Well, money is very, very tight here and we are not the only ones who will have to find some. It actually should not be difficult to raise enough funds if a couple of teachers help me. And that's almost a sure thing.
But I did want to make the Moodle is sweet pun.
-- Art
Well, we have a problem around here: Everyone wants the services that the government provides, but no one wants to pay any taxes. What is really galling, though, is that Aiken is NOT a poor community. We are, however, a retirement haven and I guess that means that many senior citizens do not want to pay taxes to support the schools. That's what i have been told, at least.
I have already had three teachers tell me they will help me get the money together, so i don't think it will be a problem. But it will certainly be a pain in the neck.
What can you do? We'll just keep moodlin' along and wait for this foolishness to pass.
-- Art
Dear Andreas,
Of course you are right; AHS can easily afford Moodle. It's a matter of priorities. The bottom line, though, is that we will likely have to raise some money. I don't like it, but okay, that is just one more thing I wish were different about our system.
Since I am a lowly classrroom teacher (very, very low on the food chain, somewhere beneath plankton), I will just have to deal with this. I have been teaching since 1979 and have gotten used to it.
By the way, I don't think our system is terrible, there are just some things I wish we would do differently.
One way or another, I can and will find the money to stay at Moodle.com. In the end, it probably won't be a big deal. Just a pain in the neck. And we may not have to sell candy or pencils or anything. The maney for Moodle may just reappear. That kind of thing happens quite often. We'll see.
On the other hand, there seems to be some real resistance to Moodle and all open source software at the district office, and that is becoming very ominous, indeed. And THAT is starting to keep me awake at night. I do not have anything against Blackboard, WebCT, etc., but do NOT want Moodle to become verboten around here.
Just another day in HappyLand.
-- Art
Hello Art,
I'm sorry to hear that there is so much resistance to Moodle in your school district. It sounds like you need a Moodle advocate to talk to the "decision makers" in your district and prevent them from making a big mistake by going with another LMS (have Martin Dougiamas talk to them directly).
Call other schools in the US to see who else is adopting Moodle and if there is a substantial amount, present these numbers to your school district as part of the justification for keeping Moodle. The impression I get from the Moodle community (please let me know if I'm wrong about this) is that the Moodle adoption rate is starting to accelerate and it would be sad 
to see your school district left behind.
Moodle is more than just another LMS, it is also a wonderful community that is working (I'm not sure you can say this about all open source communities). This is mostly due to the great leadership of Martin Dougiamas.
I believe Moodle (with the help of the Moodle community) is well on the way to becoming the premier virtual learning environment in the world.
Best regards,
Ray
