TEACHING WITH MOODLE

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

2016-2017 SCHOOL YEAR

This Teaching with Moodle professional development plan is designed for teachers who 1) seek to
integrate Moodle into their unit plans, 2) have expressed interest in being early adopters of Moodle, and
3) will draw from their experiences to guide their colleagues in future Moodle professional development
programs.
ORGANIZATIONAL GOALS

Participants will integrate Moodle into their unit plans to facilitate the creation of online constructivist
learning environments as well as support English Language Learners (ELLs) and introverts in the
classroom. Of the participants, at least half will agree to become teacher technology leaders to assist
training and supporting teachers in upcoming Moodle professional development programs.
LEARNING GOALS

Participants will learn:

how to navigate and use core Moodle activities and resources

how to:
o Create a page and use toolbar features
o Create, populate and organize folders
o Create discussion forums
o Create glossaries
o Create wikis (individual and collaborative)
o Create groups and groupings
o Create quizzes and various quiz question types
implementation strategies for these Moodle activities and resources in subject-specific units
o Pages:
Communicating unit components
Facilitating flipped classroom strategies
o Folders:
Organizing class materials
Sharing student work
o Forums:
Facilitating meaningful online discourse and co-constructing meaning
Supporting English language learners (ELLs) and introverts
Creating opportunities for introverts to participate in discussions
o Glossaries:

o
o

Supporting ELLs
Co-constructing meaning (with comment system)
Wikis:
Creating opportunities for asynchronous collaboration
Brainstorming (class/group activities)
Centralizing student research (class/group/individual activities)
Co-constructing meaning (classroom/group activities)
Peer-editing
Co-creating essays
Supporting ELLs and introverts
Groups:
Discussion Forums
Wikis
Quizzes:
Formative assessment and feedback

FACILITIES REQUIRED

The following facilities are required for this professional development program:

Personal or school-provided computer for each teacher and trainer

Wireless Internet access
School Moodle credentials for all participants
Classroom with a large screen and projector and audio facilities

AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

Teachers participating in this Moodle PD program teach in the Middle Years or Diploma Programs of the
International Baccalaureate program at our school and are advocates of constructivist learning in the
classroom. The teachers have also expressed interest in becoming teacher technology leaders. As
Moodle early adopters at our school, they will assist teachers in future Moodle PD programs. According
to self-reported data, some teachers have used Moodle as students and/or teachers while others have
no previous experience with Moodle. Teachers with prior knowledge of Moodle will help to facilitate PD
sessions which will also prepare them for their future roles as teacher technology leaders.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURE
TIME AND PLACE

The professional development plan uses both synchronous and asynchronous methods to accommodate
teachers with opportunities for flexible learning. A Moodle course will be created for this professional
development training so that the trainer may model strategies and participants can interact as students
in the training course. Participants will also be given their own Moodle course to develop as they

progress through the training. The course that participants develop will be an actual course that they
teach.

Asynchronous

Screencasts to demonstrate:

Features of Moodle course components

Creation of activities and resources
Classroom strategies

Meaningful online discourse

Supporting ELLs
Wikis for student collaboration
Social Constructivist VLEs

Share ideas of subject-specific integration

strategies
Communicate difficulties/successes

Readings:

Reflections:

Workshops:

Synchronous

Model course creation

Facilitate course creation
Share exemplars
Group feedback
Share best practices
Unit plan Moodle integration
Moodle to facilitate learning outcomes
Unit plan sharing
Cross-subject strategies

ASYNCHRONOUS

Teachers will watch screencasts to showcase Moodle features, model activity and resource creation, and
demonstrate classroom integration strategies. Readings will provide opportunities for teachers to reflect
on theory and practice. Finally, reflections will allow teachers to share their subject-specific integration
strategies as well as communicate any difficulties or successes that they have had while using Moodle in
the classroom.
SYNCHRONOUS

The trainer will lead weekly workshops during scheduled PD weeks, planning blocks, or department
meeting blocks. The trainer will model Moodle course creation and give teachers time to populate their
own courses with activities and resources. Those teachers that have already added activities or created
their courses based on the asynchronous activities can assist other teachers during sessions. Teachers
will join others courses and discuss and share exemplars while also offering constructive feedback for
other teachers. As teachers begin to integrate Moodle into their unit plans, teachers will engage in unit
sharing activities and identify common strategies for Moodle integration that are cross-subject.
COLLABORATION

Teachers will collaborate throughout training to discuss implementation strategies. By joining each
others courses, teachers will observe others course creation processes and offer constructive feedback.

