Why Moodle for School?

July 26, 2017

If you are looking for an online learning environment that you can jump into straight away and not worry about having to install, upgrade or maintain from a technical perspective, then let us introduce you to MoodleCloud.

MoodleCloud is brought to you by the people who are responsible for Moodle’s open source project and is a potentially “perfect” solution for schools, businesses or educators who have a smaller number of learners and would like to get their site up and running in minutes.

MoodleCloud packages and plans are also affordable – and if you have 50 or less learners / users in mind or would just like to try the platform, check out Moodle for Free!

A step up from that, at an affordable price of AUD$80/year (about USD$60 or 53 Euros) you can look at the Moodle Starter plan before jumping into the options of mini, small and medium with our Moodle for School plans.

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Since we launched MoodleCloud in 2015, we’ve had tens of thousands of sites up and running, providing an online learning space for learners and their educators/trainers around the world.

But why get a MoodleCloud site?
Who or what is suitable for?

What are the important and useful features that make a MoodleCloud site collaborative, innovative and suitable for online learning environments?

Instead of us telling you about it, let’s hear from Susan Hallstrom from Shawnee Mission School District, who is a Moodle for School site owner.

Moodle HQ: Thanks Susan for taking the time to talk to us today about MoodleCloud and in particular your Moodle for School site.

Perhaps we can start with a background about Shawnee Mission School District and why you need an online learning environment?

Susan: Shawnee Mission East is one of five high schools in the Shawnee Mission School District located in the suburban Kansas City, Kansas area. Parts of eight cities — Fairway, Leawood, Mission Hills, Mission Woods, Prairie Village, Overland Park, Westwood and Westwood Hills—are included in the East attendance area. It is in a residential area of largely middle- to upper-middle-class families with a population base exceeding 50,000. Our school typically has about 1,700 students in grades 9 – 12.

Our students have computers and the district expects teachers to provide access to materials via some sort of online “tool”. Many teachers use Google Classroom, Google Drive, Drop Box or other simple document repositories to provide access.

Several of our science teachers have successfully used Moodle as our online classroom for several years. We extensively use the assessment and lesson modules. This year, unfortunately, our district will no longer provide Moodle for teachers. However, after a short panic, and realising the importance of the learning software for our teachers, our building principal provided funds for us to purchase a Moodle for School site.

Moodle HQ: How did you first hear about MoodleCloud or perhaps just Moodle in general as a learning platform?

Susan: I’ve been using Moodle for years and it was probably about ten years ago when I first used the learning platform.

We (the SME science teachers) discovered MoodleCloud when we were looking for an affordable option for us to replace Moodle when our district ceased its support.

Moodle HQ: And when you found out about MoodleCloud, why did you think that a Moodle for School site would be the best option for you, other educators and learners at Shawnee Mission School District?

Susan: Moodle for School came “loaded” with most of the features we use. The price was right and we felt quite confident that we would be able to administer the site ourselves.

Moodle HQ: How do you and other educators use Moodle for School for your learners? What features in it do you think makes it a powerful and flexible learning platform?

And what has been the response from students when using Moodle for School?

Susan: The quiz module is FANTASTIC. The options for question types, the feedback options, the security – are great. We have so much more to learn and already the quiz modules are saving us time and helping us maintain assessment security.

Most students are quite positive about the Moodle experience and we look forward to replicating the same experience with our Moodle for School site, which we are starting in August 2017! Our experience has been with the “old” Moodle.

Moodle HQ: From your perspective, Susan, who do you think should consider looking into Moodle for School?

Susan: I would recommend Moodle for School to any teacher looking for an on-line learning management system (LMS). Moodle for School is not just a document repository or a poorly designed quiz generator. It is a powerful and effective LMS.

Moodle has worked so well for me over the years. I don’t know why anyone would want to use anything else!


Thank you once again, Susan and the Shawnee Mission School District for sharing your MoodleCloud experience.

If you want to find out more about Shawnee Mission School District please visit their website.