Moodle!

I had originally planned to present a number of Web 2.0 applications to my World Language department including Wikis. Wikis seem to be a thing of the past now that Howard County is moving towards using ASPEN exclusively. My school is piloting use of the Moodle for High Schools. We were given four accounts for our four upper level Spanish teachers (including me!) to test out with the students. We were finally approved for these accounts about a month before school began.

In order to better help my team, I spent the last three or four weeks prior to school starting working on the Moodle. I set up both of my courses for the year. I have taken all of the literature/poetry analysis' that my students complete and put half of all of them on the Moodle so that they will grade themselves. I am excited for my students to participate in a hybrid class where they have assignments, discussions, group work, and a place to upload assignments all in one location! I have also provided numerous extra practice and resources for struggling students.

All of that being said, the four of us met today to set up the classes within our preps. I was unsure of how to create groups (classes) within each of our preps, but we figured it out as a group and how we can let the students register themselves by giving them an enrollment key. It took quite a while to figure that out and play with some of the quiz features. I think we spent about an hour and a half exploring all of this!

Take a look at part of my Moodle courses:

I cannot wait for the students to register for all of our classes and to participate in the first online discussion! I cannot wait to continue our monthly sessions on the fourth Monday of the month when we are given opportunities to engage in personal professional development.