Such is the evolution Moodle has brought to the classroom.
Moodle is free open-source computer code, which means that anyone can use it and modify it according to their whims, and it now is available not only at Gateway High School, but at Moss Side Middle School, too.
The program enables students at Moss Side Middle School to communicate with each other regarding their latest assignments through instant messages, chat rooms and discussion forums.
"There's a big push in technology for kids to create their own content," says Tory Ulewicz, Moss Side Middle School teacher.
The bonus is that now, the quiet student who usually doesn't raise his or her hand in class can post online, according to Ulewicz.
"They can participate in a different type of environment," he says.
Students in fifth-grade teacher Heath Shrum's reading and language arts classes have taken to the program, although it's still used more as a collection of tools than as the sum of its parts.
Today's students are "digital natives." For the most part, they have grown up with technology. Those who didn't, but have adopted technology later in life, are "digital immigrants."
"It's candy for them," says Shrum. "We don't have to sell it. They've already bought it."
In introducing students to different avenues of learning, Shrum hopes to improve their learning experience.
"I just want to make sure the kids are exposed to it," he says, "not give them something to play around with."
In addition to students chatting with other students about class projects via Moodle, teachers can give in-class quizzes while not worrying about students being tempted to look at their nearest neighbor's answers.
The questions and answers for such quizzes are scrambled by the software, according to Ulewicz
And with the digital world come the luxuries of not having to deal with not-so-digital things, such as students having to bring home several textbooks.
"It's a lot better not having to worry about books," says fifth-grader Cali DiLucente, 11.
Also, those colorful excuses about why a student's homework isn't on the teacher's desk may no longer apply.
All homework done by students can be posted and saved on Moodle.
The software also can be used to send homework re-minders to students.
Teachers can bring their own style to Moodle in how they set it up.
They can create forums to ask students about what they learned from that day's lesson and what interested them the most and the least about what was presented.
Teachers can also post podcasts, streaming video content and PowerPoint presentations.
Faculty members at the middle school hope to push students to learn how to post such items online as well.
"Students aren't just harvesting information but creating content," says Ulewicz.
The challenge in implementing Moodle is that some students may not have access to technology at home, but he says he hopes those students will use such resources as Monroeville Public Library's computers or the district's mobile technology lab.
More students, teachers 'Moodling'
