Moodle Moot Notes – Day Three

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Conference Dinner at Jupiter’s Casino. They even managed to get me to dance, which was a real superhuman effort. (I’m glad they did…)

This post will feature my notes from the third and final day of Moodle Moot 2012, on the beautiful Gold Coast of Queensland.  As always, I’ll be notetaking fairly furiously, so if I include something in error – or miss it outright – please leave a correction or amendment in the comments area.

Before I get started though, I want to say what a tremendous pleasure it was to attend this year’s Moot. It was my very first one and I couldn’t have been luckier. The speakers and presentations were all fantastic, the food was just gorgeous, and the social interaction was both entertaining and highly inspiring.

My gratitude and appreciation goes out to everyone who had a hand in organising the conference. It must have been a massive undertaking, but the extent of your efforts was undeniable.

9:00 to 9:25 Moodle in a language learning context
Neil McRudden, Embassy CES

  • Moodle includes Macmillan Dictionary; acts as dictionary and pronunciation guide
  • Calendar

Every unit features sub-sections to facilitate the following (each containing a series of resources:

  1. Study
  2. Practice
  3. Watch – videos and other visual materials
  4. Listen – audio recordings on specific topics
  5. Read – articles and other supplemental material
  6. Communicate
  7. Write – activities covering the unit
  8. Create
  9. Reflect

Practice: Self-tests using drag and drop fill in the blank questions.  Series of sentences with blanks, drag the correct term to the blank.  Plays sounds for correct and incorrect answers.

Create: includes a tool for producing animated videos covering the unit topic.

Reference: Dvolver (http://www.dvolver.com/moviemaker/make.html) – online animation creation tool

  1. Select background scene
  2. Create characters
  3. Assign dialogue to each character
  4. Select Background Music
  5. Assign the video a title
  6. Preview the Video

Once created, students can have link to video sent to their email address to share with other students.

Q&A

Q1: [Didn't hear question]

A1: If we are going to use them for assessment we make that clear.  Don’t do all activities every week; would be too much.  Encourage forums, but forum participation doesn’t count towards final mark.

9:30 – 9:55: Teaching using the Participation Discussion Forum
Brant Knutzen, University of Hong Kong

Speaker Asks: How many are disappointed with the level of engagement students have with the forum?  [Quite a few hands go up]

Using Moodle since 2005; developed methodology over that time of how to effectively use the forum tool.

Overview:

  • Social Constructivism
  • Transactivity
  • Building engagement
  • Assessment methods
  • Participation rating
  • Measuring engagement

CMC: Computer-mediated Conferencing (nb: also communication)

  • Synchronous: chat, IM
  • Asynchronous: forums

Aim to maximise collaboration amongst students.

Social Constructivism – knowledge product of group; efficacy linked to process; social negotiation of knowledge

Cites John Biggs, 1999

  •  Participants respond to and build on each others contributors
  • Peer exchange of info
  • Social negotiation of knowledge

How can we formulate instructional design conditions which result in more productive and transactive learning

Online forum great learning activity; highest potential for social construction of knowledge and transactive collaboration; also most likely to fail

Four conditions

  • Small groups (only in chats; not in forums)
  • Class time to initiate dialogue
  • Set open-ended, challenging topic questions
  • Assessment system that reinforces production and peer interaction

Leave space for students to communicate; don’t constantly jump in, else risk of stifling conversation

Objective of multiple questions

  • Make discussions accessible to all students
  • Challenge the advanced students
Other tactics
  • Concrete facts >> abstract concepts
  • Textbook context >> Personal reflections

Speaker Question to Audience: Should a discussion be a summative activity?

  • Audience: Perhaps ask students to write a reflection of the outcomes from the forum
  • Speaker doesn’t think forums make good summative grades.

Problems with teacher assessment

  • Teacher can become a victim of their own success – high volume of posts to review

Peer assessment – Possible Problems:

  • Revenge Grading – if you mark me low, I’ll mark you low
  • Back-scratching – if you grade me high, I’ll grade you high

Possible Solutions - Automate the rating based on participation – no subjective judgement, just using a systematic method; rating based on participation.

BUT, participation alone isn’t enough. Need to consider constructive alignment between formative discussions and summative final assignments

  • Reflective blog posts
  • Group collaboration

Motivators

  • Constructive Alignment
  • Situative: sense of social obligation
  • Quantified Participation (NB: expand on this)

Q&A

Q1: [NB: My paraphrase] How should teachers manage forums? Can you set them and forget them?

A1: Just like a F2F discussion, you wouldn’t set a topic and leave the room; the quality would plummet.  But you don’t want to respond to every post either.  It’s a matter of finding a common medium so students know you’re paying attention.

10:00 to 10:25: Digital education: challenges and opportunities, an African perspective
Eudes K Tshitshonu, Vaal University of Technology (TBC)

Challenges/Issues:

  • Connecting with rural communities – school materials/books failing to reach remote areas; inaccessible roads, lack of school infrastructure
  • Related strongly to ABC Open’s segment on “Africa is Crying”

Solutions/Ideas

  • Unconventional sequence – contemporary African kids frequently unfamiliar with landlines; only mobile phones / cellular telephones
  • Mobile technology requires minimal infrastructure / buildings to leverage

Demo’ing Moodle site over iPad

  • Classes offered in different groups
  • Social construction: students reported problems with assessment (“too hard”); speaker discovered the next day another student solved the question and posted the solution for the other’s to see
  • Leaves space for students to help each other but posts when clarification is required
  • Course includes multiple choice assessments to help students practice mathematics; also calculated questions and short answer;
  • Frame questions so that students have to make an attempt before they are shown the correct answer;
  • Uses annotation tool on the iPad to provide feedback on student assessment

“I’ve seen institution investing millions in smart boards, but the iPad is my smart board.  No need to print; students and teachers can both read electronically.”

Q&A

Q1: Who are your students, where are they located?

A1: Using this as a blended learning mode; online elements are designed for use outside of normal class hours.

Q2: Digital dispensation.  Is there some kind of program

A2: At this point not yet. HOpeful that local NGO’s will help.

Q3: What support are students getting?

A3:  During session students have access to computer labs; out of session can be problematic as we have no control over their local conditions.

[[Tea Break]]

11:00 – 12:00: Keynote: Moving Beyond “No Significant Difference”: Mobile learning as a catalyst for pedagogical change
Thomas Cochrane

Presentation notes: http://bitly/mLrnPrz

Opens with video clip on The Big Bang Theory about Siri; using Air Server to broadcast iPhone to projector

Discussing the nature of mobile devices.  Citing example of mobile bratwurst vendor in Berlin.

Mobile phones are crucial to young people; represents their connectivity.

Polling room: What type of phone do you have – iPhone and Android overwhelming leaders

Discussing Christchurch after earthquake.  Rather than send in people to check for survivors, bought $400 mobile helicopter with cameras enabled, flew it into decapitated buildings to check; iPad used to steer; much safer.

 

Moodle Moot Notes – Day Two

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This post will contain all of my notes and thoughts from Day Two of the Moodle Moot 2012 Conference.  As before, I will be typing frantically throughout much of the day, so if I overlook something important or include any information in error, please post corrections or amendments in the comments area.

Morning Session to Tea

Keynote
Connecting with the Staff Learning Community at ABC
Elisabeth Ellis, Manager of Learning Projects at the ABC.

ABC’s Moodle Environment is known as ABC Connect.

Will be looking internal staff development in ABC as well as their Moodle site.  Presenting it as a case study.

Asking different sectors to stand up; lots from TAFE; lots from University; relatively few from industry; more from “other”

Got everyone doing a “Mexican Wave.”  It was amazingly well received considering the time of day.

Asks how we connect learners as a learning community.  Learners approach eLearning in different ways.

“What kind of wave are we riding?”  Rough and strong like a tsunami; or placid and calm like ankle breakers.

ABC using Moodle 2.2; soon going to 2.3 and later adding mobile learn.  ”Starting somewhat small;” have had technical challenges getting Moodle to work with IE.

Experimenting with a range of the tools that Moodle provides; different topic formats; want WebEX integration.  Trying out conditional release as well as different types of courses.

What Type of Learner Wave / Who are our learners

Audience at ABC consumes content in many different ways; same with learners.

5,000 staff. Myriad of job roles; camera operators; radio recorders; journalists; technical services, hairdressers; truck drivers; retail staff; content making roles.  Huge range of skill-sets that they need to cover.

Also different employment arrangements: Casual staff, contract staff

Locational: Regional Australia, Rural Australia, International

Mix of very tech advance staff through to complete technophobes and non adept; some people work exclusively in field, no computer at all.  Getting them to engage with eLearning can be a challenge.

Staff Expectations: some have high expectations of the online experience

Three different profiles on learners

  • Autonomous Leaners – very savy; connect via social networking; no disconnect between home and work; 24/7 learners
  • Busy Staff – attached to smart phones; connect via mobile; use traditional learning to a small degree, but need it short, sharp and to the point
  • Traditional Learners – classroom based; face to face; workshop
Also expectations from some that they need to be in a classroom to learn.  ”I can’t get used to ABC Connect.  I have to log on!”
What Kind of Board?
  • Infrastructure
  • Learning Content
  • eLearning Skills
  • Hearts and Minds – getting them excited about the journey
There is a sense of “if you build it, they will come.”
It’s a balancing act: Why can’t we just ask ABC staff to create professional learning objects.  It’s because there is an opportunity cost with taking them away from their work.
Users want the ABC Moodle to look more like a website than a Moodle installation.
Example Moodle course: designed to suit F2F, blended and distance learners; icon-based navigation.
Have to sell the learning to them.  Need to be focused on the “whats in it for me” because staff are so time poor.
Approaches to tackling resistence to eLearning
  • Set up champions; SME technical trainer and Moodle Champion.
  • Subtle introduction through face to face courses.
  • eFacilitation courses to create more champions
Changing Learning Styles - Developing self-directed learners and “smart workers”
Organisational Support
  • Getting management support has been a challenge
  • Question of return on investment (ROI); “what’s in it for me” for managers
Competition for Time
  • Staff constantly time poor
  • Face this regardless of F2F or Online;
  • Need “skill pills”
  • Have to go into Moodle and do pre-work before you go to WebEX sessions
Training is Decentralised
  • All about networks, teamwork, influence
  • Provide training to SME’s
  • Building Communities of Practice
  • Re-version content for different content (e.g. editorial policies – generic, radio, TV, online); content serves different purposes.  Moodle allows for access to examples
Digital Skills
  • Many staff accessing programs via iPhones, social networking
  • Still need to help some staff developing skills
  • Moving from self-paced to community engaged online learning is a challenge
2.5 years with Moodle – now up and riding the wave.  Need key strategies to engage with ABC community.
Introduction to ABC Open

Solua Middleton

Looking at external strategies to connect outside of the organisation

Working in Indigenous Media; producer and video journalist

Open is about more than putting content on the ABC. It’s about engaging with community and using skills.

