So here’s the question of the day…what’s this world look like when Moodle adds it’s blog component (due out soon) so that students can exist in the very safe, collaborative space of the CMS while creating and producing their work and then use the blog module to open up the door to the public just a crack to publish? I am loving Moodle, and I obviously love blogging. Seems like a pretty inviting scenario if you ask me.
Sounds really good to me. I used WebCT last year (as my University supports it) and had students blog independently in whatever environment they choose (usually Blogger.com). For me, I wanted to expose students to both private and public publishing. What I learned through my course evaluations was that students (most not very tech savvy initially) were less concerned about private vs. public, but more concerned about integration. With Moodle including a blogging module, I could see the needs of my own program (e.g., privacy issues, high degree of learning and experimentation) being served, and at the same time, exposing students to a better integrated communication/course package. And not only that, exposing students to open source packages (especially since I serve preservice teachers) just makes good sense as many of them become tech coordinators in their schools and are responsible for decisions made around technology adoption.
Go Moodle! Go Open Source!
I’m a huge fan of Moodle and an occational user. More impressive than the software itself, however, this the amount of thought & discussion (and OPEN discussion) that goes into every aspect of creating Moodle.
Start here http://moodle.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=3849 with the design philosophy.
Check out this http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=27338 conversation happening just this week regarding the integration of blogs into the larger package.
It’s not only pretty, but it also has a ton to teach us about how we learn and interact online.
I am a huge fan of Moodle, and our school entered the Moodle world earlier this year. The students love the interface and feel that it is very “professional,” especially in comparison to teacher-designed websites. This is one of the big positives of Moodle (you of course are constrained by its structure).
The idea of blogging within Moodle is a great discussion item. On the one hand, students don’t need another login, and another site to access. The material can be protected so that only people within your community or course can see it – this is a positive for “online safety,” but we may see students taking blogging less seriously if their work is not being published to a larger audience. Even if they take it equally seriously, they are not rewarded with public display for their work.
Next issue: how will the blog function be implemented? Can teachers add student blogs whenver the want to? meaning multiple blogs/student within a single course. Can blogs be viewed across courses? Will students be maintaing journals, blogs, wikis and posting in discussion boards? Is this powerful, or perhaps confusing? Can we differentiate the functions of all the great tools?
Don’t get me wrong. I can’t wait for Moodle to implement blogs. We have been using Blogger’s service for the past year (with good results), but I like the idea of being able to admin from the main CMS.
Ok, so I finally took the plunge and got this up and running on one of our servers … http://www.ncs-tech.org/moodle/ … now I need an article or two to send to some administrators, in plain English, explaining what Moodle is, why it rocks, and how it can be used in education. Can anyone help?
Thanks, kj