Tech News & Tips for Parents

Moodle All the Way

Have you heard of Moodle? However strange it may sound, it has become a great tool for teaching and learning at CDH, as well as many other schools.

TechTerms.com defines Moodle this way:

Stands for "Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment." Moodle is an open source course management system, originally developed by Martin Dougiamas. It is used by thousands of educational institutions around the world to provide an organized interface for e-learning, or learning over the Internet.

Moodle allows educators to create online courses, which students can access as a virtual classroom. A typically Moodle home page will include a list of participants (including the teacher and students) and a calendar with a course schedule and list of assignments. Other Moodle features include online quizzes, forums, where students can post comments and ask questions, glossaries of terms, and links to other Web resources.

Just one year after Moodle was introduced at CDH, teachers have created 74 currently active course websites for this year. The sites are as varied as the teachers and courses they represent. Some are used primarily for discussion forums to supplement classroom discussion, some include assignments, reviews, quizzes, glossaries and more. Use of Moodle is optional for teachers, but most students have at least one course website on Moodle.

Each student has his/her own user id and password, and enrolls in courses. Students are required to use their CDH email address to enroll; this enables us to protect students by limiting enrollment to our student body. Parents can access Moodle pages as guests, but should not attempt to enroll in the courses (enrolling puts you on the teacher's roster). To enter as a guest, obtain a course key from your student's teacher.

Moodle can be a terrific addition to a class. Ask your student to give you a tour!

Using Infinite Campus

Infinite Campus is our school management system, used for student records, attendance, grading and more. Students and parents each have their own access codes for Infinite Campus. Parents can access Infinite Campus by going to http://www.cretin-derhamhall.org and hovering over the Current Parents link at the top of the page. Choose Infinite Campus Portal.

Current students and parents already have access codes. New parents will receive a letter with instructions and necessary access codes later in September. Incoming students will learn to use this tool in new student orientation (for 10th, 11th and 12th graders) or their Values Symposium course.

To view grades, click on the Schedule link in the left column, and click the A+ logo for a particular class. Click the envelope to email the teacher. Of course, no grades have been entered yet!

If you are having difficulty logging into Infinite Campus, please email sriehle@cretin-derhamhall.org.

Got flash?

When it comes to saving files, a flash drive (aka thumb drive, usb drive) is a great tool for every student to have. Here at CDH each student has a folder on our file server, and it is backed up daily so they should always save there. But for taking files back and forth between school and home (or public library), nothing beats a flash drive.

You'll find that lots of stores have them on sale these days, so watch the ads!

Help with Software

Do you or your student need help learning to use Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Works, or the basics of the Mac OS? Atomic Learning has hundreds of online tutorials for just about any program you can think of. Detailed instructions are presented in short video segments. For example, here's a whole page of tutorials on Internet Explorer 7. CDH has a subscription to this resource which extends to students and families; to obtain login information, email sriehle@cretin-derhamhall.org.

What Kind of Computer?

Occasionally I receive calls from parents asking what type of computer they should buy for their student or family.  At CDH we use both Macs and PC's (slightly more Macs at this point), and we are committed to being a dual platform school. In my experience, kids adjust easily to both platforms, which is exactly what we want to teach them to do; after all, the computers they're using now are no doubt quite different than what they'll use even 5 years from now! Many people have a real bias regarding Macs and PC's, but things are changing, and I encourage you to examine all the alternatives. It's worth noting, for instance, that the new Intel-based Macs can run Windows! It's also important to consider whether you will need to use the computer for work, whether you'll have small children using the computer (I don't recommend laptops for the wee ones) and of course what you can afford.

A few tips:

• It is very helpful, but not required that CDH students have a computer and/or Internet access at home. We offer extended hours in the Media Center, and the public library is also an alternative. A limited number of low-end laptops are available for students to sign out overnight from the Media Center; a parental signature is required for inclusion of a wireless network card.
• Students don't need the latest and greatest computer to do their schoolwork. It is helpful to have a reasonably current computer with a fast internet connection; this will give your student easy access to Infinite Campus for grades, Moodle for course websites/assignments, and general research capability. But again, resources are also available at school; this especially applies to specialized courses in Media Arts.
• As a rule of thumb, buy the best computer you can afford. The technology changes so quickly that you are just about guaranteed to use all the memory and processing power you can get. I've heard many people who wish we had more memory and speed; I've never heard anyone say the opposite!

Have fun!

Welcome!

Welcome to the new tech blog for CDH parents and guardians. I will be sharing news and information to help parents stay on top of technology issues, use technology tools, and work with their students and technology.

 

I have had the privilege of being the Technology Coordinator at CDH since 1994. Our tech team also includes Tony Schaps (Network Manager), Elaine Malley (Technology Specialist), and Chris Babcock (Computer Science Teacher and Technology Specialist); these people are the best! Our mission is to empower CDH students and teachers to use technology for teaching and learning, and we have quite a bit of fun doing it.

I welcome your comments and questions; this blog is for you!