Moodle/Workshop/Introductions

Introductions

Please introduce yourself and respond to the other participants.
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=Facilitators=

Nellie Deutsch
My name is Nellie (Muller) Deutsch. My formal educational background is varied but my informal studies are even more so. I have a BA in English literature and linguistics, an MA in education specializing in curriculum and technology, and am currently completing a doctoral program in educational leadership specializing in curriculum and instruction at the University of Phoenix online. I have been teaching English as a foreign language for over 30 years and integrating technology into the ESL/EFL classroom since the 1990s. I have been involved in international collaborative projects and WebQuests via Moodle for the past 5 years. My first website, Nellie's English Projects was an experiment that evolved from a WebQuest and started me off as a webmistress in the days of html before web 2.0 tools. I facilitate online (Blended and full) and face-to-face workshops on how to use Wikieducator as a collaborative tool to improve instruction and learning and conduct online workshops and conferences. I also moderate live online workshops for Electronic Village Online which is a project of TESOL's CALL Interest Section, storytelling and cultures, and integration of technology and web 2.0 tools into the classroom on WiZiQ.

I am passionate about learning and am currently completing my doctoral studies in educational leadership specializing in curriculum,and instruction online at the University of Phoenix and writing my dissertation. I am researching blended learning and instructor use of technology in higher education. In my spare time, I mentor educators on how to integrate web 2.0 tools for instruction and learning. I would like to see e-learning available and free worldwide.

I am interested in collaborative and engaged learning, social networking, philosophy, mindfulness meditation practice, the Alexander Technique, art, writing and poetry. I am looking forward to collaborating with other educators on the best ways to integrate technological tools in order to facilitate and improve instruction and learning.

Please feel free to contact me by [mailto:nellie.muller.deutsch@gmail.com email].

Ludmila Smirnova
My name is Ludmilla Smirnova. I am an Associate Professor of Education at Mount St. Mary College in Newburgh, N.Y., where I have taught for the past 9 years. At the Mount, I teach courses in Curricular Planning, Methods of Teaching and Teaching with Technology and serve as counselor to Kappa Delta Pi, the International Honor Society in Education. I have become increasingly recognized for my leadership in the application of emerging Internet technologies to education. I have run numerous workshops on the application of Smart Technologies (e.g., Smart Board) and of Web 2.0 tools to the college and primary/secondary classroom. Prior to coming to the Mount, I was visiting professor at Ramapo College of N.J. for two years. In my native Russia, I was professor of education at Volgograd State Pedagogical University, where I also served as Dean of the School of Foreign Languages. During my 25-year Russian career, I was known for my work in innovative approaches to teaching. I pioneered the reintroduction of Montessori education in southern Russia; a Montessori trainer in both the American and European approaches, I have run seminars and training programs for Montessori teachers in Russia and the U.S. Also in Russia, I played a key role in creating a model Ecological Gymnasium and other experimental “charter schools.” With my Ph.D. and Masters students, I additionally undertook a major program of comparative study on successful educational innovation; an interest that has continued after my move to the U.S. Beyond the seventy books and other publications based upon my work in Russia, I have written for and presented to a growing list of professional audiences in the U.S. and abroad. Technology Enhanced Teaching and Learning for Student (and Teacher) Success was published based upon my presentation at the Faculty Resource Network conference “Defining Student Success” in San Francisco in November 2008. I have also conducted numerous other workshops and presentations on Web 2.0 “Read-Write-Create” technologies, including Moodle and Smartboard training online and in colleges, public schools and conferences in the U.S. and Mexico. This summer I presented virtually at the Association for the Advancement of Computing conference in Hawaii in June and in person at the International Association of Technology, Education and Development EDULearn09 conference in Barcelona in July, where I also chaired a session. I recently co-edited a volume on comparative approaches to environmental problems in which her work on the Ecological Gymnasium was featured. In October I am running a workshop "Get in the Mood for Moodle" at the conference for teachers and students of Kappa Delta Pi, the International Honor Society. Moodle is my passion. I have now taught more than 16 online and 24 blended courses with Moodle. Love to technology and virtual learning brought Nellie and I together. We met at one of the WiZiQ sessions where Nelie was fascilitating a couple of my presentaitons for global audience on teaching with technology. We are members of the same professional and social networks. It is a pleasure to be in her team in WE.

You can reach me at [mailto:smirnova@msmc.edu email].

Mary Robinson
Kia ora, I am Mary Robinson, a geography teacher at St. Cuthbert's College in Auckland, New Zealand. My school is a private girls school for students from aged 4 to 18. The students at my school all have their own laptops (from aged 9 years) which they use in the classroom every day. In the junior school (Years 5-9) the students use Apples Macs and in the senior school they use a Windows platform however some students in the last year of school choose a Mac for their studies. Teachers use the platform that the students have access to. I teach students in Years 11-13 (aged 15-18). Moodle is used extensively at my school - from delivering Daily Notices to students, to displaying photographs from field trips and activities around the College and also ICT help and a staff page with access to all sorts of material. It seems like everything is on Moodle!

