Final project: Moodle sites for management of courses (and my sanity!)

Background
During second semester, I will be teaching two courses during the same hour and in the same space: Introduction to Theater and Theater Arts. In order to help me better manage the running of these two classes and groups at the same time, I am using Moodle to create a "blended" learning format that mixes traditional and online, digital literacies.

Why Moodle?
During this course, I've come to realize that there are so many amazing digital tools available for educators to use as course management tools. I have seen excellent examples of webpages, wikis, and of course our own course Ning that blend the traditional classroom learning with online learning and digital writing to great effect. I would have really liked to explore using a Ning to manage these theater classes, however my district uses and supports Moodle, so that's what I'm going to use. the district also blocks Ning for students on the basis that it is essentially a social networking platform. So there goes that. :)

Organization 
When a Moodle course is created, it is created with a specific organizational template already in place. At CHS, it is organized automatically by topic, meaning that each box or module could theoretically contain materials and activities related to a specifictopic or unit. Since that was how the courses usually came to me, I just assumed that was the only option I had. Since I began putzing around the course to learn more about my option, i discovered that there are several organizational options. In addition to the topic view, I could also use an organizational model that assigns each box or module a week out of the school year. I did seriously consider transferring to that model. The site would more closely resemble a traditional college syllabus and might be easier for the students to navigate. The major downside at this point however is that I have never taught either of these classes before and therefore have no idea exactly how long certain units, lessons, or projects will take. Additionally, I want to be able to respond flexibly to the needs of my students; we may need to spend extra time on top of what I planned to really cover particular topics or skills. Using a week-by-week model could get messy when I'm trying to keep up with students and the Moodle at the same time. If I organize by topic, I can upload all of my assignments, instructions, and multimedia ahead of time and reveal them as the students are ready for them without moving them all over the place.

Digital Writing Features on a Moodle
There are a number of digital writing opportunities available within a Moodle. For example, I created a recurring chat in the first module that I will use for online office hours. With two classes meeting at the same time, it is very likely that I will not be able to make it to all kids during class to answer questions By using the Chat, students can connect with me outside of the classroom to get their questions answered. Another option is the forum I created in the Intro to Theater/Theater History module in the Intro to Theater class. In the forum, I asked to students to watch this video of Stephen Sondheim's "Invocation and Instructions to the Audience" from his musical The Frogs. Then, I asked them to reflect and write about their experiences attending or participating in live theater. I asked them to post their writing as a new discussion, and then go out and respond to two other classmates' posts. I think this will be a simple but effective way to introduce the idea of reflection, sharing, and providing feedback. Students are also given a blog within the Moodle course, and I will likely use those to have students post journals and such. Eventually, when we get to the performance pieces of the course, I can create forums where students can share scripts they've written, designs they've created, or videos of performances or rehearsals for feedback.

Final Thoughts
I know there is a lot yet that I have to figure out and this is a huge undertaking, but I believe the pay-off for both the students and I will be well worth the effort. I'm excited to see how this works. When I get a few extra moments this spring (HA!), I'll come back here and reflect on how it's all going. Until then, take care and best of luck!

Idea for podcast...

Some ideas for podcasting...

1. The entire second semester of 9th grade English is a speech class. Students are required to do several small, medium, and large speeches throughout the semester. One of the major speeches is an oral interpretation of a children's story, tv show, movie scene, etc. The purpose of the speech is to help students develop their delivery skills: pace, pitch, volume, vocal variety, etc. The students are videotaped and are then required to watch themselves and complete a self-evaluation. I think that before I get to that point, I could use podcasting/audio recording to demonstrate what vocal variety looks and sounds like. I could record myself reading a children's story with very little variety and then with the right amount of variety. using the audacity or GarageBand software, I can actually show the studens to soundwaves and inflections and tec as they listen. They can then record themselves practicing and look at their own patterns in the soundwaves etc. I think that would be WAY more effective than me just telling them over and over. :)

2. This is very similar to #1, except I could do it with my theater kids. I could record them performing monologues in order to discuss their rate, inflection, diction, interpretation, etc.

3. One of the books we read is A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. The story is about Beah's time as a child soldier in Sierra Leone during their civil war in the late 90's. Beah was eventually extricated from the war by Unicef and rehabilitated in camps set up specifically for child soldiers. It would be really cool to have the kids research the isue of child soldiers and the different groups and organizations that are working to help rehabilitate child soldiers and then put together a podcast to share that information. Sort of like a radio program. That would be an awesome project! :)