by Grace Sly

A new website called Moodle 2 will replace the current Moodle next year after science teacher Renee Blake tests it on her Accelerated Biology class. Moodle 2 updates the current edition of Moodle with new features.

According to technology support supervisor Jeff Zimmerman, the features in the old Moodle are outdated and causing problems. There are also tools that come with the new site that STA wants to utilize.

This includes Moodle 2’s ability to transfer data from Google docs and Picasa (a site used to upload art) onto the website where it can be graded by a teacher. According to Blake, one of the most exciting new tools is the PDF editor. Teachers can mark and grade student’s uploaded PDF documents and save them so they will appear when students open their documents.

Another change is the page layout.

“The front page is going to be a lot cleaner,” Blake said, referring to how the most current announcements will rotate to the top of the homepage. 

Students will have the opportunity to customize their main pages and decide what items they want to “dock” or place in a toolbar on the side of their screen so when they scroll or change pages, they can access the tools with ease.

Mrs. Blake has another theory of why STA decided to switch Moodles.

“The old Moodle was taking up too much space [on the web server],” Blake said. “The new one consolidates information better so it should run faster.”

Zimmerman explains how Moodle 2 is a different installation that , while running on the same server as Moodle, is a completely separate base. The two websites were developed by the same company and thus have similar features

Students who are testing Moodle 2 have varying opinions about the website.

Ally Drummond, a freshman in Accelerated Biology, says that the new site is beneficial.

“[Moodle 2] helps us connect with our teachers and understand subjects better.” she said.

Freshman Quinn Kernell points out how the “docking” feature makes the website easier to use and helps organization. 

Sophomore Tessa Smith agrees, adding that the appearance of direct links to Dart News Online articles is a nice addition.

But not everyone is pleased with the change.

“Personally, I like Moodle more than Moodle 2,” Sophomore Melissa Le said. “Moodle 2 can be confusing and it takes a long time to upload files.”

Freshman Anna Bauman concurs saying she prefers Moodle because of her familiary with the website.

“Just give it a chance,” Smith said. “Some people may not like [the new website] but once they get used to it, they’ll see the advantages of all the new features.”