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Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques – Book Review @packtpub

melissa — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:21:05 +0000

I recently read the book, Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques by William Rice and Susan Smith Nash which was published by Packt Publishing. This book discussed creative ways to build powerful and effective online courses.

When I began reading this book I was expecting to learn a bunch of “real-life” classroom applicable examples of using specific Moodle features. While it did list many of those examples, it really focused on learning theory and creating a positive learning experience and community. The book mentioned many educational psychologists and philosophies of teaching and learning. Each time the authors explained a feature or gave an example of classroom use of a Moodle feature they also reminded the reader to make sure the activity was tied with the course outcomes and the learning objectives.

I thought the discussion about learning styles and effective teaching practices was interesting as my education has been in technology and not k-12 education. One thing I liked about the book is that for each feature example the authors gave a variety of ways to accomplish the same thing, giving the reader an option if they prefer one way or the other. Another thing that the authors provided were tips or recommendations on using each feature. For example, effectively running a chat and chat etiquette, taking the fear out of assessments, how to create and maintain exciting and engaging forums, etc. I guess you can call it “best practices” of the Moodle features.

As I mentioned before there were some awesome ideas on using Moodle features – without going into detail here are a few:

Using the Chat module with a guest speaker
A self-assessment practice quiz using the Lesson module
Creating a flash card activity with the Lesson module
Guided note-taking with the Wiki module
Using the Glossary module for student submitted quiz questions

One note to mention is if you’re expecting to come away with created activities as you follow this book you should have some basic Moodle experience. This book does not go into step-by-step, detailed instructions for most of the modules. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean you have to know Moodle already in my opinion. This book did a good job of convincing the user that Moodle can create a learning community that is easily adaptable to different learning styles and offers some great teaching strategies to accomplish this.

Drawbacks

As with all of the other Packt Publishing Moodle books I’ve read I wish the screenshot images were in color. Another thing I noticed is a difference in our district’s Moodle (v 1.9.7) settings page for some modules and the screenshot images in the book (I believe the Choice activity looked a *bit* different). I was also made aware that the Gradebook is out of date. As always, take into consideration the frequent updates.

Wrap Up

In the end, I enjoyed the book and learned the most about having an “effective” course and what that even means. As I mentioned earlier, I am a techy person not a teacher, so I am at a point where I need to understand more about theory and teaching and learning strategies. This book had me nodding a lot and just “made sense” (if that makes sense!). It put things in perspective as each and every activity was tied with the course outcomes and made me aware of some of the things that are needed to create an effective learning community such as student confidence, fear of assessment, feeling comfortable with their peers, etc. And don’t get me wrong I am talking about the “theory” stuff becasue that is what interested in but there are many cool ideas and tips to using the modules. I only listed a few above. Visit Packt Publishing for more details on the contents of Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques.

Moodle Nanogong Assignment

melissa — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:15:18 +0000

I found this great blog post and screencast from Mary Cooch on her Moodle Blog explaining a new Nanogong assignment.

Similar to the “upload a single file” type where students can browse and send you their work for marking , the nanogong assignment presents them with a little sound recorder into which they can record themselves , play back to check and then send to you. read more

I just wanted to post a quick link to her post and screecast. This looks like a great module that I know the teachers in our district would use! I hope to test this out soon and possibly add it to our Moodle site if I get some time for it. Thanks Mary!

Read the full post and watch the screencast explaining how to install and use it.

Moodle Activity Module: Focuspad

melissa — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:08:09 +0000

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.

My Moodle improvements in Moodle 2.0

melissa — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:56:15 +0000

Helen Foster posts a blog about My Moodle in Moodle 2.0 :

Great news for My Moodle users: Mike Churchward is planning major improvements in Moodle 2.0 (MDL-19124). Please join.. read more

Sweet! I love the My Moodle feature and I think it has much potential! Take a look at Lewis Carr’s My Moodle development.

Moodle Playpen

melissa — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:38:07 +0000

Brought to you by the Moodleman Blog, The Moodle Playpen is a demonstration Moodle site that allows users to explore Moodle’s possiblities. There are demos of standard features, advanced features, layout examples and discussions.

This site has been around for awhile and is maintained by Julian Ridden (follow him on Twitter!). Whether you’re looking for a new look or a way to spice up the functionality of your Moodle site, The Moodle Playpen is a great place to get ideas for your own Moodle site. One of my favorite demos is the Accordion Course Format layout! Check out The Moodle Playpen for more ideas!

Links:
The Moodleman Blog
The Moodle Playpen
The Moodle Playpen – 2.0 Alpha
Using Moodle: Accordion Discussion