Committing

to a Blended Learning Model of Delivery

A Post-Earthquake experiment with Moodle and Facebook Richard Hallum

Around 7 to 10 years ago the catchphrase Blended Learning came on the education scene (being touted as the next big thing), along with e-learning. In the context of an existing classroom-based programme, this means running on-line delivery alongside the on-campus delivery. Around 2005 I did dabble with Moodle but then let it go. The reasons for this were quite simple: (a) lack of time, and (b) I was not persuaded that there were any advantages. These two are, of course, related. Tutors (like parents) are busy people, so the idea of using Moodle begged the question is all the time and effort really going to be worth it? From my perspective, several of the advantages were already embedded into the Diploma programme delivery. I maintained a Server on campus that contained many additional resources from lectures, copies of assessments, equipment manuals for every piece of equipment, and students could hand in assignments electronically to my dropbox. As well as this, the idea of student laptops was already integrated into the programme (since before 2002). A student could bring his /her computer to class and then continue with study on the same computer at home. File transfer between campus computers and student laptops was also provided for so a student could seamlessly exchange assessment projects between the two. The Feb. 22 earthquake necessitated a re-think as to how to deliver the programme without a campus. Until we obtained alternative sites I used Adobe Connect to teach virtual classes. This allowed students to attend class online and see the tutor. They could also see and hear any AV content I presented on the screen (eg whiteboard, pictures, videos). Alongside that, a live chat was possible, so a student could type a comment or question during the session. This aspect could be controlled so that all students could chat, or questions were only directed to the tutor. The session could also be recorded for later online viewing. Whilst this method was essential to get classes going again, there were several limitations. One problem was that there was no way of providing handout sheets. Another was the very limited way in which a student could engage/ ask questions. With the technical level 6 subjects that I teach this was a serious impediment to the students understanding. Early on, I saw that to even come close to what we used to offer I needed to use Moodle to complement the Adobe Connect presentations. Thus, I started using it to put up assessments, and readings. After about 8 weeks we finally found premises we could hire to conduct physical classes again. By this time I had given myself a crash-course in Moodle and was also using it for some online quizzes that students could use for formative assessment. Although we now had a classroom (of sorts!) there was also the issue of students actually being able to attend due to the state of the roads etc. For this reason I decided to keep the Moodle side of the delivery alive. Another important aspect in the overall change of delivery mode was to use Facebook. This was first used to broadcast important announcements to all students, but it soon became clear that it can also be a great learning tool. To use it effectively a Facebook Group was created which had all students, teachers, and student support staff in the group. This is the best way to contact all students in a programme. Previously I had tried by telephoning and emailing. Neither of these methods are a reliable way of communicating with a group of students, as they are quite transient, changing cellphone numbers and email address (even without an earthquake). Facebook is the preferred social communication platform, so they already have an account, and are frequently using it. It therefore was simply a matter of me inviting them

