This summer
I decided to give a touch of technology to my class, but without spending
money. I knew and have used Moodle , probably the most popular educational
platform, so I performed a simple search that tipped me to the site freemoodle.org
where you can host a class for free, provided it is open to everybody. I
requested and was granted permission to create a course.
So far, the
experience has had its ups and downs. On the lighter side, I can tell you
Moodle is a great tool. You can upload any kind of material: text, video,
audio, photo, pdf, word, excel, ppt, Hot Potatoes, links, YouTube, you name it! Then,
the functionalities it offers are improving all the time. Right now, you can
create online quizzes where you can determine the timing of the test, the kind
of feedback you give, and then the score goes directly to the Grade Book so
your students (and you, with the downloadable grade book facility) can have the
record of grades at hand. There are other tools available for the curious
teacher who wants to spend some time exploring the platform.
On the
other hand, the time you spend on creating a course might be a problem.
Specially if you are not familiar with the tool: you have to learn the ropes
first! Then, you have to really become a pain in the neck with your students to
get them to use the tool. Happily I have achieved this, but there still some
who are waiting to the last moment to come an say: Sorry, teacher, I didn´t
know. You know what I mean!
Another
tool I am using (again really) is Markin4. This free programme lets you mark
written texts by inserting notes and commentaries into it. Then you save the
corrected work in a browser compatible file and send it to your student so s/he
can see the feedback. You can ask your students to write a composition, send it
to you on the email and when you got it, you copy/ paste it onto the Markin4window and viola! You are marking the
text online.
I hope you
find these tools as useful and exciting as I have. I assure you will be
fascinated!
