Monica Hankins is a 5th grade teacher at Whitmore-Bolles. She attended the Dearborn Moodle Moot this summer, and began tinkering with iLearn (Moodle). Since then, she has created some pretty fantastic online learning experiences for her students, and her Moodle course is a model for elementary online classes across the district.
When asked why she chooses to use Moodle in her classroom, Monica replied, “ I decided to use iLearn in my class because I was one of the VERY lucky winners of a Chromebook cart last year. I wanted to embrace technology, as it is the wave of the future. Students appear to be much more engaged, on task and focused when working on their Chromebooks in iLearn. Students are better able to work at their own pace through assignments and be able to access work at home and school. It also helps parents to be able to access assignments and to be able to help their students at home when they “forgot” the assignment at school.”
Monica chooses the blended learning approach that Moodle offers because students are more engaged, she can differentiate instruction easier and students can work at their own pace, the quizzes can be automatically graded and feedback given to students immediately, and students have access to Moodle outside of the classroom. But her FAVORITE feature of Moodle? Being able to import the grades from her assignments and quizzes right into her MiStar gradebook! “I feel that I stay more organized because everything is online and accessible wherever I go,” she states.
Moodle has many uses in the classroom. Monica uses Moodle in almost every subject. “I use iLearn regularly now for almost every subject, including language arts, science, and I am now working on adding math. I share videos, assignments, quizzes, tests, Google Docs/Slides/Drawings etc. with the class to either read, watch or complete. Students are then assigned a quiz or assignment based on what was read or watched. I can grade the assignment myself or I can allow iLearn to check it in order for students to have immediate feedback. I have even created a science test on iLearn for students to complete. For language arts students, I use iLearn as their reading response journal. I find it much easier to track their responses and it helps me to see what kind of writing they are completing as well. Once everything is graded, at home or school, I can then import those grades into my gradebook and use for report cards!”
When asked about how Moodle has impacted student achievement, Monica had this to say: “Most of the students are focused and engaged on the task at hand and can work through assignments independently at their pace. It has helped me to reach all of the learning styles so that I am better able to meet their needs visually, auditorily and kinesthetically. I can give them something to read and watch or listen to and then create a project to share. Many students love that it is less ‘things’ for them to have to take home in their backpacks, get lost or forgotten.”
While Monica continues to do great things with Moodle, it has been a bit of a challenge for her. “It has also challenged me outside of my comfort level,” she says. “I am not a very ‘technology savvy’ person and it has caused me to learn things that I never thought about. I think that this is also important because in teaching we sometimes forget how often we push students outside their comfort level.”
If you are interested in utilizing your own Moodle (iLearn) course, please contact one of the Tech Coaches to set up an appointment. Special thanks to Monica Hankins for your time, effort, and continued commitment to using technology as a vehicle to increase student achievement in your classroom!
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Monica Hankins, 5th Grade teacher at Whitmore-Bolles and iLearn teacher extraordinaire!
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Monica with her class on Pajama Day.
