Hello,
I haven't looked at them exhaustively, but there's a social constructivist
flavour to some of the Moodle Help Files - compared to others I've seen
which have tended to be procedural and carefully neutral. Look:
"Asking questions that are specifically intended to help others learn is
known as Socratic questioning, named after Socrates in Ancient Greece."
(from Asking Questions)
"When writing online, it can sometimes difficult to express emotion with
plain text. These little icons can help."
(from Using Smilies)
"Wiki is a platform for working together on constructing web page."
(from Wiki Usage)
There's some pedagogy in those help files - is that unusual or did I just
not notice it in WebCT etc?
Mira
--On 17 October 2005 11:16 +0000 Dan Stowell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Hi Sam,
>
>> I've never bought this.
>
> I've always been suspicious of it too (especially since many WebCT tools
> find an exact equivalent in Moodle), but I can back the claim up a
> little. Once you look at Moodle in detail you realise that there are
> little things here and there which push towards creating an online
> community, as opposed to an online content delivery system.
>
> * Each user is encouraged to create an online profile, with a little bit
> of blurb about themselves, and a picture they can upload.
>
> * Many of the tools have little constructivist extras - for example,
> entries in a glossary can be rated by students, and students can even
> contribute new glossary items (these are features which the teacher can
> turn on or off btw). Similarly, forum postings can be set to be rated by
> students.
>
> * Moodle has a whole module devoted to peer-assessment - conspicuously
> absent in WebCT - and also a wiki tool, and a "journal" (which is like a
> student's individual learning log).
>
> * A course can be entirely based around a discussion forum.
>
> All of these are features which emphasise learning as a kind of group
> conversation rather than a dispensing-of-knowledge. They can all be
> activated or deactivated, so in a sense Moodle is "pedagogically neutral"
> too. But it does actually allow more dimensions of student contribution
> to a course, than WebCT does.
>
> Best,
> Dan
>
>
>
>
> At 10:31 17/10/2005 +0100, VLE automatic digest system wrote:
>> Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2005 10:08:27 +0100
>> From: Sam Brenton <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: Open Source VLEs: statistics>>
>>
>> "As Philip says Moodle does come from a constructivism background
>> (which existed for some time before Moodle even was a gleam in the
>> developers eye.... )"
>>
>> I've never bought this. PHP content management systems typically have a
>> range of modules, and some of the better modules are associated with
>> communications. But I cannot see how Moodle is more natively 'social
>> constructivist' than, say, WebCT. In both you can have discussions,
>> chats, surveys, feedback mechanisms... the balance between comms and
>> content is the choice of the designer in both. The navigation and
>> structure are similarly flexible. The teaching methods are not
>> constrained by one system more than another.
>>
>> WebCT used to say (maybe still do) that they were 'pedagogically
>> neutral'. This is edu-marketing speak for "appealing to the whole
>> market" but is in fact closer to the truth of any e-learning system.
>>
>> I'd be very interested to hear the arguments for the constructivist
>> nature of the system, over any others. What can one do in it that is
>> 'contructivist' that one can't in WebCT?
>>
>> Hello to list members by the way. I rejoined the other day after
>> BB-WebCT takeover was announced so am very interested in all the options.
>>
>> - Sam
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Dan Stowell
> Faculty Information Support Officer (Life Sciences), UCL
> http://www.ucl.ac.uk/is/fiso/lifesciences/
>
> Room G22, Drayton House, 30 Gordon Street, London
> Phone: +44 (0)20 7679 5472 (within UCL: dial 25472)
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
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_______________________________________
Mira Vogel
Centre for Excellence in Learning Technology
Goldsmiths, University of London
New Cross
London
SE14 6NW
Tel: 020 7919 7298
Email: [log in to unmask]
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