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Moodle Tool Guide for Educators!

29 Jul
 

Download Moodle Tool Guide
Joyce Seitzinger published this really useful Moodle tool guide more than one year ago, but it is certainly still useful. If you missed it and use Moodle at your institution, I am confident that this one-page excellent quick reference tool guide could be really helpful.
I was planning to develop something similar, but when I discovered it at David Hopkins‘s blog, his blog title reminded me why I should not waste my time on reinventing it (which probably would have turned out worse, too!). Yes, check out also the Blackboard tool guide version, if that is what you are using.
So, for those of you who need guidance on which tool(s) to use in Moodle to facilitate a variety of learning activities, I believes this one-page tool guide is a wonderful starting point (please share others, if any!). Also, you will enjoy the traffic lights (green, yellow, red) for each tool guiding you in terms of ease-of-use, information transfer, assessment, communication and interaction, co-creating (collaborative learning), and Bloom’s taxonomy. 
Mashing up what you want to use (technology – enabler) with what you want to achieve (pedagogy – learning outcome) on one page is certainly a great idea, and that is why I am sharing it. And of course learning from it! Thanks šŸ™‚

IMU Student Blogging Project to Promote a Healthy Lifestyle!

12 Jan

“Every blog has a story behind it.”

THE STORY

In late October 2010, Sheba DMani, the coordinator (facilitator) for the ‘A Critical and Reflective Response to Media‘ (Medical Humanities Selective) course (at IMU) explored with me the idea of assigning students to work in groups to develop blogs addressing important issues and promoting a healthy lifestyle.

Of course that made me excited, as I have been promoting the usage of web 2.0 and social media for learning ever since I joined IMU (June 2009). And having already been through one cycle assisting Prof. Khoo Suan Phaik with her students’ project using Google Sites, I was quite confident it would be an inspiring and valuable learning experience.

Interestingly, both these inspiring lecturers are not exactly IT-savvy, but they were willing and open to explore possibilities, and with a bit of assistance they managed to get through both projects successfully without too much hassle. As today’s Y-generation (Most IMU students) is already quite IT-savvy, you don’t exactly need to train them, but instead explore and empower them with creative ideas and possibilities.

A CRITICAL & REFLECTIVE RESPONSE TO MEDIA
This module facilitated by Sheba DMani focuses on connections between media and health within socio-cultural contexts. Media in the form of text and graphic presented through visual and audio modes from magazines, television and internet will be explored. These may include advertisements, films and music videos related to themes on health and healthcare. Students will approach these media texts through critical interpretation, reflective thinking and creative presentations. Upon completing this course, students will have learned that the media constructs views of the real world and that these views have been mediated to provide filtered and partial meaning of health belief and behaviour.

THE PROJECT & EVALUATION PROCESS

So, instead of writing a group assignment (using Microsoft Word/PowerPoint) to impress the lecturer, students were assigned to create a blog and promote their mission to the world. Surely that is more inspiring and exciting, right?

The students were assigned randomly into groups (consisting of 10 or less) and had three weeks (29 Nov-17 Dec) to prepare the blog, before presenting their project to the class and a selected group of evaluators. The blogs purpose was to promote health information to a specific audience (i.e. children, teenagers, adults, special needs and pregnant women).

The blogs would be evaluated based on their originality and creativity (title, tag-line, content, etc.), and the blog had to include at least 3 articles/columns and/or editorials that convey messages on the chosen topic. Finally, each blog had to include at least one video or audio message developed by the group.

Strong emphasis was given on originality, and students were reminded the importance of avoiding plagiarism and dealing with risk communication. In other words, it is important to acknowledge and appreciate authors and sources (re)used to develop the content for the blogs.

Overall, the blogs were assessed for accuracy and relevance of information, creativity, interactive features and the use of media techniques. To make it more exciting and competitive, each group did not make their blogs available to the other groups (or public) before their group presentation on the 16th December (2010).

Each group was given 30 minutes to present and defend their blog on the 16 December. Interestingly, Assoc. Prof. Dr. SriKumar Chakravarthi (IMU lecturer) whom was one of the evaluators was in India during this period, but still managed to watch and participate in the evaluation process using Skype. In addition to getting feedback from other class mates and evaluators, students voted for their favorite blog (using the Moodle poll feature) after the group presentation.