What is ABC open?

URL: www.abc.net.au/open

New Project – 2 years old; Produce local contributions from local community

45 producers around Australia.  Open producer in almost every regional station around the country.  No open producers in capital cities; project set up to share stories from regional areas.

Ways regional residence interact with online media will change.

ABC Open is project driven.  Anyone in the country can get involved.  Examples:

  • Photo project – Snapped: Winter
  • Sport project – 110% (Short videos about people who are 110% into sport)
  • Now And Then: Sharing photos of a location in past and present

Aftermath: Disaster, Resilience & Recovery

Capturing aftermath / experiences with disasters, like QLD floods, fires.  Helped with healing process.  ”Having ABC Open involved was like part of his healing process.”  Human Element.

Sharing content with local radio stations, News24, ABC1, national radio programs.  Each night there is a small segment on News24 that features a contribution from ABC Open.

Working with high schools, TAFE’s, and universities.  Working with Bond University in Broadcast Journalism (NB: need to verify course).

ABC Open Tutorials [[NB: Locate link for this]]

Q&A

Q1: How have users engaged with Moodle?

A1: Early adopters take to it quickly; but may have had existing experience with it.  Others have a great deal of trouble finding their way around.  So there is a range of capabilities in staff that needs to be addressed in the design.

All just-in-time learning.  Need to get content out really quickly; changes happen quickly.

Balancing act between getting content up quickly and developing high quality content.

Q2: What strategies did you use to target staff who didn’t want to learn via eLearning?

A2: That’s our challenge.  We’re using a number of strategies.  Example:

  • Train the trainer is face to face but incorporated online resources.
  • Interacting through forums
  • OHS – Managers are key to ensure learners are key.  Personal risk assessment is one method.  They have to do it; so they engage.  Initial bugs, but now a seamless experience

Q3: Do you use any other online platforms than video tutorials once you’ve been into communities for follow up.

A3: Skype, email. Looking at other strategies for follow up.

[[End of Morning Session]]

11:00 to 11:25 – Migrating offline Pedagogy into the online classroom
Julian Ridden, Pukunui Technology

What is Pedagogy?

  • Important, but too frequently used as little more than a buzzword.

Why doest online learning fail?

  • Connected learning often occurs disconnected learners.

Point One: The room you’re in matters

  • 1960′s school system intentionally modelled on prison system
  • “A student who is oppressed is easier to teach”
  • Current example in NZ: largely open; all walls have a white board
  • A good  teacher struggles in a bad classroom; same applies online
  • Style guidelines not built for eLearning, but frequently used to justify visual style on online learning sites
  • Walls of Text versus Icon-based navigation
  • “Just because a course is standards based doesn’t mean it should be taught in a standard way”

Point Two: Reconnecting your users

  • “A forum does not a social classroom make”
  • “Online learning often fails because the users are disconnected”
  • We don’t stop all classroom discussion because someone might say something; same idea should apply online

Social Learning

  • One of the best resources in online learning is the students themselves
  • Have students engages with the content by engaging with each other
  • PLNs and PLEs
  • Inbuilt connectedness in a classroom environment; content comes from many directions in a classroom
  • Comparing Facbook functionality with Moodle Tools: Glossaries, Wiki’s , Chatrooms, Galleries, Blogs, Forums
  • Successful online learning includes ways to Connect, Collaborate, Contribute
  • eLearning is a different style of delivery, it is not a different style of learning

On Engagement

  • People enjoy video games because their creators put engagement before anything else
  • eLearning authors often put engagement a distant second to academic rigour
  • The key to using any technology effectively is underpinning it with the right pedagogy
  • For most of us here, our online learning system is a repository
  • Linear flow versus Adaptive flow; adaptive release and scaffolding
  • Use adaptive release to identify certain levels of capability and direct them towards custom resources or assessments that are designed for them.

Engagement

  • Key to all of this to me is in F2F classrooms engagement first, knowledge second
  • Can engage students through each other.

Q&A

Q1: How do we get students talking to each other?

A1: How we get students talk to each other depends on us setting effective tasks. Asking the right question.  Icebreaker forums; create tasks that make them want to talk to each other and want to engage.

Q2: What do you think about “Mandatory Engagement?”

A2: How you do it depends on the cohort, and the content.

