June 10, 2011

David Evans Teacher, Roduc Jr High School 8555 Pseudo-Way Leduc, Alberta, T6X 1R4

Conrad Bawlding Division Technology Administrator, Blackgold School District 1280 Patchwell Way Nisku, Alberta, T6X 1N7 Re: Moodle Server Proposal

Dear Mr. Bawlding, It is with great enthusiasm that I write today to start a discussion regarding an opportunity to increase the learning opportunities of our students. I have recently attended a conference focused on addressing the learning needs of students in our current generation and was enlightened to the technological tools that are available to us as educators. One tool, a Learning Management System (LMS) known as Moodle, aligns itself perfectly with our districts goals and values. Through this proposal, I hope to make a convincing argument that our district should contribute to the learning opportunities of our students through an investment in a Moodle server. There are a number of reasons why learning in our district could benefit from using Moodle. As a learning community, we are responsible for providing environments that support learning. New technologies, such as Moodle, can help bring about such a learning environment. Students in both brick-and-mortar classrooms and distance education programs could benefit

from Moodle. A LMS can allow for teachers to easily distribute course materials, communicate with members of the learning community, and provide a safe, secure area for learning activities to occur online. Lonn and Teasley (2009) found that both students and instructors using a LMS believed it improved communication, efficiency, and opportunity for interactive learning. Moodle stands apart from many other LMSs in that it was created as open source software. The open source license allows users the freedom to change or modify the program without fear of copyright infringement. It provides an opportunity for the users to experiment and innovate without fear of violating a restrictive licence. Aydin and Tirkes (2010) identified that when organizations use open source software such as Moodle, they are not subject to software company dependency risk (p.594), the fear that a proprietary software company could stop development or increase maintenance fees for the software. Open source projects are also subject to development stoppages, but the Moodle community has grown to a sustainable mass. The benefits of Moodle are being observed by almost 43 million users and 1.1 million teachers around the world (Moodle.org, 2011). The software has a dedicated group of users, known as the Moodle Community, who work collaboratively through online forums and face-toface conferences to improve the software and troubleshoot any issues that may arise. Through this community I have found solutions to a number of issues such as adding students to courses and importing quiz questions. Moodle is currently being used by several large institutions such as the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, http://courses.ecuad.ca/, and the Vancouver school board, http://school.vsbeducation.ca. I have personal experience with using Moodle and would recommend it as an excellent program. I have used it to improve communication and collaboration in the classroom. It allows for me to easily collect student assignments and quizzes, mark them swiftly, and return them

with ease. I can distribute materials to students who are absent and keep them informed of what they have missed. I can access it from any web connection and students can do the same, allowing for a learning environment that extends beyond the classroom. Our district has a healthy level of diversity among our learning community; some members will be more accepting of change than others. It is possible for a teacher to concurrently be excited and hesitant to bring technology into their classroom. Teachers that feel anxious about using technology are more likely to have negative attitudes towards the educational benefits of the tools and are more likely to pass these beliefs onto students (Christensen, 2002). Ramos (2005) found that exposure to technology and constructivist beliefs were positively correlated with more frequent use of technology. Through its friendly interface and intuitive design, Moodle has the ability to quell technology anxiety. Martin Dougiamas, the creator of Moodle, designed the software with constructivist beliefs in mind. Dougiamas (2004), as quoted in Antonenko and Niederhauser (2004), speaks to the ability of Moodle to bring pedagogical change to the classroom: a 'teacher' can change from being 'the source of knowledge' to being an influencer and role model of class culture, connecting with students in a personal way that addresses their own learning needs, and moderating discussions and activities in a way that collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the class. (p. 13) Project Implementation Bringing a LMS such as Moodle to fruition is not a trivial task. I would like to become a leading member of the implementation team. I have been in contact with a number of educational community members from various district schools and they are keen to bring the benefits of

Moodle to their students. Prior to widespread implementation, I propose that we setup a number of small pilot projects with this group to learn from the challenges we will face together. Moodle is licensed as open source software and is available to download from the Moodle website, Moodle.org. Once downloaded, the actual software must be hosted on a server, usually provided by the districts tech department, or rented from an outside company. I have spoken to Susan Ronroy, Head of Tech Services with our district, and she is conditionally willing to host the project provided it starts small with around 20 classes or 600 students. She informed me that in order to scale up to full student capacity, she would need approximately two months to prepare. Private server space is also available from a number of sources including Lambda Solutions (2011), who can provide this service for $720 per year. For Moodle to be useful, instructors need to add content to the site. Agamba, Moulton, and Strickland (2009) found that instructors often developed their course content first, then apply it to the LMS, unaware of how to exploit the affordances of the educational tool. In these cases, instructors struggled to fulfill the roles of course designer, instructional designer, and topic expert all at once. Our implementation teams goal will be to explore the opportunities of the technology, such as Peer-Workshops, Forums, Wikis, automated Quizzes, and become Moodlefocused instructional designers. We will then bring this experience to others in our district. I hope that this proposal has conveyed my excitement for this project and my belief that Moodle can bring significant improvements to the learning opportunities of our students. I look forward to hearing back from you to discuss this further. Sincerely,

David Evans

References: Agamba, J.J., Moulton, S. & Strickland, J. (2009). Exploring Course Content in Moodle to Determine Learning Environment Efficacy over Face-to-Face Constraints. In T. Bastiaens et al. (Eds.),Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2009 (pp. 15-20). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/32423. Antonenko, P. Toy, S. Niederhauser, D. (2004). Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment: What Open Source Has to Offer. Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (October 2004). Retrieved from
http://www.contempinstruct.com/books/open%20source%20moodle.pdf

Aydin, C.C., Tirkes, G. (2010). Open source learning management systems in e-learning and Moodle. Journal of Education Engineering (EDUCON), 2010 IEEE. (pp. 593-600). Retrieved from
http://www.ieec.uned.es/Investigacion/Educon2010/SearchTool/EDUCON2010/papers/2010S03F01.pdf

Christensen, R. (2002). Effects of technology integration education on the attitudes of teachers and students. Journal of Research on technology in Education. Vol 34 (pp.411-434) Dougiamas, M. (2010) Moodle: How we built a community around open source software. CERN. Geneva. Retrieved from http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1332173 Lambda Solutions. (2011). Moodle Hosting. Lambda Solutions Moodle Partner. Retrieved June 7, 2011, from http://www.lambdasolutions.net/moodle-hosting Lonn, S., Teasley, S.D. (2009). Saving time or innovating practice: Investigating perceptions and uses of Learning Management Systems. Computers & Education. Volume 53, Issue 3, November 2009, Pages 686-694, ISSN 0360-1315. Retrieved from
https://ctools.umich.edu/access/content/group/research/papers/Surveys_Final_AERA2008.pdf

Moodle.org. (2011). Retrieved June 7, 2011 from http://docs.moodle.org/20/en/About_Moodle Ramos, P.H.. (2005). If Not Here, Where? Understanding Teacher's Use Of Technology In Silicon Valley Schools. Journal of Research on Technology in Education. Vol 38, (pp.3964) School District #61. (2010). Achievement Contract. Greater Victoria School District #61. Retrieved from http://www.sd61.bc.ca/super/pdf/achievement/Achievement_Contract_2010-2011.pdf