Adding a Quiz to Moodle @muppetmasteruk
Here’s a cool/quick video (3:30) from @MuppetmasterUK from Screenr.com. Note that the quiz module is very flexible and there are many ways to import questions into Moodle using various formats (both closed/proprietary and open).
More information about formatting files for importing questions is available at: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Import_questions.
Auto Enroll using Group Enrollment Keys @moodlefairy @ptrkmkl
Patrick Malley (@ptrkmkl) over at New School Learning (Moodle Partner and Theme guru) posted a quick and very useful tip for creating groups automatically in courses.
I would mention that this is one of the least mentioned Moodle tricks, but definitely the most helpful if you’re managing a large class with multiple sections.
It’s possible (and quite easy) to set an enrollment key for a group that is different from the enrollment key of the course. Students who use the group key will be entered into both your course and their group at the same time. Thus, you get enrollment and grouping all in the same single step. (http://patrickmalley.com/2010/02/11/course-to-class/)
Mary Cooch (@Moodlefairy & http://www.moodleblog.org/) also contributed a quick video that showcases the great Moodle function.
If you happen to be looking for great themes, Patrick is the guy to visit online. Newschoollearning.com has loads of free themes for Moodle installations (and a good price for some of the prettiest custom themes on the net.
What are the most sought Moodle Modules/Plug-ins?
On MoodleMeet (the Ning.com-based social network for Moodlers) the following question was recently posed to all users by Leslie Coe:
We are getting ready to do a Moodle upgrade soon. During that time we are also going to install moodle modules/plugins. We already have some installed and I am compiling a list of additional ones.
I am interested in learning what your recommendations are for “must have” add-ons? (more at http://moodlemeet.ning.com/forum/topics/moodle-must-haves)
The community responded in kind and suggested a great many stable, useful and some really invaluable modules and plug-ins that can be found on Moodle.org’s Module/Plug-in Repository.
Some of the great add-ons suggested include the
- Book resource (a personal favorite)
- Contact form add-on
- Webquest
- Questionnaire
- Nanogong and
- Dimdim
Leslie posted a list of the plug-ins and modules suggested/that her school might consider on her Diigo account: http://www.diigo.com/list/tortuga28/MoodleModules
If your school/organization is considering a Moodle upgrade, these are some great ones you should review.
#IT4ALL Moodle For Teachers Starts 3/1/2010
The fourth offering of “Moodle for Teachers” by IT4ALL (http://integrating-technology.com) starts March 1st. The month long session highlights the fundamentals of Moodle and a group focused exercise of building a Moodle course collaboratively.
Here’s a commercial for the session created by Nellie Muller Deutsch.
To sign up for the session beginning March 1st please visit:http://www.integrating-technology.com/course/view.php?id=112
The password to enroll is teachingly4. For more information please contact teachers@integrating-technology.com.
Related:
- MoodleMonthly Coverage: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/moodle-for-teachers-v-4-starts-march-1st/
#Moodlemoot info all in one place from @moodlehelen
Helen Foster (community manager at Moodle.org), @moodlehelen posted a few great resources if you’re interested in catching the nearest Moodle Moot.
Unfortunately some of the links require registration on Moodle.org, but others are available publicly: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=143598.
There are a good many Moots coming up in 2010 around the world. From the east and west coasts of the US (not to mention the Midwest), to Japan, New Zealand and Germany.
Here’s a list of the Moots (and corresponding links) from the Moodle.org conferences resource:
MoodleMoot Hakodate - Japan
13th, 14th February 2010 – [More Info]MoodleMoot Berlin - Germany
24th (preconference), 25th & 26th March 2010 – [More Info]MoodleMoot UK 2010 – London
13th & 14th April 2010 – [More Info]MoodleMoot New Zealand – Christchurch
13th, 14th & 15th April 2010 – [More Info]MiniMoot New Zealand – Wellington
29th April 2010 – [More Info]MoodleMoot Oklahoma 2010 – Oklahoma City
7th to 9th June 2010 – [More Info]MoodleMoot Mishima – Japan
12th & 13th June 2010 – [More Info]Australian MoodleMoot 2010 – Melbourne
11th to 14th July 2010 – [More Info]US West Coast MoodleMoot 2010 – San Jose
20th to 23rd July 2010 – [More Info]US Mid-West MoodleMoot 2010 – Goshen, Indiana, USA
26th to 28th July 2010 – [More Info]
If you haven’t already, register for an account at Moodle.org and take a look at all there is (lots) offered there. Additionally, Helen Foster and others are great assets in the world of Moodle. Her blog (http://helenfoster.wordpress.com) and Twitter (@moodlehelen)
Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching Site and Book @violinjeff
Jeff Stanford (@violinjeff) is the author of Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching and has setup a public Moodle site with free resources to support the content in his book.
