Course Projects, Pilots and Informal Research

From WikEd

Is It Time For The Personal Course Management System? - Some informal research

Twenty-five years ago, statistical analysis applications, for example, moved from main frame to personal computers. This was a controversial event for many university officials and professors, as well, but the increased power and autonomy of the professor, as researcher, were soon valued. Likewise, the day of the Personal Course Management Systems is here. No longer must professors, as instructors, rely on distant servers, vendors, consultants and system update schedules to design and manage their courses. The rather recent event of Moodle, a small, powerful, open source course management platform, makes it possible for professors to use their personal computers as servers and to incorporate all aspects of course management into their desktop computers. Theoretically, this is possible, but in reality, how well does it work? And, what does it cost in time and resources? This informal research is designed to investigate these questions.

In the summer of 2005, Professor Anderson will manage a 4-week hybrid course using the Moodle course platform and his iMac desktop computer as the server. Before doing this, these requirements and procedures will be specified and then monitored as the experiment proceeds: 1. Equipment Requirements, 2. Installation Procedures, 3. Maintenance Procedures, 4. Security Considerations, 5. Tech Support Responsibilities, and 6. Archival Procedures