Impact on homework load, student access considerations...

I have added another part to this area in order to discuss student access and homework load. Most of our students have enough access outside of class time to do writing and such on computers, but a good, fast, reliable Internet connection may be another matter entirely. For one thing, external factors such as the family's ISP's service going down, parental concerns or restrictions on their children, speed of the family's Internet connection, and having to share the Internet computer with other family members are issues that come up. I have had students in the Middle School whose primary computer for doing schoolwork is not connected to the Internet, for example. These factors can make it legitimately difficult for students to complete an online assignment due the day after it's given. I'm also concerned about the potential for adding even more homework to our student's already overflowing plates, frankly. I'm excited about being able to set up a wiki or a Ning for a weekly HW assignment on emerging technology for my students...but this a new HW assignment that is an add-on since I have rarely assigned tech hw in the past.

More Moodle Notes

Here are the things Moodle can do that Pbwiki can't. Ideally, if we choose not to do Moodle, these are the tasks for which I'd like to find replacements through other websites or programs.

Pros:
- online gradebook
- site, course, group, user events
- easy chat sessions

Cons:
- No convenient links page? Taggable resources? (Could use wikis within moodle for this instead?)

ETA:
Things you can do:
- For a page full of links, you can: 1) create a web page and have it float at the top of the course outline; 2) create a wiki and do the same; 3) also break either down and have links specific for each topic listed under each unit (if that's the way the course is being organized).

- Can set up hierarchies of folders for storing your files--pbwiki stores everybody's in the same place, so naming conventions and such become more of an issue, and it can be hard to find your file. (NOTE: Disadvantage is max upload of 2MB--changeable, depending on the server settings?)

- Assignments: Require that students upload digital content by a certain time.

RSS Feed Problems with Blogger?

I am having trouble setting up the RSS feed to enable readers to subscribe to this blog. Will continue working on this problem later.

UPDATE: I worked out the problem; I had to go to FeedBurner to set up an RSS feed and then plug that feed address into the layout for the page.