Basic decisions

Before you get started using the PD tool in Home Base, you’ll need to make two basic decisions about your professional development opportunity. First, is it self-paced or instructor-led? And second, will it be provided directly through Home Base using Moodle, or elsewhere?

Self-paced or instructor-led?

Each learning opportunity may be self-paced or instructor-led, and learning opportunities of the two kinds are created separately in the PD tool.

Self-paced learning opportunities Participants register for, participate in, and complete the PD on their own schedule. They may do so alone or in groups, depending on local implementation, and self-paced PD may be designed to promote collaboration or work within PLCs. There is typically no deadline for completion. Although one or more instructors are assigned within Home Base for management purposes, there is no interaction between the instructor and the participants as they work to complete the PD.
Instructor-led courses are guided by a facilitator or instructor. Participants register, begin, and complete work on the course on a set schedule. For ease of management, instructor-led courses may have multiple sections with different instructors, which may be offered either simultaneously or sequentially.

The PD tool generally refers to self-paced PD as a “learning opportunity” and to instructor-led PD as a “course,” and we will follow that convention in this mini-module.

Moodle or non-Moodle?

The PD area of Home Base provides free, integrated access to an installation of Moodle, an open-source learning management system. (This mini-module will not address the features or uses of Moodle; for more about Moodle, please see Moodle.org and particularly the Moodle Docs, a collection of help files that functions as Moodle’s user manual.) Your professional development opportunity may take place within Moodle, or not, as you choose.

A non-Moodle course might take place face to face, through another learning management system or through an LEA’s own private installation of Moodle, or by using resources uploaded into Home Base or existing elsewhere on the web. (For more about resources, see [LINK].)
Creating a learning opportunity using Moodle grants you the ability to create one or more courses or sections of a course in Moodle, with access to all features available through that installation. As of spring 2015, the version of Moodle currently available is Moodle 2.3. Moodle is integrated with the Home Base PD tool so that:
- Participants register through Home Base and are added directly to the course roster in Moodle.
- Learners’ completion may be tracked and credit recorded directly on their transcripts in Home Base.

Examples

PD created through Home Base, whether provided through Moodle or not, need not take place entirely online nor entirely face-to-face. The system can be used to support blended and web-supported learning as well as web-based.

Format of PD	Description	Self-paced	Instructor-led
Web-based	Learning takes place entirely online.	An online course to be completed independently, at the learner’s own pace.	An online course, facilitated by an instructor, to be completed according to a set timeline and syllabus.
Blended	Combines face-to-face learning with indepdendent, web-based work. Learners might work independently before, after, or between face-to-face sessions.	Learners might work together as in a PLC, meeting occasionally face-to-face but doing additional work online, supporting one another without the aid of an instructor.	Learners access course content and participate in collaborative activities online between face-to-face sessions. Both face-to-face and online work is guided by a facilitator.
Web-supported	Primarily face-to-face learning supported by content, resources, and/or activities located online. Learners meet regularly in person.	Self-paced learning typically does not follow this format.	Learners access readings or other course content online, outside of regular class times; in-class discussions continue in an online forum. Moodle might be used to house resources or discussions.