Moodle Journal

DECEMBER 29, 2005

Well I have completed the update of course training notes for the new 1.5 version of Moodle and finally go round, cannot imagine why it took so long though, to creating a custom scale that we can use for our Edexcel course grading schemes. I have a suspicion that in the long term it may be a more effective time/benefit approach than continuing the development of my PHP/MySQL application, what with ePortfolio space and tracking soon to appear over the horizon, or so I am reliably informed!!

Track 100

Track MySQL Moodle Version 100

The Learning Circuits

OCTOBER 11, 2005

A recent CNET article noted that the typical office worker is interrupted every three minutes by an e-mail, IM, phone call, etc. If you are working on something creative, it takes about 8 minutes for our brains to get into that state. With all these distractions how is anyone able to get anything done? The result, says Carl Honore, journalist and author of "In Praise of Slowness," is a situation where the digital communications that were supposed to make working lives run more smoothly are actua

Attention 70

Attention Social Networks Virtual Classroom Learning 70

Clive on Learning

DECEMBER 16, 2005

A plea to IT user trainers in five thrilling instalments Hello again. You will remember that, back in part 1, I explained that IT user training is evolving through a number of phases. The priority in the first phase of IT user training was to help users to overcome their technophobia and to become comfortable with operating a personal computer. The role of the IT trainer in this phase was to provide face-to-face support and to do plenty of hand-holding.

Training 40

Training Train Instant Messaging PowerPoint 40

Vignettes Learning

NOVEMBER 7, 2005

Based on a study on Rapid e-Learning published by e-Learning Guild, one cause of delays in e-learning development is the difficulty in working with subject matter experts (SMEs). I have interviewed and worked with hundreds of SMEs and one thing is clear to me, e-Learning developers don’t provide SMEs enough tools and guidance in producing the content efficiently and at the fastest time possible.Here are some tips which I have used and have worked for me.

Rapid eLearning 40

Rapid eLearning Learning Learner Management 40

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Big Dog, Little Dog

DECEMBER 29, 2005

Was Drucker Wrong? - Tom Davenport. I also had a chat a few days ago with a Wall Street Journal reporter who is researching an article on knowledge worker productivity. He asked me if the subject is important. I said yes, and mouthed the old Peter Drucker chestnut that "making knowledge work productive is the greatest economic challenge of this century.

Wiki 32

Wiki Knowledge News Learning 32

Moodle Journal

DECEMBER 22, 2005

Our Moodle conference went very well, and I am pleased to say that it was recorded on video and I shall be getting along to the College studio soon to edit the presentations and getting them online at this blog, so stay tuned for that. on Wednesday I went along to one of our College sites to deliver an intro to Moodle course for the staff there. Over the holiday period I am going to be updating my course notes for our new Moodle 1.5 version that will be available from the start of spring term an

Moodle 100

Moodle Conference Lesson Version 100

Moodle Journal

DECEMBER 17, 2005

It’s the end of winter term and phase 1 of the Moodle rollout here at Bromley College. I have been banging on about these phases but basically phase 1 gets materials, links and simple feedback onto Moodle, which hopefully translates into timesavings for staff; the big one for now. But has it improved anything for students? Well from convenience, yes, however early indications for me anyway, level 2 through 4 from first assignment outcomes would suggest little that could not be explained by varia

Moodle 100

Moodle VLE Tutorial Exercise 100

Moodle Journal

DECEMBER 10, 2005

I recently came across the RSC e-Toolbox. The toolbox is a collection of hardware and software tools that are grouped under the headings of: Assessment, Content Creation, Communications, Learning Management Tools, Mobile Learning, Multi Media, Networking, Repurposing,Repository, Videoconferencing, VLE Application, Web, Whiteboards and looks like becoming a one-stop-shop for e-Learning and VlE developers, you can take a look from here or the icon in the sidebar.

VLE 100

VLE Mobile Learning Assessment Web 100

Moodle Journal

NOVEMBER 30, 2005

I was looking arond the net the other day for some images that I could make use of, a task complicated by the issues of copyright of course, and came across Yotophoto.com. Its a search engine for free-to-use stock photographs and images.

Stock 100

Stock Images Search Engineering 100

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Moodle Journal

NOVEMBER 27, 2005

The end of this term will mark the completion of phase one for our Moodle rollout and staff numbers are currently just over 100. I always had a concern, borne out of experience I must add, that the numbers just would not materialise to make the second and third phases a going proposition. Basically you have to get past that minimum, which is what you may ask?