11:30 – 11:55 – Collaborative e-assessment using the Workshop module
Melanie Worrall and Tony Stone, ASC Training & Development

Format: Background Context, Story, Live in Course

Background

  • eAssessment guidelines for assessment released – how we assess in VET sector
  • Lots of peer delivery, little peer assessment;
  • Identified peer assessment as something they want to look at
  • Moodle Workshop module great way to do this

Story About Project

  • ASC Training and Development, Adelaide
  • Cert IV in Frontline Management
  • Not much work had been done in Peer Assessment
  • Target group of 11 Pharmacists to undertake the learning program

Project involves 3 levels of learning

  1. Team Development Skills
  2. Using Online Technology
  3. Peer Assessment

Methodology

Blended Apporach combining

  • 1 Full Day F2F workshop
  • Online activities including
    • Discussion Forums – proved very popular
    • Team Survey – using Google Docs
    • Assessment tasks, one involving Peer Assessment using Moodle Workshop

Peer Assessment Activity – Team Improvement Project

  • Participants complet a Team Climate Survey (Self and work team)
  • Identify area for improvement and develop Action Plan
  • Upload Action Plan in Moodle Workshop 1
  • Peers In Learner Group review and post comment, based on agreed criteria
  • Projects implemented in workplaces
  • Project outcomes (Final Report) posted in Moodle Workshop 2
  • Final peer assessment against agreed criteria
  • Personal learnings posted in Forum
  • Assessor panel validation

Spent a lot of time making sure the language used was accessible to students.  Questions framed as Yes or No (e.g. Was this element present? Y or N)

1 student assessed 2 other students.

Challenges to date

  • Attracting participants and keeping them motivated and on task
  • The group has reduced from 11 to 7 owing to:
    • 2 withdrew citing work pressure
    • 2 have moved pharmacy
  • Technology glitches
  • Moodle Workshop “switching” from one phase to the next, e.g. From Submission to Assessment Phase

Learnings to Date

  • Forums were a big hit
  • Formative Assessment helped learners understand their own Action Plan strengths/deficits
  • [Missed this]
  • [Missed this]
  • [Missed this]

12:00 – 12:25 – Plug me in!
Grazia Scotellaro, Australian National University

Notes and Resources: http://moodleposium.wikispaces.com

Introduction

  • Not a programmer or techy
  • Job is to enthuse academics to incorporate technology into their teaching
  • Formerly Italian Lecturer
  • Focus today is using tech to teach in languages; aim is to make things easier
  • Resources, widgets that can be plugged in easily to your Moodle site

Spoke to year 11 and 12 students to identify usability needs.

  • Make it more like Facebook
  • Not boring like the stuff in our school
  • Developed prototypes and got students to vote.

Students get used to hearing the way their teacher speaks; grow accustomed to it. Allowing for different speakers helps acclimate them to different speaking styles.

Reference: Socrative (http://www.socrative.com/) – free polling tool that can be embedded in Moodle. (Limit of 50 concurrent users).  Really easy to use as a student, and adds a nice dynamic, participatory element to a course.

Reference: Twiddla (http://www.twiddla.com/) – free collaborative whiteboard tool that can be embedded in Moodle.

Reference: Voki (http://www.voki.com/) Speaking avatar tool.  Speaker indicated the avatar spoke in perfect Italian.

[[Lunch Break]]

13:30 – 13:55 – eDesign: An authentic online learning course using Moodle together with an open companion website
Jenni Parker, Murdoch University

Speaker begins: Imagine you live in a regional country area; studied your entire degree online; never spoke to a single student or instructor.  Finally in the last year you get to try an online system in your last year.  How would you feel?

We’ve known for a long time that students learn better when involved with others. So why are most uni courses little more than dumping grounds.  Found instructors wanted to change things, but lacked skills to do this online; weren’t comfortable with the technology; time was an issue; lack of encouragement and recognition of good quality teaching.

Goal of Thesis was to identify a real world learning approach; assess its effectiveness; and, if successful, develop guidelines for others.  Initial approach tested via two courses.

Students becoming creators of the content.  Needed restraint on part of instructor to avoid dumping too much content online.

Questions to Audience:

Q1: Why did you come to this session?  What is of interest to you.

A1: (from Audience) Learning/educational design, course design; get away from technology and examine L&T practice.

Research Website: http://www.elearnopen.info

  • Course examples
  • Published papers
  • Links to presentations

Moodle site: http://www.elearnopen.info/courses

  • Used two-column layout; felt three-column was too busy
  • Included orientation video for Moodle to help new users acclimate to the site
  • Students asked to join eDesign Docs (Diigo, Google Docs, Skype) to encourage network development
  • Most items point to external services; Moodle acting as portal rather than destination/endpoint
  • No synchronous communication; all asynchronous, though some one-on-one Skype conversations do occur.
  • Authentic eDesign – felt everything can be open except confidential information, such as marks
  • Sharing much of her content under Creative Commons

Task Design – Students asked to:

  • Read background reading materials
  • Complete the task
  • Post a reflection on the task

14:00 to 14:25 – Integrating the Mahara Portfolio with Moodle 2
Julian Ridden, Pukunui Technology

Not a technical discussion; it’s about what integration means.

Reflective Learning Practice

Moodle is an LMS; LMS are teacher centred.  Yes Moodle is constructivist, but the reality is it’s teacher centre; focused on our materials as teachers, and what we want students to do.  Delivery of learning resources and publishing of activities. Moodle is built by educators.

Mahara is an open source tool designed for portfolio for users – not just students.  Teachers, administrators, and managers use portfolios as well.  Portfolio is student centred.

Mahara facilitates bringing the students digital life together.

Porfolio often fails because the processes are disconnected.  Needs to be completely integrated with elearning process. Integration is not just single sign on.

