Impressive Use of Social Tools in School
A very interesting thing happened tonight. My 13 year old daughter was logged into a Moodle account being used by the school district. Her English class added a course to the system and the kids were introduced to the system today.
I was impressed to see the school district using a tool like Moodle to help manage courses, but was more impressed when I saw HOW they were using it, WHAT the kids were saying, and how QUICKLY it was adopted.
Since her class just started on this today, there was only item in the system: a forum discussion topic for the book Flowers for Algernon. The teacher started the discussion with “Should doctors tamper with intelligence?” While this topic only started today, and the kids were only exposed to this tool for the first time today, there are already close to 40 posts on the topic. Not only is the number impressive, but the quality of the posts is amazing. From logical analogies using cancer and smoking as instantiations, to discussing the interpretation of “tamper”, to debating if a possible patient could make a competent decision for themselves, and the social impact if doctors were able and allowed to tamper with intelligence, it was amazing to see the quality of thoughts and ideas.
I have been impressed before with how much better kids seem to collaborate on projects in the classroom than we often do in the workplace. This time I was impressed by the level and quality of independent thought being expressed. The kids also quickly adopted a new technology to them, and will learn a great deal more through this online debate and exchange of ideas.
If this small sample is any indication, we have an impressive generation learning to discuss and debate topics using online forums at an early age. I’m excited to see what this generation brings to the world.
24 October 2008, 4:07 pm
40 posts is wonderful - the students are really getting engaged. I wonder if this will become more of a trend as teachers get more confident with using these tools for course management and participation. I hope so.
27 October 2008, 9:37 pm
This is inspiring. Our school district is just getting started with Moodle and it seems overwhelming at times.
29 October 2008, 12:17 am
Karen - I hope all goes well with your Moodle project in your school district. I actually installed Moodle at home almost 2 years ago to play with it and find out what educational modules might be available to supplement school lessons. While I abandoned that motivation, I did play with it and considered it for an education tool at work. The overwhelming side of it for me was to vast possibilities I could see with it.