Online Classrooms During Pandemic

DERRY - Students with long-term illnesses might be able to participate in class from their home computers using a tool the district is testing for use in the event a pandemic keeps every student at home.

The Derry Cooperative School District is working with "Moodle," a free online classroom program that could enable students with long-term illnesses to get assignments and communicate with their teacher in the classroom, all over the Internet, said Superintendent Mary Ellen Hannon.

It would be very different from mom or dad picking up assignments from the school, she said, or the at-home tutoring provided to students who are out for a long time.

The online classroom idea came out of the district's preparations for a possible flu pandemic.

Hannon said the district had been considering alternative ways to reach students who might be healthy enough for learning but at home because school is closed as a result of widespread illness or because parents fear sending them to school because of an outbreak.

Cameron Fadjo, Gilbert H. Hood Middle School computer teacher, received a grant for training on using online classrooms as part of the district's pandemic planning. The grant also paid for a server dedicated to Moodle.

The federal education department is encouraging school districts across the nation to have pandemic plans and consider how they will provide instruction to students if schools are closed, according to Hannon.

She said the district has been working on a pandemic plan that would include a vehicle to reach students while they are home as a result of a pandemic. She said district officials have also talked about video classes on Derry Cable 6, but such classes would be more generic.

Through Moodle, students would have their own log-in that would bring them to their work and assignments, she said, noting the district is still working out details, such as whether to have one online classroom per grade level or one for each school classroom.

Though not all students have computers at home or Internet access, Hannon said, a majority of the district's children do and could be taught at home if there were a pandemic.

The planning spurred district officials to consider all the possibilities online learning could present.

"It's all so new to us that we don't have all the possibilities worked out," said Meg Morse-Barry, district technology specialist.

Starting Monday, West Running Brook middle-schoolers will be blogging on Moodle. Social studies teacher Misty Crompton will be posting a question that students will reply to on Moodle, according to Morse-Barry.

She said Moodle allows students to use technology they are familiar with but in a safe environment.

Permission from the district is required to use the system, she said, explaining the district gives students an "enrollment key" that lets them access the program.

Fadjo uses Moodle in his Web development classes, with students logging in through secured accounts after he posts a lesson on Moodle. Right now, he's using it as a tool to reduce the amount of paper he passes out, but Fadjo said it also gives him a chance to see how students respond to the Moodle program.

"They pick it up just like anything else," he said.

Online learning could have many applications for students, Morse-Barry said, citing extra credit opportunities or enrichment programs as possibilities.

Fadjo said the district might be able to use Moodle during the summer for enrichment, perhaps a book discussion for one of the tomes on students' reading lists.

He said the district is in the "formative" stages of using the program, but now that the server is set up he'll work to build teachers' enthusiasm for the program. In April, the district will have a technology fair for its staff to show them how others use technology in the classroom. He plans to "sell" the idea of using Moodle at that fair.