BY ELMA LETIC
Webpage Editor
After leaving the Blackboard education software for Moodle last year, Baldwin now has dropped Moodle — and may be going back to Blackboard.
These educational software programs allow teachers to post notes, host group discussions, and list homework and other documents on the web. They also make it easier for students to access the work they missed when they are absent.
The district left Blackboard for Moodle due to cost issues last year.
Then the district got rid of Moodle over this past summer. Many teachers moved to Weebly, which is a free web service that anyone can use.
“Teachers found Weebly easier to use than Moodle, and there was some doubt on their end whether we would stay with Moodle or go back to Blackboard,” Peretin said.
Many teachers switched to Weebly because they wanted a place where they could put their course information because they did not want to worry about transferring their information again.
“I think that it’s a little frustrating to have to switch, but hopefully I can use Weebly…and be able to do more with each passing year,” science teacher Sara Nairn said.
District administrators, however, hope to go back to Blackboard once and for all.
Vice Principal Janeen Peretin said that the biggest goal in the future is for the school to make online courses available to its students.
For instance, if a student needs a Keystone remedial class, they could just complete an online course made by administrators over the summer instead of sitting through a class in school, Peretin said.
When the district moved to Moodle, some tools that came with Blackboard, like the essay plagiarism check, were not offered.
“While Blackboard is more expensive, it makes the experience better for both students and teachers,” Peretin said.
Some teachers, like science teacher Stephanie Tarpey, said they think that a website should be set in stone the week before school starts, if not before.
“I just want something that I could give to my students on the first day of school,” Tarpey said.
Nairn agreed.
“It would be best for the students and parents if we had a consistent place for them to look for information,” said Nairn.
