Week 12 - A Post Re-digesting "Moogpal in Action"

"Moogpal in Action"

Welcome to Moogpal - Moodle + Google Apps + Drupal.

I was unbelievably confused when I watched this video, not to mention that I found myself bored for a while. But then Chris Fitzgerald Walsh started talking about it with the direction of education. It was AMAZING.

Moogpal is still in developmental stages and will be a free, open source internet program for teachers and students. The home page will be similar to the Facebook home page, in that it will provide a "News Feed" that announces assignments, test dates, notices, reminders, etc. from each class that the student/teacher is a part of. It's single-sign-on and connects to each class and teacher. There will be multiple apps available just like in Google Apps. It won't be an open community, meaning that people who aren't registered for the program and such won't be able to view things.

OKAY, OKAY - I know you're like, "Jordan, I don't really care, what you're saying doesn't really make sense, and it seems really lame." WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Haha.

GRADE PORTAL - yes, "oooooo" and "ahhhhhh". Grades by course, grades by SKILLS, recent activity, colored grades, feed of activity. Yes, that's right - Grades by SKILLS. So not only do you tell the student their grade, but you then grade them according to more specific behaviors, work, techniques, etc. So cool. What brilliance!!!

Watch the video. DO IT!

What I learned??? I DON'T KNOW. I didn't even know there was such a thing as Drupal or Moodle - so I learned that. I learned that developers could combine programs! And I learned that those developers love me, because they're taking care of my needs as a teacher; future teacher. Yes, they love me. And I love them. :)

Anyways, the screen shots that they've developed make Moogpal look fairly simple and easy to use. Which is good. I'm excited to see where this all leads. I'm especially excited about the Home Page and the Grade Portal.

Until next time.