Moodle 2.0 | Synergy Learning Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Moodle 2.0’

Foyle Cloud: Foyle Learning Community’s collaborative VLE

Posted by Kenny McCormack on 23 Nov

comments

Just to introduce myself, I am Kenny McCormack, Operations Manager at Synergy Learning and I look after the development and design teams. As I have just passed my first year in the company, I thought I would write a blog on one project that I have some personal interest in, it involves my old grammar school in Derry city, St. Columb’s College.

The project is called the Foyle Cloud and the project team is aspiring to be a model for adoption of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) for schools and colleges in Northern Ireland, which is by no means an easy task. In addition the aims and objectives for the 3 year programme and beyond are to:

Improve IT skills from the ground up as part of the Digital Derry vision
Adopt and promote e-Portfolio usage for portfolio based qualifications
To provide a platform for sharing courses between schools and reduce travel between schools i.e. improve efficiency and hopefully save money along the way
Provide a platform for staff collaboration in and between schools

As you can imagine with such ambitions there are many challenges that must be overcome by the team to successfully deliver the project, this blog will try and cover some of these and where Synergy Learning services has helped.

The technology solution bit

To help achieve the aims and objectives of the programme the customer needed to select a solution that would be easy to use, robust, scalable, would allow schools to have their own VLE, but still provide a means for students and teachers from different schools to collaborate.

The Foyle Cloud selected Moodle as their VLE platform of choice. Moodle is the world’s leading open source Learning Management System with a global user community and is recognized for its many benefits.

Features	Moodle Benefits
Anytime Anywhere	Support distance education and supplement classroom-based teaching – Blended Learning
Rapid content creation	Upload existing content, other web resources can be linked to, or create and edit new content in Moodle
Knowledge sharing	Stimulate discussions outside the classroom
Assignments + Quizzes	Test and report on students’ learning, encourage students to learn and self-test, deliver exams
Feedback + Choice course activities	Quickly gather feedback from students
Tracking	Learners tracked of all actions (Views + Posts) and can be reported on
Communication + Collaboration tools	In system messaging between teachers + students, forums, wikis, interactive chat, workshop modules

One other important reason why the Foyle Cloud selected Moodle, was its ability to link any number of Moodle environments together using its proprietary MNET protocol. Once the system is configured correctly, each school has their own VLE and a central hub VLE is established to provide the inter-school collaboration platform.

Learners from different schools are able to roam from their own school VLE to the central hub to participate in shared curriculum courses reducing the need to travel to the school in person.

Teachers can manage their own courses on their school VLE, share information and collaborate with other tutors from other schools in the network on the central hub.

The diagram below illustrates the Foyle Cloud Moodle network setup and the main user type responsibilities:

Foyle Cloud Moodle Network Model

In addition to providing the ability to network different Moodles together the MNET protocol also allows another open source system, Mahara, to be linked to any of these VLE environments. Mahara provides the missing technology bit that Moodle does not have; e-portfolio services.

Once linked to the Moodle network, the Mahara site provides a system for all learners of the VLE to store and share documents within a collaborative and reflective platform.

Users of the system can demonstrate their life-long learning, skills and development over time to selected audiences.

So where does Synergy Learning come in you may ask? The Foyle Cloud contracted us to provide the solid hosting platform required to cope with the large number of concurrent learners and teachers that would be using the system on a daily basis. We also provide the expertise and support to maintain the systems and ensure their optimum use.

Communication + programme structure

With the number of schools in the Foyle area who have already come on board and also those planned for year three, it is clear that a good organisation structure is essential.

Synergy Learning’s experience again has helped the Foyle Cloud management group develop a comprehensive communication structure with clear roles and responsibilities for those involved.

The agreed organisation structure is illustrated below:

Organisational structure

This model could be adopted by other similar organisations attempting to gain the benefits of working together as a network of schools or colleges.

Part of the implementation of this organisation structure was to agree a standardized protocol for managing the different VLE’s. This operations protocol includes agreeing one single process for:

Adding and enrolling users
Password policy
Course labeling and layout
User profile fields
Category organization
Global VLE configuration settings

In addition to standardizing how the system is used, the Foyle Cloud also availed of Synergy Learning’s theme design services to create a consistent look and feel for all of the Moodle sites whilst still allowing each school to be branded separately.

The story so far!

Since implementation of the technology components of the system earlier in the year the Foyle Cloud ran a pilot course on the central hub site called ‘Building Bridges’, which was launched in tandem with the opening of the new Peace bridge in the city. This course content was created through the collaboration of pupils from a range of different schools and backgrounds in the city.