So, what was my role besides being one of the evaluators? As Sheba DMani is not too familiar with blogging, I handled a Q&A session on creating a blog with the students on the 3rd December. No, I didn’t present any PowerPoint slides! I simply came to class, asked them relevant questions, and explored possibilities from this awesome list of free learning tools they could use to create or reuse sizzling content for their blogs.

So, how much did this project cost? In terms of technology, all the online tools they used to spread their message to the world cost…. ZERO! Not bad!

STUDENT LEARNING OUTPUT?

“Healthy foods for a healthy baby”

This blog aims to guide pregnant women through the process of making a positive change in the diet. It discusses and explores nutrition tips, delicious recipes, common myths, pregnancy tips and no-nos, useful links, and a few cool widgets, including the ‘Weekly Pregnancy Calendar’. Overall, the blog is well-designed providing the user with a visually soothing and user-friendly navigation experience, which is certainly a requirement for any pregnant woman.

The project team (Amelia, Melisa, Moushini, Natasha, Ray, Shahira, and Sharon) did a great collaborative effort. Congratulations!

In one word: Wonderful!

“Teenage Life is Never Black & White”

This blog focuses on adolescent issues aimed at the teenage population of 13-19. It explores in an emotionally creative, but informative way common youth challenges such as alcohol, drugs, relationships (family/friends/girlfriend/boyfriend), stress and smoking.

To really connect with the youth in an inspiring and engaging way, this hard working project team mashed-up their own original graphics, directed and recorded a short Abstinence Educational Video, set up a Facebook page, and used Xtranormal to create this cool animated video:

In one word: AWESOME!

“BIG or small, We Save them All”

This blog aims to provide a one stop avenue for information on breast cancer in an easy way to understand. Its’ combination of stylish (pink) and interactive design, easy navigation, and relevant topics makes it a great place to discover more about breast cancer, which include symptoms, risk factors, preventive measures, test and diagnosis, and alternative medicine. In addition to developing a great website, the project team (Qi Quan, Melody, Wern Ching, Shariffa and Praveena) developed a very informative ‘Breast Self-Examination’ video…

This blog focuses on Asperger’s Syndrome, which is often misunderstood among people. Asperger’s Syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, along with restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. The project team has done a good job in designing and structuring the few (identified), but relevant issues regarding this disability, which include helping people to recognize it, statistics and epidemiology, books and resources, and famous people with it. Did you know that Albert Einstein had Asperger’s Syndrome? Now you know!

In one word: INTERESTING!

“Don’t Forget to Brush Your Teeth”

This blog provides some useful tips on how to take care of your health, including brushing your teeth, eating oranges and carrots, and washing your hands. The highlight of this blog has to be the creatively designed video developed by the project team (view contributors), entitled “The story of Bluey and Pinky‘.

In one word: CREATIVE!

LESSONS LEARNED

From my experience working with students involved in projects requiring them to develop a website (using web 2.0), often complain that it is time consuming and that it requires a lot of work. But by knowing that their work will continue to live on (more meaning), and that they are publishing it to the world (instead of only to the lecturer), they are willing to take up the challenge and put in a greater effort. In other words, their motivation often goes beyond grades, and that is very exciting and encouraging.

Though, we still have to work on their fair use or reuse of external content and graphics, and teach them proper online referencing procedures, which is something we have to continue to work on. It is alright to quote and reuse (if permission is given), but we must appreciate and recognize other people’s work. As such we have already setup a site for IMU staff and students (only) exploring project based learning (in the e-learning portal), including proper online referencing procedures.

Although, our e-learning portal (using Moodle) is wonderful for uploading and organizing course content, linking online resources, online discussions, assignment submissions, online quizzes, and so on, we should also encourage and empower students to use other web 2.0 and social media tools for creating creative content and informal learning. For example, several lecturers from the School of Pharmacy use Facebook for communicating online with their students, and have experimented with conducting Problem-Based Learning (PBL) sessions using Facebook Groups.

I have noticed that some Universities in Malaysia ban the usage of Facebook and YouTube at their campuses, and use the excuse that they encourage poor learning/working habits and clog up their network (bandwidth) for other usages. That might be true, but if staff and students learn how to discipline themselves using such tools (no choice!), they will actually have access to some of the most amazing learning resources on the planet (for free), and be able to interact with experts and students from all over the world through Facebook groups/pages (e.g. Harvard University – Facebook). I can’t think of a better investment for learning than boosting the network (bandwidth) to support online learning in all forms. The Internet is the heart, blood circulation, and oxygen of learning in the 21st century.