I am "very" new to using Wiki Educator (only used this for two weeks but already I can see how great it can be, and fun too!) but have been a Moodler for the past three or four years. All my courses are delivered via Moodle which means students can access the material in an "anytime, anywhere fashion", they can collaborate, participate in discussions at anytime and can also work at their own pace if need be. I use a SMARTboard a lot in my classroom and I convert lessons in pdfs and upload for students so they can have a record of our scribblings and ideas. Material can be turned on and off as needed and students can be directed to files that they need now. Teachers can get feedback from students to see how they are going. Just yesterday I asked my class about what they like about moodle and here are a couple of quotes "Everything is stored on a computer so I can review and adjust notes whenever" "Material such as relevant websites, videos and activities can be accessed again and again if you do not understand and we can share our work". I love how Moodle can be adaptable and it is very easy to upload material to the course you are teaching.

My school has a goal as well of sustainability with regard to paper usage and Moodle certainly is useful for this - my photocopying budget is about half of what it was last year as we are delivering material more and more via Moodle.

I love some of the cool things you can use Moodle for. Earlier this year I went to Malaysia for ten days to a conference, during term time, and my students were able to communicate with me via the discussion forum when they did not understand and the bonus thing was that they were able to help each other as they problem solved the answers to questions they had. We used the chat activity one day which they loved and the only down side was I had to get up early to be in class with them. They were very impressed. And just the other day I was home sick for three days and I was able to upload work, talk with them online from my sick bed and mark their work almost instantaneously which was cool.

I also get students to upload their work for me - I can mark online and give feedback (it even keeps a record of the grades - no more paper copies for me (smiles); I can see who has accessed the material and who has not; it records when students are doing their work (often late at night); I can also talk with the students how they can improve their understandings by reviewing the material on the course. I have an extra-curricular course where students can edit the page themselves and get others involved which they love. I can track how often students are accessing Moodle and also can see how other staff members are using it so I can provide individualised PD for them if they are unsure about how to use a strategy.

My school has also added an electronic portfolio to Moodle which enables students to use blogs and the like for research. My Year 12s are doing an evaluation of some research in a blog format which is going really well. It also operates like a social networking site like Facebook so students can join a group of other people who like football, for example. Information of relevance to footballers can then be sent to those students. It is early days for this and we are still learning about its potential.

I am looking forward to meeting you all.

Please feel to contact me at [mailto:MaryR@stcuthberts.school.nz  email].

=Participants=

Hi, my name is Patricia Schlicht and I have been working with and for Dr. Wayne Mackintoshm the founder of WikiEducato as the WikiEducator Learning4Content Coordinator and Community Builder on Wikieducator.

I have gained extensive knowledge in open and distance learning (ODL) and technology-mediated learning since 2000 when I started working in the industry. I was introduced to the concept of Free/Libre Open Education in eLearning in May 2006 through Dr. Wayne Mackintosh. I have since gradually increased my knowledge in this area and have been involved in promoting WikiEducator and building capacity in the global communities. I am actively facilitating our Learning4Content training workshops online, but never moodled. I monitor and evaluate WikiEducator activities, among the many other activities I am involved in, building a sustainable global network of WikiEducators. Feel free to visit my page, to leave me comments. --Patricia 21:40, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm Alejandra Guajardo from Lima, Perú. I'm studying a linguistics master degree in Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. During the last six years I've been working as a coordinator of a post graduated linguistics course focused on minority and endagered languages at Ricardo Palma University in Lima city: CILTA. From this year I'm teaching an on-line course on introductory linguistics for our university students, using Moodle. Also I started a blog in edublogs called Aula de Linguistica for my on-line students. Last May I joined WikiEducator community and it has been one of the most motivate and encouraging experiences as an online teacher. I'm deeply interested in learning more about Moodle and I'm looking for teachers who would like to share their experiences using Moodle (in Spanish or in English) in a online and face-to-face workshop next February 2010. --Alejacha 03:55, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

I am Anuradha Gungadeen, Lecturer in Open nad Distance Learning at the Mauritius Institute of Education from Mauritius. I have been administering the Moodle e-learning platform at the University of Mauritius for 4 years and I'm currently working on the Moodle platform for the MIE. Administering and managing over 2 000 students is no doubt a very challenging task!

I followed an online course from the west Indies University in collaboration with the COL last year and it's an opportunity for me to share my experiences with colleagues.

I'm very much interested in learning more about Moodle and I am looking forward for professional exchanges with colleagues from all over the world.

