I have subscribed to all of your wikis and receive an email each time that you make an edit. Every time that you click Save, I receive an email. It's a great way for me to keep up with what you are doing in class. And, I am impressed with the way that some of you are using your class wiki. Please remember that I am available and glad to help should the need arise.
If you have taken the time to read my newsletters in the past, you have probably noticed that I seem to write frequently about technology. I have found that I enjoy working with technology immensely, thus the obvious slant toward tech. tools. I want to share the things that I learn with the hope that you will find something that is helpful to you.
With that said, I want to tell you about a tool that I am using. It is called Moodle, a course management system that is free and open source, with many people contributing to it worldwide. Many of you are probably familiar with BlackBoard or WebCT. Moodle is similar, only free. Chris Brown set this up on one of our servers last year and I am piloting it. John Gibson, our new Tech. Director, has used Moodle in the past and is setting up a course to demonstrate its capabilitiesand promote its use. Since we use computers extensively in my Digital Imaging and HTML courses, Moodle is a great way to manage the courses.
I really like being able to post assignments online. This has been particularly useful when students have been absent. They can check the course calendar to see what they have missed.
I also like the quiz function. It takes some time to set it up, entering all of the questions and responses (for multiple choice - Moodle supports many other types of questions), but once they are in the test bank, they can be used for any quiz that you want to make for the class. And, best of all, Moodle will grade your tests as soon as the student submits it. I only wish that it could be integrated with PowerSchool, but I am researching this. For now, I print out a report with the students' scores and then enter them into PS - still better than having to sit and grade them before entering them. You can also set the parameters for the quiz. I choose to have the questions shuffled, to prevent students with wandering eyes from cheating. Moodle will also shuffle the answers, so if you are giving a test to multiple classes, the first class cannot pass along the answers.
Moodle also has the capability for electronic assignment submission. I create a drop box for each assignment. Moodle notes the date/time that assignments are submitted, so there can be no question about whether or when assignments have been turned in. And, you can set the date/time that the drop box opens, preventing early submissions by those students who are always "finished" before they have had time to properly complete the assignment.
I realize that many of you may not benefit by maintaining your course online, but you might find some aspect of Moodle to be useful in the administration of your class.
If you would like to see Moodle in action, check it out here: http://137.86.132.45/ Moodle will support many, many courses. To view my Digital Imaging or HTML course, browse to the DMS class list and choose the course that you would like to see. I have set the course up so that only those who are enrolled in the classes can view them, so you will have to choose the Login as a guest button. Then you will have to enter the enrollment key: bearkits Feel free to poke around. If you think that it might be useful to you, let me know. I can set up an account and class for you to edit. I can also set up student accounts.
If you have read all of this - thanks. I realize that you may not enjoy this stuff as I do. I have seen my wife's eyes glaze over when I am telling her about these things.
Lastly, if you have a question or comment, please leave one here. I like getting comments.
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