Moodle:

  • Belongs to the whole class
  • Teacher decides on layout
  • Teacher decides on target
  • Teacher decides on content
  • Feedback by teacher
  • Teacher fixes deadlines on assignments

Mahara

  • Belongs to the student
  • Student decides on layout
  • Student decides on target
  • Student decides on content
  • Feedback by student + teacher
  • Student decides when to share

Integration improves use an keeps relevance

  • Single sign on is the first stage of integration
  • Anything a student creates in Moodle can be exported to Mahara – including Forum posts they create
  • Portfolio is not where assessment takes place; it happens in Moodle.

14:30 – 14:55: Extending Moodle using Collaborate
Kim Edgar, NetSpot

Overview

  • Moodle collaboration
  • What is Collaborate
  • Integration between Moodle and Collaborate
  • Live demo
  • Questions

Chat is the only real synchronous communication tool in Moodle.

What’s missing

  • Real time collaboration
  • Virtual classroom

Collaborate similar to Elluminate; has other functions built in as well. Bb Collaborate 12 has mobile features built in.

Creating new Collaborate session

  • Add an Activity >> Blackboard Collaborate Session
  • Prompted to provide session details: name, time, description, session begins, session ends, automatic recording (yes or no), Max. talkers, etc
  • Event added to page based on configuration settings

[[Mental note: need to contemplate use cases that are applicable to a largely F2F institution]]

Blackboard Collaborate Mobile

  • Fits within mobile screen; simple navigation/menu for tablets
  • Echo cancellation

Q&A

Q1: Does Collaborate require any client-side software to run?

A1: Yes, during the initial login a check is run and a small Java program (applet maybe?) is installed.  May have implications for IT restrictions (e.g. SOE).

Moodle Moot Notes – Day One

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This post will act as a live blog and will feature my notes from all the sessions I attend today, as well as any thoughts or ideas I want to come back to.  It will be updated frequently, so keep your finger on the refresh button.

Note I was frantically typing throughout many of these sessions (as the 16 pages worth of notes will indicate), so if there are any errors or additions required please leave a comment.

2012 Moodle Program: http://moodlemoot.org.au/mod/page/view.php?id=31

Session One: Welcome to Morning Tea

8:48: Settling in for Allan Christie’s Welcome Message.  Smooth jazz creating a very groovy atmosphere.

8:51: Surf classic “Wipeout” marks the start of the day.

Heaps of people here for the first time (myself included).

8:55: Professor Belinda Tynan now talking about collective intelligence and the value of the Moodle community.

Welcome to the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

Attended UNESCO open resources meeting.  Declaration on open education.

USQ was first Oz uni to introduce Moodle. Last week went live with Moodle 2.2.

“Be playful, engage, be present.  You are the game changers.  We are here because we want to enhance the learning experience of our students.”

9:00: Allan Christie takes the podium

Delighted with attendance.  Just shy of 500 delegates.  Supports decision in 2009 (NB: which was what?).  Community wanted Moodle to reflect enterprise level nature.

10% of delegates this year from outside of Australia.  Welcome again.

20 Netspot staff here this week & vibrant Twitter stream

[Note to self: wear thongs tomorrow.]

Just missed important information on logistics.  Damn.

9:13: Introducing founder of Moodle, Martin Dougiamas

Twitter: @moodler

Explaining the open source nature of Moodle.  Access to code allows for extensibility as well as integration with other systems via standards.

Moodle HQ focusing on:

  1. Plugins
  2. Processes
  3. Usability
  4. Integrations

Discussing Plugins. Moodle should be as easy to extend as your phone.

  • Plugins like “apps” for Moodle OS
  • Easier for developers
  • Easier for users
  • Particularly since Moodle 2.0

Repository for plugins: http://moodle.org/plugins

Discussing QA/QC processes surrounding introduction of new plugins.  Reviews, quality checks in place to ensure stability

Moodle 2.3 contacts DB to check to see if there are new versions of plugins.  If available you have the option to upgrade (much like WordPress dashboard).  Automated upgraded planned for Moodle 2.4; currently manual process in 2.3.

Every web application has security issues, therefore they upgrade systems constantly.  Building a system to make upgrading easier; much like WordPress.

In January, Moodle HQ spent month writing documentation for developers writing plugins; api’s, standards, etcetera

Language translation system – 80 or 90 languages supported currently.  Discussing screenshot of plugin activity being translated.

Focus 2: Processes:

Making Moodle development:

  • Efficient
  • Transparent
  • Predictable
  • Stable
  • Open

Strive for complete openness, not partial openness. Every change in

Related work:

  • Tracker
  • Git
  • Moodle Docs
  • Dev roles
  • Automation
  • Training

Moodle goes through at least 3 reviews.  Moodle docs link points to proper version.

Tim Barker is Test Manager.  Building systems to automatically test, check every time code comes in to Moodle. Some checks happen every night.  Now 600 tests running continuously every night; they will get alerts when anything fails.

All developers are certified coure creators.

Moodle HQ Roles

  • Management
  • DEV team
  • TEST team
  • STABLE team
  • INTEGRATION team – holders of keys to the castle

To get anything into Moodle, must go through Integration team.  Look at everything critically.  If you want to add something to Moodle (core) most likely bounce off of Integration team several times.

3. Usability

Very hard to make usable software.

Solving user frustration:

  • Gathering experiences
  • Prioritising
  • [missed this one]
  • [missed this one]

Related Projects:

  • Tracker issues/voting
  • Periodic user surveys
  • Feedback from moodle partner
  • Mooch (+other Hubs)
  • Moodle.org, Moodle.com
  • Usability studies

MOOCH: Resource for course design sharing and reuse.