Moodle 100

Moodle Theory Predictions Adoption 100

Moodle Journal

NOVEMBER 25, 2005

To complement our VLE at Bromley we have a Content Repository, DSpace. As content repositories increase in popularity, harvesting services such as OAIster (Open Archive Initiative) are becoming available. Using OAIster, you can carryout searches on metadata and associated resources. If you are running a repository, just register with Oaister and then each week or month, your content details will be updated in the systems catalogue.

Content 100

Content VLE Search Association 100

Moodle Journal

NOVEMBER 18, 2005

Lots happening this week. Ran a Moodle training session for staff on thursday morning, seven made it and it really went down well. My plans to hold a Moodle conference at the end of term seem to be taking shape with the 19th December looking promising; you can expect some photos and pod cast from that, maybe even video. Our ILT support Danny dream't up the idea of creating a Moodle area for staff as a means of getting more people invloved, featuring: college and Moodle newsletter, photos, Social

Moodle 100

Moodle VLE ILT Business 100

Moodle Journal

NOVEMBER 12, 2005

I was having a look at the types of resource users have uploaded to our new Moodle system the other day. At first I was surprised to see the total of just over 700, but then encouraged somewhat by the realisation that this would not have included lesson plans, as the drive remains for these to be stored on the Intranet and maybe my frequent warnings of not allowing the system to become a dumping ground for filing cabinets is working.

Moodle 100

Moodle Lesson System Resources 100

Speaker: Chris Paxton McMillin, President of D3 Training Solutions

There are plenty of great authoring tools for developing eLearning, but the one you select could directly impact your course's outcomes. Depending upon your learners’ needs and your organization’s performance goals, you could be overlooking considerations that impact the both effectiveness of your courses and how long it takes to finish them. From general capabilities to specific workflow structures, some aspects are critical when it comes to learning objectives and deadlines.

Authoring

Moodle Journal

NOVEMBER 8, 2005

My idea of running the Moodle training as a self study pack seems to have fallen on hard ground, after I discovered virtually zero activity on the training accounts, and of course quite reasonably the problem is time, or lack of it for everyone involved. So the next move is to run 30 minute support drop-in workshop slots each week, where at least candidates get to work together for a while.

Moodle 100

Moodle Training Train Study 100

Moodle Journal

NOVEMBER 5, 2005

I have been having read of the report from Becta "ICT and e-Learning in Further Education", click here. The report the assesses progress and provision of ICT and e-learning within further education (FE) and sixth form colleges since 1999 to 2005. It contains really comprehensive statistics on the many aspects of provision and planning, including VLE'S, with findings like: 76% of colleges compared to 59% in 2003 now have a VLE.

VLE 100

VLE Statistics Assessment Education 100

Moodle Journal

NOVEMBER 2, 2005

I came across the “Study of Environments to Support e-learning in UK Further and Higher Education” report produced by Education for Change Ltd produced by The Research Partnership for JISC recently. Published in April 2005, the report is based around survey results that have been returned from FE and HE institutes in the UK on the current and future developments in E-learning and support processes.

Analysis 100

Analysis Survey Education Environment 100

Moodle Journal

OCTOBER 31, 2005

As part of the Moodle training I always mention the fact that its possible to switch the editor into HTML mode and that way if you know a little about web page design, its entirely possible to hard code some features. I mention this because its resulted in a number of requests from staff for some training in HTML, and I wonder if other Moodle installations have begun to witness similar interest from their staff.

Moodle 100

Moodle HTML Module Web 100

Speaker: Tim Buteyn, President of ThinkingKap Learning Solutions

We’ve all been there. You’ve been given a pile of dry content and asked to create a compelling eLearning course. You’re determined to create something more engaging than the same old course that learners quickly click through, but how do you take this “boring” content and create something relevant and engaging? Many instructional designers will say, “Boring in means boring out.

Content

Moodle Journal

OCTOBER 22, 2005

The Assignment hand-in feature in Moodle really came into its own this week, when I used it as a mechanism for collecting assignments, not just because you get to know if work is handed in on-time or even at all for that matter, but because with the particular type of work ‘Software Development’, models are refined until you produce something that logically works OK.

