I’ve recently run into a few Moodle bugs that I feel like should get some love and votes to up the priority. I’ll get right into it..

My Moodle drag and drop issue with blocks [#MDL-34679]

When you’re on the My Moodle page in version 2.3.1 and up you will not be able to drag and drop blocks by the crosshair icon like in courses. It took me quite a while to realize that 1.) it wasn’t just my theme and 2.) I could actually move the blocks but only when I clicked once on the crosshair icon, waited, and then clicked in a outlined area like you would do if AJAX was not enabled.

It’s especially confusing because all courses now have to use AJAX (right?) and with the new edition of drag and drop of courses in the My Moodle, it’s weird that the drag and drop works for that but not for the blocks. It’s confusing for users who expect it to work a certain way because of the icon and they just give up not realizing they can click once on it and move it (like me) and confusing for new users who have no experience with the non AJAX way.

I don’t see much activity on this issue and I think it’s a huge deal! Don’t you? Vote here!

Grouping Name does not show up by the Label resource [#MDL-37425]

This tracker issue I created. I noticed it after teachers were complaining about it disappearing after we upgraded to Moodle 2.4.

The Grouping Name is not being displayed in parenthesis for Labels on a course page. The Grouping Name will however display for quizzes, chats, etc. It became an issue after upgrading from 2.3 to 2.4.

There should be a (grouping name) by “This is a label” just like the header has the (22) grouping name. This is important because our teachers have honors and regular math courses all on the same Moodle page and there are labels with a lot of content for each of the groupings but now they [teachers] have to go into each and every label settings to see which grouping it’s for. It sounds like this WAS working in earlier versions then stopped. Vote here!

Questions should be searchable/sortable by tags [#MDL-28308]

 The description pretty much sums it up. I believe the “tagging” function in quiz questions was implemented in Moodle 2 but there is no use for them. You can’t do anything with the tags – they have no purpose right now. This would be a great spot to be able to “tag” certain quiz questions with a certain skill or standard. Then, you would be able to run reports on the class and see which skill or standard needs more work. You could do this report by class or by student. That would be awesome.

I’ve received a few requests for this type of function from teachers and our curriculum department. I think it’s about time to make those “tags” have a use and it looks like it’s a pretty popular tracker item – go see and vote for yourself!

And for those who don’t know what in the world I’m talking about…

What is the Moodle Tracker?

This is where we record and manage all issues related to Moodle and related systems.

It’s not just for developers!

All users should use this system to report problems or new ideas for Moodle and help us make it better.

If you don’t have an account I highly recommend you get one. It’s not just for developers trying to fix issues it’s for any Moodle user – admin or normal user. There may be a bug that you run into that isn’t in the tracker yet or maybe it is and it’s already resolved but your version of Moodle needs to be updated. It’s very helpful to Moodle admins in that it saves you time being frustrated because something doesn’t work but realize it’s a bug or maybe you want to browse around and see the new features that will be added. It’s also for new functionality of Moodle – not just bugs. Go check it out here.

You can also “vote” and “watch” issues. The more votes an issue gets the higher the priority. It’s a way to let moodle.org know Moodlers needs and wants. What a great concept – open software, open tracker system where everyone can help out and test and a way to get your voice heard and let Moodle know what’s important.

The 2012 Midwest Moodle Moot has been announced and will be held July 25-27. The keynote speaker this year will be Stuart Mealor, New Zealand Moodle Partner and Manager of the Free Moodle Project.

They’re currently asking for proposals so if you’re interested in presenting at the Moot check it out here.

It looks like registration information will be available soon.

Who uses Moodle? Who uses Google+? If you said yes to both then come join us on Tuesday, January 17th at 1pm ET to discuss “Moodle for Online Learning and Blended Learning“. The Hangout was a product of a discussion stream from Sean Beaverson and John R. Sowash on Google+.

It’ll be an informal Hangout with no predefined agenda items and there may be a cap on how many people can be in the Hangout but we’ll just see how it goes! People can drop in and out and go with the flow.

Soo, to access the Hangout you have to have a Google+ account and just add me (Melissa Benson), Sean or John to your circles or just search for us and check out our streams. I’m not sure if there’s an easy way to access it? We’ll send out reminders via Google+ and Twitter.