Since the kick off the project 7 schools have come on board to the Moodle network:

St. Columb’s College
St. Mary’s College
Lisneal College
St. Joseph’s College
Immaculate Conception
St. Brigid’s College
Lumen Christi

The plan is to have 18 or more at the end of the 3 year programme.

So what’s next for Foyle Cloud!

Along with continuing to bring in more schools and colleges in the area to the network, the Foyle Cloud intends to:

Launch the first certified shared course on the central hub in the next school year – either BTEC or A-Level Applied Engineering course
Pilot their first e-portfolio certification course – Occupational Studies
Pilot the use of Mahara in general with one of the schools on the Foyle Cloud already so that this can be adopted by all schools next year
Fully establish the staff collaboration area on the central hub for all teachers and tutors

Synergy Learning will continue to support the Foyle Cloud to ensure the success of the programme.

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

Moodle Games

Posted by Joel Kerr on 10 Jun

comments

For those of you who missed Alex Büchner’s much lauded presentation at this year’s UK Moodle Moot here is your chance to see it again!

The title of the talk is ‘Course, Chat and Match – Creating a Moodle Course as a Game’, the aim is to create a game in Moodle using the Conditional Activities, Course Completion and Progress Tracking functionality. As Alex says, Angry Birds it isn’t, but teachers and students could have a lot of fun with this.

To view the recording click on the image below and ‘launch playback’

If you do try it for yourself, let us know how you get on!

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

Moodle 2.0 Test Drives

Posted by Joel Kerr on 08 Apr

comments

As the interest in Moodle 2.0 gathers momentum we have had a lot of requests from people wanting to trial the new software. In response we have created a Moodle 2.0 Test Drive site where those interested can have their own course on the site to acquaint themselves with the new features.

If you would like us to assign you your own course email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com. To visit the site click on the image below

We have a number of packages to help you on your Route to Moodle 2.0, including test sites and duplicate sites. To find out more visit http://www.synergy-learning.com/moodle2/ or call us on 028 9028 8830.

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

Moodle 2.0 Integrations – Alfresco

Posted by Joel Kerr on 17 Feb

comments

As Moodle 2.0 becomes more established we are finding more and more clients eager to upgrade from their current version.

Not only is the software being recognised for it’s new and improved features, it also makes integrating with third party tools a whole lot easier, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for those moving to Moodle 2.0.

Over the next few blog posts I am going to look at some of these external tools to see what benefits they can bring to your operations….starting with Alfresco.

Alfresco

If you haven’t heard of Alfresco before you might find it a rather useful tool. It is a Content Management System (CMS), which basically means it can be used for managing the production of electronic content (text files, videos, graphics etc.) via a set of rules, processes and workflows.

Like Moodle and Mahara, Alfresco is Open Source and as a CMS it specializes in:

It caused a lot of interest when it was announced that Moodle 2.0 was to come complete with an Alfresco repository. File management within Moodle has long been a debate generator and integration with an external CMS solves the issue of content ownership, tracking changes, linking to external content finding content etc.

We have been working with Alfresco for some time now and our clients are finding it’s capabilities a perfect compliment to Moodle, allowing users to store and retrieve resources from within both piece of software.

The integration is quick and straightforward and the outcome can prove very beneficial. If you are interested in finding out more about our Moodle or Alfresco services email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com.

Add a comment

Coming Soon: Moodle 2.1

Posted by Joel Kerr on 10 Feb

comments

Moodle 2.0 is slowly engraining itself into the fabric of the elearning community and has proved popular with our clients who have chosen to upgrade.

Still there are a number of schools and companies who have chosen to hold off for the release of Moodle 2.1. Those people will be pleased to hear the release date has been announced – expect it June 2011.

As with every new version Moodle 2.1 is a, “refactoring and modernising” of the current version. According to Moodle.org, “in Moodle 2.1 the core development teams will focus almost exclusively on improving the core activity modules and blocks in Moodle, tackling one or two of the following tasks at a time.”

Refactoring existing modules

Refactor of the Forum module
Refactor of the question bank and quiz, Tim Hunt, The Open University, UK.
Rewriting of the grading interfaces, including rubrics
Adding ability to restore 1.9 backups to 2.x

Adding new modules

A new module that combines the best of questionnaire and feedback and survey into an upgrade for the survey module.
We’ll also be reviewing and adding some of the most popular third-party modules (eg Book)

To read through the Moodle 2.0 release notes visit Moodle.org. For more information on our various Moodle 2.0 upgrade options visit Your Route to Moodle 2.0.