to join the group I created. Bulletins were put up about general topics, but one very effective use I found is to post a message telling students to look at a certain topic (eg The tutorial for Assignment 1 is in eCampus DA13). These pointer messages act as signposts to an exact location in Moodle, making it easy for students to find things. This is useful, because I have a lot of content up in some units, and Moodles navigation can sometimes confuse students. To make locating information easier I have been careful to present each unit and each topic in a consistent manner. To get a common look it is important to always use the same font and text size, and lay out each unit in a similar way. Moodle allows for easy re-ordering of content, and indenting, so a tidy and easy to follow layout can be easily generated. Apart from using Facebook to make announcements, it gets used for course related communication. When I first set up material on Moodle I created at least one forum per unit (usually one for important messages, and the other a social one). What happened was that the students preferred to use Facebook for these functions, so I went with that. I have found Facebook used in conjunction with Moodle is very effective. It acts as a much-needed point of social contact between staff and staff, staff and student(s), and student and student(s). This of course could be no more than social chitchat, but what tends to happen is that its use in the context of the group is programme-related. A student can ask a question which can then be answered by one or more tutors. Other students can observe this conversation, and join in if they desire. An additional advantage for a student is that he/ she could post a problem (eg my MIDI Sport 4 is not showing up in Pro Tools) and a tutor might answer within minutes even if it is an evening or weekend! Facebook often creates an effective social learning environment of the sort that is difficult to produce in the classroom. For example a student may not feel like asking a question in front of the class, but will probably be confident to do so online. Or, it may be that a student cannot formulate a question quickly enough in the class. With Facebook he/ she can think about it for hours (or days) before posting it online. This works both ways, and I have found satisfaction in being able to take my time to answer questions more fully than the time constraints of the classroom will allow. Facebook postings can have attachments, and there is a useful straw poll feature, making it easy to put a simple questionnaire to students. Again, students can consider what their responses are, and this can provide more reliable information to a tutor than a quick show of hands. Another benefit of using Facebook relates to programme management. As Facebook keeps a record of all its transactions it becomes an easy matter to keep a record of events. Virtually every issue faced by the students will at least be touched on in this forum, and some are quite detailed. Last year I copied this logbook of the years actions and activities (as a PDF) and then cross-referenced this with my tutor journal to provide the information required for the PASA report at end of year. As students (and staff) had gone through the year commenting in Facebook, we had effectively written the script for the report. Facebook is usually used for short messages, but long passages of text can be uploaded (unlike Twitter). An example of this feature being used to enhance student learning was where the Certificate students put up their band recording reports (some were over 1000 words). Usually it is very difficult to get our students to properly document recording sessions (or anything else, for that matter). When they wrote the report on Facebook, however they were happy to provide a comprehensive report of the procedure. I put this down to that they were more thinking of doing it to communicate with their peers, rather than just for the tutor. Prior to using Moodle I had started building my own audio website: <http://www.audiosite.org>. This site provides audio education information (free of charge) and has many useful resources for MAINZ students. I continue to grow this website and sometimes link to it from within Moodle. A lot of the content is more specific or advanced than that on Moodle. It provides a lot of extension material for the keen student, whereas I have kept content on Moodle mainly limited to the curriculum (in some cases with a few extra

readings). This delineation is useful in coping with the large range of student interest and ability than vexes tertiary classes. On Moodle students can find all resources pertaining to core programme content (ie the assessable component of their learning). This serves to clarify for them what will be in the assessment. Let me turn now to how I am using Moodle. Moodle offers a wide range of delivery tools. Before putting material online for students I experimented with most of them, but have only used some of them. I would say it is important not to get too ambitious with them. The reason I see they are all there is to provide the widest possible use for Moodle across all levels and disciplines of education. Upon logging-in a student can select either a course of study, or the programme main page. On the main page I have two forums (social and news). After the Feb 22 earthquake these initially got some use but now are virtually redundant as our one stop shop forum is Facebook. When comparing Facebook to the Moodle Forums it does seem that Moodle would be superior. Its forums are set up just like forums on the Internet, where a specific topic can be dealt with in a separate forum. There can be threads, and email messaging. Moodle also has Chatrooms where students can communicate with their tutor in real time. Compared to this the all in one bucket type of communication provided by Facebook seems rather limited, but Facebook hold the trump card here the students use it! The programme main page is where I put timetables, theory calendars, assessment schedules, and the entire programme curriculum. Also on this home page are some learning resources (which relate to my first week class on learning). When we come to the programme content, Moodle already has an overall template, by having a set structure for Topics (lessons) within a course. The number of these can be set, so I only have as many as needed, which is between 3 and 10. Topics can be hidden from the students until it is time for them to see. This makes it easy to put content up well ahead of classes. When I began I was relying on Moodle to carry the whole lesson so each Topic was just that, and had no reason to be attached to an actual theory class. When we resumed classroom lessons I had to revise the content but have kept the same hierarchy to keep things clear. I mention this because with blended learning there could be the temptation to make each Topic equal one physical class. Sometimes, we deal with more than one topic in a class, but I find that grouping things logically in Moodle works better. Each Topic then has one overall purpose, and this is clearly shown in the Topic heading. Just putting stuff up on Moodle is a bit pointless. It requires some thought on how to structure it (in conjunction with actual classes). For this reason tutors who have a logical and disciplined approach should achieve best results. I have now completed one full cycle of teaching the curriculum using Moodle (March 2011 to March 2012). This required a comprehensive review of all my teaching resources, and this was quite as beneficial exercise. When tutors start to teach they are resource starved, but after some years of teaching a particular topic we can find ourselves with a glut of resources. This was the position I was in, so as I began putting topics on Moodle I had a good spring clean. As well as purging any superfluous material as I went through (week by week) I thought about what to put online, and what to teach in the classroom. Sometimes the two overlapped, but generally there is more to be gained by explaining things in the classroom. Moodle, however, is great for putting up material that would be too copious to deal with in class. Examples are diagrams that are too complex for students to reproduce quickly, and text-based material (readings, tutorials etc). I teach a technical programme at level 6, and this provides a way of providing valuable additional material that there isnt time to cover in the classes. Of the eight resource types available in Moodle I frequently use four. These are Labels, Text Pages, Web Page, and Links to Files or Websites. For those not familiar with Moodle I will briefly describe these here:

