Monthly Archive

Let’s start with a post about my very favorite open source CMS, Moodle. You will find the link to it in my blogroll under Open Source Tools. What I like about this platform is that it follows the social constructivist learning theory in its functionality, is free to download and use, allows you to customize your platform any way you want to, has a host of features that rivals any commercial software on the market, once used to the system it is easy to use for teachers to build classes with (very inuitive interfaces), and provides most everything a teacher could want right out of the box.

The brain child of Martin Dougiamas, Moodle is one of the most popular educational CMS platforms in cyberspace. It is updated on a constant basis and provides support through both a comprehensive set of documentation as well as a forum where developers and users alike gather to ask and get their questions answered.  The platform is written in PHP and uses MYSQL and when downloading, even has fully functional installation packages for whatever operating system you may be using.

Just to give you an idea of its popularity, according to the Moodle.org website, there are 32120 sites in cyberspace registered. Some of the names of schools you might recognize are: Anaheim University, California State University, Drew University, Iowa State University, Minnesota State University, Purdue, the Sloan Consortium, UCLA, and Yale just to name a few of the thousands.

Some of the features of the platform include the ability to write HTML pages, podcasting, streaming video, webquests, wiki, forums, SCORM packages, chat, surveys, workshops, gradebook, RSS feeds syndication, audioconferencing, and much more. And, of course, the list continues to grow with each new version.

I have a copy of the platform on my PC that I use to build class content with and I even have a class built on a friend’s installation under the Business section at www.globaleschool.com called Business in the Global Marketplace. Feel free to log in as a guest and check it out.

Really the best thing about this platform, to my mind, is that it can be used by an individual teacher or used to create an entire online school. All you pay for is the hosting and domain. I encourage everyone to take a look at this application and judge for yourself. Enjoy the brain food.

This blog will discuss teaching adults online. I will keep you up to date on all the elements that it takes to teach classes to adults online using the most contemporary learning theories and computing technologies. I will also provide links and resources to content websites and teaching tools that can help any online teacher deliver their content smoothly and efficiently.

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or would like to know more about. This is as much your page as it is mine, so don’t be afraid

to speak up and share your thoughts, opinions, and needs.