Month: August 2015

A valid question is: "Why both Use Math! and Moodle?"  The simple answer is that the work of mathematics, science, computer science, and technology need to be shared and accessible.

Moodle, an "open source" piece of software is ultimately designed to be an educational management system.  Our use of Moodle at Garrison Forest by design and by necessity is a "closed" reality.  Access to our work there is gained through username and password combination.  The contents can not be "seen" by individuals not in our community.  The upside of this is that the system can maintain the privacy of members of our community.  Specifically, this allows us to communicate about coursework without compromising the personally identifiable information of our students.  It is appropriate for a school to protect this privacy.  Moodle will do this well.

Yet, we are a school that have the privilege of having time and resources to study.  Specifically, in my classes students study mathematics.  As we develop resources for study, and make discoveries we have AN OBLIGATION to share those with others engaged in this study.  We need an avenue to communicate with the community of mathematicians and mathematical students at large.  We need to have, so to speak, "a public space".  This is the point of Use Math!  This is where we share what we learn and our resources and where the world can communicate with us about this.  No where in this page will personal information be shared or personal images.  However, this is where we live up to our obligation to share and collaborate with others.

Much in this course will be duplicated on Moodle and on Use Math!.  The point of that is making sure that there is ease of access of the student in the course.  Student have access to both places and should not be burdened in having to leave one space to go to another to find the resource they are seeking.  However, what can be shared publicly should be and will.