Moodle for Online Learning

The decision has been made and we will be transitioning this spring and summer from Blackboard to Moodle 2.1 for our Learning Management System (LMS). What is a Learning Management System? What is Moodle? Why are we switching?

Wikipedia defines Learning Management systems as "... a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs, classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training content." Basically an online component for our classroom teachers to use to post assignments, classroom documents, online quizzes, discussion forums, etc. making their classroom accessible any time, any where that a student has internet access.

Our Blackboard system was such a system that is hosted through our local Kent Intermediate School District. The KISD is phasing out Blackboard and the cost was prohibitive to have our own Blackboard servers thus the move to Moodle. Moodle is actually an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. It's open source software that allows us to build our LMS as we wish. We will be using a hosted solution through a company well known for it's Moodle management and support services, Remote Learner.

Today I at the MACUL conference I attended two sessions about Moodle and learned much about setting up courses. I'm excited about the move and think that, once our teachers go through training in May and June, they too will find the system extremely useful and customizable.

Have any of you had experience with Moodle? How do you feel about the move and what suggestions do you have for making sure our teachers are well trained and ready to go this summer?

MACUL - Student Showcase

Make sure you check out the Student Tech Showcase, Thursday, Mar. 8, from 11-1 at DeVos Place. Students will show off some of the fantastic tech projects that they've been working on this past year. Here is an example of one of these projects.

More Info on MACUL 2012

Are you attending MACUL12? Ron Houtman, Super Technology Consultant and REMC 8 Director, just posted an awesome survival guide for those attending the MACUL 2012 conference next week. Read it, prepare your survival kit, and get ready for 3 whirlwind days of learning!

Project Based Learning

In October of 2011 three of our teachers ventured into the world of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Students were encouraged to bring in their own technology (no cell phones) such as tablets, netbooks or laptops. They could then connect to our wireless network and use their devices in the classroom. In preparation for this teachers from both of our high schools participated in a week long training session lead by a trainer from the One to One Institute. A topic that we heard a lot about during this training was Project-based Learning. I recently viewed a Prezi presentation about this topic that I think does a pretty good job in explaining what project-based learning is and how it's different than a class project. View the presentation here: Project Based Learning and 21st Century Skills. What are your opinions on this topic? Is this something we should be doing more of in our classrooms?

Evernote Helps Me Remember

I really like Evernote. Not just because of the cute elephant icon but because it's a great product. I use Evernote to help me remember things. Snap a photo of something, record audio during a meeting, make a list of books I want to read, save webpages, and take notes. I can keep it to myself or share a note with a colleague. Doesn't even matter what device I use because Evernote syncs all my notes to all my devices. I can use it on my PC, Mac, Android phone, iPad, it doesn't even matter if I have the application installed as I can access my notebooks on line if need be. That makes this one very accessible and useful product. Oh and did I mention it's FREE? There is a premium upgrade you can purchase but the basics are all there in the free version and I haven't felt the need to upgrade yet. If you're interested in learning more, check out the Evernote webpage and the education site with lots of info on how to use Evernote in the classroom. It's a great tool!

MACUL 2012 Conference Planning

Those of you attending the MACUL conference this year will want to take a look at the conference brochure prior to getting your registration packet. The brochure is available in PDF format at the MACUL Conference website. Download it on your iPad and open it in iBooks for viewing later. There is also an online planner. Sign up for a free account and then select your sessions. You can view sessions in various layouts and also view your friends schedules and connect through Twitter or Facebook.

Other resouces available for a more enjoyable and productive conference are the conference blog and the MACUL Space Ning. If you're a Twitter fan follow the #macul12 hashtag. And now for the hard part... picking out those sessions! There are always so many that I want to attend!

Build It and They Will Read

I started this blog a few years ago after attending a MACUL conference as a means to communicate what I had learned. Every year about this time I get excited about the upcoming MACUL conference. I fire up my blog and get ready to post. I post before, during and after and then the fire fades and my blog posts begin to dry up. Mundane tasks fill in the gaps in my day and my blog sits ignored. So what do I do about that? Since one of my goals is to communicate more with you, our CCHS teachers, the plan is to post something every day. Doesn't matter if it's earth shattering or not. I'm just going to post about some tech tool, idea I read about or other find in the world of technology in education. So... Hopefully you'll find what I'm sharing useful and thought provoking and you'll return to read more. I think they made a movie about a similar situation once...