A Picture Quiz in Moodle

Using Embedded Cloze Quiz Questions to make an Image Matching Activity in Moodle

This is the first activity I ever made in moodle.  I wanted a way for students to identify weather terminology using images.  I wanted an interactive way for them to be able to select the correct term, see a list of options, and have it self checking.  Moodle to the rescue.  Often I see Moodle used as a list of links, or just purely as a discussion forum, but it can be so much more with a little bit of creativity and manipulation.

I took an embedded cloze quiz question and expanded it to make a matching activity.

To do this I had to first understand the structure behind the embedded cloze question. It does NOT have a WYSIWYG editor, so you have to use some basic code to create questions. Because you have to use the code, you can really change, expand, and manipulate the questions!

The basic structure is: 1. Curly bracket: { 2. What the question is out of as a numerical value: 1 3. Colon 4. Question type: SHORTANSWER (short answer case doesn’t matter) SHORTANSWER (short answer case matters) NUMERICAL (Numerical) MULTICHOICE_V (radio buttons – circles to select in a vertical column) MULTICHOICE_H (radio buttons – circles to select in a horizontal column) MULTICHOICE (a drop down menu) **This is what I used 5. Colon 6. Answers The general format is: answer#feedback for the response~answer#feedback~answer#you don’t have to include feedback and can then leave out the pound symbol~=correct answer#you can have as many choices as you want you just put an equals sign in front of the correct answer If you want more than one correct answer instead of an equal sign put the percentage of marks you wish to award for example: wrong answer~wrong answer~%50%give half the marks to this answer~%50%give half the marks to this answer 7. End curly bracket: }

In the end it looks something like this: The capital city of Canada is {1:MULTICHOICE:Toronto~Calgary~=Ottawa~Vancouver~Montreal}

That will create:

What I did was create 20 separate drop down menus using the same concept. Each menu went into a table cell, with an image. It was just a lot of copying and pasting.

I first created one question:

Then I copied and pasted it 20 times, into 20 different cells in a table. I had to copy the HTML code, just use the <> triangle brackets in the edit window to toggle to the code.

<td width=”25%” valign=”center” style=”text-align: center;”> <img style=”width: 147px; height: 164px;” src=”http://apps2.pallisersd.ab.ca/moodle/file.php/214/Challenge/2.JPG” /><br />2. {1:MULTICHOICE:Cirrus#~Wind Chill#~Trade Winds#~Virga#~Barometer#~Eye#~Aurora Borealis#~Cold Front#~Blizzard#~Hail#~Sleet#~=Water Spout#~Cumulonimbus#~Warm Front#~Fog#~Dew#~Cumulus#~Jet Stream#~Anemometer#~Frost#} </td> I didn’t actually need the pound symbols because I choose to not leave any automatic feedback for the students in this quiz.

After I copied the code into each cell, I just change the img file name, which I had just saved as the numbers 1 through 20 ahead of time to keep myself organized.  I just changed the number in front of the .JPG file extension – easy if you have the files all named carefully and uploaded!

To change the correct answers, I just moved the equals sign to the matching term for the photo in each table cell.

In the end I had a 4 by 5 table, with a separate cloze question, each with its own photo in each cell. It created a quiz, out of 20 marks that gave the students instant, self checking feedback to match weather terminology and images.

 

Around the World – 8 Videoconferences in 1 Night!

What so you get when you take 24 grade 5 students, 5 parent volunteers, 1 student teacher, and 1 slightly crazy classroom teacher and lock them in a school over night? You get one of the best experiences I’ve ever had as a teacher.

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On Thursday, January 28 my grade 5 class slept over at the school to video conference with the world. We worked around a Winter Olympics theme breaking into countries to compete in sporting events, used the Wii to play Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics, and went geocaching in the dark!

