Moodle for Online Learning?

[Brent Falke]

My district does not use Moodle, or any other site, but there's been very little talk of us offering classes via the internet using our own teachers and servers. As we are the largest school in our county, we could offer these classes as a service to other, smaller schools, too. As I have not seen Moodle, but heard of it, is this a reasonable use of Moodle?

Also, I'd be interested in hearing how people use Moodle in their classrooms (which might just be a rehash of an earlier discussion). Has it enhanced student attention and/or performance?

[Anne Thorp, PhD]

Brent,
Moodle is an excellent and effective solution for online learning use. Many colleges use Moodle as their Learning Management System for online courses.

One of my districts is using Moodle to deliver their Blended Learning courses to students. Teachers have the students come in once a week or so for face to face sessions, the rest is done online through Moodle.

Other districts use Moodle as a supplement to the face to face classroom. When I have asked students how Moodle has impacted their learning, many report that their organization is better and their writing skills have improved.
Anne

[Melissa Middleton]

While Moodle can be used for creating whole classes online, that is not how Lake Orion is using it. Our teachers use it in various ways to enhance student learning and to go paperless.

Students routinely upload assignments - Word Docs, PPT's, Excel's, even short videos that they have made. This allows for ease in grading of digital material as well as reducing the amount of paper that is used.

Moodle is also widely used as a place for teachers to deposit resources for the students to use - websites, worksheets, sample quizzes,etc.

Forums are used by our teachers to have virtual class discussions. I have had many teachers tell me that this arena gives students who are afraid to speak in class a voice.

There are many other ways teachers are using Moodle, but those are probably the most popular.

[Tim Zdrodowski]

Brent,
Moodle is similar to Blackboard. I believe it could be used to set up a course, but I would honestly prefer to use Blackboard if I were to begin setting up a course for distance learning. I use Moodle in my classroom to maintain a daily schedule, post resources for students, and allow a discussion forum for questions. It has many other applications, including online assignment submission and quizzes.