Posts Tagged ‘Moodle 2.0’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

The Moodle 2.0 Administration Map

Posted by Joel Kerr on 02 Nov
comments

Our very creative Technical Director, Alex Büchner, has been at it again – this time with Moodle 2.0 Administration. While putting together material for Synergy Learning’s new Moodle 2.0 Admin Training Course Alex came across a few problems and solved it in a way only he knows how.

If you are having difficulty understanding the administration in Moodle 2.0 here is a ‘Moodle 2.0 Administration Map’ to help you out (click on the image to download the PDF).

For more information on our Moodle 2.0 Training Courses email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com.

_________________________________________

And if you were wondering how Alex ended up with his Metro style map, read on for an explanation (it’s worth a read!):

“I could have come up with one of those serendipitous stories – “I was on the Tube in London last week while dreaming of Moodle Cohort synchronization when this amazing woman sat beside me… ” Or, how about something horribly sleazy like “Moodle is my profession, but cartography has always been my passion…” I am sorry, but no serendipity this time round.

“I was designing the Synergy Learning Moodle 2.0 Administrator course and I struggled with the new Moodle Cohort synchronization. Where does it belong to? User management? Course Management? Both? Worth its own topic? I had the same problem with other concepts, too, for instance security reports (Security or Reporting?), grade permissions (Gradebook or Roles?) or Community Hubs (Networking or Collaboration & Communication?). I started scribbling and dabbling. I drew a Mind Map – it just looked like a graphical representation of the table of contents. I drew a workflow – no good. I started a Prezi – fun, but not what I needed. Just before my right half of the brain started to produce lactic acid, I tried to represent each feature as a stream with intersections showing interfaces. That was better, but I got confused very quickly. Well, more than usual. I needed some colour.

“My mum had given me a lovely box of crayons a few weeks ago for Son’s Day. You know, the really cool ones, the ones all your buddies want.  I re-drew the scribbles, but gave each stream a separate colour – roles in red, grades in green, courses in cyan. By this stage I gave up on the allegorical usage of colours and Moodle concepts – users in yellow, performance in pink (hooray), security in black, and so on. You get the idea.

“The result looked like an underground or subway map designed by a very confused town planner. After a couple of iterations I was quite happy with the result. And here it is, hopefully providing you with a better overview of Moodle Administration or, if this is not your cup of tea, something to confuse the tourists next time they ask for directions.”

Join our network

Share this link

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine


Add a comment
 

Book Review: Moodle 2.0 First Look by Mary Cooch

Posted by Joel Kerr on 29 Oct
comments

“Now used by over 31 million students in over 44 thousand sites in over 200 countries, Moodle has truly changed the face of learning.”

That is the only quote I’ll be giving you from Mary Cooch’s new release Moodle 2.0 First Look.  For the rest you will have to buy the book yourself and if you ask me it is worth the money.

First and foremost a teacher, Mary Cooch also holds the titles of Moodle Trainer and  Consultant at Our Lady’s Catholic High School, Moodle Certified Teacher and Course Creator, Moodle blogger and tweeter and one of the most active and enthusiastic members of the Moodle community.  This leaves her in a pretty good position to be writing a book that introduces the long awaited Moodle 2.0.

Moodle 2.0 First Look is a comprehensive account of what new and improved features we can expect in Moodle’s biggest release to date.  The book is aimed at teachers and administrators who have experience in using Moodle, so don’t be buying the book if you are expecting a beginners guide.

For those that have experience, the Moodle 2.0 First Look provides instruction that can be easily understood by the less technically minded without missing out on any of complexity of the upgraded software.  Here is a very quick summary of the book:

  1. Chapter 1 What’s new in Moodle 2.0 – A brief overview of what can be expected from Moodle 2.0
  2. Chapter 2 Finding your way around (Navigation and Blocks) – Explains the new navigation system and the new way of handling blocks
  3. Chapter 3 Editing Text and Managing Files – This chapter looks at Moodle’s new HTML editor and how new files are brought into Moodle.
  4. Chapter 4 What’s New in Add a Resource – examines the new “add a resource” drop-down and what changes can be expected
  5. Chapter 5 What’s New in Add an Activity – as well as looking at the new “add an activity” drop down, this chapter also examines improvements to the Quiz, Workshop and Wiki modules
  6. Chapter 6 Managing the Learning Path – Focusing on Conditional Activities and Completion Tracking
  7. Chapter 7 Having your say – Moodle 2.0 comes with improved communication; this chapter looks at Comments, Blogging and Messaging
  8. Chapter 8 Admin Issues – Explores what is new in Moodle 2.0 administration settings.

Although there is a lot of information to take in, Mary keeps the reader engaged with a dab of creative writing and the use of handy little screenshots to support the text.

Mary has clearly spent a lot of time playing around with Moodle 2.0 and exploring the new features in depth to be sure she knows what she is writing about, and that comes across in the quality of the content provided.