We started by Skyping with two classes in Canada. The idea was to start close to home and talk to other Canadians about the excitement building around the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver in February. We spoke with @Hafy2009, Jodi Hafenbrak of Balmoral Hall in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  She was one of the Canadians I traveled with to Brazil in November for the Microsoft Innovative Educators Forum.  Then it was @zbpipe, Zoe Branigan Pipe, in Hamilton, Ontario.  We Skype with her class quite often, and she was the first teacher I ever videoconferenced with!

This got the kids off to a great start, and two VC’s down during school time, before the craziness of staying late after school started! Part way through the afternoon I got an email from my parents, who have been in Hawaii.  They are both retired teachers.  I thought Hawaii would be a great stop as we headed west with our Around the World trip so I gave my Mom a quick Skype call and we connected!  In a happy accident moment, I managed to plan our sleepover on Pajama Day at school, so the kids were very prepared for our sleepover, and wore their PJs (me too!) all day!

After school we got into some of our activities, including incorporating the Winter Olympics theme.  We painted our faces and made flags for our team countries.  We had teams from Norway, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, and Great Britain.  They students were very patriotic.  As the host of the event, I was of course Team Canada!

Some of our Olympic events were in the gym, or hallway.  We had a figure skating event, which was the Michael Jackson Thriller Dance, which we learned and performed at Halloween.  Each country had to perform and see who could best remember or make up new steps the fastest and work as a team.  We raced bobsleds (in the form of two students sitting on scooter boards) down the hallway, it was one of the highlights for me.  The students loved it!

Other events we played on the Wii, including ski jumping and curling! We used the game Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics

We met with @robinthailand, Rob Newberry, and his class from Thailand.  They were shy, but we talked about weather, different sports in the two countries, food, and beaches!

After speaking with Thailand it was time to run around outside! We went geocaching in the dark. It was our “torch” relay. Each cache was a different city across Canada that the torch visited and they had to name the province or territory it was in. They used their flashlights or “torches” to guide the way

Next on the agenda was a Skype call from Austraila. Rob Sibaglia, an IT specialist met with us, and had a colleague read us our bedtime story which was about how the kangaroo got its tail!

Just before bed we got a second call from @zbpipe.  It was Zoe’s second time to talk with us, but this time she was in Philadelphia!  Nothing like having the same person meet with use from two different countries!  The students thought it was fantastic! Then it was off to bed! The kids did not sleep….well maybe about 2 1/2 hours! The girls’ room was full of giggling and gossiping. It was especially interesting when they thought I was asleep. The boys’ room was full of, well, methane!

We even remembered to brush our teeth, and the parents were really great about organizing healthy snacks, fruit, cheese, crackers, and meat! There was a healthy supper of lasagna, salad, veggies, bread, meatballs, rice, and perogies! Not all of the toothbrushes made it back home, I found this casualty on the hallway floor!

The next morning at 5:30 I was up and energetic, but the kids were a bit…sleepy! With the worst bedhead I’ve ever seen, smeared face paint, and questions about when they got pancakes, we met with @gillpenny, Gillian Penny, and Gavinburn Primary School from Scotland. This was the one connection that didn’t use Skype. We used Glow, the Scottish VC Intranet system. @olliebray worked very hard behind the scenes to get everything going on both ends. Thanks to my tech department for opening ports and solving a few last-minute snags. We had a bit of sound trouble, but we worked around it, and did get everything connected in the end. We shared all about the Olympics as Gavinburn is working on a big unit all about the Winter Olympics and are using Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics as well! There may have even been some curling rivalry talk!

After pancakes and some very Canadian maple syrup, we had our last connection of the day with @bligoben, Mags from Wales and the year 6 class. We walked all about weather and what we had in common, and what was very different. My students enjoyed hearing that even students in Wales like Justin Bieber, a Canadian Pop Singer!

