Engaging students with an online learning management system- The Locko Story so far…….

Engaging students with an online learning management system- The Locko Story so far……. Owen Goyder Lockridge Senior High School

Key ideas covered in this presentation- 1. To explore the background to establishing an Online Learning Management System (OLMS) at Lockridge SHS. 2. What are some of the key features of an OLMS? Do they improve student learning??? 3. Examples of how existing ICT tools can be integrated within an OLMS. 4. Future directions for the OLMS at Lockridge SHS. • Copyright notice- • Clipart and photographs used within this presentation, personal websites and software demonstrations have been supplied by one of the following sources: • Corel GALLERY TM 100 000 000 • www.corel.com • ArtToday Inc. (Clipart.com) www.clipart.com • Learning Objects – The Learning Federation, http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/tlf/newcms/d2.asp

So why an ICT rich environment in the first place? The use of ICT to engage students in learning was nothing new but we attempted to “concentrate” the use of ICT with a group of Year 8 students whose behaviour was characterized across all learning areas by: • Complete disengagement with existing curriculum • Truancy • Behaviour management issues (high suspension and referral rate) • Refusal to attempt common assessment tasks or research tasks

Initial web based program • Web based activity sheets • POSITIVES • Increased student engagement • Allowed students to progress at their own rate • Scaffolding tools such as Word files, Inspiration worksheets, Acrobat PDF worksheet could be downloaded by students and stored on their drive. DID NOT ALLOW Detailed online monitoring of student progress Or Easy to use collaboration tools (at point of need) for students to share ideas.

What is Janison? Janison is an online learning management system (OLMS) which incorporates a number of tools so that the author can design, author and manage all aspects of the online learning system……. Let’s have a look! Each student has a unique username and login They will only see the courses for which they are enrolled GO LIVE TO JANISON Demonstrate - Desktop

How are courses organized (within a discipline)? 1st level courses 2nd level - modules 3rd level topics 4th level - Lessons

What these levels look like to the student. Module Energy Topic – Thinking about energy Lesson – Steaming Along GO LIVE TO JANISON Demonstrate – Module, Topic, Lesson Structure

Features for sharing and collaboration- a. Discussion forums – Students use the discussion forum to post questions (or to respond questions). They can start a new “thread” or respond to a previous one. I often used discussion forums as a means of determining prior knowledge and understanding.

Features for sharing and collaboration- cont. b. Posting files – Using Janison tools you can set up the facility for students to “stick” their worksheets to the lesson pages. Files which are posted in this way can be viewed by all members of the group. Excellent for sharing and collaboration on projects. Simple to upload files

Features for sharing and collaboration- cont. c. Student memos – A student memo is a response box on the screen that can be reviewed by the teacher. The teacher can also comment on the response. The student will see the teacher response when they are next on the page. (students can be auto emailed to let them know that the teacher response has been posted). A powerful tool for monitoring student outcomes. Students can modify their answers.

Features for sharing and collaboration- cont. d. Online chat and messenger- Instant messenger and chat are also available tools for Janison. A potential time waster but certainly worth exploring the potential. (I used the chat room from home when I was sick …. Very successful) Chat room – huge potential for synchronous communication tool . GO LIVE TO JANISON Demonstrate – forums, file posting, student memos

Tools for monitoring and assessment • Online tests – • Students can complete tests online. Providing the tests are multichoice they can also be marked automatically and the results recorded for you. You can set a number of options including the date the test is available, how many times a student can attempt the test etc. Hotspots can be built into the items GO LIVE TO JANISON Demonstrate – online tests

Tools for monitoring progress and assessment b. Tools for monitoring student progress.- macro level You can monitor student progress from a macro to a micro level. The example shows a macro level of management. GO LIVE TO JANISON Demonstrate – Student monitoring tools

Tools for monitoring and assessment Time spent on each lesson is given c. Tools for monitoring student progress- micro level . Answers to student memo’s and teacher responses are shown Score and number of attemps for online assessment are shown

Other features - • Janison has the ability to tie in and use a wide variety of existing resources (this was fundamental to choosing Janison) • Including • Existing websites • The Learning Federation – Learning Objects • Shockwave Files • SchoolKIT modules GO LIVE TO JANISON Demonstrate – resource link potential

Editing your pages - There are a variety of options you can use when editing your webpages- Frontpage, Dreamweaver or the onboard Janison editor. You can use Frontpage, Dreamweaver or the onboard Janison editor Onboard editing suite is familiar to most teachers

Applications I used in the program – online and offline • Inspiration: Concept mapping program. An excellent graphic organizer: • Example 1 (constructed by teacher and used to reinforce understandings) • Example 2 (constructed by student to show concept links) • 2. Interactive Acrobat PDF f – These are originally written in Word and then converted to Acrobat PDF format with form features. They can be opened by ANY computer platform and filled in online • Example 1 Online webfocus activities Example 2 – Network common assessment tasks • 3. Half Baked Software (Freeware – conditional) –This software produces a • range of word puzzles including crosswords, word cloze, matching exercises • Example CrosswordMatching Exercise • (see more at: http://home.it.net.au/~ogoyder/quiz.htm) • 4. Other applications explored included SchoolKIT and Britannica online • School edition.

Future directions? • Some possible ideas for further expansion of the OLMS • Collaboration with other schools (not necessarily in Australia!) – i.e. Connecticut plan • Establishing sites for cross curriculum programs – providing student collaboration tools, scaffolding and support materials, monitoring tools etc. • Establishing sites for post compulsory – programs, syllabus materials, online practice questions, past exams, student issues forum, advise forums, links to resources etc. • Subject resources – scaffolding materials, links, research assignments, student issues forums etc. "If you continue to do what you have always done, you'll get what you always got"

Discussion Questions Given that you may not have my luxury of having a 1:1 ratio of students to laptops, how would you use an “online learning management” system such as Janison in your school? What else would you like to know about “online learning management systems”? What have you seen today that “you like” about online learning management systems? What are some of the concerns you have about online learning management systems?

Contact information and important URL’s Owen Goyder Email: ogoyder@it.net.au Website: http://home.it.net.au/~ogoyder Janison site – You can look at my Science Janison site at the following URL: http://elearn.lockridge.wa.edu.au Username = visitor Password = Lockridge (you will not see teacher facilities) For links to ICT and pedagogy you could look at: http://home.it.net.au/~ogoyder/resources/home.htm

Engaging students with an online learning management system- The Locko Story so far…….