LEARNING TEAM CHARTER

Moodle for Teachers (M4T-3) - TEAM A

Using Online Learning to Meet the Needs of Multiple

Learners
Agreement
All team members participated in the creation of this charter and agree with its contents -
Please list your initials, instead of a check mark.
• KC - Kathy Cannon

• JW - Janice White

• MS - Mark Schwanz

Team Members/Personal Information

• Kathy Cannon, 617-710-6381 Mobile, no fax, kcannon66@yahoo.com

• Janice White, 61431514937 Mobile, no fax, janicewhite08@gmail.com,

Skype ID janicebreenwhite, Yahoo ID janicebreenwhite
• Mark Schwanz 424-244-0232 Google Voice, fax 310-886-1422, Skype
markschwanz, yahoo markschwanz, markschwanz@gmail.com,
markschwanz@googlewave.com
• Ayse Ozverir (contact details to be provided)

• Tim Olson (contact details to be provided)

• Stelios Tserkezis (contact details to be provided)

Team Member Skill Inventory

(Areas individual members can contribute/want to develop)
• Kathy C: knowledge of Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences and
Universal Design for Learning practices.
• JW: share awareness & interest in above (MI and UDL), learning for mobile
learners (on the move &/or nomadic), 3D Virtual Environments/Second Life and
other social networking tools (eg. Facebook, blogging); University/Voc. Ed &
Training tutor - communication/learner support/IT 13 years; Learning
Design/LMS 5 years, professional development; digital storytelling; multimedia
but getting outdated
• Mark: K-12 teacher, administrator 15 years, web publishing 10 + years,
electronic learning resource (ELR) administration, online learning management
 systems (LMS), professional development, would like to learn effective online
pedagogy to implement in my new moodle right away

Learning Team Goals

(May include project assignment goals, group process goals, quality level goals, etc.)

• Input and ideas will be contributed from each team member

• Team members aim to agree on the specific focus of this team's course to
identify a vision/mission statement, assumptions and learning objectives including
creating sub-goals to share the work. We will explore the potential of Moodle
and/or other software/practices (for example: interpersonal intelligence, as
identified by Howard Gardner, could relate to Moodle chat/forums or Facebook).
• Agreement on times for online real-time collaboration and communication
tools.
• Our Moodle course will be a dynamic online learning environment
demonstrating how to meet the needs of diverse learners.
We are interested in how Moodle and similar online learning tools can reach students
through multiple modalities, allowing students to express themselves through multiple
means of representation their knowledge. We will show how students can accelerate
<ins> or decelerate <ins> their learning through blended online interaction, how teachers
can help students organize multiple explorations, and how all can be encouraged to have
good communication skills. For example, we can will explore how we can help bring in
Youtube or other sources of video to make the resources more diverse and captivating.

Teachers and students need to develop 'digital literacy' as part of the multi-literacies
expected for full participation in our 21st century globally networked environment
including critical literacy and the ability to both be a user of and a producer of multiple
modes of media. This course can guide participants to learning opportunities that build
awareness and encourage them to explore further. This includes linking to existing
resources such as WikiEducator.

The mission of this team is to create a dynamic online learning environment in a

Moodle course to meet the needs of diverse learners.
Our "General Assumptions" would likely be:
• That diverse learners are defined as learners diversified in multiple
categories: geographical, age, ability, language, style, technological
proficiency, and academic context (private, public, independent schools)
• The content of our course will be focused on "online learning" theory,
pedagogy, and rationale.
Objectives:
 1. Students will determine what types of online resources are readily available to
meet the needs of diverse learners.
2. Students will assess what type of online learner they are.
3. Students will create an evaluation rubric to assess the quality of online
resources for various instructional purposes (for example, how can a teacher
easily determine whether to use Youtube, Teachertube or other video streaming
services).
4. Students will interact in the Moodle online format to accomplish project and
course objectives.

What are potential barriers to the achievement of these goals?

• Lack of participation or inconsistent participation from individuals

• Time frames for time-zone dispersed team

• Unclear objectives, project milestones and work breakdown list (including

task allocation) can cause problems
• Software/tools and abilities using them (eg PDF editing and creation)

• Unrealistic expectations can keep us from having a good process, we should

focus on the learning objectives not just a "perfect" finished product.

Ground Rules
(Meeting schedule, locations, attendance expectations, agenda, assignment completion,
communication methods, etc.)
• Create a <insert Google MS> calendar together that sets a time for
communication every 48 hours or more frequently until we set norms for the
team.
• Use combinations of live chat and Skype or Google Chat. (Another option
is googlewave).
• Collaborate on producing documents, slide presentations etc using tools
such as google docs and google sites for wiki collaboration. We can also explore
the tools offered in Moodle.

Conflict Management
(What are potential conflicts that might arise among or between team members during
this course? How will team members deal with these and other conflicts?)
• Perhaps we could express frustration openly but with question that invite
considerate polite responses. For example. "I am concerned that X is happening.
Could we all try to do X to avoid this from happening?"
 • Reaching agreement for specific focus and tasks – options include majority
vote (use a survey or poll) or consensus (time consuming but builds trust and
shared purpose). Sometimes agree to disagree but we'll have polls or in-line chat
polls to find a way forward with some decisions. Since we aren't in a real high-
stakes project there is less chance of significant conflict.

Faculty Member Feedback to Students