After cleaning up and sending all the kids home, it was time for me to head to Vulcan (the town, not the planet) for a professional development/teacher meeting day. It was kind of a blur, with a great deal of coffee. I did bring the Wii and Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics with me so other teachers could try it out and several plan to use it with their class. We were looking at it for measuring with decimals to thousandths. Thousandths are a hard concept, and timing of races was almost the only context we could think of that they were used, which our students would find relevant. Not only do Grade 5 student have to use and understand decimal places to the thousandths, but they have to order and compare them as well. What better way to order and compare that collect race times on the luge, bobsled, skiing, or snowboarding runs, then compare and order them to see who won, and the order of the competitors!

The night was a huge success, thank-you to all the parents, our Skype and VC partners from Around the World, my student teacher Mitchell for putting up with the boys all night, and to the students for having a fun, safe time!

 

Backchanneling with Grade 5

I’m always looking for ways to engage my students. We have been learning about the Canadian Shield in Social Studies. My student teacher has taken over the unit, but I had to suggest an activity to get the kids motivated and thinking.  We backchanneled with our grade five class while they watched Survivorman.

Survivorman is a program where Les Stroud is dropped into a wilderness situation and has to survive for 7 days.  I use it to teach geography is many contexts.  It shows the land, Les is a fantastic wilderness photographer, and what resources are available.   His arctic episode is great for my unit on the north, the swamp episode perfect for wetlands, and the Costa Rica episode is wonderful for Rainforests.  He even has one where he is lost at sea that would tie into teaching about oceans.  The list could go on…

The idea of backchanneling is one I’ve seen blogged about before, and I was very intrigued with how it might look with elementary aged students.  The moment I showed them Today’s Meet they couldn’t wait to get started.  I chose to use Today’s Meet as my backchannel tool because it is very simple, clean, and not distracting.  The students focus on the message and the information being presented, not ads or flashing banners.  It allows the students to enter a simple name and they are in the chat instantly.  It also displays their name so I can easily track who posted what comment.  Perfect!

My student teacher and I posted discussion starters such as this to get the kids focused in their comments:

The students were fantastic.  They shared ideas, asked questions to each other, and had some very insightful thoughts:

This comment tied the Social Studies lesson back to the novel study we had just completed in Language Arts – yeah!!

This comment showed the point we were trying to make about Northern Canada – trees!!  It’s great when the students can point out the main idea and reach the important conclusions!

The students started to put themselves in the situation:

Another great question!  (Remembering I’m in rural Canada and using animals for food is very much a part of normal life for my farm children)

This was one of my favourites!  A student threw out a fantastic question that led to all sorts of discussion!

Even the basics get taken care of on the backchannel!

 

2009 – A Year in Review

2009 marked my entry into the edublogosphere.  It’s hard to believe I’ve only been blogging and sharing for a little over 6 months.  With over 10,000 blog hits, I feel like I’m off to a great start, and can’t wait to see what the next year brings. I never imagined anyone would actually read what I wrote, and maybe it’s still just my Mom visiting my blog a lot, but I think a few people may be listening!  I just hope that as I share my ideas and musings are helpful.

My goal in starting a blog was to be practical and share useful things, not blog on about what I think.  I have posted a few reflective posts, but there is power in this.  When one reflects on their practise and philosophy they begin to see patterns, trends, and come up with new inspiration.

Top Posts:

My favourite post – Avoiding the String Effect in Moodle – I’ve spent a lot of time working with moodle this year.  I see it as a powerful tool to support learning.  This post was all about making it more like a webpage to make it easier to navigate for my elementary aged students.  I used hyperlinks to link to hidden content, instead of having a long string of activities and links that is hard to navigate.

My most popular post – Unique Geocaching Containers – I’m an educator, blogging about using technology with a focus on the elementary classroom, but I’m also a geocacher, and I get many hits from other geocachers.  This post highlighted some interesting geocache containers that I had seen or discovered in my caching adventures.

