Moodle
Online Teaching Conference - a Portal built with Moodle
Submitted by Allisun on Mon, 06/08/2009 - 15:25The Online Teaching Conference is happening this Thursday and Friday, June 11 & 12 in Aptos, CA. Luckily for those of us who can't attend in person, about half of the conference is being offered online for free. It's not too late to register to participate in the live sessions, and all archives will be made available by next week.
I had the pleasure of designing and constructing the portal for the online portions of this confrence, which just launched today. It is using the Moodle Flexpage format with a combination of other Moodlerooms customizations such as the Central Resource System (the Sponsors region on the left that appears on every presentation page is controlled by a single, editable resource); the Coursename filter (the buttons you see to access the presentations); and the mrsite theme (the header & footer is actually located in & editable from the Central Resource System). If you have any questions about the design of the portal, I welcome them in the comments.
Free Introduction to Teaching with Moodle Online Class
Submitted by Allisun on Sat, 06/06/2009 - 18:47I offer a monthly free Introduction to Teaching with Moodle class on Edufire, and have recently scheduled June's edition. It's happening Monday, June 29th at 5:30pm PST. I will be developing a few more classes on Edufire about Moodle topics this summer, too. What would you like to see?
Sign up for Edufire and Introduction to Teaching with Moodle here.
Some feedback about my course:
Very informative class packed with useful information. Allisun provides expert demonstrations and useful lecture material that gives an excellent overview of Moodle.
Lisa on Monday Apr 13
I thought Allisun did a wonderful job of introducing Moodle to the class. She kept the class engaged with questions and answered them as the arose but stayed on track with the presentation. I will say, there were times when I was experiencing lags in the video and audio but overall a good experience. The lags may have been due to the fact that I am in Japan and she was in the US. I will look into other class/course by Allisun and other instructors as well. Good job to Allisun and EduFire.
Bill on Tuesday Mar 17
Allisun ran a huge class really well and shared lots of interesting information. I humbly suggest some student activities might be good for future sessions - possibly a short time 'playing' with some live Moodles via own browser outside eduFire. A great class though, and definitely recommended.
Mair on Tuesday Mar 17
Very nicely run class. I was more interested in an overall view of how one might use Moodle and felt this was definitely delivered. Also appreciated reading several of the informative chat q&a on the sidebar including from some who clearly weren't seeing Moodle for the first time. Learners helping learners - nice!
Mark on Thursday Mar 19
the 1.5 hr presentation was a generous hands-on tutorial on moodle's general features and usability. the intro course shares moodle as an all-in-one teaching application that unburdens the teachers load with its simple system of monitoring and organization. thanks again, allisun! an online tutor who actively responds to spontaneous queries is a world of a difference to an embedded powerpoint. thank you for sharing us your time. ^_^
ana on Tuesday Mar 31
Moodle 2.0 - A Preview
Submitted by Allisun on Wed, 05/13/2009 - 16:51
I recently registered for the MoodleMoot in San Francisco, which coincides with the Sloan-C conference June 17-19. I'll be attending many exciting presentations, but the one I am most eagerly awaiting to hear is from Martin Dougiamas, Moodle's creator. He recently spoke on the developments being made in Moodle 2.0 as part of a presentation on Using open source to support education at the Educause conference in Australia, and published his slides.
Moodle 2.0 details start around slide 20 of the presentation. They are a tanatalizing sneak peek into what promises to be the most exciting, impactful developments made in Moodle core in....well, since Moodle's inception, in my opinion. But they are only slides, and I can tell the real treasure of details lay in Martin's speech - the one I'm so eager to hear : )
Highlights include a mock-up of new sticky block menu-based navigation, improved messaging controls, and a greatest-hits list of new features - with much-needed make-overs of the old (hello new Wiki, Blog, and HTML editor! I can't wait to meet you). New features in Moodle 2.0 include a central content management repository, outcomes & course project tracking, tagging of content, activities & courses, and more.
So, when can we expect Moodle 2.0? My personal estimation is early 2010. You can keep a close eye on the progress by taking a peek at the Moodle 2.0 Planning Document, a frequently-updated Google Spreadsheet.
Find out more about the details of Moodle 2.0 features in the Moodle Roadmap, and stay tuned for more information here.
UPDATE: Martin is not speaking at the SF Moot. Bummer!
Humboldt State University's Moodle FAQ
Submitted by Allisun on Fri, 05/08/2009 - 18:23
When Humboldt State University moved from Blackboard to Moodle, I was responsible for the coordination of the conversion of hundreds of courses & the retraining of dozens of faculty. One of the key projects I worked on after the dust settled was the development of their Moodle FAQ database.
Some of the topics are specific to their installation & circumstances, but there's over a 100 questions in there, so check it out - you may just find an answer. For those wondering, I built the site with Drupal (also the platform of my blog) which I think is an excellent choice for building an FAQ.
