SoN Grad Faculty Moodle Bootcamp

This course is presented entirely online through boost.up.edu, the University's new online professional development site. All required resources will be available to you either directly inside this course or through links embedded in the course. 

As you go through this course you will be able to work in your "SandBox Course", which is a separate, blank Moodle course just for you. The Sandbox courses are hosted in UP's academic learning site, learning.up.edu (the Moodle that many of you know and love.) In your Sandbox, you can experiment, try things out, and apply what you are learning. As you get oriented to this course please make sure you can access your Sandbox, and let me know as soon as possible if you cannot.

The course is divided into four sections that each address a different learning goal. Each section should take about 30 minutes to an hour and a half to complete as you read, watch videos, and complete learning activities. 

Course Facilitator & Communication

Hi! I'm Ben Kahn, Instructional Design & Technology Specialist at UP. I will be your guide through this course.

I believe that instructor availability and clear, open communication lines are critical to successful online professional development. If you have any questions while taking the course, please email me at: kahn@up.edu. Please include "Moodle Bootcamp" in your email subject line.

When you email me, I will respond as soon as possible. If you send me something and I can't fully address it right away, I will respond with a “Got it” email. If you do not hear from me within a day, send a quick follow-up to be sure I received your message.

Course Outcomes

1. Standardize hybrid instruction practices in the grad program
   
• To provide a more consistent and coherent online learning environment for SoN graduate students, we will identify and learn best practices for using Moodle to organize instruction, communicate with students, and assess work.
  
2. Enhance faculty proficiency in the Snap theme
   
• To allow faculty to effectively leverage a modern, highly usable, accessible, and mobile-device friendly Moodle environment, we will learn the basics of using the Snap framework.
  
3.  Enhance faculty proficiency with Moodle activities
   
• To allow faculty more time to focus on reviewing student work and giving feedback and less on wrestling with Moodle, we will seek a deeper understanding of how to utilize Moodle functionality to save time and simplify workflows related to grading and giving feedback.
  
4. Enhance faculty proficiency in the use of media and collaboration tools
   
• To create a more dynamic, engaging and multi-mode environment, we will explore tools that can be used to create or incorporate digital instructional media or enable synchronous collaboration at distance.
  

Tech Check

To complete the course you need a PC or Mac computer and access to the internet. You may use any web browser but Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred.

To complete some activities in the last module, a microphone/webcam is required. Use of a headset/external microphone is encouraged but not required. If you have a laptop computer you can use the integrated mic/webcam for these activities. If you do not have access to sufficient equipment, get in touch with me at kahn@up.edu and we can come work out alternate arrangements.

Incoming Survey

Please fill out the short incoming survey on the course home page. I'd like to know more about you and where you are at with using technology in your hybrid teaching. This is anonymous, and just to help me do a better job in making sure you get as much out of this course as possible!