No Muddle with Moodle

Now that summer is truly here, I can catch up a bit with commentary on my life with technology.

I use moodle for much of what I do in class. It is provided on a local server by our school district to any teacher, with some basic inservice provided. It is key to use of a technology-based classroom.

Moodle is "a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities." Teachers basically create as much of an on-line "presence" as they feel able to do. The key is that moodle gives you a variety of tools, which, when mastered, allow you to do any thing from posting your agenda for the day or uploading student assignments to giving a semester final.

The students must log-in and identify which class they want (Mr. Appel's US History, Ms. Chastain's English, etc.). My students next see a sort of "title page" which includes a list of current units with graphics. Students then click on the provided calendar to get the daily agenda. My moodle approach is a bit different from some, in that I make items on the agenda active links to assignments. Here is a typical Agenda:

On this agenda, students start by taking an open-book quiz on yesterday's work. The quiz is taken on-line, and students know immediately how they did. I still lecture, while showing notes on the presentation system. Students can save their own typed copies to their own folders for later use. That day I also had then create their own mini-protest signs from the era and we saw a bit of the movie Across the Universe.

More about using moodle later.