wk1 comment 2

Taken from Caruso_Melissa_History of Virtual Environments
http://web.me.com/melissacaruso/LMO/Blog/Entries/2010/6/4_Caruso_Melissa_History_of_Virtual_Environments.html#

I am interested to know more about your experiences with Moodle, my district is pushing this as possible resource for us to use this coming year. I have very little experience with it and am wondering how people like it.
Sunday, June 6, 2010 - 03:32 PM

The History of Virtual Environments article shows tremendous growth due to the Internet becoming available during the 1990s. Here is a brief snapshot of some of the events that occurred during this time of tremendous growth. In 1990 Princeton introduced assessment management systems, and MIT evolved it into a shared services system. “Here is a list of the features of the system as of 1990: printing, electronic mail, electronic messaging (Zephyr), bulletin board conferencing (Discuss), on-line consulting (OLC), on-line teaching assistant (OLTA), on-line help (OLH), assignment exchange (Turn in/pick up), access to system libraries, authentication for system security (Kerberos), naming-for linking system components together (Hcsiod), and a service management system (Moira).


In 1991, “a 72-inch, rear projection, touch screen, intelligent whiteboard surface for work” was developed allowing for users to interact with text and images rather than just gaze at it. Blackboard and other course based learning management systems were developed and run as a client-server application.


In 1992 a physics class accessed randomized personalized homework problems through telnet. This is a sign that differentiation through technology was used two decades ago, and should be even easier for educators today to use in the classroom. First-Class, Training Partner, and MUDlib management systems were all used.


In 1993 the first large scale commercial product for use in Virtual Classrooms began with a contract with University of Phoenix. This allowed for students to capture information on line and then work offline to complete coursework. Scott Gray also developed useractive Learning at Ohio State, where students could create webpages while they were learning.


In 1994, Courses were developed by faculty members and then delivered via computer. Today, this same program as evolved into 100,000 enrollments at the State of University’s New York campus.


In 1996 First-Class LMO was named the Best General Purpose Tool/School Program by Technology & Learning magazine.

In 1997, many schools were using LMOs for assignment submission and immediate feedback. Plans were in the making for future learning management systems to address the barriers being faced this year. Web based course management systems were being investigated. In 1998, Examview was used to give feedback to students submitting essays to their instructors. “The Cisco Networking Academy Management System (CNAMS) is released to facilitate communication and course management of the largest blended learning initiative of its time, the Cisco Networking Academy. It includes tools to maintain rosters, gradebooks, forums, as well as a scalable, robust assessment engine.” Early trials of Moodle were used after being built in 1998. In 1999, learning programs and software applications were developed with academic structure. Scholastic developed one for PCs and MACs, called Read180 that was shipped out on CD-ROms.


This article really had me interested in the history of Moodle, since this is the Learning Management System that began in our school district last year. Moodle.com was launched in 2001, and in 2002 version 1.0 was released. Version 1.6 was released in 2006,


“Moodle is a software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites. It is a global development project designed to support a social constructionist framework of education.”


“The word Moodle was originally an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, which is mostly useful to programmers and education theorists. It's also a verb that describes the process of lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity. As such it applies both to the way Moodle was developed, and to the way a student or teacher might approach studying or teaching an online course. Anyone who uses Moodle is a Moodler.”


Sources:


About moodle. (2010). About moddle – Moodledocs. Retrieved June 6, 2010 at http://docs.moodle.org/en/About_Moodle


Online learning history. (2008). Online learning history-Moodledocs. Retrieved June 5, 2010 at

http://docs.moodle.org/en/Online_Learning_History


Wikipedia. (2010). History of virtual learning environments. [Web page]. Retrieved June 1, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments