Moodle
One very effective learning management system is Moodle. As you can see above, there are many different features you can add to a Moodle page - and they are simple to add! Teachers can add a page to welcome students to the class, describe the syllabus, or list any other important information. Forum discussions are a big part of Moodle - students can discuss a question or idea created by the teacher and read each other's responses. Teachers can add different resources that they would like students to explore. For example, as you can see above, I created links to Moodle, Schoology, and Edmodo. Another widely used feature of Moodle is the assignment feature. A teacher can create an assignment and have students complete it using either online text or by uploading the assignment to Moodle. This is a great way to avoid students having to always print out their papers or other assignments. One other cool feature is the quiz feature. Teachers can create quiz questions that their students have to answer. There are many other interesting features of Moodle that can transform the way a teacher orchestrates his or her classroom.
As a math teacher, two of the features of Moodle I could see myself using most are the forum discussions and quizzes. I think Moodle would be a great place for students to come together and talk about math! Of course, they probably wouldn't do this on their own, but with some well-crafted prompts created by me, students would be able to deepen their knowledge and understanding of math concepts through discussion. I could also see myself creating short quizzes on Moodle to check student progress. With Moodle, the possibilities are endless, and it is a great platform to use for all subject areas.
As a math teacher, two of the features of Moodle I could see myself using most are the forum discussions and quizzes. I think Moodle would be a great place for students to come together and talk about math! Of course, they probably wouldn't do this on their own, but with some well-crafted prompts created by me, students would be able to deepen their knowledge and understanding of math concepts through discussion. I could also see myself creating short quizzes on Moodle to check student progress. With Moodle, the possibilities are endless, and it is a great platform to use for all subject areas.
Schoology
Another learning management system is Schoology. As you can see above, a lot of the features of Schoology are similar to those of Moodle. You can create a page, a discussion, an assignment, or a quiz. You can add resources to have students explore, as well. One cool feature of Schoology is the ability to create folders. In my example above, I created a folder for resources that includes links to websites I would like students to explore. Another great use of the folders is to break up the content into sections, chapters, or units. This way, students aren't overwhelmed by a large number of items being shown all at once. I would definitely use the folders in my math classroom to separate all the work. I could also plan ahead and add things to future units in folders and not display these folders to students until we get to them. Otherwise, similar to Moodle, I would utilize the discussions and quizzes the most in my classroom.
Edmodo
A third learning management system is Edmodo. With Edmodo, as we saw with the other learning management systems, you can create assignments and quizzes, shown in the image to the right. One noticeable difference with Edmodo is its familiar look to a social media site like Facebook. As you can see in the image above, students see tabs of the different features of Edmodo. One other cool feature of Edmodo is the poll feature. Also in the image above, you can see a simple poll I created for students about their favorite subject in school. Students respond to the poll and it shows how many responses occurred for each option. The poll is a great way to collect opinions from students efficiently. Personally, of the three learning management systems, I would be least likely to use Edmodo because of the layout. To me, it seems way too similar to Facebook. Despite that, there are still some great features that can be used in all subject areas, such as assignments, quizzes, polls, and others.
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UMCONnect
UMConnect is a web conference tool used for synchronous online learning. Teachers can share their screen or share PowerPoint slides with students on the main screen. Students can also be put into breakout groups for discussion. You can see the layout of this in the image above. Students are able to discuss ideas with smaller groups, making it easier to see what each person has said and follow the conversation. Web conference tools like UMConnect are great for teaching online. Teachers are able to create an environment similar to face-to-face where there is discussion and interactivity happening in the online environment. That being said, I am not sure how effective a web conference tool would be for teaching a math class. A teacher does have the capability of writing on the screen that students see, allowing him or her to write out math problems or equations, but other typical math activities may be challenging.