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

January // BETT 2011

Posted by Joel Kerr on 21 Jan

comments

It’s been a busy start to the year!

As has become the norm, our year kicked off by exhibiting at the BETT show. An important event in any edtechs calendar that attracts people from all over the world. It’s a great way to see first hand the new products available and the improvements to those that have been around for a while.

MOODLE

There was a non-stop flow of Moodle visitors throughout the week; existing users who stopped by to share their admiration of the software, organisations that wanted to migrate from other platforms and of course those who were taking their first tentative steps into the world of elearning.

Our job is made a whole lot easier by the fact that Moodle generates such good publicity through word-of-mouth. There were very few people stopping by who hadn’t heard good things about Moodle and the enthusiasm for the software continues to grow. The number of companies and schools who had done their research and were planning a full migration in the near future was overwhelming.

New clients range from primary schools, secondary schools, Local Authorities, FE colleges and universities to councils and large scale organisations. We were also pleased to answer questions from a number of the other exhibitors who were interested in partnerships and integrating Moodle into their own operations.

MOODLE 2.0

At last years BETT we were enthusiastically telling our Moodle visitors the virtues of Moodle 2.0 so it was a pleasure to be able to offer some real solutions at this year’s show. We have upgraded a number of our own client’s sites with successful results and the improved navigation and increased functionality has not gone unnoticed.

BETT offers the opportunity to gauge a real response to the upgrade; both teachers and trainers recognise the benefits of the new conditional activities feature, cohorts, the repository API, the Portfolio API and the list goes on.

We have a queue of people waiting to upgrade with our Route to Moodle 2.0 packages and the demand is only going to increase.

MAHARA

As Moodle becomes as increasingly integral part of the learning environment so the need for an ePortolio also increases. We had a record number of inquiries about our Mahara Services this year. Again the software is proving popular with both educational and commercial establishments who are looking to facilitate records of ‘life learning’ within their establishments.

I’ve spent this week getting in touch with the new contacts we made at the show and the whole office has felt the full benefit of BETT 2011.

I would like to thank all those who visited us at the BETT show for making our trip a rewarding one. If you are in need of our Moodle or Mahara Services get in quick! Our 2011 calendar is filling up fast.

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

Twenty Ten

Posted by Joel Kerr on 30 Dec

comments

It’s said so often (and I’m not afraid of a good cliché so I am going to say it as well) where did the year go? It seems like yesterday since I was walking through the doors of Synergy Learning for the first time and since I was sitting down to my first blog post.

In fact it was a year ago!

So as we get ready to see in the New Year I am going to give you ten of my highlights from 2010 – things that stood out in my mind at the time of writing (bearing in mind I am still in the grips of my Christmas recovery!).

In no particular order…

The BETT Show

A great start to any e-learning calendar I was lucky enough to get over to BETT for a day trip. Roy, Alex, Jonny, Ian and Andrea were the core team manning the Moodle stand at London’s Olympia from 13th – 16th January and as always the response was mighty

iMoot

2010 played host to the first iMoot where the who’s who of the Moodle glitterati presented to Moodlers around the world. Among the presenters were Synergy Learning’s Technical Director Alex Büchner and Moodle Trainer Ian Wild.

The World Cup

Vuvuzela’s weren’t the only thing that caught the attention of the Synergy Learning office. Our heated Fantasy Football League was a close one and I was delighted to come out on top and very disappointed for Jonny McAlister who spent so much time at the bottom of the table he contemplated making it his permanent address.

Moodle 2.0

Is it this month? Next month? No, tomorrow you say? Yes that’s right – with more ‘will they, won’t theys’ than a soap extra-marital affair Moodle finally released the much anticipated Moodle 2.0. The biggest Moodle release to date with more new and improved features than could be mentioned in this short post (don’t forget to visit our ‘Route to Moodle 2.0’ page to see how we can seamlessly facilitate your upgrade).

Our Fifth Birthday

Although not the fifth year of Synergy Learning, 2010 was the fifth birthday of the company under the ownership of Roy Kerley and Alex Buchner. We celebrated in style…that’s all I’m saying!

