Moodle - Learning Management System
What is Moodle?
Moodle is a software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites. Moodle can also be used to create repositories of online resources for studnets to access outside of the classroom.
The word Moodle was originally an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, which is mostly useful to programmers and education theorists. It's also a verb that describes the process of lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity. As such it applies both to the way Moodle was developed, and to the way a student or teacher might approach studying or teaching an online course. Anyone who uses Moodle is a Moodler.
Quizlet - Flash Cards Online
Quizlet is a free website that alows users to view, create and share flash card sets online. Users can create their own cards or study with one of the thousands of existing sets of flashcards.
Quizlet can also be integrated into a Moodle class.
Quest Learning & Assessment System
Quest is a free service offered by the University of Texas at Austin.
The Quest Learning Assessment System uses an extensive knowledge bank of over 60,000 questions and answers covering Math, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science and Physics. These questions can be used to determine a student’s understanding of a given concept taught in class.
Quest allows students to access assignments from anywhere and get immediate feedback on the answers submitted online. Students can also see how well they're doing compared to the rest of the class.
Quest makes it easy for instructors to create assignments by drawing from an extensive list of pre-existing questions. Each question has many variations to ensure students come up with their own unique answers. Quest’s automatic grading feature frees up more time for instructors so they can focus on teaching.
Free OpenOffice Download - Use if you do not have WORD, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.
For those students who tell you that they do not have PowerPoint, Word, Excel, etc. on their home computers this is the alternative. All they have to do is to save their work in the formats we support on campus: .doc (WORD) .ppt (PowerPoint), .xls (Excel), etc. Now they can open the work they do at home (on OpenOffice) on the computers here at OHS!
OpenOffice.org 3 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.
Click here to get your free copy: http://www.openoffice.org/
Free Photoshop (like) Program
While Adobe Photoshop is the world's leading image manipulation program, and yes, student and faculty discounts are available ( http://www.uscollegebuy.com/s.htm ) and even better deals are available on eBay, there is a free alternative.
Go to www.gimp.org and get your free copy of GIMP. It's legal and it works. There are tutorials on YouTube.
Teachers begin using cell phones for class lessons
This excerpt is from the North County Times 11-29-09 As you hear of other examples like this please send them to Mr. Ruez
- Story Click here for the rest of the article
- Discussion
By CHRISTINE ARMARIO - Associated Press | Posted: Sunday, November 29, 2009 12:00 am
WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. ---- Ariana Leonard's high school students shuffled in their seats, eagerly awaiting a cue from their Spanish teacher that the assignment would begin.
"Take out your cell phones," she said in Spanish.
The teens pulled out an array of colorful flip phones, iPhones and SideKicks. They divided into groups and Leonard began sending them text messages in Spanish: Find something green. Go to the cafeteria. Take a picture with the school secretary.
Leonard's class at Wiregrass Ranch High School in Wesley Chapel, a middle-class Florida suburb about 30 miles north of Tampa, is one of a growing number around the country that are abandoning traditional policies of cell phone prohibition and incorporating them into class lessons. Spanish vocabulary becomes a digital scavenger hunt. Notes are copied with a cell phone camera. Text messages serve as homework reminders.
"I can use my cell phone for all these things; why can't I use it for learning purposes?" Leonard said. "Giving them something, a mobile device, that they use every day for fun, giving them another avenue to learn outside of the classroom with that."