1. Label This is used to put text on the Moodle webpage within a Topic. When relying almost totally on Moodle I would write paragraphs of text so that the Webpage could actually be read as a document (with Hyperlinks to sites or files). Now that we have classroom lessons again I no longer need to do this so the Label gets used for sub-headings within a Topic. It can also be used for messages (eg Important could be inserted immediately above an assignment). 2. Text Page A text page is a pop up page of text (plain text or HTML). I used these where I wanted to have longer passages of text in the online lesson. When typing, there is a much larger text field than with a Label so it is good for any text longer than a short paragraph. All that shows on the Topic is a title, so it keeps the layout neat and concise. 3. Web Page It is possible to create web pages in Moodle. I used this to create resources that needed tightly integrated media (text, pictures, sound files, videos). 4. Link to a File / Website Linking to a website provides a hyperlink to a web URL. You can have a logical name for the link. This is obviously useful to point students to good sources of information, but I use it judiciously because links have a habit of breaking. Linking to a file involves uploading the file and then selecting it for use in the Topic. I use this a lot, and the file type could be a PDF (eg an assessment sheet, a topic-related article). I also put audio files up as examples, and tutorial videos. Files uploaded can be quite large (a few hundred MB) but the upload speed of Moodle is not great, so I try to keep them as small as possible. It is possible to upload compressed files, and this is handy for group files, as it will show as one entity in the Topic window. It also means a student can download a set of files with one click, and therefore not miss any. The upload process is a bit clunky but can be done quite quickly once one is used to it. Both Text Pages and Web Pages are most valuable for creating resources from within Moodle. After the Feb 22 earthquake I was left with no access to my teaching materials so I used both of these to start again from scratch. Later, when electronic resources were recovered it became easier to use uploaded files or hyperlinks. Resources is one main attribute of Moodle, and the other is Activities. There is a considerable variety of these presented in Moodle. Only some of them I have used, and there is scope for experimentation as time goes on. The ones I have so far been using are: 1. Assignments All my assignments are put online. I still handout a paper copy in the class, as this is obviously the right place to demonstrate or discuss what is required. The advantage of also having them on Moodle is that there is a permanent copy that students can download when theirs gets lost (it happens all the time!). This aspect of assignments is actually a Resource procedure (ie uploading a PDF). The Activity is used for students to upload their completed work. There are several types of Assignment in Moodle. I use the Advanced uploading which can allow multiple files to be uploaded for marking. It also has a handy feature where as well as providing a percentage mark, and any comments, an attached marking sheet can be returned to the student via email. The number of files can be limited to one (I set it to this for most written assignments). The Assignment feature provides a record of assignment marks. A big advantage of students submitting work through Moodle is that I dont have