Teachers will also work together to share and critique unit planning and Moodle integration strategies.
During the classroom implementation phase, teachers will participate in small group sharing to discuss
failures and successes to assist with unit reflections and redesigns.
PERFORMANCE CONTEXT

Because teachers will be developing their actual Moodle courses throughout the PD sessions, the
learning context will be the same as the performance context.
CURRICULUM ALIGNMENT

Teachers will determine ways to use Moodle to meet learning outcomes. Moodle activities and
resources will be deeply integrated into unit plans to facilitate inquiry-based learning and social
constructivism.
TIMELINE

The following timeline is organized based on the schools calendar. In summary, the first term is
allocated to initial training and planning while terms two and three are devoted to implementing
training. For a visualization of the PD Timeline see the attached Gantt Chart.
Term 1

Term2

Teaching with Moodle Professional Development Plan Timeline

Introduce and Create Moodle Course Activities and Resources
August Week 3 PD Day
Moodle Navigation / Course Settings
Pages and Descriptions/Summaries
Folders
August Week 4
Forums
Glossaries
Wikis
September Week 1
Groups
Quizzes
Moodle Implementation Strategies and Training
September Week 2
Forum Discussions
Glossary Entries
September Week 3
Wikis
Groups
September Week 4
Quizzes
Moodle Unit Prep
October Week 1 Week 3
Unit Planning
October Week 4
Course Creation
November Week 2
Classroom Integration (November Week 3 March Week 2)
January Week 3 Week 4
Small Group Share
February Week 3
Unit Reflection
February Week 4
Unit Redesign
March Week 2

Term 3

March Week 2

All Staff Meeting Share

Classroom Integration (March Week 3 June Week 4)
May Week 2 Week 3
Small Group Share
June Week 1
Unit Reflection
June Week 2 Week 4
Unit Redesign
June Week 4
All Staff Meeting Share

ADMINISTRATIVE ROLE

The school has recently drafted a technology integration policy which aims to support school-wide
classroom technology integration. The on-going issues associated with Chinas internet censorship has
led to a greater focus on using the schools local Moodle server in classroom instruction since many of
the features can supplement inaccessible web tools. The technology integration policy strongly supports
a slow adoption curve to provide teachers with time to acclimate to the new system. Therefore, only
teacher volunteers initially participate in training.
DIFFERENTIATION

Because teachers have varying experiences with Moodle or other LMSs, teachers will be provided with
flexible learning environments. This includes the use of blended strategies in which participants are
provided instruction through prerecorded screencasts to work at their own pace and review as needed.
During synchronous instructions, participants who are completing outcomes faster will be asked to
assist other participants.
EVALUATION

The evaluation of this training program will use Kirkpatricks Four-Level Evaluation Model.
Learner Reaction

Kirkpatricks Four-Level Evaluation Model

Questions answered through survey:

Learning

How do participants rate the instructional approach?

Did the blended learning method meet their expectations?
How did they rate the instructional screencasts?
How did they rate the face-to-face workshops?
How did learners rate their overall interaction with Moodle?
How did learners respond to individual Moodle activities and
resources?
After receiving training, which areas of Moodle do they feel most/least
confident?
Did participants meet each sessions learning outcomes?
Were participants able to apply what they learned to populate their
Moodle course with activities and resources?
Did participants through discussions and reflections demonstrate an
understanding of how Moodle can facilitate the creation of

Behavior

Results

constructivist learning environments as well as support ELLs and

introverts?

Did participants integrate Moodle activities successfully into their unit

plans (long-term and meaningful integration)?
Did participants reflect on their unit design and redesign their units to
improve Moodle integration?

Questions answered through survey:

Other

Participants

Did participants utilize Moodle activities to facilitate the creation of

constructivist learning environments?
Did participants utilize Moodle activities and resources to support ELLs
and introverts?
How likely are participants to continue using Moodle in the classroom?
How likely are participants to agree to facilitate future Moodle PD
workshops?
How likely are participants to support Moodle late adopters?
Students

How often did students use Moodle to complete class activities?

Did teachers use Moodle to:
o Create opportunities for student collaboration?
o Assist language learners?
o How often did the teacher use: Forums, Wikis, Glossary
Entries, and Quizzes?
Were class materials well-organized and easily accessible?
Did ELLs find glossary and forum activities useful?
Did ELLs feel that they had a stronger voice through online
participation?
Overall, did more students participate in class or online discussions?
Did introverts participate more in online discussions?
Did ELLs participate more in online discussions?