Watch this site for more information: http://2012.imoot.org/

And if you’re interested in many more events in Moodledom visit our newly updated calendar: http://www.moodlenews.com/events/

I’m getting excited.

A few highlights from the white paper which I highly recommend as quick lunch-time reading material:

• Gavin breaks down each of the standard Moodle themes and some of the 3rd party contributions to let readers know which can be customized (and how) from the Administration panel;
• There are some really great examples in the appendix of cool Moodle sites (including the usual suspects: Newbury, Leeds, iMoot, etc);
• Good overview of theme settings and possibilities in Moodle 2 (how many columns,where they are, docks, etc.)

For more information or to grab a copy of the white paper go to http://www.somerandomthoughts.com/blog/.

My personal favorite (and new to me) is this really great login screen at University of Canberra (which changes each time you visit).  It’s the little things that make a big difference aesthetically: https://learnonline.canberra.edu.au/login/index.php. Where’s your favorite Moodle 2.o theme?

There are Moodle-related events around the country and world on a regular basis.  Moodle meetups are generally called “Moots” and invite local (and not so local) users, developers, and vendors to come and learn about the next and best in Moodle over the course of a few days.  I was able to attend the US Moot in Austin/Round Rock about a year ago and had a great time learning about large-scale Moodle migrations, the real costs of Moodle, what to expect from Moodle 2.0, how Moodlerooms is building its analytics and how Dell is providing virtual computer labs that are full of pre-loaded software (that students could access from any other computer).

These events are also a great opportunity to chat and mix-it-up with other Moodlers (and even Blackboard users) who share their experiences from the trenches of education technology.

There are a few Moots in the US regularly, locations change frequently but you can rest assured that there’ll be more and you probably can find one within a day’s drive of your location.  Here are a few upcoming Moots to keep an eye on:

• Louisiana Moot (Baton Rouge, Louisiana): TBD Spring 2012, http://www.lctcs.edu/index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=312
• iMoot (global, online): TBD Spring 2012, http://imoot.org
• Moodle Moot Oklahoma (Oklahoma City): TBD June 2012, http://moodle.metrotech.edu/
• Midwest Moot (Goshen, Indiana): TBD July 2012, http://www.learningcontexts.com/midwestmoot/
• US Moot (various locations): TBD July/August 2012, http://www.moot-us.com/
• Ohio Moot (Mansfield, Ohio): TBD Summer 2012, http://www.ohiomoot.org/

And that’s only the tip of the iceberg (check out http://www.moodlenews.com/?s=events for updates on new Moots and virtual conferences).  Inquire around your district and state to see if there are smaller, one day events that you can attend to learn about Moodle as well.  Note that major conferences like ISTE, CUE, PETE&C and other statewide/regional educational technology events also offer open source strands and sessions on Moodle.

A little research can go a long way in improving your Moodle-ability.

If you’re international, the best resource for finding the next Moot near you is at Moodle.org: http://moodle.org/calendar/view.php

• “So you want to change the world?” – Colin Matheson
• “Climate Change, bigger than the science” – Monica Long
• “Global Warming and Climate Change” – Sigi Jakob Kuhn
• “A Climate for Change” – Kristian Still
• “Project: I can change the world” – Alja Isakovic

Best in Show
“I can change the world” – Alja Isakovic

Runners up
“Surviving the Great iMoot Climate Change” – Drew Mortensen
“Global Warming and Climate Change” – Sigi Jakob-Kühn

The public favourite matched our own:

iMoot Peoples Choice
“I can change the world” – Alja Isakovic

Congrats to all of the winners!  Read more at http://www.somerandomthoughts.com/

While my personal favorite (Kristian Still‘s “A Climate for Change“) did not win, there’s always next year and I hope that Kristian will share his course on the Mooch so others can see how the game components of his design could be easy applied to other course contents and subjects.

If you’re a iMoot attendee (or want to register for access to all of the great sessions) here’s a direct link to the presentation page: http://2011.imoot.org/course/view.php?id=25.

Below are just a handful of the tips I picked up from her presentation.  I’ve included her slideshow embedded below (but you’ll miss out on all of the great anecdotes and tips that she gave during the presentation).

Note that the presentation also includes some tips for Moodle 2.0 specifically which I have not included here.

