Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment

One has to respect a technology that can survive such a cumbersome name, particularly one that is so valuable and still free.

Like Google Apps, my previous post, Moodle can be used at the classroom, building, or even at the district level to change the paradigm of education. Moodle is an open-source, free version of a Learning Management System (LMS) - alternatively Course Management System (CMS) – that provides a viable alternative to offerings such as Blackboard and the Sakai Project, which are often too expensive for a K-12 school district.

Those who have taken a Blackboard-based college or graduate course will find Moodle very similar, giving K-12 teachers with online course experience an inherent understanding of how the tool can be successfully employed for his or her students. Teachers can control the site by allowing access to “guests” or requiring that users must be registered students with a provided username and password to access the site, which allows teachers to take advantage of laws that allow certain “for classroom use only” duplication rights.

Teachers are able to use this product to do something as simple as create a basic web portal students can access to view assignments or pick up notes from the day’s classes to something as involved as creating fully online course offerings. Since Moodle is developed based on common web technologies, it is feasible for even small districts with limited technology resources to install and support this technology, although many districts are opting for paying a minimal annual fee for a hosted solution that is maintained by a Moodle-focused team.

The Moodle interface is well designed to allow easy access to tools such as participant lists, recent activity report, a class calendar, and a forum search tool. The instructor can easily add downloadable files such as course notes, reference and study guides, practice quizzes and tests, and other documents, as well as hyperlinks to Internet resources of value to the course participants. While a novice Moodle-using teacher can begin with a very basic site and still provide a notable benefit to his or her students, as experience with the resource expands teachers are able to provide a paradigm-shifting educational change. Some districts are using Moodle and other free or “for cost” online tools to address tutoring and credit recovery needs for at-risk students, and experience a level of success that is leading some progressive states to consider changes to “seat time” and other rules that might provide a barrier to the further creative implementation of these tools to address student learning.

Moodle Logo courtesy of http://demo.moodle.org. Creative Commons 3.0 Licensed for Sharing and Remix with Attribution.

Moodle class image used with the permission of it's creator, Jack Kruse.