Blackboard vs Moodle

After I explored the Blackboard test site and the Moodle test site, I decided to do some research for this blog post.

Both Blackboard and Moodle are course management systems (CMS).  Blackboard is a commercial course management system, and Moodle is an open-source course management system.  These systems provide the framework for putting courses online and allow students to remain connected twenty-four hours a day.  Blackboard claims that they welcome open-source competitors because that increases the interest in using course management systems.

Besides being a course management system, Blackboard’s site lists other uses including blending learning models, credit recovery, online professional development, and virtual programs.

Blackboard’s price tag would keep us from using it at my high school, but it would be my preference between Blackboard and Moodle.  Of course, having used it as a student makes it easier to comprehend how it works.  Getting the opportunity to see how it works from the instructor’s point of view was a great opportunity.

Moodle is a “Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application with a GPL license that educators can use to create effective online learning sites.”  Prior to this class, I have explored Moodle and have had the tech person set it up on our server.   My first question when I start something new is “how does the student see it?”  There is an option in Moodle that lets you switch roles so that you can see how it is viewed by the student.

My department has hopes of possibly implementing Moodle next school year so that we can better prepare students for college. Last week I was at a dese workshop at UCM, and the instructor mentioned that they used OIS (Online Instructor’s Suite), which is considered a learning management system (LMS) developed by SEMO (Southeast Missouri State) and free.  Before we make the final decision to implement, we want to continue to explore our options because not only the research takes time, but also working with the IT people to set it up, and then how to implement it efficiently and to make it engaging for the students.

Wikispaces tutorial using CamStudio

I have embedded my CamStudio video about Wikispaces. I really don 't have a preference of CamStudio or Camstasia. The only problems that I had was getting them to YouTube. There was a gliche of some kind on my Camstasia that said that it would not work. I finally got a friend to help me figure out that it was something that was not installed properly in the beginning. After that it worked fine.
As Ken said, I did not have the problems with CamStudio that everyone else had. I recorded it as a swf to start out, which was great, but when I submitted it to Blackboard, there were two files that I needed to submit, and I only submitted one of them; and it would not let me resubmit. Then I spent several hours trying to get it uploaded to YouTube. After about eight tries, I figured out that the file formats were not accepted by YouTube. I finally just rerecorded it in CamStudio, but this time as an avi file, which was easy to upload to YouTube.
Again, I have no preference of CamStudio or Camstasia. There are many more features in Camstasia, but I would rather use Jing since it is free.

Avatars to Help Autistic Children

There was a news story I saw on TV earlier this week, and then I found more information on the internet about it. The Center for BrainHealth in Dallas uses avatars in a virtual world to help autistic children learn to cope socially.  They claim that four or five sessions are comparable to two or three years of real world training.  Coffee shop get togethers and job interviews are examples of social situations that are presented.  It helps the students recognize emotions and facial expressions, and it could be their gateway to social interaction.