Archive for the ‘Moodle’ Category

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What’s new in Moodle 2.0? Customised User Profile Pages

Posted by Joel Kerr on 05 Jul
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In Moodle 2.0 site wide user profile pages can be customised by users with blocks, news-feeds and so on.  The aim here is to make the “My Moodle” interface a more usable space that provides each user with their own personal experience.

According to Moodle.org, My Moodle initially could come with specific pages:

  1. home page / dashboard – A completely user configurable page where the informational blocks can be added and moved. Users could have items such as news-feeds, calendars, etc.
  2. profile – The same function that currently exists on the user profile page. It will provide options for the user to assign what information can be visible by what roles.
  3. blog – Access to the user’s blog (like the current tab on the user profile page).
  4. course list – A better version of the current My Moodle page.
  5. report – Access to various reports and logs on your activities.

Each page would be available to be enabled or disabled to the My Moodle interface.

The release of Moodle 2.0 is drawing ever nearer.  If you are interested in upgrading your current version of Moodle email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com.


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ZiLink: Parental Engagement in Moodle – Presentation

Posted by Joel Kerr on 02 Jul
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ZiLink was launched at this years MoodleMootUK, I have added the video presentation from the launch below for anyone who missed it.

For those of you who don’t know ZiLink is a Moodle ’super-block’ for online reporting containing a number of blocks within Moodle that can be configured to meet individual school needs by Moodle administrators.

ZiLink includes four blocks working together using the data from the management information system.

  1. Online Reporting with parental access to attainment, targets, progress, attendance, behaviour, SEN status plus additional features such as immediate access to their child’s current work, work attempted and overdue work.
  2. Individual Learning Plans
  3. Timetable
  4. Timetable Week

Plus, new developments that will be on-stream in September 2010 include Parent Appointment and a Room Booking system.

You can find out more information on ZiLink by reading our previous blog posts:

  1. Synergy Learning and ZiLink: Parental Engagement in Moodle
  2. Moodle and ZiLink: Keeping Parents Informed

Or if you  are interested in demonstrating ZiLink visit:

  1. http://demo.schoolsict.net/moodle

Synergy Learning is the only Moodle Partner in the UK appointed to sell ZiLink.  For any more information or if you are interested in implementing ZiLink email info@synergy-learning.com


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Moodle 2.0 Testing – Community Hub

Posted by Joel Kerr on 01 Jul
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So Moodle 2.0 Preview 4 is out and now it is over to you to get testing!

There are four main focuses for development and testing this week – the Community Hub, Usability, Themes and Performance and Upgrade.

Full docs are still being written for the Community Hub, but according to Moodle.org you can help out by trying the new features:

  1. Try MOOCH at http://hub.moodle.org/
  2. Use the Admin registration page to register your own site with MOOCH.
  3. Add the “Community” block to your site, and use it to search MOOCH for courses, either to enrol in or to download. Note that you can’t yet restore downloaded courses in Moodle 2.0.
  4. If you are interested in playing with the hub software, get the plugin from [1] and unzip it into the “local” directory of an up-to-date Moodle 2.0 site, then visit admin page to install it.

You can also discuss what you see in the Hub servers forum on moodle.org.  For information on testing other features click here.

If you are interested in upgrading to Moodle 2.0 with Synergy Learning email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com.


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Moodle 2.0 Preview 4 – Notable improvements since Preview 3

Posted by Joel Kerr on 30 Jun
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It’s been a month coming, but Moodle 2.0 Preview 4 (of 5) is finally here.  So what has changed since our last preview?  According to Moodle.org:

  1. The Moodle.org Open Community Hub is now branded as MOOCH (love it!) visit MOOCH.
  2. There are improved interfaces for community hub interactions click here for info
  3. New Themes!
  4. The Folder module now has a separate editing page and forces download (you can safely let students edit a shared folder via capabilities) click here for info
  5. There is an all-new enrolments plugin system click here for info
  6. There is also a new interface for messaging click here for info
  7. A new interface for assignment grading click here for info
  8. Many layout issues fixed
  9. Over 100 other bugs fixed

Have fun testing it!  If you are interested in upgrading to Moodle 2.0 email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com


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Moodle Support from Synergy Learning

Posted by Joel Kerr on 22 Jun
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Moodle Support is one of the most in demand services at Synergy Learning.  Andrea Gordon talks us through the role she plays in keeping our clients Moodle sites running smoothly 24/7, 365 days a year.

“With Moodle developers rapidly churning out code for newer versions and 3rd party additions, there will always be the need to keep systems properly maintained and up to date with the appropriate security measures in place.

As a Systems Administrator with Synergy Learning I provide both technical and pedagogical support to ensure the smooth running of Moodle platforms. I also manage the helpdesk, allocating support queries to the appropriate members of our team.