assignments handed in all over the place (eg in the corridor), or on different formats (eg some on paper, some to be transferred from pendrive etc). Another plus is that they are timestamped so there can be no dispute about when they are handed in. 2. Quiz Quizzes are a powerful type of activity in Moodle. They can be set up in several different ways. I used a quiz in the form of an exam to provide the summative assessment for some of the theory units. For this I set them up with a one-week window allowed to sit the exam. This is considerably longer than an in-class test (typically 1 hour) so the difficulty has to be increased. I use a question pool from which a formative test is put in each Topic. These provide feedback to the students, and this can be set to offer various amounts of information (per question or globally), as well as when (and if) the student gets to see the correct answers. They also provide statistical data to the tutor, and it is easy to identify who is attempting the practice tests. This is far more reliable than assuming that students have prepared for a test. The actual exam I use is formed from questions taken from the various topics, so as to cover each element of the course curriculum. The bulk of my question pool for the Sound Theory units had already been written by on of our Auckland tutors. I was able to import them into the programme for my students. Setting up quizzes does take some time, so overall I found there was no time gained. Multichoice are attractive as results will appear automatically. It is possible to have many choices for a question, which can provide more of a challenge than the usual four. So far I have only used multi-choice type questions out of the 10 available types (which includes essay). Multichoice can be set so either or both the question and the answer number is randomized. This prevents students memorizing the quiz to a large degree. To further validate the assessment I post questions where some working out is required rather than just recall. Moderation is a slightly different procedure to a paper test, and this is best achieved by having another tutor actually sit the test once it is set up. As each student sits the test it marks itself, which has the dual benefits of saving tutor time, and eliminating any error or unfairness. 3. Wiki A Wiki is a document created by the continuous input of multiple people. Moodle Wikis are exactly that and I tried some with the students before we got a classroom. I did not use them as an assessable task, but are good for encouraging collaborative learning. The other activities (eg Chat, Choice, Feedback, Dialogue) mainly relate to eLearning where there is no physical presence involved. A large number of scholarly papers have been written on Blended Learning (although less it seems since about 2005). I have read a small number and many focus more on the philosophy than the andragogy. From a practitioners perspective, the benefits I see are: Less time spent marking student papers Any amount of additional material can be provided to students (at no extra cost) Evidence for reflection/ reports is automatically assembled Shy students can more readily engage in social constructivism Tutors have time to prepare good quality answers to questions Tutors / other students can immediately respond to posted questions The student can access the resources anywhere/ anytime (great for night-owls) The level to which students are able to engage with Moodle is somewhat set by learning style preference. Assimilators, rather than divergers (as defined by Kolbs LSI) are more likely to use the on-line resources. To some degree online resources can be tailored toward learning styles but I find that students prefer to utilise physical presence or Facebook to conduct the social aspects of the learning environment. Whenever surveyed, most students say they prefer

a real classroom-learning environment to any alternative. Surprisingly, students also tend to prefer paper tests to online ones. Where online learning excels is where self-directed learning is a key part of the programme. As self-directed learning is fundamental to the programmes I teach on (at levels 5 and 6) there is a good match between learning outcomes and what online learning can provide. For these reasons I would not advocate that the online component of our all programmes become predominant. The majority of delivery is still physical and must be to allow for the high level of practical involvement. Blended Learning (in my case using Moodle and Facebook), however, does compliment the traditional style of delivery. I have named this report Committing to a Blended Learning Model of Delivery because it does require some dedication from the tutor to make Moodle work. As well as being prepared to put in some long hours to assemble materials online, he/ she must keep it up to date. It is also important to frequently refer to the online resources (both generally and specific items) when in the classroom. As with anything new there is a step learning curve, but Moodle is designed to be fairly easy to run once past that stage. Now that I have completed one learning cycle (ie one year) I consider that I have established a viable method of integrating Moodle and Facebook with face-to face delivery. I intend to continue using this model of Blended Learning to enhance learning in the programme.

To summarise, here are the key points I have learnt in my year-long trial of Blended Learning: There are some real benefits to the learner (Moodle and Facebook) There are some real benefits to the teacher (Moodle and Facebook) It does require some time commitment (Moodle) It does require backup expertise (Moodle) It is difficult to get buy in from some students (Moodle)