More importantly, today more than ever, it is critical to encourage students to nurture their communication, collaboration, creative and analytical skills using the web and multimedia tools. Increasingly in the future, people in organizations will be working and collaborating online using the cloud, so it is important to encourage and necessary to prepare our students for this new world.

Also, it is important to highlight here that the quality of the students’ output (results) at this stage is not as important as empowering their passionate and inquiring mindset to explore possibilities and ideas, and continuously reflect, learn and improve from these learning experiences. In short, focus more on the learning process than the output (results). Results will come as they learn. Some are early bloomers, others are late bloomers, and that is something we should never forget.

Can you imagine hiring a graduate that cannot communicate and collaborate online? Try asking that same question in four year’s time šŸ™‚

Join the #moodlewish Twitter Stream!

7 May


Click image to view the visualized #moodlewish story clearly

PLEASE WISH UP!
Do you feel that Moodle needs improvement in some areas? Or perhaps don’t like some of its features? Then why not make your voice heard in 14o characters, using the #moodlewish hashtag.

Trust me, Moodlers (or developers) around the world will be following this one with hawk eyes as we Moodle users voice our thoughts, ideas, suggestions and frustrations.

If you are a real Moodle die-hard fan, perhaps you should use the Moodle Tracker to give more detailed and constructive suggestions (including screenshots) for improvement. But let’s face it, 99% of the suggestions and frustrations will never bother going there, but if you are interested, why not.

So, having a dedicated hashtag in #moodlewish will hopefully provide a more convenient venue for all Moodle users to share ideas and suggestions (or those that use Twitter!), and for developers to make these sparks of ideas become a reality.

WHY?
I have to admit I have a Love–Hate relationship with Moodle. For sure Moodle has given me a lot of great learning memories over the years, but it has also given me nightmares and headaches, too. But sadly, over the last couple of years, I have felt that Moodle in a way has lost a bit of focus on especially its core features such as the file(s) upload, sharing links, chat, forum, quiz, assignment, course page editing, etc.

I suppose it has been difficult to keep up with all the innovations going on in purpose-built tools out there such as Facebook, Scribd, Ning (become commercial! Annoying!), SlideShare, Elgg, Youtube, and Blackboard (Just kidding about the last one :)). For example, wouldn’t it be great if Moodle enabled us to share resource links (URLs) and videos as efficiently and smoothly as what the Facebook Wall allows us to (watch screencast below).




Or be able to upload files as dynamically as what Scribd enables us to do. Or create dynamic online learning networks and communities as Elgg and Ning enables us to.

You might argue that we could always integrate all these tools with Moodle using widgets or integration modules. True! But, if even Moodle’s core features are becoming a frustration and burden, then why bother using Moodle at all. Anyway, I have written a post about Moodle being an Airport, so I will leave it at that.

In short, we are using Moodle at our University and would love to continue to use it for another decade if possible. Hopefully, the #moodlewish tag will provide an additional value added stream to Moodle developers and users around the world.

TRUE STORY
Lets’ close this post with a short true story:

I met a Moodle certified trainer the other day, and I told him about how easy it was to share links on Facebook, and guess what he replied (summarized)?

“Can Facebook do this and that, and this and that. Facebook is new! Moodle is free and open source… (and became very defensive).”

It is great to be a fan, supporter and promoter, but should we get emotional about that? Instead, we should learn from them, and do better!

Moodle is the Apple of Open Source, and we simply want to be better than any other learning tools out there. No excuses, especially with the core learning features. There are too many amazing people working on Moodle to let that happen. Let’s hope Moodle 2.0 delivers, but I am still not too convinced (I suppose I set a bit high standards!).

Why not have a couple of Moodle professionals dedicated to tracking down all valuable feedback and suggestions appearing in blogs, tweets, wikis, YouTube, etc….hashtags… and adding the filtered juice (not censored!) to the tracker proactively. I hope this is already happening…

Read All About It!

