I’ve chosen to deploy a micro-lesson from the “Collaborate in the Cloud” course in the Learning Management System Moodle. It's ideally suited for the delivery of MOOCs (massive open online course); claimed to be the world’s most popular open-source LMS platform and an authoring program, so users have the ability to either upload an existing course to the platform or create a course within the platform. I’ll be creating the micro-lesson course in Moodle, using it as an authoring program. It supports all types of course implementation, blended learning, fully remote, collaborative group, and self-paced.

Moodle also has a large library of plugins available. I’ve choses to incorporate three: Workplace Course Certificate plugin, which issues certificates of completion to users. The Content Pages plugin enables teachers to present and distribute content in a meaningful way to reduce potential cognitive overload and it follows the usability and accessibility standards. Tiles Format plugin is one that improves the appearance of the course in Moodle. It displays topics/units in a course in tiles instead of in a vertical list layout that causes the endless scrolling.

On the Administrative side, Moodle has custom reports that incorporate a range of conditions and filters providing a 360 degree view of progress and feedback on activities, skill development and assessments which enable not only evaluation of the participants learning to inform instruction, but that of the effectiveness of the course to impact future changes or developments. Another reason I’ve chosen Moodle is because Administrators have the ability to add users individually or as a group from a CSV file, in addition to assigning roles to users (admin, teachers, participant, and guests). I particularly like the “add guest” feature because it allows for peer review of a course.

Moodle has myriad functions that I deem necessary to execute my instructional design strategy (UID Universal Instructional Design principles) for distance Learning:

Design Allows for Microlearning, chunking content to reduce cognitive load. Personalized learning path for each learner via a “Pre-Assessment or Survey” Informative, tailored, and instructional feedback opportunities

Communication Mobile messaging and notification functionality Sharing ideas in forums Mobile submission of assignments

Activity Engagement multimedia

Assessment Variety of quiz formats Reporting to track progress

Accessibility WCAG 2.1 Standards Grouping Students

I have over eight years of experience working with learning technology infrastructure elements. On the user side as a teacher, and on the corporate and administrative side as a consultant, designing and implementing training for educational software companies. I’ve had to learn each of the software programs inside and out, taking on the roles of the SME, the instructional designer, and the training facilitator. I’ve had to teach not only the “How to’s” and the “whys” about the programs, but also the “which” reports to pull, “how” to read and understand the reports and interpret the data. I assist teachers in analyzing the data and using the results to make data driven decisions for instruction, both whole group, small group and with individual students. Answering questions such as, does the student need an intervention to be more successful? Is the student on-track for mastery? And more. I also develop partnerships with district and school administrators, and meet regularly to review data. I work with them to develop implementation plans and decide the best path forward for their students and teachers using the program.

These software programs are LMS compatible, so their reporting data is transferred to an institution's LMS for reporting purposes. This past year I contracted with a K-12 LMS that’s strictly used in New York State. The LMS has built in courses for NY high school students, and it’s also an authoring tool, enabling educators to upload their own course materials, create assessments, and use the multimedia functions. Since I”ve been out of the classroom a bit over 8 years, I missed out on using Canvas in the district, however last summer I took the Google for Educators exam (Level 1 Google Educator), and in the process I had to learn the LMS Google Classroom. Although I’m pretty proficient with Google, I’m looking to learn more about the LMS that are used in Corporate, as I’d like to leave the constraints of K-12 and Higher Ed.

(n.d.). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines .... Retrieved May 10, 2021, from https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

(2020, September 17). Activities - MoodleDocs. Retrieved May 10, 2021, from https://docs.moodle.org/en/Activities

(2021, February 25). Questions - MoodleDocs. Retrieved May 10, 2021, from https://docs.moodle.org/en/Questions

(2021, February 25). Questions - MoodleDocs. Retrieved May 10, 2021, from https://docs.moodle.org/en/Questions

(2020, September 17). Tracking progress - MoodleDocs. Retrieved May 10, 2021, from https://docs.moodle.org/en/Tracking_progress

(n.d.). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines .... Retrieved May 10, 2021, from https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/