4. Integrations - Moodle as a team member

  • Repositories
  • Learning Tools (IMS LTI) – standard for letting Moodle interact with other sites; like SCORM but for sites
  • IMS CC
  • OAuth 2.0 – Login using alternative account credentials (e.g. Twitter, FB)
  • Open Badges – digitally signed badges for inclusion on things like CVs
Mentions Minecraft (NB: need to look into this) – open sandbox of cubes that extends infinitely.
Demo’ing Moodle 2.3
  • No more scroll of death – long blocks of content scroll within block
  • Improvements to AJAX interface (dragging blocks)
  • “Activity Chooser” replaces dual “Add an Activity”, “Add a Resource” drop down menus
  • More content sensitive help documentation; double click on help topic to create a resource/activity of that type
  • File Picker cleaned up – icon view, full table view, tree view
  • New repositories – Wikimedia; DropBox (uses OAuth to connect); Box.net; Equella
  • Two Flickrs – One for your private photos; second for public resources
When uploading ZIP files, prompted to choose one of the following:
  1. Unzip ZIP
  2. Attach as ZIP
  3. Add as SCORM Package

Faster drag and drop + title editing; embed audio/voice recordings.

Repository: can now have aliases to files. Previously had to copy content over; now (in some repositories) can create alias / short cut to original file.  Maintains link to file.  If you update the original file it updates in Moodle as well.  Also maintains access permissions.

New Marking Guide:

  • Frequently used comments appear as quick list; can be re-entered with a click.
  • Drag and drop feedback as attached files

Considerations for getting a change into Moodle?

  • How much it supports our pedagogical focus
  • Does it make life easier for most users
  • Number of votes from existing users
  • Can it be developed in a generic way to help many
  • How long it will take to develop
  • Is it easier just to integrate with something existing
  • [Missed this]
  • [Missed this]
  • [Missed this]

Discussing upcoming changes.

Mobile should be using Moodle Web Services – properly factors in permissions and  access considerations that may not be present if using mobile to access main desktop version.

Moodle Mobile -

My Moodle:

Moodle Mobile

  • HTML5 + PhoneGap = All platforms
  • Uses REST web services (faster)
  • Developed by CV&A and HQ
  • Open source, modular, extensible
  • Contribute! Or base your own app on it.

Future: Looking long term

1st Moodle Research Conference: Heraklion, Crete-Greece

  • Early Bird Registration: 16th July 2012
  • Papers: 24 accepted from 46 submitted
  • One stream only

Hacktoberfest 2012

  • Margaret River in Perth
  • 40 Developers (all of HQ devs plus 20 others)
  • Brainstorming future tech developments
  • Deciding on architecture changes
  • Working on code together
  • 5 days

Questions from the floor:

Q1: Advice for institutions still on 1.9?

A1: Try upgrading (LOL). Make copy of site on other machine. Get 2.2 and try upgrade; will discover issues as you go. If you have a lot of hacks or 3rd party code & remove them (if unnecessary) or repeat them in new version.  If 3rd party code, check for upgrades and test in new system.

Q2: Site-wide Reporting?

A2: Bug in tracker currently discussing this.  Two ideas being considered:

  1. Customiseable Reports from CVA
  2. Report Building from Totara (spelling?)

Currently in contention with one another.  Hopefully one of them will be included in 2.4

Q3: Multi-tenancy? What is it and when can we expect it.

A3: Tried to build for 2.3.  When you have 1 set of source code that can act as multiple different sites.  Was looking promising, but began to get more complex.  Initally paused but now abandoned.

Better idea to build shell around Moodle; create one shell and then add different instances.  Makes whole lot of problems go away.

Q4: Competition plugins that compile visual reports?

A4: Might want to look at Customisesable Reports plugin.

Q5: Record audio plugin

A5: [Developer in Audience, Paul (surname not provided).]  Currently uses Flash; wants to add HTML 5 support.  At the moment HTML 5 isn’t quite there yet.  Hopefully coming in the future.  Doesn’t require streaming server.

Q6: Learning Analytics Plugin (who has interacted with whomever).  Where do you see learning analytics going in Moodle.

A6: Once we get mobile going, it will be an interesting combination with analytics.  Want notification that student hasn’t been seen for a couple of weeks – here is their #, give them a call.  Like Nagios for Moodle.

Q7: How do I provide feedback to individual students via attachment.

A7: Upload Multiple Files; improved in Moodle 2.3

Q8: Can students upload to external repositories and give other students access to the files?

A8: See Equella session this afternoon.  Depends on external repository.  Basic example: can map external disc, upload to that disc

Q9: Experiencing sluggishness in new version of Moodle.

A9: Is it large institution? (Answer: yes, TAFE). Tuning sometimes needs to be redone. DB system needs to be configured for caching, memory use; many variables available. That said 2.3 is a big improvement on 2.2. So there is less hitting of the server.

We need real data to help troubleshoot things.  Provide feedback to tracker.

[End of Morning Session - time for coffee!!]

