Recently, I had the opportunity to review an interesting book that could be invaluable to homeschoolers who are interested in using technology to create their courses. The book, Moodle 1.9 for Teaching 7-14 Year Olds, is a guide that takes you through Moodle a useful course planning software that is available for free.
Truthfully, this book has so much information packed into its pages that I can’t give a complete review of all the contents . . . it would be a very long blog post indeed!
Moodle 1.9 is not just a technical book on how to set up a course, though it does take you step by step through the basics. What homeschool parents will find very useful are the tips throughout the book relating to how you can make your material and coursework more friendly for the 7-14 age group. Bright colors and eye catching graphics are just a few of the suggestions.The step by step section shows you how to add colors and images to liven up the course and make it more appealing to this age group.
The first few chapters of the book look at how to set your course up. This section includes screen shots and you are best off working through it with Moodle already set up, so you can see exactly what the author is talking about.
Once you have the basics of creating a lesson plan in Moodle, it’s time to add specific modules that kids can work their way through. This is where it gets fun. The book takes you through adding worksheets and self-assessing exams, among other things, making this a very powerful teaching tool.
If you are interested in a more structured lesson plan, working with various people online and making your lessons available to other students, then Moodle is a great way to go. This book takes you step by step through what you need to know to create useful lesson plans for your students.
We will be making use of what we’ve learned from this book soon, providing some lesson plans for members of Barnabas Way, so stay tuned for updates.
Tags: lesson plans, Moodle, online teaching