The Book:
Here’s an excerpt from a review of the book by Miguel Guhlin (http://www.mguhlin.org/2009/12/book-reflection-moodle-19-for-second.html):
…jump straight to Chapter 3-Vocabulary Activities and start there. Language teachers might see this as a simple enough place to start. If you’ve ever wondered about what can be done with the Moodle glossary, Jeff provides a lot of examples that are specific to vocabulary learning. True to his promise, Jeff organizes what you can do in Moodle around core vocabulary learning activities that range from the glossary to Hot Potatoes Crossword Puzzles to Chat and other components
Copies of the book are available from Packt Publishing or Amazon for around $44.99 (less for the digital copy from Packt).
The Site:
The Moodle site sports a fresh theme (Aardvark) and some great tutorials, ‘howtos’ and contextual examples that compliment the book’s content. Once logged in you’ll be able to check out four sample activity areas,
- Vocabulary
- Grammar
- Writing
- Speaking
The mini-courses include a few resources and activities (and a PDF to review) that let you try out the various activities in Moodle that you might employ to cover the different areas of teaching a second language with the popular LMS, though many only include one or two entry/question to trial.
Note you will need to contact Jeff to receive an account on the site. His contact information is posted on all pages at http://moodleforlanguages.co.uk/moodle/.
Free tutorial for staff development @muppetmasteruk
MuppetMasterUK (@muppetmasteruk) aka Mark Rollins has a cool tutorial available for staff development at http://e-teachuk.co.uk.
The site allows guest enrollment with a course enrollment key (Staffdev) and showcases many helpful tutorials for beginning teachers.
Below is an image of the welcome screen once you’ve entered the Moodle for Teachers self-paced tutorial:
The tutorial covers the following topics in great detail,
- Basic Moodle
- Adding a Resource
- Adding an Activity
- Examples of Resources
- Basic Moodle Quiz
- Advanced Moodle
- Video Tutorial
- Lesson Plans
The tutorials provide step by step instruction using screen shots and helpful text (embedded through the use of Issuu.com). The video collection has some great step by step tutorials and great Screenr.com screen casts as well.
All in all, it’s a wonderful resource you could point beginning Moodlers at instead of trying to create a resource yourself!
Great review of the Moodle Blogging feature @PDA3
Paul Adams (@PDA3) of PlanetPDA.net (http://planetpda.net/blog) recently posted a great overview of the blog feature and how it’s introduced, used and monitored at Buckingham Primary School in the UK. The post highlights their experience using the blog and a few key takeaways about their expectations (being met/exceeded or remaining unmet):
What has actually transpired over the last few years with blogging with Moodle at Buckingham Primary School is that a core selection of pupils have regularly blogged about subjects that interest them. New friendships, often between pupils from different year groups, have been established electronically.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t had the wide scale impact on writing that we hoped, but it has allowed pupils with an interest to explore new ways of communicating. Use of the blog has also peaked around key points in the school year. For example: we run a ‘Baftas’ moving making competition every World Book Day, and we encourage pupils to blog about their movie making experiences and thoughts; this is a busy time for the blog!
The Moodle blog apparatus is perhaps the most under-utilized and misunderstood activity/feature of standard Moodle installations. It provides all users a quick and easy way to post new content to a personal blog area, and provides the site (through blocks) a quick way to allow other users to access them, see popular blog themes (through tags) and to access and view recent blog posts.
A downside purported by many is that students may post inappropriate content to their blogs and that they are inherently difficult to monitor proactively.
It’s a great read for anyone setting up their Moodle with blog functionality. Additionally the post includes a link to a very nice introductory course (built in Moodle w/ videos on how to add posts) in which they require all students to participate. The course concerns online safety and the world of blogging.
Related info:
- Here’s a link to the blogging course download: http://www.divshare.com/direct/10392838-76f.zip
- Here’s a link to the full post @ PlanetPDA: http://planetpda.net/blog/?p=63
#MoodleMoot 2010 in Berlin is March 23-26th
The MoodleMoot Berlin is fast approaching. Pre-conference events begin March 23 and the official conference commences on Thursday March 25th. This year’s event will be held at Humboldt University of Berlin, Adlershof Campus (http://www.adlershof.hu-berlin.de/standardseite-en).
Registration for the conference is 80 Euro. There are several additional pre-conference workshops available to purchase as well, including a Developers Workshop (400 Euro), featuring Petr Skoda and a Moodle 2.0 Introduction featuring David Mudrak. For more information register at the site and visit: http://moodlemoot.moodle.de/mod/resource/view.php?inpopup=true&id=619
If you happen to be in Germany this March, be sure to check out the Berlin Moot: http://moodlemoot.de/
English Translation of the site via Google: http://goo.gl/z5uX