Session Two: Morning Tea to Lunch

Due to the multi-stream nature of the conference I was unfortunately unable to get notes on all sessions.  So the following are from the ones I attended:

11:00 to 11:25 – The University of Waikato’s Moodle 2 Journey
Teresa Gibbison, The University of Waikato

The Project

Community Testing - April – November 2011

Outcomes:

  • UOW Code Upgrade
  • B Semester Pilot
  • Information Sessions
  • PD & Help Files
  • Upgrade & Release
  • Information Sessions
  • Design Sessions
  • Theme Overhaul

Development Process

Upgrade Testing

Have users, students, courses, profiles, and enrollments all processed automatically, as well as authentication method.  All needed to be implemented first.

Next assessed which plugins were to be included.  Were very careful here.

Implementation:

  • Took new version of 2.1 code
  • Reimpliment custom changes
  • Add plugins
  • Run updates

Created support course with open enrollment.  Added documentation, tutorials, etc.  People were able to go in and locate resources they needed.

The Feedback

  • Generally Positive
  • Staff & Students Coped Well
  • Separate Moodle Site
  • General Moodle Understanding – some minor confusion about collapsed blocks (thinking the content had disappeared)
  • Feedback Form added to site
    • Usability (User) Confusion
    • Navigation Changes
    • File System – Popup
    • Bugs Identified
    • Theme Polished

The Upgrade

  • Upgrade vs Fresh Install
    • Course Import
    • Teaching Schedule
    • Panopto Authentication (lecture capture)
  • Several Dry Upgrades
  • Two Day ‘Relaxed’ Process
  • Day 1 – Read Only Mode v1.9
  • Authenticated User Capabilities
  • 4 hours (over 14,000 papers, 365,000 files)
  • Completion & Selective Release

Put Prod Moodle into maintenance; backed up site; then released Prod with read-only access (preventing new changes).

The Issues

  • Enrollment Method Change ~10 – 20 minutes
  • File Links & the DNS Change ~ 14 hours (overnight)
  • Timing of Upgrade – Exam week

Q&A

Q1: Do you have a dedicated Moodle support team or do questions go through the main help desk?

A1: Two faculties have their own help desks, but most questions through central help desk. Some specific questions then forwarded to speaker’s team (only 6 people). Generally make people file a ticket for support requests but made an exception for the pilot staff.

11:30 – 11:55: Assignment 2.3 – Introducing the All New Assignment Module being Released in Moodle 2.3
Mark Drechsler, NetSpot

[NB: This session was standing room only and unfortunately there was no way for me to take notes.]

Mark Drechsler talks to a packed room.

12:00 – 12:25: eCommunities: Moodle as a platform for communities of practice
Susan Cornish, TAFE NSW eLearning Hub and Mark Clarke, Hunter Institute of TAFE

URL (restricted): http://ecommunities.tafensw.edu.au/

[NB: I was late to this...]

Discussed Communities of Practice (Etienne Wenger)

Potential Benefits

  • Access Knowledge
  • Share Knowledge
  • Create Knowledge
  • [Missed this one]

Demo’ing site

  • Gorgeous interface
  • Tie online webinars (Adobe Connect) with Forum Discussions
  • Staff profiles and use cases
  • Monitor forums for unanswered forum questions.  However site has largely reached “critical mass” and most posts receive replies from community.
  • Task-based community – not just open ended; include activities for people to complete, which is shared amongst peers.
  • Feature templates to help groups with layout design
  • Use databases to allow sharing of files and weblinks

Issues / Considerations

  • How to measure value – many, many different sources data
  • How to evaluate data

QA

Q1: Are there SME moderators for forums?

A1: A copy of every post is sent to central unit.  Also coordinators for different communities and guests in-residence for a short period of time.  Don’t worry about inactive forums; they tend to flare up periodically.

Q2: Is there any plan for recognition of contributions prof dev based

A2: Don’t provide systematic approach. Overall not their goal

Q3: How many staff support this?

A3: 20 people in their unit.  Other people working on projects as needed.

Q4: Did you find other examplars that influenced how you put this together?

A4: Struggled to find examples.  Some businesses have examples and a few let us look at their approaches.

[[Lunch Time]]

13:30 – 13:55 Effective Moodle based Learning Design: Utilising Moodle based tools to create innovative learning design
Eamon Vale, The Centre for Macquarie English

[NB: Need to locate papers cited]

Discussign techno centric approaches

  • Instructionism online (e.g. Khan Academy)
  • The medium is the message (speaker argues it’s not)
  • A delicate relationship

Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL)

  • Equalisatio of student involvement
  • Greater learner autonomy and shift in authority
  • Greater complexity in structures produced
  • Improved oral proficiency (missed the rest)

Problem Based Learning

  • Learning Outcomes
  • Introduction
  • Model practice (scaffolding)

Productive Failure [aka "Delayed Structure"]

  • Removed all initial scaffolding; replaced it after students attempt to navigate the activity

Experiment – Scaffolding vs Delayed Structure

  • Two Groups: One given scaffolding; the other given none.
  • First group performed well; second had trouble;
  • When second well-scaffolded task was introduced, the delayed structure group performed better

14:00 to 14:25 Using Moodle Tools to Craft an Active Community of Inquiry
Fiona Nicolson and Lyn Collins Macquarie University

Constructing and confirming meaning through reflection & discourse in forums

  • Students post initial arguments to forums and then have to support them via ongoing dialogue with their peers
  • “The community of inquiry requires a  shared intellectual focus” (Shawn, Garrison, & Richardson, 2009).