Race for Life

We were very proud of our girls who raised a non-to shabby £700 for Cancer Research by taking part in the Race for Life up at Stormont (Belfast) in May. Inspired by photos they had seen from previous years of girls stumbling over the finish line looking red, sweaty and like they were on their last legs, our girls finished the 5k with dignity and grace – and then swore never to put themselves through a similar agony again!

Award-winning Theme Design

While I am being proud I may as well mention Caroline Kennedy who won Moodle 2.0 Theme contest, hosted by New School Learning, with her ‘Splash’ Theme. Caroline won herself an iPad and Splash can now be found as part of Moodle 2.0’s core code.

iPad

It is worth mentioning that 2010 was the year the newest addition to the Apple family was released and a number of iPad‘s have found their way into the Synergy Learning offices. Received with a mixed response the tablet is sure to impact the future of elearning one way or the other.

New Hosting Platform

This was also the year our Senior Networks Engineer, Peter Hinds, built our new Hosting Platform from scratch. Optimised for Moodle and Mahara, “it is a fully resilient platform comprised of hardware manufactured by industry leading vendors.” Click here to read all about it in Pete’s blog post. Not bad Pete!

Scotland

Our Belfast office is just a stone’s throw from Scotland so everyone was delighted for our Managing Director, Roy Kerley, who was appointed to the Board of the eLearning Alliance – a member-based organisation that supports Scotland’s elearning community. We have enjoyed a lot of new business from that direction and met some great people.

And one lowlight…

We were sorry to say goodbye to Fearghal Murphy who left us for sunnier climes (Florida to be more specific). I would like to wish Fearghal all the best for the future, and given that he’s prone to sunburn I would like to wish him good luck for the present as well!

So there you have it – ten memorable moments from the last 365 days… obviously it is difficult to fit a year into one blog post but not a bad list!

Here’s to the next 365…in the meantime I would like to thank you all for reading and wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year!

Joel

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

Moodle 2.0 Intro Clips

Posted by Joel Kerr on 01 Dec

comments

I’m a big fan of Tomaz Lasic‘s Moodle 2.0 Intro Clips, and couldn’t pass up the chance to put them on the blog so here they are…

For some reason that escapes my technical expertise the blog will only display half the video but if you press the ‘View Full Screen’ button you will be able to enjoy the whole experience.

Thanks Tomaz : )

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

Moodle for Schools

Posted by Joel Kerr on 26 Nov

comments

As we get closer to BETT 2011 I thought I would do a bit of research into reasons why schools and universities would chose Moodle over the competition.

There have been a number of reports recently of organisations moving from Blackboard to Moodle with a variety of reasons being given, the most consistent being the huge saving that comes with eliminating the annual license fee. I read a report from Vasaar College who estimated a saving of $50,000 annually by switching from the commercial Blackboard to the Open Source Moodle.

But the huge money saving was not the only reason for Vasaars decision to switch VLE, as explained by various members of their team…

Jeffrey Schneider, an Associate Professor commented on the different reasons the faculty where drawn to Moodle.

“A sizable majority of [the faculty] were dissatisfied with Blackboard—it seemed really limited and didn’t offer the same kind of metaphor for learning. It was very teacher directed and felt more fake and artificial. Moodle is a much more attractive, flexible interface.”

Associate Professor Rachel Friedman, who uses elearning in her classes, pointed out what she considers to be the advantage of Moodle:

“The automatic layout of the semester week-by-week, for example, allows for an “interactive” syllabus—not a frozen document, but something that evolves in response to what is actually happening in the classroom.”

Steve Taylor, a member of Vasaar’s Moodle Support team tells it from a technician’s point of view:

“Technologically speaking, Moodle is easier to maintain than Blackboard because it is an open-source software—a program whose code is accessible to those running the site.

“This means that if there’s a little bug, or if we want a function to behave differently or if someone has created a great new function, we can modify the program. We’ve made lots of modifications and while that has called for some work on our part, it’s resulted in a system that better meets the users’ needs,”

Another school that recently made the move from Blackboard to Moodle is the North Shore Senior High School. Again their district viewed Blackboard as being a, “huge investment that was putting a hole in their tight overall budget.”

A report by the school’s newsletter described Moodle as being:

“a stronger [version] of Blackboard which includes more advanced features that allow teachers to become more involved in a student’s academic future”

Some of the specific advantages of Moodle outlined by North Shore include:

“it promotes frequent feedback to students. Students are sent email notices when an instructor has posted grades, added feedback to an assignment, and an assignment can be updated.”

