I have been introduced to course management systems before, and have been intrigued, but leery to their reputation. While I have seen the benefits, I have heard the arguments against it (ranging from lack of computers at students’ homes to taking too much time to maintain). Our school district adopted a very limited course management system that really acts like an email center, calendar, grade book and teacher web page archive. While the system can be manipulated into acting like a course management system, it really isn’t.
I have played around with various systems in the past because I understand that extending the classroom beyond the traditional walls is crucial to really reach students. About a month ago, I came back to the site Moodle, primarily because it is the system our district uses for our teacher development workshops. The site is completely free and has options such as: forums, blogs, wikis, archived lessons, file downloads, quizzes, calendars, the ability to upload work, grade books, etc. The site can be utilized as a hybrid or online course. In fact, there is a school in our district that is testing it as a hybrid course this year, with two days on campus and three off.
This current course has validated my interest in course management systems to the point where I have added it to the agenda for our monthly meetings for next year’s curriculum development brainstorm sessions. My vision is that I can roll out a Moodle site for my English class next year, and then the following year the entire ninth grade team can operate in Moodle. The small learning community I teach in at my school has a technology focus, so this application would work perfectly for it. The end goal would be that our students would operate in Moodle their entire high school career and perhaps include some hybrid or online courses.
With the popularity of online courses, I really feel that public schools will also begin to seriously consider utilizing them. Today, distance education holds just as much credibility as traditional, but allows for a wide variety of ease and opportunities; this masters program is an example of that. While the lure of online courses will probably be a reduced overhead cost for schools, the winners will be the students. It will give them the flexibility to work at their own pace, get differentiated instruction, allow them to retrieve archived lectures, lessons and work, and operate in a virtual world they are accustomed to.
Here's a link to find out more information on Moodle: http://www.k12hsn.org/calaxy/
The site is specifically for California, but I'm not sure if Moodle is offered in other states.
The video below is a brief demonstration of Moodle.
"With the popularity of online courses, I really feel that public schools will also begin to seriously consider utilizing them. Today, distance education holds just as much credibility as traditional, but allows for a wide variety of ease and opportunities; this masters program is an example of that. While the lure of online courses will probably be a reduced overhead cost for schools, the winners will be the students. It will give them the flexibility to work at their own pace, get differentiated instruction, allow them to retrieve archived lectures, lessons and work, and operate in a virtual world they are accustomed to." This is it! Fantastic post! Moodle is everywhere. There is actually something called Sloodle now which combines Second Life with Moodle:)
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