I have been using Moodle for the past few years. I used an open access system for a while (ezboard, maybe?) and eventually had to close it down due to a few inappropriate anonymous posts. With Moodle, my students have to log in with their student ID so they are responsible for what they post. The first few years were a success: students posted questions, answers, hints...it was just what I hoped. And I could answer questions as well, though I mostly allowed them to help each other through. Also, it would give me a way of knowing what issues were causing problems before they even walked into my class in the morning.
But this year, my students don't want to use Moodle. They would rather do all of that in facebook where they can also use the chat function. So my moodle traffic is way down even though I dangle some extra credit to the students who use it effectively. They have formed facebook groups, but I don't want to join. And I don't want to officially endorse or require the use of facebook as part of my course -- I do have a small handful of students who do not use facebook (or are not allowed to use it by their parents).
But to answer your question: when it was working, it was really helpful. My school's IT staff set up the moodle server, and then I set up my personal moodle space. That part did not take long at all. You can also subscribe to the forums you create so that you get an email when someone posts. And moodle has a bunch of other features I never used.
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From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] on behalf of curtis osterhoudt [flutzpah@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2012 4:58 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: [Phys-l] Website forum for students' questions
One thing I would like to try for various University classes is to provide a blog-type forum for student questions and discussions.
Having never really done something like this before, I'd like input from the phys-l list. Here are some questions to get this going:
1) How actually useful is such a thing? I could use it as a repository of homework and quiz questions, with student responses posted semi-anonymously. Also, explanations, derivations, proofs, and heuristics which are particularly tricky or only dreamt up post-facto could find a nice home there.
2) It would be available nearly all the time, and *perhaps* serve as a source of ideas and answers to both me and students. It might also have to be policed heavily.
3) Should it be open to the general public? To just the student body? To just current class members? (This might have to change radically -- I'm guessing to make it more restrictive -- as more trolls and spammers make their presence known and annoying).
4) Are there specific hosts/software which make such a thing particularly easy? Do they allow for easy inclusion of things like numbered equations and graphics and LaTeX code?
5) Are threaded comments of particular use?
6) What sort of time-drain can I expect?
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"The four points of the compass be logic, knowledge, wisdom and the unknown. Some do bow in that final direction. Others advance upon it. To bow before the one is to lose sight of the three. I may submit to the unknown, but never to the unknowable." ~~Roger Zelazny, in "Lord of Light"
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Forum for Physics Educators
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_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l