My most commented on post – Flash Activities in the Smart Notebook Lesson Activity Toolkit 2.0 – Just after the Lesson Activity Toolkit  (LAT) 2.0 came out for Smart Notebook I had many people on my staff asking me what was in the LAT and how they could use it.  I put together short explanations and examples of each of the interactive flash activities provided in the toolkit.  I’ve even referred back to it myself when I trying to come up with a good idea for a lesson!

My surprise post – The Essential Quality of an IT Leader: Ability to Adapt – This post was written as an assignment for my IT Masters program.  The task was to think of an IT leader that influences you and pick one quality that really sets them apart.  I chose to write about my colleague, moodle mentor, and all around helpful dude, Technology Integration Specialist, Todd Diakow.  He was the first person that came to mind for the assignment and I  think the piece turned out really well, even though it is reflective, philosophical jargon.

Highlights of 2009:

It for Dominica Project – Teaching other teachers in the Caribbean for the second time always stands out as they best part of my year.  The opportunity to share and inspire other educators in a setting as beautiful as  Dominica is inspiring and reenergizing.   I go back in July for a third time!

Starting a Masters in Instructional Technology Leadership – I always said I didn’t want to pursue a Masters Degree.  I didn’t want to try and balance teaching and trying to go to school.  I didn’t want to focus on philosophy and educational jargon, I was really uninterested in the whole idea.  Then I found a program that had the three necessary pillars for me.  It focuses on leadership, the use of technology in the classroom, and technology infrastructure (boxes, wires, networks, security, administration).  I’m 1/4 of the way into a three year program from the University of Lethbridge.

Microsoft Innovative Educators Forum in Brazil – The Everybody’s Gotta Story collaborative digital story telling project I worked on with educators in Coalhurst and Arrowwood went amazing places this year.  Darlene and I traveled to Salvador, Brazil, to share our innovative project and connect with other educators from around the globe.  It was a fantastic, powerful opportunity.

Building a CLN on Twitter – I  started twittering in March.  I was introduced to the idea by Tom Whyte: @tomwhyte1, a teacher I had worked with in Calgary.  We reconnected at the Teacher2Teacher conference in Bow Island.  I attended his feature teacher session and he shared the idea of using twitter to share thoughts, ideas, resources, and connect with educators.  Brilliant!  I haven’t looked back!  I like Rod Lucier’s Collaborative Learning Network (CLN) as opposed to a Professional Learning Network (PLN), in fact I even referenced his idea in my last masters paper. (Proper APA citation for a blog is a bit of a nightmare!)

Looking forward to 2010:

New Collaborative Projects – I have really enjoyed working with and learning from educators in my own school division, across Canada and the United States, and increasingly Worldwide.

Physical Challenges – I love the outdoors, and I love being active.  I’m  running my first half marathon in February and I would like to tackle a full marathon at some point this year, but we will see how the half goes February 20.

Change – With a new year brings new challenges and directions.  I can’t wait to see where 2010 takes me, 2009 was life changing and I’m sure 2010 will be no different.

New Blog Posts – I will always shares what inspires me, whether it is things I discover traveling, or things that come to me running (my best thinking time!)  Look for more information and ideas on: Using moodle in the elementary classroom Manipulating code in moodle to make it do what you really what it to do! Using images , video and other media to enhance learning and digital literacy Creating Critical Thinking Activities Using Technology My forays into Games Based Learning – watch out world….. Using Smart Response for more than just right/wrong questions How I use my IWB in the classroom – the fingerprints should not just be from the teacher

I’ll end my year end thoughts and musings with a video of a conversation I had with Dr. Maurice Hollingsworth.  The goal of the video was to show how a teacher uses the internet and technology in the classroom as a source of inspiration for an undergraduate course about using the Internet in Education.  Maurice has been a huge source of inspiration and a mentor to me.  He is a professor of Educational Technology at the University, the head and driving force behind the IT for Dominica project, and a great professor and colleague, Enjoy!

