In a previous post I mentioned that I would be receiving the book, Moodle Administration, to read and review. I have read about 3/4th of the book and I have been overall pleased with the content and the way it is presented.

Below is a stream of thoughts I have so far about the book with a couple of random interesting facts I read in the book.

Initial thoughts after the first few chapters

The first few chapters consisted of mostly beginner information and a lot of it was review for me. However, even if some of it was review it outlined a lot of the important concepts of Moodle.

• Written in a non-technical way, but still covers techy concepts
• Well explained, concise information
• The book does not overload you with information
• Easy to understand
• Well-organized chapters and concepts

What I’m getting out of the book so far

• A good refresher in installing and getting Moodle started
• A good outline of the important concepts
• The “recommended” or standard way of doing with with Moodle

Interesting facts and tid bits

“Moodle states that once you are registered the Moodle Registration button will be removed, which is not the case. The fact that the button remains actually makes sense, as it is used to change any of your registration details at a later stage.” – Moodle Administration page 33

Yes, a silly fact but I made note of it because I have always wondered why that button is still on my Moodle site and thought I did something wrong. Now I know it’s okay : )

“Meta courses are courses which take their enrolment from other courses. They populate many courses from one enrolment or one course from many enrolments.” Moodle Administration page 75

I had always been confused with what Meta Courses were and when to use them, the book explains what they are very clearly.

“It is possible to rearrange the column order, but the feature is rarely used in Moodle.” Moodle Administration page 172

I really want to test this out on my development site. I can see a lot of possibilities with themes and this option.

That ends my short review and check in of Moodle Administration for the first part of the book. My next review will be a full review with a more complete summary and discussion. Stay tuned.

Related links:
Buy this book
Packt Publishing Moodle books

I was recently presented with an opportunity to read and review the book, Moodle Administration, by Alex Büchner. This book, which is published by Packt Publishing, is described as “an administrator’s guide to configuring, securing, customizing, and extending Moodle.” Packt Publishing also has several other Moodle Books.

I’ve never read any type of Moodle book before. Most of my learning has come from researching online or trial and error so I’m excited to take some time to read a full-length guide about Moodle. One good sign about this book is that it looks like this book has received a lot of positive feedback in other book reviews (Moodleman, Kassblog, Patrick Malley).

Being a Moodle admin in our district, I am eager to gain knowledge over several topics regarding Moodle. Our district has been using Moodle for almost 1 year now, and with staff spending hours creating and editing courses I think it’s my responsibility to make sure our Moodle site is reliable and well maintained. Looking through the complete table of contents it seems like this book will help me do just that.

I plan to write a few blog posts with short reviews on things I find interesting while reading this book and I will write a complete review after finishing the book. I’m very excited to dive into this book and learn a bunch of new information. Stay posted for the upcoming reviews on this book.

Related Links:
Buy this book
Read more about this book
Packt Publishing Moodle Books

• Moodle Course Conversion (Book Review)
• Buddy2 – Resource Central (Mood Tutorials Blog)
• Moodle Use Increasing – How About For You? (Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org)
• Moodle Girl’s Blog (A Moodle Blog)