William Cunningham, who runs an extremely elaborate and developed Moodle with his third grade students, gave me the pleasure of an interview via email.  This “Moodle in Real-life” story will be told in several parts, the 3nd is below.  All posts refer to William’s Moodle install at this link: http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/cunningham/moodle/

William is a third grade certified eMINTS Teacher located in Hallsville, Mo.

Related:

• 1st post: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/moodle-in-real-life-part-1-west4me/
• 2nd post: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/moodle-in-real-life-part-2-west4me/
• 3rd post: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/moodle-in-real-life-part-3-west4me/
• William’s Twitter: @west4me
• Blog: http://moodleiselementary.blogspot.com/
• New classroom project: http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/cunningham/moodle/wordpress/

Part 4 – Student reactions and tips for teachers

What’s last to learn from William?  Well first, let’s find out what his students feel about his site.

MoodleMonthly:  How do your students like Moodle?

William:  ”I asked a couple of students to write what they thought. (un-edited)”

I like Mr. C’s website because it is appropriate for all of the children. I also like the way that he designed it: with the icons that move with the pandas that move with them. It is VERY cool. I like the way that as you go down it has categories in bold print and then has the other things under them. And it is cool that we are not allowed to use the Google on the Internet, so Mr. C made a Google on his website that we are allowed to use. Another thing that is close to that is I like the Wikipedia on his Website because I use it a LOT. I think it is cool how he put Notice Board on it too. That is when you want to save something on his website you can go to Notice Board and you can save it there. It is also awesome that when it is a holiday Mr. C decorates the website, and I just think it’s cool.

Here’s another,

I like Mr.C’s website because everybody gets a person on the website and he has morning work on it it’s called writing prompts, and writing prompts is a journal activity, and at the top he has these pandas and there saying something but it’s like for school stuff that the pandas are saying like how you pick you lunch choice, and there’s this game up there called whammy it’s a multiplication game, and our classroom jobs you get a different job every day, and he has this Google and Wikipedia search so we can search for stuff for writing, and he has how do you feel like you pick the face you feel like today like confused, happy, sad, hungry, tired, sick, angry, he has this thing called the notice board you click on where it says notice board it takes you to the notice, then you can post stuff and other people can see what you have said and it tells you when you put it and you paste pictures and say this is my favorite picture it’s pretty cool, and then there is another way you can say stuff to people he made this emailing thing now you can send everybody in the class the same thing at one time just type in one person’s name then there name shows up click on it.

MM: Awesome.  So in closing, what advice would you give new teachers starting out with Moodle?

William:

Dig in! It looks daunting but just play around.

Do not limit your Moodle to a list of links. I see that too often. The Moodle Forums are amazing for solving any problems you may have.  Seek out other Moodle installs and see what they have done.  The label resource can be used for anything, just need an Iframe.  If you need help just ask, most people are willing to help.  Learn the Database module, it can become your best friend.

MM:  And if you’re looking for Moodle help?

William:

Moodle.org, there isn’t a better place. The people on the forums are very helpful and your question has probably already been asked.

I can’t thank William Cunningham enough for answering these questions and for providing such a great Moodle (to us and to his students.  Visit it at: http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/cunningham/moodle/ and contact him through Twitter (http://twitter.com/west4me).

More information is available at http://kristianstill.co.uk/wordpress/?p=1392.

So, why the new release already?  At it’s original posting to Moodle.org and the modules section, a lively discussion ensued which uncovered a few minor bugs and changes that needed to be made in order to facilitate widespread adoption.  The popular aesthetic enhancement is now available with concise and clearer instructions and the codes been combed over once more by Moodledan.  It just goes to show how valuable the Moodle community is.

A word to any developers out there hesitant to release their Moodle code: release early and often.  The community is there to help.

Related:

• MM dock coverage: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/moodle-i-dock-released-on-moodle-org-kristianstill-moodledan/
• Original Dock: http://kristianstill.co.uk/wordpress/?p=1348
• The Dock on Moodle.org: http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=3576

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=3576

Related:

• MoodleMonthly covers the dock: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/theme-mod-moodledock-by-kristianstill-moodledan/

Here’s the line of thinking that led to the collaborative effort to create the mod:

Our Moodle front page, like many schools Moodle front page, showcases our subject areas with icons. Easily/large click-able cons linking to courses… but what if these icons were much smaller? That would free up space for much needed prime space for school communications. (http://kristianstill.co.uk/wordpress/?p=1276)

The MoodleDock was recently released to the public on KristianStill.co.uk for anyone to download (including a great tutorial and all of the sharp icons used in the original dock).  The icons were all created by Craig Sumner (and are available for you to use, where applicable, on your own MoodleDock).  If you opt to create your own icons the instructions are well marked in the download .zip file in the supporting documentation and tutorial (here’s a quick Jing of the animated dock in action: http://goo.gl/XQuT).

Kristian is submitting to Moodle.org (to the theme repository) but the dock is available now from his personal site.

The dock was created collaboratively by Craig Sumner and Kristian Still of Hamble College and the renowned Moodledan.  For more information:

• Download the MoodleDock and supporting documentation: http://kristianstill.co.uk/wordpress/?p=1348
• See the Moodle dock: http://vle.hamblecollege.co.uk/
• MoodleDock video (in case you do not have Java scripted enabled): http://goo.gl/XQuT

Note also the implementation of the MoodleBar on the bottom of the page.