March 2008 — News

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Creating a Collaborative Syllabus Using Moodle

by Emmett Dulaney

ATTLS maps the difference between connected learning and separate learning, and the following shows the summary of these based upon the twelve responses to the 20 questions.

The actual list of questions, and mean/median/mode for each, are as follows:


Question Mean Median Mode
1. When I encounter people whose opinions seem alien to me, I make a deliberate effort to 'extend' myself into that person, to try to see how they could have those opinions 4 4 4
2. I can obtain insight into opinions that differ from mine through empathy. 4 4 4
3. I tend to put myself in other people's shoes when discussing controversial issues, to see why they think the way they do. 4 4 4
4. I'm more likely to try to understand someone else's opinion than to try to evaluate it. 4 4 4
5. I try to think with people instead of against them. 4 4 4
6. I feel that the best way for me to achieve my own identity is to interact with a variety of other people. 4 4 5
7. I am always interested in knowing why people say and believe the things they do. 4 4 4
8. I enjoy hearing the opinions of people who come from backgrounds different to mine - it helps me to understand how the same things can be seen in such different ways. 4 4 5
9. The most important part of my education has been learning to understand people who are very different to me. 3 4 4
10. I like to understand where other people are 'coming from', what experiences have led them to feel the way they do. 4 4 4
11. I like playing devil's advocate - arguing the opposite of what someone is saying. 3 3 3
12. It's important for me to remain as objective as possible when I analyze something. 3 3 4
13. In evaluating what someone says, I focus on the quality of their argument, not on the person who's presenting it. 3 4 4
14. I find that I can strengthen my own position through arguing with someone who disagrees with me. 4 4 5
15. One could call my way of analyzing things 'putting them on trial' because I am careful to consider all the evidence. 4 4 4
16. I often find myself arguing with the authors of books that I read, trying to logically figure out why they're wrong. 3 2 2
17. I have certain criteria I use in evaluating arguments. 3 3 3
18. I try to point out weaknesses in other people's thinking to help them clarify their arguments. 3 4 4
19. I value the use of logic and reason over the incorporation of my own concerns when solving problems. 3 3 3
20. I spend time figuring out what's 'wrong' with things. For example, I'll look for something in a literary interpretation that isn't argued well enough. 3 3 4

It is possible to break down the results for each question associated with connected learning (CK) and arrive at the following scale:

Similarly, the scale results for separate learning (SK)--based upon the questions asked--are:

Step 2: Acquiring Input
Based upon the learning styles identified by the ATTLS survey, the students enrolled in the eCommerce course were then contacted individually (those currently in eBusiness and those not) and asked to provide specific input about what they hoped to gain from the upcoming course. This was done by means of an e-mail sent to all enrolled students asking them to log into Moodle and answer a few questions.