Hello everyone. Iam thrilled to read great works from everyone of you. I am thrilled to see Patricia who is among wikieducators from whom I draw great inspiration and motivation to belong to wiki educator. I am delighted to meet Nelie and Gladys whom I met at one of my busiest times at my job and whose workshops I have been missing but following the activities when I get time. I am glad to meet with Ludma, Mary,Anuradha, Alicia, Alejandra and everyone else.I am happy to be on board with you all. I look forward to learning a lot from you. My name is Elizabeth Okwisa Mbasu. I work for [http://www.kie.ac.ke/. Kenya Institute of Education (KIE)]for the last ten years. KIE is the national Curriculum Development and Research Centre. I am Assistant Director and particularly in charge of Open Learning and Distance Education.Since I have worked in the same station for too long, I am searching for other jobs. I am more interested in online jobs of any kind. I have a BE.D from Kenyatta University in Botany and Zoology and M.Ed in Flexible learning from University of Southern Queensland(2008).I studied the following units for my Masters program: Create Interactive Multimedia, Introduction to Web Publishing, Online & Distributed Learning, Instruction Design for Flexible Learning,, Online Teach: Strategies and Tactics, Creating Educational Web Environments, Research methods in Education On 31st of July 2009,I graduated with a diploma certificate in e-learning in practice from GC21. Currently, I am involved with developing digital content for primary (science and Maths) and secondary schools (computer Studies).I have completed phase one (std. 4 and 5, and Form one).Through collaboration with other education stalk holders (AED), I am developing a budget for funding an e-learning course for teacher educators. The course prototype is already ready and full design must be completed during this financial year. My institute adopted GC21 LMS which is currently in use. I am keen to learn MOODLE and compare its offerings to GC21.I'd like to launch my educator's course on moodle. This is among reasons for joining this workshop. Within the next five days, I am updating my user page which you can visit here.

- Hi Everyone,

I am an Assistant Professor in Education in NCERT presently posted at Regional Institute of Education, Bhopal which is a constituent unit of National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi. Since last 7 years I am working here in different capacities like, State Coordinator of Maharashtra and Goa, Incharge of Computer Resource Center, Co-incharge of Educational Technology Cell, Coordinator of Working With Community programme, House Adviser and Technical Person for EDUSAT programme.

I visited Kunming, China in 2007 to attend workshop on ICT sponsored by UNESCO Bangkok. In 2008, I attended II workshop on ICT at Brunei Darussalem. sanjay Kumar Pandagale 05:00, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi everyone, I'm Virginia Alberti, an italian math and statitic teacher and a teacher trainer in a two national project (m@t.abel and LIM project). I'm also an e-tutor certified. I love wikis and teaching with tecnology and I'm very happy to attend this workshop for my elarning passion and for collaboration and sharing. ciao!!! Viralber 13:39, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Hello, my name is Elaine Frampton. I am the IT Coordinator for Literacy Nova Scotia. Here's our eCampus Moodle: I'm one of the site admins. My background is graphic and web design. I hope to learn about how all of you have integrated multimedia and web technologies into your teaching. I want practice in actually setting up a Moodle too.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2436/3904387266_79c1d0d865_t.jpg

I'm Carmela Dell'Aria (but my friends call me Carmen),an Italian teacher of English in a secondary school, but actually I’m also a specialized teacher for students in special needs. I spend half of my time as a Professor for a CALL Lab at the University of Palermo. After many professional experiences abroad and in Italy I’m currently doing research on blended learning, videogames and social networks. Actually I'm offering free activities and classes in Second Life for people who want to learn Italian or have a basic knowledge about this language and culture (Italian Pronunciation, Café Italia, Italian Classes for Beginners). I’m glad of working on some educational projects in Second Life because I am eager to learn more about teaching and learning with Multi-Users Virtual Environments. I hope to learn more about Moodle and I'm happy to be enrolled in this course.--Carmen64 16:20, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi, my name is Joao Alves and I have been teaching German and English at a secondary school in Portugal. I also have a master degree in educational sciences (ICT in education) which I finished in 2006. Shortly after finishing the master degree I discovered the world of the social web and all the web 2.0 tools that can be used to improve students' learning.

I got acquainted with Wikieducator three years ago where I learnd the first steps in using and editing wikis of the type WikiEducator is based upon. A year later I attended the course Learning4Content where I developed and consolidated the basics I had learned before. I'm involved in a multilateral European funded project called 'Web2Class' and also an eTwinning project. These projects aim at the digital literacy of students and teachers to promote collaborative learning by using Web 2.0 tools.

At the moment I'm training teachers in the use of Promethean activboards since the schools in our country have all been equipped with this technology this Summer.

Joao Alves 11:15, 13 September 2009 (GMT)



Hello! My name is Eleni Argyriou and I am an EFL teacher at a junior high school in Greece. I hold a M.Ed in TESOL and I am interested in blogs, wikis, blended learning and generally in the use of technology in education. I participated in the Wikieducator courses for the first time in June and I did my first baby steps. Now I hope to learn more and use moodle with my classes. Elenargy--elenargy 20:06, 13 September 2009 (UTC)