I Love Moodle

I love moodle for hundreds of reasons. But the top reason always comes back to when we have needed a solution it has offered one. Let me take you through our history with moodle.

Six years ago grades were about to go online. This came with all the required scary thought that teachers have about it. For a year before we put the grades online we installed moodle. Each teacher had a course and would post the homework for the week. This gave adminitrators the online openness that they wanted for parents. It also allowed teachers to get their feet wet before going with a full gradebook open and online.

A year later we were starting to encourage more technology use. Moodle was perfect. It was easy to use and teachers could try things without too much risk. Several stepped out and tried new educational ideas, and it cost us nothing because moodle was just there and easy to use.

Four years ago we piloted a one to one laptop program. Moodle is the glue that holds this program together. Teachers and students needed a common launching point for their experinces. Moodle provided that answer. It also allowed teachers to make the transition in a way that made sense to them. It uses language that teachers could understand for new and more modern teaching techniques. It allows them to move from the old to the new at their own pace. Each year I hold that transition document up in front teachers and ask them where they are and where they are going. .

Now that we have laptops grades six through twelve moodle is a content delivery system essential to our school district. Every student goes through the day starting many of the classes that they take in moodle for the lesson opener. I am in the process of visiting classes using technology and one of the two started in moodle.

I think the future holds much for moodle. We are going to move to a different kind of schedule, one that allows for night and online classes. Moodle will allow us to make those radical changes without changing radically the environment our teachers work in.

Moodle it always a step ahead of where we need it to be. I love moodle.