Reason #5: Moodle is Sustainable

Reason #5: Moodle is Sustainable

ByBob Harrison

Every endeavor into a new tool or strategy comes at the expense of something else that isn’t being pursued. Every endeavor involves a tradeoff as well as an investment. And if the investment is mostly financial (which is often the case for the most “user-friendly” tools), we can be in for a rude awakening when the funding dries up, the focus shifts, or the vision changes. People who invest time and energy in using a particular tool can find themselves in a quandary when it suddenly goes away or becomes a paid service. So much of what we try to do or use in education simply isn’t sustainable in any sense of the word.

Reason 4: Real talk — the world is paperless (and so are standardized tests)
|

Reason 4: Real talk — the world is paperless (and so are standardized tests)

ByBob Harrison

Across the district, students are deep into the spring assessment process. Tensions are high and anxieties are piqued just at the height of the stakes of standardized testing. You would almost think this was the ultimate goal of education. To add to the general sense of unease is the fact that many students are taking their first standardized test…

Reason #3: “Keep trying until you get it” is finally realistic
|

Reason #3: “Keep trying until you get it” is finally realistic

ByBob Harrison

With limited time and a (seemingly) unlimited number of standards to cover, the suggestion that teachers ought to encourage students to “keep trying until they get it” seems just a tad bit unrealistic.  Waiting for every student that begins at any one of a range of starting points to achieve mastery of every standard would take months…

Reason #2: There’s a tool for every part of the learning process

Reason #2: There’s a tool for every part of the learning process

ByBob Harrison

These days, there are dozens of online tools to help students learn and teachers teach.  With quick, fun formative assessment platforms like Kahoot and Poll Anywhere, to tutorial/drill-and-practice sites like Khan Academy and IXL, opportunities for learning abound in the virtual world.  I recommend all of these sites for every teacher and student.  Some of these tools are simple and…

Reason #1: Data in the hands of teachers

Reason #1: Data in the hands of teachers

ByBob Harrison

If you’re a Dearborn teacher, you’ve heard of it many times.  You’ve even been required to use it to complete some of your own professional development.  But if you’re like many, you haven’t found the time to invest in it or seen how the benefits could possibly outweigh the costs of learning something so complicated.  I’d…

End of content

End of content