I was recently (well actually quite awhile ago but I’ve been so busy) asked by Ryan Chadwick to take a look at a recently developed Moodle Activity Module called Focuspad by Mintranet.
Focuspad is a Moodle module/activity aimed at encouraging and supporting creative writing. Pieces of writing are saved as posts and managed through the library. read more
Here is some “about” information for this Moodle activity taken from the ‘find out more‘ page on the module’s official site.
Focuspad is similar to blogs and assignments that are already in Moodle but differ in a few key ways that make it a cleaner solution for a lot of tasks.
- Unlike blogs, Focuspad posts can be graded.
- *Unlike assignments, Focuspad allows you to submit multiple items.
Focuspad also has these features:
- Word limits on posts.
- Time limits on posts.
- Autosave of documents every 5 minutes.
- Templates on posts so that you can guide students writing.
- Notes area so that you can encourage students to plan their work before diving in.
- A streamlined marking process. Run through the posts smoothly as you mark them.
- Pause posts. For some students with special needs it is not uncommon for them to be allowed to pause their assessments. Focuspad allows for this.
- An editor designed to maximise focus and minimise distractions.
*I think the standard assignment activity, “Advanced uploading of files”, does allow this
What can you do with Focuspad?
- Basic Blogs – but in a more localised, managed manner.
- Essay based assignments and assessments.
- Learning Logs/ Journals
- 25 word or less style competitions (works great in conjunction with a specially set grading scale).
- Allow for a fun component in student election campaigns.
- Guided learning on how to write essays or reports (by use of templates).
- Open creative writing (let the students form their own targets).
- Fill in the blanks, use a template to provide the framework for a story and let the students expand on it.
Review
I played around with Focuspad as a student as well as a teacher. At first glance it looked very elegant and smooth but it seemed a little confusing as to what everything was meant for and did. For example, I didn’t know if this was public or only the teacher saw it, I was unsure if clicking “done” meant I could not edit it again and I was just unsure of how the whole thing operated. It took me only a few minutes to get the hang of it and now it seems pretty darn easy! It is a one time cost of $99.95 (for every Focuspad sold $5 will be donated to Moodle). You are able to put it on as many installations in your organizations and you have access to any upgrades.
There are two elements to Focuspad: the library and the editor. The library is open source and the editor used is what you have to pay for. The general idea of Focuspad is a Moodle activity where students can write (within Moodle – no uploads of Word files) an essay, fill in blanks from a template, fill out a learning log, etc. and hand it into the teacher. It is a very slick and attractive activity. It works very much like Microsoft Word and it’s really cool because the students see the entire piece of paper and layout. It’s not like Moodle’s WYSIWYG editor, where you see a small box with some buttons in the middle section of a page.
What I liked:
A student can make their post public or private. This is a great option to allow a teacher to make an assignment for their eyes only when students should not be able to see other student’s work, but you can also choose to make it public to share their work and findings with their classmates.
The ability to edit multiple times within Moodle (if that setting is set) is a real convenient feature in my opinion. A student can start an assignment and finish it later or add on to it later like a journal.
The ability for teachers to create templates. This is a pretty awesome thing to be able to do. If there are guidelines or a certain format the teacher wants students to use they can create a template. The only drawback or issue I see is I was able to edit the template, so students could accidentally (or on purpose) edit the template. There may be a lock on this but I did not see it.
Everything is done within Moodle!!! This is the best part of the module. Kids do not have to have a word processing program or worry about uploading files. No worries about versions of Microsoft Word or viewing PowerPoints.
In Conclusion
I think this Moodle Activity Module is a very smooth, easy to use and useful feature. It sort of combines the blog, the journal and the advanced uploading of assignments into one. The fact that a student can work on an assignment, stop, come back the next day and finish it and then hand it in – all within Moodle is great. Moodle does have an “online assignment” but it does not compare to Focuspad. I think teacher’s would love this activity. I haven’t seen any other comments or reviews on Focuspad but I would be interested to see other reviews. In conclusion, after playing around with this Moodle activity I see it as a very useful tool that is more enhanced and robust than any standard writing assignment activity. I will be interested to see what upgrades they have to this activity and any other resources they come up with. Before actually purchasing and installing this feature I would have to test it out and see if there are any bugs but it is something to definitely take a look at.
Related Links:
Find out more
Moodle Focuspad Playground
Download/Buy Focuspad
Discussion about Focuspad
Focuspad on Moodle.org Modules and Plugins
Mintranet
Mintranet Blog
