Instructional Applications of the Internet - July 17

Today I prepared for and began working on the Course Management Systems assignment. I need to try to get ahead of the schedule so that I'm not doing coursework with one hand while bottle-feeding my soon-arriving son with the other hand!

I first read a bit about Course Management Systems and about Moodle. I agree with Dr. Ingram's comment that, technically, things like Moodle are not "Learning" Management Systems, rather they are "Course" Management Systems, which are designed to manage a course, which in turn is designed to manage learning. I wish there was a discussion board section for me to post about that!

I started designing my Moodle site. I am designing it for the class that I wish I was teaching. This class is an 8th grade Educational Technology course. Our school has no 8th grade technology courses. We have a 7th grade one, but I think it's underdone and primarily focuses on the lesser-needed skills such as video taping your friends playing catch. Regardless, I would love for there to be an 8th grade version of the class, so I am designing my CMS for it.

So far, Moodle is working out pretty easily. I am understanding its quirks well enough so far and am getting by. I have posted a few Assignments, one News Topic and made some changes in the course settings and characteristics.