Leading with Web 2.0 Technology from ULethbridge Faculty of Education on Vimeo.

 

You Know You Are Geocaching When….

Geocaching is a fantastic hobby!  It gets you outdoors and takes you to places you may never have found or even knew existed!

You know you are geocaching when:

1) Your arm is stuck in a wall, fishing around in deep dark corners.  (Note: Don’t wear your cream coat while geocaching…)

2) You are staring at the back of signs and under lamp posts in a foreign country. (This one is at the Trevi Fountain)

3) You are being questioned as to why you are loitering in front of a government building by security. (really happened outside of the German Embassy – they had machine guns)

4) You are giving signs, posts, and garbage cans the awkward reach around hug in a piazza full of people. (This one was a great find on the Spanish Steps – muggles everywhere!)

5) You are looking over, under, and around everything! (There is a joke here about looking over the wall for the Scots…I had just visited Hadrian’s Villa!)

6) There is a point when after sticking your hand in all of the strange places you can find when it’s time to give up – that’s the depressing moment. (Fail whale!)

7) Occasionally there is a barrier to progress – wildlife, a big fence, or just a strange phobia (seriously didn’t find the cache because of the peacock…not good with peacocks!)

8 ) You are frantically trying to find something to write with to sign a log –  after 4 dead pens, just get a pencil! (Four pens in two days….there was a plan to steal one from a bank)

9) You’ve carried a doll with neon blue hair to two different continents just to keep a little girl, you’ve never met, happy.  (It’s name is George!)

10) You carry a GPS everywhere – there are caches everywhere! (Even on top of Mt. Vesuvius!)

 

Mend the Mosaic

Today on the Great Roman Adventure I visited Ostia Antica. It is a Ancient Roman port city. It was abandoned when the river changed course, and silted over creating a very well preserved example of Roman life.

The place was wonderful, with hardly anyone there! I especially liked the Amphitheater.

As I wandered around the place I was again struck by inspiration.  There were mosaic floors everywhere.  Most are partial or incomplete.  They would provide a fascinating activity to have the students complete them.

It ties very easily into Art, finishing the mosaic and then using the concept to create their own mosaic. Several of the mosaics provide very interesting insight into Ancient Roman culture and art.

The way I’m going to use the photos is for patterning in Math. Having the students recognize, repair, and recreate a visual pattern leads well into patterning with shapes and numbers. It provides a real world example and context for patterns. I love to use real world examples whenever I can in math, so this is a great way to tie history and math together.

Click on the photos for larger, high resolution versions.

 

The Roman View of the World

I walk into a huge hall of maps and I get excited.   St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel make me stop and look with amazement.  But this map made me stop and think.  It’s in the Vatican Museum.

It’s a map of Sicily, but the orientation of the map is very unusual.  North is not “up” on the map.  It is from the point of view of Rome and where it lies in regards to the Vatican.  I think throwing this up on the IWB where it can easily be rotated and manipulated would be a great exercise in map orientation and direction.

It also leads into an interesting discussion of map projection and why maps are drawn the way they are.  Why is north always up?  Why is North America often on the left side of the map and the world divided in the Pacific Ocean?

Having students create their own maps from different points of view during history, or from a particular cultural perspective could be a fascinating exercise.

And you thought vacations were just for relaxing…

 

Statue Mash-ups: Art Crossing Cultures

My teacher brain never shuts off…

As I was touring through the Vatican museum yesterday I was struck by these three pieces.

They are interesting mixes of Roman and Egyptian styles and symbols. The contrasts in the pieces and cultural influences demonstrated show a great deal about how cultures start to combine and twist together as nations grow and people start to move between two places.

There are some great lessons here on cultural influence, artistic styles, colonization, as well as Roman and Egyptian religion.

