As the internet continues to expand and solidify its presence in the average person’s everyday life, Pierce College Students are learning how to cope with the idea of a virtual classroom.
Since the inception of PierceOnLine, more and more classes are becoming somewhat of a “hybrid” by including an online aspect to the curriculum.
Activity Coordinator Cynthia Alexander has been in charge of PierceOnLine since its major expansion two years ago.
“PierceOnLine, is the online site, not just for online classes but also for web enhanced classes, and hybrid courses,” said Alexander.
Timothy Rosdahl, instructional media developer and PierceOnLine administrator, said “Pierce has been using it for about three or four years, just about when our district purchased Moodle rights.”
The software, Moodle (Module Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), is what gives every class at Pierce College the option to be online.
Moodle is self described as an “Open Source Course Management System (CMS), or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).” According to their website it has expanded from less than 5,400 registered in 2006 to more than 50,000 in 2010.
However, those numbers don’t imply that every class at Pierce will have an online aspect.
“Every course has a shell, a presence on the website, and students are automatically put into a course shell so they can access it after 24 hours of adding the class, ” said Alexander. “There are over 2,000 courses at Pierce College, but not all instructors use [Moodle].”
Although all enrolled students can log into their class page, some instructors just choose to put up a syllabus, where as others can require students to actually use the website through its various capabilities including uploading assignments, or having online discussions.
The website also offers a place for teachers to keep students updated on their status in the class. Online grade sheets are available and overall performance can be posted for the students to know where they stand. Some things can be graded almost instantly after completion such as online multiple choice quizzes.
Cindy Carcamo-Esparza is a Pierce student who has taken various classes with professors that choose to use PierceOnLine. Her child development class in the summer required that she turn in assignments and take tests through the website.
“I like that it’s simple and easy to understand,” she said. “It helps me stay organized. For instance, it shows me all the classes that I’m enrolled in even if the teacher [doesn’t] use Moodle.”
As for the students that don’t have internet access at home, Alexander said, “the library has labs for students to use and there are computers in the [Freudian Sip], so if they don’t have internet, they can use it on campus.”
Links:
http://moodle.piercecollege.edu/
http://online.piercecollege.edu/