10 Ambitions for What Tutor2u Offers Online

The summer months provide an ideal opportunity to rethink the structure and format of our popular economics courses available through Moodle and our main web site. With our Moodle VLE for example, last year, well over a hundred schools and colleges subscribed to AS and A2 micro and macro courses and in the days (and nights!) leading up to the main exams, it was pleasing that many hundreds of students were logging on to try the past paper online quizzes and check out a range of revision resources.

Colleagues in several schools also used the Moodle learning management system as a way of testing out some new ways of delivering courses using online tools and some are now striking out on their own to develop Moodle VLEs at their own venues.

For my own students here at school and for other students joining the Tutor2u Moodle VLE this autumn, here is some of my thinking on how I plan to make better use of the flexible Moodle system in my teaching for the 2010-11 academic years.

1/ Expand the embedding of content from You Tube and other streamed content into glossaries, forums and assignments.

2/ Make better use of Moodle database module for example as a way of sharing knowledge between students and teaching colleagues - this could be anything from study notes from students to book and magazine reviews available for all participating students to read and comment on

3/ Expand the use of different types of forums as a way of encouraging wider enrichment reading, student reflection and in improving data handling skills for external exams. Student blogs also offer powerful opportunities for developing and deepening subject understanding and giving students a chance to write in different ways and blend written text with supporting images, audio and video resources. I really want o expand the use of student blogging this year and offer chances for peer assessment of forum and blog contributions.

4/ Be more ambitious in the use of student-generated glossaries in specific topics - for example research projects on famous economists, aspects of development economics, and in generating interesting research in areas of economic / political controversy

5/ Integrating Google Wave and the new version of Google Docs into my Moodle courses - encouraging real time collaboration. One aim is to bring in some subject experts from outside the school (e.g. city economists and policy makers) to join online chats and discussions outside of normal school hours.

6/ Widen the use of Twitter both in the classroom and also embedded into specific courses within Moodle (this is easily achieved now using the Twitter goodies available on the Twitter web site)

7/ I want to be more ambitious in developing different styles of question for the online quizzes - moving away from the standard format of multiple choice questions, embedding audio, pictures and online movies into questions and answers.

8/ Tutor2u will be exploring ways in which our popular study companions can be converted into different formats that make them even more powerful tools for online learning. All of the refreshed economics content being written this summer will be embedded into our Moodle courses

9/ I want to be more ambitious in linking our courses to the terrifically exciting open courseware resources available for example through iTunes U and You Tube U

10/ From a professional development perspective I plan to create a new Moodle course providing free opportunities for economics and business teachign colleagues across the UK and beyond to share ideas and develop their own confidence and expertise in using Moodle and other resources. I will be working on details of this during a short break in Sydney over the weekend.

I am also exploring ways of adding other third party software to the main Moodle courses - especially the likes of Mahara as a open source e-portfolio and social networking system. And experimenting with webinar software - I am having a close look at Adobe Connect and Elluminate as options during my time in Melbourne this week.

So - lots to do in the days and weeks ahead. But by September I am hopeful that a lot of new features will be in place to make the Tutor2u Moodle-based elearning system a great resource for students and teachers. And all of this before the long-awaited and hugely anticipated roll-out of Moodle 2.0 the new version of Moodle that promises a step change in the functionality and power of this fantastic bit of teaching kit.