One of the most satisfying aspects of an online learning experience is to be able to participate in a capstone experience, or a final project, which allows the student to pull together things they've learned in the class and to connect them to their own experience. It is even more satisfying when the student can see what others are creating and then flow with it, engaging in a lively, energetic, and inspiring exchange of ideas, experiences, perspectives, and vantage points.
Moodle allows you to do all that and then to bring in the power of social networking, if you so desire. But social networking outside Moodle is not really the point. The key is to create a social network and a learning community in the here and now of your course, which has the potential to inspire and to live on in the hearts and minds of your students.
We've reviewed a number of possible ways to use the Workshop experience as a foundation and a point of departure for others. Specifically, we've discussed how you...