My brain started working overdrive on some neat projects. My main social studies curriculum is based around Canada. My having students select Canadian symbols and digitally fuse them together they could develop a deeper understanding of Canadian identity or history. Creating cultural mash-ups, within a culture would help them deepen their understanding of the culture they are studying.

Hmm…very Neil Stephenson – Cigar Box Project

The God Anubis 1st-2nd century AD From Anizo – Roman Period Anubis bears the attributes of Hermes, the god who guided dead souls to the underworld.

Bust of Isis-Sothis-Demetra From Tivoli, Hadrian’s Villa 131-138 AD

Statue of the Nile Rome 1st century AD It is actually a crocodile under the foot of the statue

 

IT for Dominica Project – A plan for the July 2010 Summer Institute

For the past two summers I have spent two weeks instructing teachers on the island of Dominica (not the Dominican Republic – look it up!) .

I’m going back (pending funding, masters program timing, and other “details”) this July for a third session.

Each year as I go I love what I do, but I see an opportunity to make a larger impact and really transform the way technology is approached in Dominica.  Just trying to change the world, no big deal!

My IT Masters course this semester has been all about Professional Development.  I took on the IT for Dominica project to dissect and improve as part of my studies of Instructional Technology Leadership.

I wrote two papers all about the project.

The first is a critique of my last two years in Dominica.  It was hard to reflect on my own choices and mistakes, but a process necessary to move forward.

Critique IT for Dominica Project

The second is a plan for the July 2010 IT for Dominica summer institute.  These are my thoughts and are most likely subject to change after consultation with my yet to be named teaching partner, the head of the project, Dr. Maurice Hollingsworth, and the Ministry of Education in Dominica.

IT for Dominica Professional Growth and Development Proposal

The program focuses on Web 2.0 and building a collaborative teaching and learning network in the Commonwealth of Dominica.  It’s an interesting read if you interested in Web 2.0 or if you are interested in IT in the developing world.

I would love feedback and suggestions.  At this point the assignment is officially submitted, but the institute is months away.  There is a lot of time to make it the best it can possibly be.

There has also been quite a bit of day dreaming about hiking in the rainforest instead of hiding from the snowy Canadian winter and -35 temperatures…

 

Around the World – Olympics, Videoconferencing, and Literacy

I’m planning a big event on Thursday, January 28.  I’ve been trying to develop a global sense and awareness in my students.  We’ve  been collaborating and connecting with places all over the world all year.  We are limited in the amount we can video conference with other places being in Western Canada.  We can VC with North and South America, but Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa don’t ever line up with our school day.

I love a challenge and a problem to solve. To get around the time zone issues I have arranged a sleep over night at school.  On Thursday, January 28, the students are going to spend the night sleeping over at the school, connecting with the world!

I was inspired by Silvia Tolisano’s Around the World in 80 Classrooms Project.  I want to connect via Video Conference (Skype, Polycomm, I can use a variety of platforms) to classrooms all over the world.

To keep 27 10 year olds entertained and enthusiastic for the evening I’m planning to connect with as many places as possible, all through the night.  They aren’t going to be sleeping much anyway.  We are working on an integrated unit all about the 2010 Olympics in Social Studies and Math.  Connection topics could be all about the Olympics, working in learning about the countries we are meeting with.  I realize not as many countries are as involved in the Winter Olympics as Canada is, but international sport and collaboration is a fairly universal topic.  We would also love to hear stories from other parts of the world.  If  they students could listen to a local story, and be able to share that literature connection it would be very powerful.

We are also going to be tying in some Games Based Learning with Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympics, doing some Olympic style sporting events (scooter board bobsled down the hallway!), and I’m trying to arrange to go to the local curling rink for some real curling as a field trip to get us out of the school for a while.

Here is where I need help!  I want to find as many places as I can to connect with, anywhere in the world, our time zone is  suddenly very flexible staying the entire night!  Even if you are close, to be able to map connections near and far, compare time zones, look at latitude and longitude, and learn about everywhere is the goal of build global connections.