Moodle

Using Moodle in Design and Technology

Make your Moodle course page look like a webpage

A screencast I did to show how you can use ‘unseen’ resources in Moodle to make your course page look more like a webpage. You can read the transcript here

Moodle game module

If you have ftp access to your Moodle the Game module is a useful activity module to add. It takes vocab from glossaries and quizzes and puts them into 8 different games such as crosswords, hangman, sudoku and hidden picture. There’s a 2minute 27 second whistlestop tour here:

Assign System Roles - No! Don’t!

Why not? Click and listen below!

A quick way to get work onto Moodle

Why spend ages typing into Word when you can type straight into Moodle? Listen to the podcast and check out the screencast below:

Screencast: Getting work onto Moodle

Why spend ages typing into Word and uploading it when you can just type straight into Moodle? Watch the screencast below:

Youtube into Moodle

Here is a little movie showing you how to download a video from youtube and upload it into Moodle. Before you start you need to be aware of two things:

copyright issues - be careful; check out your permissions! Youtube is full of copyright-breaking videos but they can afford the fines; can you?
multimedia filters on your Moodle site: Not essential for getting your video to work but if you want it to play in a neat little player on your Moodle course you need to check that your admin has turned on the multimedia filters -specifically flv files which youtube generates. Just ask if you’re not sure - and if they are not sure, then they haven’t!

Moodle v Talmos

Of course, there are other VLEs apart from Moodle. Very expensive, commercial set ups that no doubt many people are sastisfied with. It is important to make an informed choice about any VLE that you wil be using long term, weighing up the pros and cons of all systems, Moodle included. The TALMOS gateway is used by many establishments - if you are considering it you might like to read this in order to help you reach your considered decision.

Meme Passion Quilt

Thanks to Jose Picardo for tagging me on this inspiring idea first thought up by Miguel Guhlin whereby we post a photo showing what inspires us most about education - a kind of international passion quilt. Such a difficult choice, really - as a Moodler, it should be something cyber, or at least technological, but the one image that has really stayed with me has neither element - and yet I have used it in so many lessons in different contexts. My daughter took it during a 3 week stay in Mumbai in 2005; some children she saw on the streets who came running to her. It says so much: poverty; caring for one another; exploitation; joy in despair - not to mention the politics which so inspire my daughter.

(click for larger image) All very well we fortunates posting our blogs about the latest ICT gadgets; there is another world out there for whom such stuff is of little import. I tag the following five comrades:

Neat New Nuances of Moodle 1.9

Moodle 1.9 has some new (and fun!) new features. A small selection is highlighted in the blog here or in the podcast below.

15 days of Google Answers

I’m enjoying 15 days of Google Answers from edtechroundup - a group of educators interested in the pedagogically sound use of ICT in education who questioned the Google Apps team and are serialising (!) the answers. Still not half way through yet - well worth a read!

Scales and Moodle Gradebook

All about changing grading in Moodle - not just for assignments but also for evaluating students’ performance in a forum or a glossary. Click the image for a Wink Screencast about Moodle Scales or read the Moodle Scales and Gradebook blog here. (or listen to the podcast below!)

Marking in Moodle: Basic Gradebook

This podcast is about Marking in Moodle and basic use of the gradebook. Read the Marking in Moodle Basic gradebook blog post here or listen to it below. Click the picture below to see a Wink screencast of basic gradebook use.

Edtechroundup number 2

Edtechroundup number 2 - the second podcast is out now and I’ve been enjoying listening to Tom Barrett and John Johnston discussing Voices of the World, Tumblr and the ManyVoicesTwitter writing project. They also look at Google Spreadsheets and the use of digital cameras for blogging video of classroom activities - listen to the edtechroundup podcast here

Basic Moodle: Assignments for Beginners

All about assignments in Moodle - the four different types and how best to use them. Click and enlarge the photo left to see a basic example. Click here to read the blog or listen to the podcast below:

Why Moodle? Challenging the Cynics

Why Moodle? Are you a Moodle Moaner or a Moodle Missionary? Challenging the Cynics - read the blog here or listen to the podcast below.

EdTechRoundUp: conversations about using technology in education

Mrs Moodle is always keen to promote the appropriate use of web2 in education and welcomes the arrival of Edtechroundup , regular podcasts on pedagogically sound ideas for technology in education. Edtechroundup was announced at BETT by Doug Belshaw. Previous shows have included discussion of classtools.net and the latest podcast will feature an interview with the GoogleApps team. Listen to the first show via the blog here

Basic Moodle: getting the students to log in

This one is, with acknowledgement to Sue Cowley, about ‘getting the buggers to Moodle’ - although that’s not entirely fair, as you’ll see if you read the blog or hear if you listen to the podcast below..

Our Lady’s Preston making the news

Moodle at Our Lady’s High School Preston has provided yet another opportunity for students to engage as the year 10 Media Studies group can testify: they have been uploading a weekly podcast of the current events, mirroring the school’s newsletter. Click here to read more on schools’ MTN and listen to last week’s podcast, beautifully read by Sophie

Using Hot Potatoes as Peer Assessment in a Moodle Workshop

Just a different take on using Hot Potatoes in Moodle: why not get them to do the work - then mark each others’ efforts - while you leave them to it? Read the blog here or listen to the podcast below