‘Facebook Vs Moodle – Sharing Links‘
Screencast Featured on Screenr Homepage (from 13th to 27th May, 2010)

Thanks for the suggestion, but instead of creating a new post, I will post it here (below)! Here is the comment (full discussion) that Joseph Thibault is referring to:

“Dear Tomaz Lasic,

Thanks for reminding me how Moodle gives a ā€˜DAMNā€™ about that.

I do understand that we need to consider any changes in context of the whole project, and that we need to take care of the disabled (accessibility) and security. No disagreement whatsoever there.

I can also sense that some might be thinking, ā€œThis guy is so ungrateful and annoying! Moodle is open source and free, who theā€¦.ā€. Yes, I am a devilā€™s advocate, and perhaps being a bit provocative (in a Tom & Jerry way) too. But, having said that, I am simply being honest and sharing some of things that I think Moodle should improve.

Of course, some of the things that I am emphasizing is hard to swallow, as Moodle is (could be argued) and has (always) been known for being user-friendly and very easy to learn and implement (with a strong foundation in constructive mambo-jumbo). Yes, I also have strong interest (and passion) for Moodle to work really well, as the University I am working in now, is using it a lot for e-learning activities.

But, as I said earlier (using different words), Moodle needs to wake up to the new world order of innovation, usability, and free learning tools (including hosting). Let me share with you all some interesting Moodle observations and experiences.

Earlier this year, I visited 8 Universities in Saudi Arabia, and many of them had explored Moodle, but over time they had lost interest due to terrible experiences piloting it, especially with managing the server(s), database, and back-end (looking for Moodle services opportunity, then that is a potential goldmine). Interestingly (or sadly), more and more Universities in Saudi Arabia are adopting Blackboard.

Yes, Moodle is easy to install, but very difficult to manage when the concurrent usage increases (above say 100). Moodle experts and developers would argue against this (No, it is easy!), but that is not the case when you communicate with the grass roots. Since, I have struggled dealing with all the back-end issues myself (or my staff, since I am not really the technical guy!), too I can testify that managing Moodle back-end is not as easy and straight-forward as some might say. So, having a reliable wizard to guide on managing Moodle back-end and concurrent users would do miracles on that front.

However, what has really troubled me the last few years is the lack usability improvements of the core features that say 90% of all users would use or explore in Moodle (editing course page, uploading files, Linking, forum, chat, quizzes, assignments, etc).

Earlier today, I had a discussion with a faculty representative about how complicated it was developing quizzes in Moodleā€™s online quiz editor (forever scrolling, clicking and too many boxes!). He insisted that I teach them only how to use notepad (Aiken format) to get the job done. But then again, what about images, symbols, feedback and the other stuff you need to include (medical university!). Yeah, create all the questions in notepad, and then upload, and then add images and symbols were necessary. Butā€¦

I tried once an Excel template version, but it was unusable. What if there was a Word quiz template, which could extract images and symbols on-the-fly (XML) during upload. Any such feature or option?

I also get complaints about scrolling and click wars to upload notes, links, create assignments, etc. In a way, the current version we are using (1.9 something), is disabling especially older faculty staff (45+ years) to get on board (easily), because too many steps are needed to getting basic stuff done (e.g. uploading notes).

All this might sound new and strange to some Moodle fans and developers out there. But if it does, perhaps you should spend some more time exploring and reflecting learning tools beyond the LMSs (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Blogger, Google Docs, etc), and pick up some great ideas.

Having said that, we donā€™t expect all our wishes to happen overnight, but we do expect them at least to be considered, or know that Moodle developers are aware of them and working towards finding a solution. If Ajax does not work (accessibility and security), I am sure there are other ways to simplify the processes of doing things. The golden rule in usability ā€˜Less is moreā€™ (just made that golden rule up, but it makes sense).

We live in a tough and complicated world today. Even for things that are free, people can blast, be demanding, and expect miracles. It is not easy, and for that fact I admire all of you.

Just remember to pinch your egos when criticism hurts (be receptive and welcome them with open arms in creative ways). It is tough, especially for me, as I am always pinching myself.

Not easy šŸ˜¦

But then again, life without a struggle would be really boring šŸ™‚

Cheers!”

Lovely!

I remember in 2004, I was in shock-and-awe after exploring Moodle for the first time. Let’s together bring back that feeling soon šŸ™‚