Note: You still have time to vote for the 2011 Open Source Awards until October 31st!

This Open Source award is an online event held by Packt to distinguish excellence among the various projects within the community. Now in its sixth year, the Award, formerly known as the Open Source Content Management Systems (CMS) Award, is designed to encourage, support, recognize, and reward a wide range of technologies. Since 2006, both Drupal and WordPress have won the main CMS Award, with Dries Buytaert and Matt Mullenweg both referencing the Award as an important yardstick for their projects. 

Vote now!

Great news, Moodle 2.1 Beta is now available on Moodle.org for download! I just installed and tried restoring a 1.9.9+ course – it worked!

Helen Foster recently posted on Moodle.org asking for Moodlers to help out and send in their 1.9 courses for further testing. The restore 1.9 backups into Moodle 2.1 tracker item has been very busy and the status now says “closed”.

Moodle 2.1 is set to be released on July 1st. Please help out Moodle by testing 2.1 on the QA Moodle site. Learn how to help!

The iMoot has been going on for 3 days now and with the exception of a few bumps in the web conferencing it’s been a tremendous success. Props to the iMoot team, great presenters and attendees for their back channel chat during presentations.

Along with separate iMoot session Moodle courses including forums, a collaborative doc has been created for the Moot. Moodlers have been taking notes and sharing about the sessions they’ve attended. We still have a day or two of the iMoot left so feel free to continue taking notes. The great thing about the iMoot is that all sessions are recorded and can be viewed..well forever. The collaborative doc will be available forever as well.

Even if you’re not a attending the iMoot take a look a the public iMoot Doc here. If you are attending please share with others, just take a look at what others have documented or give us your Twitter handle and network with other Moodlers.

Short URL for the Doc: http://goo.gl/aSgco

Again, thanks to the iMoot team and all of the presenters! I’ll post later on my favorite sessions.

Oh, and one last thing – make sure you channel your inner Moodle Rockstar and buy some iMoot merchandise. There are tons of cool items from water bottles (I bought) to pajamas to t-shirt and mugs!

The time has come for the second annual iMoot!

Here are a few items that may help you prepare:

• Simple schedule in PDF format
  • Important Note: The times on the PDF are dynamically set by the timezone in your iMoot profile. Please make sure you set your timezone first to make sure you get the correct times listed on your schedule

• With iMoot due to start in less than 24 hours we have deployed the “Session Navigation” block to help you know what’s on, who is presenting it and to provide you the link to get there. It essentially is an interactive, live updating and dynamic online session schedule that works as every attendees “All Access Pass“. – read more
• You will find this new interactive schedule through both the “iMoot Programme” link on the iMoot homepage as well as via the “Session Navigation” block on the top right of nearly every iMoot page. – read more
• Have any questions, need help? USE THE FORUMS!

I must say the biggest difference so far from last year is the awesome navigation between sessions and the schedule. It’s SO much easier to navigate and to quickly search the sessions and easily go to that session’s course. Way to go iMoot team!

If you haven’t registered for the iMoot yet, REGISTER HERE! Remember to use the Twitter hashtag #iMoot2011 when tweeting about your iMoot experience.

Coming Soon: A Google Doc for collaborative note taking and sharing throughout the iMoot. Will post when it’s created.

For the past year and a half Minnesota Moodlers have been sharing and collaborating with each other through a Google Group and monthly meetings. It first started with a Ning, but when that service went to a fee-based system we all moved over to the Minnesota Moodle Users Google Group.

During the school year we pick an afternoon and a restaurant and meet face to face once a month to discuss Moodle. It’s a great way to get outside of your school district’s “bubble” and learn how other district’s are using Moodle.

Even if you are unable to make the face to face meetings it’s beneficial to be a part of the group to see how Moodle is being used around Minnesota, get responses and help from colleagues and share your own experiences. Moodle.org has a great community as well but we find it beneficial to have a smaller, more intimate community of Moodlers that makes it more personable.

Another great Moodle User Group is Moodle Mayhem, created by Miguel Guhlin, which also uses a Google Group for discussion and a Google Site for resources.

So if you’re from Minnesota or just want to join a Moodle User Group visit the Minnesota Moodle Users Group and request a membership! Our next meeting is tomorrow – Thursday March 31st in Maple Grove.