Course Management Systems

What a major disappointment!  My district wanted to get Blackboard for next year, but decided against it due to the high cost.  I do not know if this information is correct, but someone said that it would be around $20,000.  Now that I have played around with Blackboard, I would love to be able to use it on a regular basis.  It does seem to be very user-friendly, and there are so many tools available.  

The best thing about Moodle is the cost!  I think that it is interesting to see the statistical information for Moodle; it shows that there is a strong community of "Moodlers".  As an alternative to Blackboard, it is a great solution for school districts on a limited budget.  In my opinion, Moodle is not quite as easy to figure out as Blackboard, but there are several resources and tools available to help a new user.   

It is becoming more evident to me that we need to use something, whether it is Blackboard, Moodle, or some other platform, for online course management.  I realize that it is a huge change for many teachers to convert to hybrid classes, but it is a change that needs to happen.  I think that it would be beneficial to many students if districts began to teach with this format.         

Camtasia Video

Well, I think we all are in agreement that Camtasia is much easier to use than CamStudio.  It has been quite a struggle to complete both of these assignments, and I still don't feel that I have mastered either program.  It has been a valuable learning experience to work with these tools. At least now I know that I will need a program with lots of easy-to-find, accurate tutorials to get me through the learning process.


I can't see these programs as something that I would teach my students, or many other teachers for that manner. However, since I do have the free trial of Camtasia, my plan is to create a few more videos on some common classroom tools. It is not something that I would purchase because I don't think I would use it enough to justify the price.

The Wallwisher video is the one that I wanted to do in CamStudio.  I need to make a better video, still trying to figure out a few things!  

My CamStudio

Wow! This was quite the challenge. I had to scrap my original plan because Wallwisher kept messing up on me. This Gaggle video tutorial is actually something that I can use in my classes.

Updated 3/12/11   I did the video over, because the first one wasn't quite the way I wanted it. 

Too Many Questions

Last week I attended the district technology meeting.  This was the first time I had ever attended one of these meetings, and I really did not know what to expect.  I wasn't even sure if there was an actual committee, or if any interested party was welcome.  It was a long, but valuable experience.  We were in session for approximately 2 hours.  There were so many items on the agenda that I thought would have been discussed at prior meetings.  I was surprised to learn that previously the group had only met about twice a year.  The main purpose for the formation of the technology team was to write and oversee the district technology plan.  

Topics ranged from changing to a new district homepage, to communication between buildings, to technology policy changes.  Many important issues were talked about, but there really was not sufficient time to cover anything in great detail.  I was pleased to hear that the group thought it beneficial to meet more frequently.  There is another meeting scheduled for next month.

When the meeting began, I was feeling a bit guilty because I had just invited myself.  I do not know if there is some proper etiquette in this situation or not.  However, I quickly changed my mind and felt positive about my decision to attend.  I think that I do have something to contribute to the group.  There are not enough people in my building that use technology consistently in the classroom.  Everyone needs appropriate training and support to transition to new ways of teaching our students.   I am excited to be a part of this change, and want to contribute to the technology vision of my school district.

So, this got me thinking and wondering about other technology teams.  Does your district have a technology team consisting of representatives from all the schools within that district?  Do people volunteer to be on the team, or are the reps chosen by administration?  Should there be certain criteria to be a member of the team?   Do you have a technology curriculum, and does everyone contribute to the teaching of the curriculum?