Brewsterconnections - Brewster Academy

In the Classroom:By Peter Hessmodular • object oriented • dynamic • learning • environmentThe start of the 2012-2013 school year was highlighted by the launchof Moodle, a new learning management system at Brewster.Moodle has become very popular around the world with over 60million users worldwide, as an invaluable tool that assists educators indelivering academic courses to students through dynamic web sites.Moodle was selected after an exhaustive search for a comprehensive toolthat could supplement our custom Brewster Portal database. BecauseMoodle is Open Source software (i.e., software usually developedcollaboratively and available in source code form), itis able to integrate seamlessly with the Portal throughthe talents of our onsite database developer, WesMatchett. This means that we can take advantage of thewide variety of educational tools that Moodle has tooffer, while still having database support for the partsof our program that are unique to Brewster such as theRecognition Program and the production of transcriptsthat reflect our multi-leveled classrooms.In 2011-2012 a team of Brewster teachers trained inMoodle piloted the software within 10 different courses. This allowed usto test how Moodle could support our curriculum structure, how reliableit would be on our network, and how well students would acclimate toit. The pilot was highly successful and provided confidence that we couldmove forward by introducing it to the entire faculty.Economics teacher Mike Jacobs has been an early adopter of Moodle andhas been at the forefront of finding exciting ways to incorporate Moodleinto his classes. Here are Mike’s reflections on Moodle:“Moodle has helped me evolve as a teacher, and it has given me the abilityto do a lot of things with the curriculum that I didn’t even consider a fewyears ago. The advantages that I see for students and for teachers aremany. Students no longer are merely consumers of education; they havealso become producers.“Incorporating multimediainto lesson plans hasbecome the norm, andI think that studentengagement is up.”“Glossaries, forums, and wikis have been helpfulin involving the students in an interactive way.Incorporating multimedia into lesson planshas become the norm, and I think that studentengagement is up. I have made screencastsof solutions to simple math problems, andembedded them within my lessons. Students canreturn to them on their own time, and at theirown pace.“Another great advantage is that students that are not in class can get allof the material easily. It is much easier for them to get caught up, becausethey don’t have to rely on having a face-to-face conversation with me. Onthe days that I have had to be out, my students have been able to easilyaccess the lesson plan and any materials they need.These Moodle experts used in-service sessions to train faculty in the basicsof how to build their courses in Moodle, which they did over the summerto build their courses in Moodle, and we are pleased to report that 100percent of Brewster’s faculty are using Moodle this year. In the world ofeducational technology adoption, this is a remarkable feat and testamentto the commitment that Brewster teachers have for creating a unifiedlearning community.“Learning Moodle has been a pretty labor intensive endeavor, but it hasbeen well worth it.”What the Moodle adoption means for our students is that they can nowaccess their course materials and assignments anywhere and anytime theywish. This will be a great benefit for students who miss classes becauseof illness. Moodle is designed to support ways for students to constructknowledge together and thus offers a variety of tools, such as forumsand wikis, to engage students in collaborative learning activities. It’sespecially useful when students are collaborating on projects outside ofthe classroom from different locations. The grade book function offersmore options for teachers to provide students with feedback on theirassignments, which is invaluable to the learning process.www.brewsteracademy.org7