“The grade book tool in Moodle lets you add feedback in addition to a grade or score. Built-in blog and wiki tools in Moodle provide new communication options for group work and journals.”

“Moodle students can access all of the course resources from the course front page.”

Over all North Shore concluded that as well as saving money, Moodle provided a site that was much more personalised and flexible.

Introducing Moodle 2.0

Another topic that is sure to be a hot one at BETT 2011 is the release of Moodle 2.0. With the release of Moodle 2.0 comes a whole host of new and improved features that continues to set Moodle apart from the competition.

The Open University, who operate one of the world’s largest VLE’s, has recently reviewed their options in the light of the advances made with the various software options.

Having looked at the functionality offered by current and future editions of Moodle, Blackboard, Desire2Learn and Sakai it was concluded that the new Moodle 2.0 was best suited to the Open Universities requirements.

A current consideration for organisations using Moodle will be how to introduce Moodle 2.0 as efficiently as possible. Ross McKenzie, Strategic Development Manager at the Open University, explains how they plan to execute the transition to Moodle 2.0:

“The first student-ready release of our new OUVLE will come online in June 2011, with a follow-up release in September 2011. We’re planning to run the new OUVLE alongside the existing Moodle-1.9-based OUVLE for at least 12 months, and we’ll be gradually moving students over to the new OUVLE during that period.”

It is inevitable that with Moodle 2.0 being such a major release a lot of Moodle users will want a transitional period for introducing Moodle 2.0 so as to cause as little disruption to their operations as possible.

We have factored this into our Moodle 2.0 upgrade packages, offering a number of ‘Test Options’ that give Moodlers the chance to play around with a Moodle course, test site or duplicate site. This means you can acquaint yourself with all the new features that come with Moodle 2.0 before introducing it fully.

For more information on our various ‘Route to Moodle 2.0′ options click here

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

Your Route to Moodle 2.0

Posted by Joel Kerr on 18 Nov

comments

Moodle 2.0 is here – it is time to give your upgrade strategy some serious thought!

At Synergy Learning we have been thinking about upgrades a lot for quite some time now and have come up with a number of packages that will make our clients Route to Moodle 2.0 a smooth one.

This is no ordinary upgrade. With Moodle 2.0 comes the biggest Moodle software overhaul since its inception and includes a number of new features that will offer major improvements to how you run your online learning.

This will require a period of adjustment for all involved. Read on to see how our Moodle 2.0 Pitstops can help you out with your transition period:

Pitstop 1: Courses

This package is designed for Moodle users who want to try out Moodle 2.0 Courses before upgrading their existing site.

This will give you the opportunity to play around with your own Course on our Synergy Learning Moodle 2.0 site, getting used to the new features before a full migration.

Pitstop 2: Test Site

This package is designed for Moodle users who want to get acquainted with a Moodle 2.0 site before upgrading their existing sites.

We will set you up with your very own Moodle 2.0 Test Site to run alongside your existing site so you can get used to the new features before you upgrade.

Again, your Moodle 2.0 Test Site will be for sandpit use only so you can be sure nothing will be published while you experiment.

Pitstop 3: Duplicate Site

With this option we will create a duplicate of your current Moodle site and upgrade it to Moodle 2.0. This means you can run your current site without interruption AND get to grips with the Moodle 2.0 site ensuring a smooth transition when the time comes for a fully integrated Moodle 2.0 site.

The Moodle 2.0 duplicate site will also be for sandpit use only so you can be sure nothing will be published until you are ready.

Alternatively if you are looking to upgrade ASAP get in contact to discuss our Direct Route to Moodle 2.0 option or our New Route to Moodle 2.0 for those who are looking to start a Moodle 2.0 site from scratch.

This is an exciting time for Moodle users and for online learning as a whole. At Synergy Learning our priority will be to make sure our clients Route to Moodle 2.0 is a smooth one, so before long you will be enjoying all the benefits that come with this Moodle upgrade.

For more information on any of our upgrade options visit Moodle 2.0 with Synergy Learning or contact me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com.

Join our network

Share this link

Add a comment

Moodle

Mahara

Content Development

Case Studies

Posts Tagged ‘Moodle 2.0’

Moodle Games

Moodle 2.0 Test Drives

Moodle 2.0 Integrations – Alfresco

Coming Soon: Moodle 2.1

January // BETT 2011

Twenty Ten

Moodle 2.0 Intro Clips

Moodle for Schools

Your Route to Moodle 2.0

Recent Posts

Categories

latest blog entries

get in touch

sections