Organic Learning

I’m currently developing a course for content developers on using Web 2.0 tools in Moodle. It’s important to not get too engrossed in the tools, but rather concentrate on the learning. But the tools make learning interactive and add such a rich environment to the online learning environment. Here are some of the tools I find embed very nicely into Moodle (as well as wikis, blogs, web pages, etc.)

Embeddable Applications

• Slideshow presentations - Google Presentations or SlideShare
• Multimedia Digital Storytelling/Video – Animoto, Voicethread,
• Interactive Timelines – ie Dipity, xTimeline, Mnemograph, TimeToast, or OurStory
• Maps – Google MyMaps
• Graphic Organizers – Bubbl.us or Gliffy
• Documents and Forms – Google Docs, Scribd’s iPaper, and/or Docstoc
• Collaborative Whiteboards – Twiddla, Sketchcast, Skrbl
• Screencasts – ScreenCastOMatic, Jing Project
• Audio Interaction – Gabcast, Gcast
• RSS – (Using the tag feature in Google Reader) - RSS to include feeds from blogs, news, social bookmark tags.
• Web Page Clips and Annotations - Clipmarks
• Quizzes - MyStudiyo, Quizzlet
• Backchannel - CoveritLive, GoogleDocs

Add to this the ability to embed rss feeds from blogs, news feeds, social bookmarks, videos, audio, and images and the learning environment becomes interactive and dynamic. Moodle also allows you to bring in any web page, so wikis, published Google Docs, and other online content can be brought in to the learning environment.

The wealth of learning resources makes designing the online learning environment rich and engaging.

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A few years ago, I agreed to write an online course about email. It was based on our previous email system, EPals. Even at the time I wrote it, I threw in a few articles written about the Pew Internet study about how email was considered by teenagers as something to be used with old people. I also made the last of the six sessions one about using collaborative tools like blogs and wikis as part of the process. The class was approved and then we switched to Google Apps for Education.

Now I need to rewrite the class. As I look at what I’ve written just two years ago, I am amazed at all that’s changed. I can’t just write a course about email anymore. Email is just part of a collection of tools that we use to communicate, collaborate, and share. Even with Google Apps for Education, I don’t consider email as the most important part of the set of tools. Together with docs and the calendar sharing, it’s a move in the right direction. Add the ability to sign up for other collaborative tools that allow students to be contributors of their learning to a network of producers, and the world opens up.

So, it’s back to hours of rewriting for me. Sigh. It’s a good thing. It’s growth. I hope the people who want the class rewritten think it’s okay to write a class about more than email.

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