Moodle 2.0 First Look explains what existing Moodle users can expect from the upcoming Moodle 2.0 release but this does not limit it to being a short term fix.  The tutorials offered means it is a book that can be used as a manual over and again – an excellent read for anyone planning to upgrade their site to Moodle 2.0.

To purchase a copy of the book visit the Packt Publishing website

Join our network

Share this link

Add to FacebookAdd to DiggAdd to Del.icio.usAdd to StumbleuponAdd to RedditAdd to BlinklistAdd to TwitterAdd to TechnoratiAdd to Yahoo BuzzAdd to Newsvine


Add a comment
 

What’s new in Moodle 2.0? Conditional Activites and Completion Tracking

Posted by Joel Kerr on 28 Jul
comments

By now most of you will know the alpha release of Moodle 2.0 is likely to be closer to September 2010. This is because the Moodle team is putting the emphasis on getting the release right rather than rushing it out.

In the meantime to continue on with the ‘What’s new in Moodle 2.0’ theme here is a quick introduction to two of the most talked about new features, designed to help students manage their learning:

  1. Conditional Activities
  2. Completion Tracking

Conditional Activities, developed by Sam Marshall of the Open University, will appear as a standard feature in Moodle 2.0 onwards, enabling teachers to restrict the availability of any activity according to certain conditions such as date, grade obtained, or activity completion.

There are arguments for and against this form of control over a students progress throughout a course as opposed to allowing them to find their own paths, but that is another blog post altogether.

Completion Tracking allows teachers to specify conditions that define when an activity is considered to be complete e.g. when a certain number of posts have been made, or a grade has been reached or a choice has been made

The Completion systems itself will consist of 2 parts:

  1. Activity Completion
  2. Course Completion

Activity completion enables teachers to specify conditions that define when a student has completed an activity, for example when a certain number of posts have been made or a grade has been reached

Course Completion enables teachers to specify conditions that define when a student has completed a course.

For more information on all of Moodle 2.0’s features you should read the Moodle 2.0 Release Notes on Moodle.org.

For more information on implementing Moodle 2.0, or on any of the Synergy Learning services email info@synergy-learning.com.


Add a comment
 

Caroline Kennedy | Moodle Multimedia Designer

Posted by Joel Kerr on 26 Jul
comments

Congratulations to Caroline Kennedy, Synergy Learning’s Multimedia Designer, for her recent success in the Moodle 2.0 Themes Competition.

Caroline says, “I just want to say a massive thank you! I am really delighted. It has been a huge learning curve for me over a short period of time and a great opportunity to get to grips with Moodle 2.0.  Well done to everyone who entered! I’m really excited to see the theme in the Moodle 2 core, along with the others.”

I will add more information on Caroline’s role and expertise to the blog shortly, at the minute she is up to her eyes designing themes for our clients…

To view Caroline’s winning ‘Splash’ theme click here


Add a comment
 

Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest: Splash Theme

Posted by Joel Kerr on 16 Jul
comments

Voting for the Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest continues until Friday 16 July 2010 at 11:59pm EST. This has been another great (and fun!) opportunity for members of the Moodle community to play an active role in the release of Moodle 2.0.

Caroline Kennedy submitted the ‘Splash’ theme, which has been well-received so far, with positive feedback and constructive criticism a plenty.

Caroline told me, “This has been a brilliant chance for me to work with themes in Moodle 2.0 and a welcome opportunity to spend some time exploring the possibilities. I am glad of all the opinions shared via the contest, that’s what the Moodle community is all about. I would be very happy to see Splash become a standard Moodle Theme in Moodle 2.0”

Click on the image above to view the custom settings of ‘Splash’

For a demo version of the site click here.

To vote in the Moodle 2.0 Theme Contest click here.


Add a comment
 

What’s new in Moodle 2.0? HTML Editor

Posted by Joel Kerr on 06 Jul
comments

Moodle 2.0 will use TinyMCE as the new HTML editor, which will work in more browsers including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome.

You can also use the new HTML editor to embed media from other sites such as youtube or Flickr.

Moodle.org lists the benefits of the new HTML editor as follows:

  1. It is a new editor based on TinyMCE
  2. It works on more browsers
  3. There is a resizable editing area
  4. There’s cleaner XHTML output
  5. Full integration with configured external repositories to import and embed media into a text

If you require any more information on upgrading to Moodle 2.0 email me at joel.kerr@synergy-learning.com or contact Synergy Learning on Facebook.


Add a comment
 

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

Posted by Joel Kerr on 05 Jul
comments

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.


Add a comment
 

Moodle 2.0 Testing – Community Hub

Posted by Joel Kerr on 01 Jul
comments

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.


Add a comment
 

What’s new in Moodle 2.0? Cohorts

Posted by Joel Kerr on 21 Jun
comments

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


Add a comment
 

Moodle 2.0 for course creators

Posted by Joel Kerr on 18 Jun
comments

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.


Add a comment
 
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »