I think I'm breaking up with moodle...

[Melissa Poole]

I've been with moodle for a while now.  And we have had a good run. 
I've loved having a space for my class to find all of the information we
are using.  I've embedded video and posted links.  I've made quizzes
and assigned journals.  I even got into SCORM authoring so I could
create interactive lessons. 

But lately, I've felt something missing from moodle.  It just feels kind
of one-sided.  Like, I post an assignment of some kind and my students
post their response.  Maybe I can get a discussion going in a forum, but
it's always separate from the work the students are doing.  What I want
is a space where students can post their own ongoing work--the video
that's in progress, the podcast they've just finished--and other
students can give feedback, discuss, question, even download and
re-mix.  I need a space that works more like a social network and less
like a digital version of a standardized test.

So we've been using a private YouTube channel, googledocs, and 21Classes
blogging platform.  And all of those work fine.  But I want a LMS that
lets the students have a little more freedom to interact (even though I
know that sometimes freedom brings mistakes--bring 'em!--maybe we'll
learn something from them!). 

So, if anyone out there has the perfect LMS, let me know!  I know someone must have created exactly what I'm looking for.  In the meantime, what would be in your perfect LMS or CMS?

[Dodie Ainslie]

I'm looking for the same! We are currently using Blackboard but it just isn't doing it for me. I have explored edu2.0 and like what I see- and I know that LearningSpace is out there now - although it is costly.

I think it comes back to purpose- most of the teachers I work with want a user-friendly space that can be used for home/school communication and collaboration beyond the school walls- most are using a variety of tools (like it sounds like you are), blog as base, then wiki, etc links off of it. Do we need a full CMS? I think only if we are going to virtual learning more, which may be coming... but would love to have something better- I'm in the process of adding more CMS/VLE to my web 2.0 mindmap- they are located towards the top on the right- as I research them I will add notes-

Let me know if you find something that fits your needs better as well!

[Colleen Young]

You don't have to rely on one tool.

 

I still love Moodle and use it to supply information and resources for my students. Some of them appreciate that.

Many of our universities use Moodle - no bad thing if thing if our students whilst still at school are used to using it for information.

 

I also love Wikispaces where I can have a more private space for myself and my class - we can collaborate. They feel more ownership.

 

I want both - I don't have to choose - they complement each other.

 

 

[Thomas Whitby]

I do not know a whole bunch about this, but you may want to check out Schoology.com. I saw it demonstrated, but I have not used it.

[Robin Phares]

I took a webinar on Edmodo and am planning on using it second semester.  Sounds like something you might want to look into.  It's FREE!

[Melissa Poole]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!  I'm looking at both Edmodo and Schoology.  I agree with Colleen, I don't NEED one solution and I'll be using Googledocs no matter what.  But I do want to have a centralized location for posting announcements, links, documents, etc. and for organizing student responses to each others' work.

 

I'm trying Schoology this coming semester with my small class and I will let people know how it goes!

Thanks again,

Melissa

[Brooke Mulartrick]

You might want to look into Schooltown   http://schooltown.net/  I just found out about it through Discovery Education and it looks promising.

[David Deubelbeiss]

Hmmm interesting feedback about moodle.  I do agree that it really isn't "social" at all.

 

I also think it needs more "personalization" and interaction with the outside. You can do this with a lot of knowledge and plug ins/modules but then again, its a lot of work and there is a lot of problems occassionally.

 

I do think there is no perfect solution, other than integration of multiple tools. You might consider http://edu20.org ?  You might not like it but it does have more for the students to interact through...  I've reviewed it extensively and followed it through its growing pains. Graham does a great job keeping it current.

 

David

[Emily Letras]

Use Edmodo!  LOVE it!  This is my second school year using it and I love
it.  My school uses Moodle as well, and I do put all my course
materials there, but, in my opinion, the real learning and exploring
happens on edmodo.  If you need help or want some ideas for using edmodo with your students, just @ reply me on twitter... @emilybaranowski

[Emily Letras]

PS If you live in the Baltimore, MD area and would like to be part of an Edmodo Meetup, visit this page http://www.meetup.com/edmodo/52773/?a=socialmedia We're in the planning stages now!

[hbarlaam]

Would love some ideas on using Edmodo.  Tried looking you up on Twitter but couldn't find you.

[Ammar Elhassan ElMerhbi]

Hi, if you haven't updated to moodle 2.0 please do so. It incorporates web 2.0 technologies such as google docs picasa, flickr and eportfolio. You can use thee social course format if you prefer the social aspect. moodle also includes a new redesigned blog. Perhaps the question is how you use moodle.have you tried the workshop activity? The question here can be how you can best use the tools.offered by moodle.to.bring about the desired learning.outcome. If you are using it in blended learning then the idea is to find the best blend to tightly link online @hm@d classroom activities. I have used ning edmodo and wikispaces before, I believe moodle combines all the functionality of social networking and course management.

[Alex Goldberg]

We just recently began testing out schoology at the school where I work. So far it is working out well, the students are enjoying that they can post comments and participate in discussions. Another great feature is that if you upgrade to the school version you can control permissions.You can do this for both students and teachers. For example, we have disabled students from being able to post blogs or to create their own original comments, they can only respond to comments posted by their teachers. An interesting thing happened during break too, one of the teachers posted a trivia question and within 4 hours all of their students had respond in the comment thread. It was interesting to see how interested the students are in checking it. Finally schoology just realeased an app for the Iphone, it is an excellent first start. The students were excited to find this out and several have already downloaded it onto their devices.

Again we are still early in testing, but so far it is working out well. It allows for a good amount of interactivity and is not a flat site, it can expand as much as you want it to.