Journal Entry #2

"Social Networking for the K-12 Set", by Jim Klein.

In this article the author, Jim Klein, takes us through a step-by-step review of his experience building the Teacher and Student Community sites used by SUSD. He outlines the goals that he and his peers expected to achieve, and did indeed achieve, by building the website for teachers, students and parents. The goals included:

• To provide an easy-to-use environment for the creation and sharing of a variety of media content;
• To establish technology-driven workgroups for efficient communication between the staff and the community;
• To provide opportunities to discuss social, ethical and legal issues; and
• To create effective learning environments.

In order to achieve these goals when building the website, Klein and his teammates needed to create tools that could be utilized by all community members. The tools to be used by members included:

• User profiles that contain basic information about the employee or student;
• Blogging tools to create any combination of rich text, weblinks, pictures, and file attachments;
• Secure file storage and sharing for allowing members to upload/download images, documents, sounds, or short videos;
• RSS and Podcasting for posting and playing.

The creation of the website for SUSD was a huge success, and as a final statement in his article, Klein urges all users to not be afraid of the highly technological site and to explore all of its many avenues.

Question 1: Does the San Diego Unified School District use something similar to the SUSD open source learning management system?
Answer 1: Yes, SDUSD uses a website called Moodle, which can be found at the url moodle.sandi.net. It is very similar to the site described by Klein in that it is used by teachers and students wishing to utilize and communicate via a technology-based learning community. Moodle is currently accessed by more than 1,000 teachers and 55,000 students. That's nothing to sneeze at!

Question 2: Were I to become employed by the SDUSD, would I, as an educator, utilize a website like Moodle?
Answer 2: I would most certainly use a website like Moodle, as I would not be considered an effective educator if I did not use modern technology to benefit my students and enhance their overall learning experience. I am a huge fan of technology, and I believe it will provide for a rich and fulfilling education for future students for many years to come.