At Synergy Learning our servers are monitored 24/7 and optimised for Moodle. Our expert team of support staff and engineers are always available should any urgent issues arise. The support I deliver on a daily basis can be directly over the phone, via email or onsite if required. Support queries can range from anything basic, i.e. adding a new user to Moodle, to very technical, i.e. configuring firewalls and DNS editing. I aim to provide my first-rate problem solving skills to all queries submitted.

In my daily role I particularly focus on developing excellent relations with our customers to give them that little bit extra with a personal approach many other large scale companies cannot provide.

Along with Moodle Support, I install, manage and maintain all client sites hosted on our servers. This entails installing sites & upgrading to latest versions, migrations over servers, integrations with external systems (Active Directory, MIS etc.) running backups, updating software, system, performance & user testing and involves in-depth knowledge and experience in both Moodle and Linux as a hosting environment. These skills I have gained working closely with an experienced team dedicated to Moodle and directly with clients in time critical conditions. I value this experience as second to none – I can guarantee, if there is a Moodle issue, we will resolve it without a doubt.

Mahara is quickly becoming very popular within Schools and organisations as a nice user-friendly complement to Moodle. New versions for Mahara are released thick and fast so I am always on top of testing before rolling these out to clients. As we are now an official Mahara Partner at Synergy Learning, I provide the same line of support, maintenance & upgrades as our Moodle clients receive.”


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How to embed a Google form in Moodle

Posted by Joel Kerr on 22 Jun
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This is a really useful short video from Ethos Consultancy showing you how to embed an already-created Google form in Moodle.


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What’s new in Moodle 2.0? Cohorts

Posted by Joel Kerr on 21 Jun
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A Cohort or “site-wide group” is a collection of users that can be enrolled into courses in one action, either manually or automatically.  The addition of Cohorts in Moodle 2.0 will ease the administrative burden involved in creating class lists.

According to Moodle.org the goals for Cohorts are:

  1. Simplify manual enrolments – instead of enrolling students one by one, it would be possible to enrol a cohort with single click.
  2. Cohort enrolment plugin – new enrolment plugin synchronising users in cohort with enrolments in a course (including role assignment and group membership)
  3. Synchronisation with external systems – some external systems do not know the actual courses, they only contain some user groups, at present we do not have a simple way to reuse these groups in Moodle.

Additional benefits of the Cohorts feature include the ability to add users to more than one cohort and teachers being able to add single users to a course as well as cohorts.  Should the occasion arise the name of a cohort can be changed.

Cohorts are one of the most requested missing features in Moodle and will be considered a very welcome addition to Moodle 2.0.

If you are interested in upgrading to Moodle 2.0 or want more information on what is involved email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com


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Moodle 2.0 for course creators

Posted by Joel Kerr on 18 Jun
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The stable release of Moodle 2.0 is drawing near. We have compiled a list to document the new and improved features you can expect to find in Moodle 2.0 that will make life easier for course creators:

  1. Navigation in Moodle 2.0 is now implemented consistently with a navigation block on each page that can be hidden by the user until needed.
  2. Users also have much more control over where they can position blocks.
  3. The new text (HTML) editor offers more opportunities for embedding content from other sites, such as Flickr and youTube. It will also work with web browsers such as Safari, Chrome and Opera.
  4. The Portfolio API offers the opportunity to send uploaded work to other sites eg ePortfolio Mahara, Google Docs etc.
  5. The workshop module has been improved to offer advanced grading methods and peer-assessment.
  6. The quiz module is user-friendlier with improved display and search facility for the quiz question bank.
  7. External blogs can be included within the navigation of Moodle 2.0
  8. Comment blocks can now easily be added to blogs
  9. In fact you can add comment blocks to almost anywhere on Moodle 2.0
  10. Moodle 2.0 includes 20 brand new themes
  11. The new conditional activities feature allows teachers to set certain criteria which must be met before students progress within a course
  12. The new completion tracking feature is a way for Moodle 2.0 to store whether or not an activity has been completed
  13. The new community hub feature will allow students to easily find courses around the world they want to enroll on
  14. The community hub will also make it easy for educators to find and download course templates from other educators

As Moodle 2.0 is currently only at the stage of Preview 3, all of these features are subject to change depending on how site testing goes.

For more information on upgrading to Moodle 2.0 email joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com.


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Moodle in the Classroom

Posted by Joel Kerr on 17 Jun
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I found this video on YouTube by a teacher new to elearning about her experiences using Moodle


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Which Moodle 2.0 feature are you most looking forward to?

Posted by Joel Kerr on 16 Jun
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Moodle 2.0 brings with it a whole host of new features, from better Navigation to a new HTML editor, from Conditional Activities to a new Community Hub.

Is there one Moodle 2.0 feature you are particularly looking forward to having in your life?


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