪ Discussion boards▪ Readings▪ Assignments
That:▪ Encourages learning through social exchange▪ Builds a repository of knowledge
How we use Moodle
Internally: Structured learning As a collaborative tool
Publically: Access to a variety of courses including:▪ Horticulture▪ Agriculture▪ Pesticide Safety Education
Who are Moodle courses for?
(Almost) anyone: Our users range in age from 18-80 Self motivated learners Spanning the globe (though most from
NY State)
Creating courses
Moodle provides the framework and tools: Activities:▪ Discussion forums▪ Quizzes▪ Assigments
Resources:▪ Documents/files▪ Webpages
Creating courses 2
Moodle provides the framework and tools Student management:▪ Usage Logs▪ Reports▪ Grades
Facilitating online learning
Requires: A level of technical familiarity and
comfort:▪ How to create content online▪ How to link to web sites▪ How to embed files▪ And more
Facilitating online learning 2
Requires: An ability to manage an online
community:▪ Moderating discussions▪ Encouraging contributions ▪ Facilitating learning exchanges
What is eXtension
eXtension is an interactive learning environment that: Connects university based extension
faculty and staff across the U.S. Provides tools for collaboration and
development of new content Supports the development of new
information resources, usable by all
More than a web site
eXtension is a model of content creation and distribution: “Walled garden” for extension
professionals▪ Community formation (Communities of
Practice)▪ Content development
“Public market” for the general public▪ Content consumption▪ Feedback, questions
Communities of Practice
eXtension uses a “communities of practice” model for content production: Communities of practice are groups of
people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly. ▪ Etienne Wenger
http://www.ewenger.com/theory/
Supporting collaboration
eXtension offers access to tools that support community formation and work: Wikis for creation and shared editing eXtension People for locating
collaborators and colleagues Moodle for structured online course
development
Connecting distributed expertise
eXtension facilitates knowledge networks that draw upon geographically distributed experts to create new content and resources for the Cooperative Extension System. This provides: ▪ greater reach and distribution of content▪ Expertise sharing across boundaries▪ New opportunities for program development
140 characters or bust: Microblogging:▪ Connect and share with other like minded
people▪ Instant feedback mechanism▪ Discover new resources, events
Why 140?▪ The limits of a mobile (SMS) message▪ Actually 160 but,20 characters reserved for
username▪ 140 characters for message
Social and Mobile
Social and mobile are the 2 key words for the next year or two: Increasing power of mobile phones is giving
rise to new possibilities for content creation and distribution.
Social media, social networks, social learning are all growing.
We can use these new tools and technologies to further our work, and still maintain fidelity to our core values and principles.
Contact
Paul Treadwell Blog: www.paultreadwell.com Twitter: ptreadwell Email: [email protected] eXtension: pt36