Moodle

The constructivist philosophy of Moodle fits well with work to facilitate student use of e-learning to construct their own knowledge. During the summer and fall of 2012 I constructed an online class from scratch. Online Politics and Law is moodle based, and I created all of the learning objects on the Moodle page for the class. I also used Moodle to enhance my AP European History classes at Anoka High School with discussion forums, practice quizzes, wikis, and more, and I am currently doing the same for Advanced Placement World History and on level World History. Moodle allows me to create learning situations in which students actively build or test knowledge.

For example, in Moodle students can uses quizzes to formatively assess themselves. I learned to develop quizzes in E-Learner for Educators during October 2011, and I have used them since to help students prepare for a chapter tests and the AP exam in European History. The quizzes are voluntary and the students who take them generally raise their scores.

Forum discussions are a critical aspect of constructivist online learning. Students in forum discussions collaboratively construct and apply knowledge. I have learned much about facilitating forum discussions in the UW Stout E-Learning program and have applied this skill in my high school teaching.