• Don’t use more than three font styles
• Don’t use the course page for content (use it as a launch page)
• Don’t do all the work yourself (let students build content in glossaries, databases, discussion forums, etc.)
• Eliminate horizontal scrolling
• If you create links in labels, note that they will not be tracked in user activity reports (if you’re going to put them on the main page create them as a resource for better course tracking/management)
• Don’t overdo Activity/Resource names (keep them short/descriptive).  If you need to add additional information add context in a label below/above
• Don’t be afraid of white space
• Beware the scroll of death!
• Align pictures: left/right alignment will wrap text/resources/activities around the images
• Simplify delivery
• Don’t be afraid to branch out to other activities.  Moodle has so many activities to offer experiment with them and put them to use

There were several really great courses designed, each using some of the new features in Moodle 2.0 like conditional activities.  My personal favorite was more about the content than the aesthetic: Kristian Still’s (@kristianstill)  ”A Climate for Change” included game-like course resources and activities where the student was on a mission to save the world.  The course included some really great audio based narration which I found very engaging (and brought me back to my non-computer game based classroom exercises and the excitement that a well executed fantasy scenario can bring to academic content).

Before the challenge was commenced there was also a course design panel featuring many of the most well-known Moodlers internationally: Gavin Henrick, Mary Cooch, Michelle Moore, Mark Drechsler, Julian Ridden, Tomaz Lasic and Joyce Seitzinger.  When it’s available I highly recommend watching the replay.

Below are a few screen shots of my favorite entries (and if you didn’t quite catch it yet, the theme was Climate Change).

Last weekend I was one of 100s of participants of the 2nd annual iMoot (online Moodle conference) event which was hosted and organized by Pukunui Technologies. Most notably the behind the scenes was managed by a tireless Julian Ridden (@Moodleman) and his staff of session moderators and helpers who got each presentation off without (mostly) a hitch and off to the races.

A few takeaways:

1. This year’s event was bigger and better than ever.  While there is only 1 year to compare, this event is certainly growing and will continue to evolve.
2. Adobe Connect was the main focus of griping.  I never had an issue with Adobe’s conference tool (across 4 sessions and 4 recorded sessions) but I heard in the conference discussion forums that there seemed to be a lot of issues.  That being said, with any virtual conference technical issues are a certainty.  What I can say is that my personal experience with Connect has always been positive.  The fact that I, and many other conference attendees never experienced the “negative” aspects of Connect is a testament both to the work of the conference organizers and the quality of Adobe’s product.
3. Great session presenters.  I’m still going back and watching the sessions my own session attendees suggested as “the best”.  There are simply SO MANY.  Here were a few that were suggested to me (if you’re so inclined or want to book mark this for when the session archives are publicly available in the future: Open Desktop (a cool collaborative tool), Open Education (Miles Berry), Big Blue Button (an Adobe Connect alternative), Michelle Moore’s Course Design session, and the Course Creation Panel.
4. Awesome attendees. In addition to the great sessions I learned a lot and received great support from my session attendees and my fellow attendees.  Where else can you engage in a direct conversation with other Moodlers while the session is live? If there’s one thing that can be said about your “average” iMoot attendee is that sharing is their modus operandi.
5. No such thing as too much Moodle: when attending a future iMoot, be sure you don’t have anything else scheduled.  I had a hard time managing 2 presentation sessions of my own and juggling the many sessions that caught my eye.  Thank goodness that this conference was on a weekend (mostly) otherwise I would have needed to take vacation days! One thing the iMoot gets right? its non-stop action.

I’m going to continue reviewing some of the sessions I missed (which is a great asset to the iMoot format) and will post some more thoughts and recaps here at Moodlenews.  If you have anything to add as a conference attendee please share it here.

1. The first is a comparison chart for course formats (each of the 8 included in my presentation).  I hope to add additional formats to the chart in the near future and as new formats are introduced: http://www.moodlenews.com/collections/course-formats/
2. Next, if you’re interested in clicking through my slides from the presentation check it out on Google Docs:

If you’re interested in the presentation recording but don’t want to pay the registration fee you might have to wait awhile. But if these resources look handy you can still register for the iMoot for access to all of the great session recordings at iMoot.org.