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The free, open source program enjoys great appeal among K-12 teachers, as it allows them to get the upper hand on course management and assessment.
UNTIL RECENTLY, teachers in Bainbridge Island School District on the island of Puget Sound, a mere half-hour ferry ride from Seattle, were handling classroom management tasks the old-fashioned way. Taking attendance, grading, delivering and receiving homework assignments-all were done with paper and pencil. Randy Orwin, the district's director of technology, figured there had to be a better system for recordkeeping, so he decided to go out and find it.
Back on the mainland, in Modesto, CA, staff and students at Teel and Click middle schools in the Empire Union School District were pleased with the online testing service they were using, but by the end of each day, the network would be nearly paralyzed. The slowdown severely curtailed internet access for other instructional and administrative activities. Bill Click, tech lab supervisor for both schools, knew he needed to find an alternative that would support online assessment while allowing teachers and students to get on the web whenever necessary.
What do these two distinct circumstances have in common? in each instance, the school district found a solution with an easy-to-use tool called Moodle (http://moodle.org), a free, open-source course management system.
A Dynamic Learning Environment
Moodle, which stands for "modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment," enables educators to manage all aspects of course content and delivery using one integrated system. Compatible with Windows, Mac OS X, and open source operating systems including Linux, Moodle is popular with educators for several reasons, besides being free. Basic implementation is easy, and Moodle's flexible design supports a range of teaching and learning styles.
Beginning users may rely primarily on features that enable them to automate traditional tasks, such as test giving or assigning and collecting work. But that's just a sample of the capabilities of this robust suite of tools. More experienced users can take advantage of features that enable collaboration and peer assessment. Moodle also offers active forums where users can seek technical support and suggest new program components. The system's growing number of user-developed modules include podcasting and gradebook options.