Teach 100

Teach Moodle Tips Software 100

Moodle Journal

OCTOBER 19, 2005

I had a second request for the Moodle training course to be taken as a self study option yesterday, and when I went along to deliver the notes, cd and introduction to the system this morning, the whole staff room wanted in, so fine with me, instead of one 1 got 5, this is good news actually and if it works out fine.

Moodle 100

Moodle Study News Training 100

Moodle Journal

OCTOBER 14, 2005

I ran another staff training session this week for Moodle and looking at the enrolments we now have 75 staff on the system, not bad. I beginning to realise however that given he demands on staff time, the opportunities for class cover so that you can attend a morning or afternoons training during term time are limited and with that in mind, next week I am going to try the first distance learning version of my course.

Moodle 100

Moodle Learning Distance Learning Version 100

Moodle Journal

OCTOBER 10, 2005

I had an email the other day asking what I thought of the Moodle Object module, no idea, but I quickly got to the posting, click here to see, basically its provides an easy means of incorporating nln type materials into the vle, great. I emailed Clive our Moodle system administrator to ask what he thought and he must have been impressed because soon enough it was up and running, though not without the discovery, that it was not happy with our 1.4.2 live version of Moodle, though it runs fine wit

Moodle 100

Moodle VLE SCORM Module 100

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Moodle Journal

OCTOBER 5, 2005

After my last post on the CMS / VLE debate, I have started to get some feedback on new learning materials at long last, this week my level 3 Software Development students currently working through Software Design methods where surprised by the arrival of an assessment (formative) on Tuesday afternoon, the colour did appear to drain from a couple of faces.

Learning Objects 100

Learning Objects VLE Flash Learning Objectives 100

Moodle Journal

SEPTEMBER 27, 2005

Moodle is certainly being used by staff and students now, I took a quick look at the logs beginning from the first teaching week and we have some 14000+ records, not bad considering we are still only running at 260 users in total. The thing for me now is to begin assessing the impact of content. Its Ok to upload your class documents but that’s not in itself going to exploit the potential of a VLE with respect to addressing the issues of widening participation and extended classrooms.

Big Question 100

Big Question VLE Moodle Classroom 100

Moodle Journal

SEPTEMBER 21, 2005

I had a check of the Moodle user accounts today and we now have 66 staff and 150 students registered; some students seem to have problems getting their email accounts correct, this could become an admin issue for us. The course status at the moment is 52 with 288 modules. I have eight more staff for the Moodle Induction training tomorrow 22/09. On Tuesday I introduced students to the CourseGenie-PageFlip e-book (featured earlier on this blog), have to see what the feedback is and will publish it

Moodle 100

Moodle Module Training Train 100

Moodle Journal

SEPTEMBER 16, 2005

It’s been a good week for the Moodle rollout, printed off and personally delivered this month’s newsletters to staff mailboxes; about 300. I did think about email, but I really want everyone to see this and emails are to easy to delete and its gone forever and looking around my desk there seem to be pieces of paper that have been here forever, QED, or is this just me I wonder?

Moodle 100

Moodle Macromedia VLE Flash 100

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Moodle Journal

SEPTEMBER 12, 2005

Recently I started to record the time I spent running my side of the VLE operation. And apart from the obvious use, I realised that its going make an interesting chronicle of how my activities change with the rollout. At the moment I have a reasonably good monthly estimate for the following Publishing the monthly Newsletter 2 hours Course creation & account management 4 hours Email activity 4 hours Awareness, training & accounts 12 hours Liasing with Moodle support workshop 2 hours or 28 hou

VLE 100

VLE Moodle Change Content Developer 100

Moodle Journal

SEPTEMBER 7, 2005

Ran an extra training session this morning, which went well and spent most of the afternoon creating courses for everyone that had attended. While I had the candidates in class, it proved to be a good opportunity to try out the common authentication between the college Windows network and Moodle, where Moodle can validate against an account in Active Directory using the RADIUS plugin, this means a single login for everyone, including students!!

Moodle 100

Moodle System Classes Network 100

Moodle Journal

SEPTEMBER 4, 2005

As a VLE user, you are becoming increasingly reliant on the availability of digital content, OK you save it in Moodle or maybe a content repository and thats OK right, well maybe not,did you kmow the census population data for 1951 got itself lost, along with a significant portions of the 1961 and 1971 census data! Well it was a surprise to me, but its not just the safe storage of material how about format, according to an Article by MacKenzie Smith (Associate Director for Technology- Massachuse

Simulations 100

Simulations VLE Moodle Library 100