Group Task – Collaborative writing

  • Students work in groups applying consumer behaviour theories to different cultural contexts.
  • Self select into groups (via Moodle Group Tool)
  • Students asked to negotiate content as appropriate and accept methodology
  • Students decide which literature to include in report; student driven
  • At end of project students post private reflection (via assignment submission tool)

Facilitating a Community of Inquiry

  • Staff ask themselves: How important is teacher presence to you? Consider your personal pedagogy.
  • Staff ask themselves: How do you establish a teacher presence online?
  • Teachers facilitators, not a dominant force in the inquiry

Successful higher education experience: Ven Diagram

Use the tools together with purpose:

  • Tools in isolation are not the answer – they need to be brought together with purpose.
  • Consider your own context

Academic staff supported through:

  • Self Help Guides
  • Instructional Design Consultants
  • Training Workshops
  • 32 Unit Examples

Staff Activity: Planning Your Own Courses

  1. Reflect on your personal pedagogy
  2. Equip yourself (Prof Dev, upskill in Moodle tools, join Moodle community, seek feedback)
  3. Build the Learning Space that triggers and supports inquiry and encourages collaboration
  4. Provide adequate scaffolding, instructions, modeling and support for your student-driven online activities
  5. Set the Climate: Encourage social connections and foster a sense of belonging to a community of learning (video welcome message; careful choice of images)
  6. Support Discourse [modeling in forums, correcting a misconception, participating as a peer (do not dominate)]
  7. Keep inquiry process on track to ensure outcomes are met

Q&A

Q1: Problem with tools: People may find a tool and then ask “how can we use this.”  How do you build in a mechanism in which people look at things the other way around.

A1: Presenter 1: People do tend to want to use tech and not look at the course design.  We just keep asking “what is it that you want to achieve or improve upon in your courses?” Based on that they then look at what tools would help address the need and/or issue.

Presenter 2: Because we’ve just moved to Moodle, quite a lot of training has been available to staff.  So knowing the tools is part of the training philosophy.  Staff understand the capabilities of the tools an can apply this to their design planning.

Q2: How many students can a  lecture successfully handle.

A2: There is a line of thought in which “the more students, the better.”  IN those sorts of communities the role of the teacher really shrinks and the role of the teacher is handed over to students.  So it becomes more genuinely student driven.

14:30 – 14:55 MGSM online MBA: Accounting made cool
Jason LaGreca, Access MQ and Eleanor Duncan, MGSM

Talking about how to make an MBA more engaging and yet not really time intensive for the teaching staff

Project Constraints:

  • Flash forbidden by university
  • Platform agnostic – mobile, desktop, ipad; multiple OS’s
  • Easily print to paper
  • Site construction needs to be intuitive as staff would be taking over its maintenance

Outcomes

  • Students like to have a spot to meet and chat with each other.  Needed a chat room for students to meet the same need online (named “The Lounge”)
  • Break out rooms

Topic Based

  • Time of day is relative; activities given ranges not firm times
  • Each topic can be accessed at any day; e.g. do readings in advance
  • Deliberate flow of learning outcomes; asked academics for a table and description of how students would progress through and towards them

Activity Structure: Achieve, Read, Synthesize, Engage, Collaborate, Reflect

  1. Learning Outcomes with tick box
  2. Introductory Video
  3. Textbook and Course Notes: Access to fundamentals on that topic as students come from differing backgrounds, some with undergrad business knowledge some without.
  4. Self-tests and formative assessments used to provide flexibility; students who haven’t done the assessment will be recognised in following activities
  5. Group Forums
  6. Academic Reflection
  7. Personal Reflection

16:00 to 16:30 Developing e-learning capability for Library Staff
Steven Yates, Monash University

Discussed a professional development course that trained staff in design and production of Captivate projects.  Incorporated a system of student roles emphasizing participation, observation and review.

Recommendations:

Consider semantics: “While you want a complex learning environment, you don’t want to word them in a complex way.”

Issues:

  • Captivate exports Flash files, which are not accessible on iPads.

16:30 – 16:55 “It’s life, Jim, but not as we’ve known it”
Stephan Schmidt, SITAC in the NT and eskills in the SA

Audience participation:

  • When do you work, and why do we work after hours?
  • Where do you work?
  • What do you use to do your work?
  • What types of tools do you use?

“…it looks like it’s not that clear cut anymore!”

Technology is influencing the way we work.  Flexibility; geographic independence; high mobility.

Reference: Workshifting: http://workshifting.com/

Used a Poll Everywhere poll to determine audience concensus on where we prefer to work:

  • 10% preferred to work exclusively in an office
  • 71% preferred to work in a mixture of office and remote
  • 19% preferred to work exclusively removely

Build to Suit - Nothing wrong with classrooms or remote learning.  It depends on the need.

What makes workshifting possible:

  • Pro attitude from Employers, managers, CEO’s, Business owners
  • Rethinking; Right Policies
  • Skilled Employees; Skilled Employers
  • Mobile devices
  • Internet Access
  • Cloud Computing

Using Moodle as the hub for a network of disparate schedules, activities and web presences.  Collate all information necessary to work together as employees all over Australia.

Vision: “To provide quality advice on all matters pertaining to Vocational Education and Training in the Services Industries in the Northern Territory.”

[[End of Day]]