Our district just upgraded from Moodle version 1.9.1 to version 1.9.7. One of the many changes I was excited about was the option to use HTML tags in activity and resource names. This means you can bold, make fonts bigger or change the color of fields that do not have the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor.

This setting is found in the admin block on the front page under Appearance/HTML Settings

Here is an example showing why this is cool

Before using HTML tags in activity or resource names

See how all activity and resource names are in the same format and small? Well, what if I want my “Homework Help Forum” to be bigger and bolder than the rest of the activities and resources? I want it to stand out.

Simply add the HTML tags to the activity name field like this:

then it displays….

Cool, huh? I’m not quite sure which version this change was made in (and I am almost 100% positive this was not an option before – correct me if I’m wrong though, and even if it was it’s useful to know!).

Of course you need to know a little HTML but I think this is a really useful and neat little option. You can also use this in quiz questions (science teachers were wanting to use subscripts in their quiz questions now they can!). I’m now going to see if any CSS styling is possible – borders maybe?

I think this small option can give teachers the power to better customize, highlight and layout their activities and resources.

Edit: “Home” = “Homework” in the ‘after’ screenshots…you get the idea : )

The past two days I attended the TIES 2009 Education Technology Conference and co-presented “Successfully Integrating Google Apps in Education” with some of our tech people. The presentation is about Google Apps but it also includes using the Moodle-Googleapps SSO plugin. We had a good turn out as a lot of school districts are either looking into using Google Apps or are having issues implementing it. Below is the description of our session.

Come see how Osseo Area Schools have begun to leverage the power of Google Apps for Education. Participants will learn reasons for using Google Apps, tips for successfully implementing Google Apps, questions you should answer before going forward, and see some examples of how Osseo is using Google Apps for both instruction and improving productivity.

TIES provided each session with a wiki so they could post links and resources from their presentations. Here’s our wiki with a link to the presentation and to our delicious account with links we used while implementing Google Apps. You can also check out other sessions and links to their presentations and resources – there were some great presentations this year!

Moodle Announcements

• Moodle 1.9.7 and Moodle 1.8.11 have been released (12-05-09) – Important fixes in this upgrade*

Other

• Review of Moodle 1.9 and Math(s)! – Book Review
• Did You Know Moodle 2.0 Will….? (Online Educa 2009) – Great post!
• Twitter #tourdemoodle – Great idea, share your Moodle site! Started by @catspyjamasnz