UK University deploys open source video platform for teaching and learning — from campustechnology.com by Leila Meyer
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On 05/23/2013,
in CMS/LMS, communications, digital audio, digital video, multimedia, open courseware and systems, teaching & learning, UK,
by Daniel Christian
On 04/29/2013,
in CMS/LMS,
by Daniel Christian
My 5 favorite Moodle 2.5 improvements — from Moodlenews.com by Joseph Thibault
Excerpt:
Moodle 2.5 is coming this summer and after seeing some of the features demoed during the General Developer’s Meeting [on 4/23/13] I can say that I am very excited. Here are my top five improvements to Moodle 2.5…
On 03/04/2013,
in elearning,
by Daniel Christian
E-learning and Moodle: Where we’ve been and where we’re going — from techvibes.com by Jonathon Narvey
Excerpt:
According to Dougiamas, the next phase for Moodle (and quite a few of the Moodlers in the room, I’d wager) is looking at learning outcomes. He’s big on conducting research on how these tools are being used now and how they actually contribute to learning, as opposed to old-school methods.
“Most of us didn’t learn online,” Dougiamas says, looking at his audience with a smirk and a shrug. “We had a more traditional education and we’re muddling through. In fact, we run the world. What are the things we’re losing sight of as we move online? What are we losing?”
Moodle will keep adding functionality to make offering courses and tracking outcomes easier, he says. “Whatever your reasons for education, one can always throw in efficiency. Why waste time? Why reinvent things when we don’t need to? There’s a lot we can do purely from that perspective. The best way to do that is by putting the best possible tools in front of people so they can decide what to do in a local situation.”
In other words, he wasn’t there to tell attendees what the future of e-learning would be like—because apparently, a lot of them would be creating it themselves. That’s a nice lesson and it shows how open-source LMS platforms are like the social media platforms that tend to grab the spotlight.
Best practices: 30 tips for creating quiz questions — from Moodlerooms.com by Rebecca DeSantis, MSIT, Moodlerooms Instructional Designer
Excerpt:
Assessments are critical because they allow teachers to evaluate how well students are doing in a course, and they help identify key areas in a course where improvements are needed. However, creating assessments in your courses isn’t always an easy task. In Moodle, teachers often use the Quiz and Assignment activities for assessing knowledge. They may also use Forum, Glossary, Database, Lesson, and Workshop activities. In today’s post, I’m providing 30 tips for writing Quiz questions.
On 07/17/2012,
in Uncategorized,
by Daniel Christian
Moodle to drop native mobile apps, move to HTML5 — from CampusTechnology.com by David Nagel
Excerpt:
Moodle HQ is ending development of native My Moodle mobile apps for iOS and Android, according to a blog entry posted by Moodle founding developer Martin Dougiamas last night.
“After much thought Moodle HQ is changing how we support mobile development for Moodle,” Dougiamas wrote. “Our current approach of native apps per platform was costing a lot while not moving very fast and not serving our community.”
On 06/26/2012,
in CMS/LMS,
by Daniel Christian
On 06/22/2012,
in CMS/LMS, professional development,
by Daniel Christian
Excerpt from the Moodlerooms blog posting
Best Practices: Four Tips for Creating an Effective Online Syllabus
Tip #5: Make the most of Moodle modules.
As a best practice, we suggest using the Book module for your course syllabus. The Book module allows you to chunk your syllabus into logical segments (e.g., grading, participation, course description, course requirements, communication) using the Book’s chapter feature. It has in-module navigation that allows students to view the syllabus in chronological order, but also has a great Table of Contents, allowing students to jump to specific pages. The Book module also allows for printing—so students can print the syllabus for later use as well!
On 03/27/2012,
in CMS/LMS,
by Daniel Christian
Blackboard acquires Moodlerooms, NetSpot — from Blackboard
Company now one of world’s largest education open source service providers Moodlerooms, NetSpot will continue to operate independently
WASHINGTON – March 26, 2012 – Blackboard Inc. announced a major investment in open source today with news that it has acquired Moodlerooms and NetSpot, two leading providers of open source online learning solutions to the education industry. Both organizations will continue to operate independently to support their clients.
Moodlerooms and NetSpot are official Moodle Partners, and each will continue their current programs to support clients with no changes to their leadership or their support and service models.
In addition, each team will also become part of Blackboard’s new Education Open Source Services group, dedicated to supporting the use and development of open source learning technologies globally.
Leaders from each company recently traveled to Perth, Australia to meet with Martin Dougiamas, founder of Moodle and Managing Director of Moodle Pty Ltd, and present their plans. The meeting included Blackboard CEO Michael Chasen and Chief Technology Officer Ray Henderson, Moodlerooms CEO Lou Pugliese and Chief Architect Tom Murdock, and NetSpot Managing Director Allan Christie.
Also see:
Blackboard speaks out on open source move — by Dian Schaffhauser
Excerpt:
Blackboard’s announcement that it had acquired Moodle service providers Moodlerooms and NetSpot to create a new business division focused on delivering open source services to educational customers may well be met with the same kind of astonishment Mac users showed in 1997 when Steve Jobs announced that Microsoft was investing $150 million in Apple. When long-time competitors are suddenly on the same team, you can’t help but ask, what’s going to happen to the game?
In this interview Blackboard Learn President Ray Henderson and Moodlerooms Chairman and CEO Lou Pugliese explain why Blackboard is getting into the open source business, what’s different about delivering services to those customers versus Blackboard’s traditional customers, and what might be next on the open source agenda for the No. 1 learning management system company in the world.
On 01/10/2012,
in assessment, instructional design,
by Daniel Christian
Is your Moodle “cheatable”? — from Moodle News
Excerpt:
The Rubric is available at http://jaredstein.org/cheat/ and you can check out Jared Stein’s Cheatability Factor Presentation at http://jaredstein.org/pres/cheatability/. Mr Stein works for UVU as Director of Instructional Design Services.
What the tool is getting at is the randomness of questions posed to students and what type of opportunities, if any, students have to cheat or collaborate on independent work. While most questions are straightforward there was the occasional curveball like this, “Could students find a paper on the topic just through Google? Or does the paper require individualized selection of topic, interpretation, analysis, and reflection?” Not quite a yes/no question (but those are exactly the answer choices you have).
On 11/18/2011,
in CMS/LMS, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, higher education, innovation, instructional design, new business models, online media, publishing, reinvent, staying relevant, strategy,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
We really need a much more granular approach — like an iTunes for academic content.
On 10/25/2011,
in CMS/LMS,
by Daniel Christian
10 reasons to move to Moodle 2 from Moodle 1.9 — from somerandomthoughts.com by Gavin Henrick
Excerpt:
Presentations
Each presentation will be available on YouTube (slides & voice), the slides on Slideshare. I will be adding them as mp3s later on too.
“10 reasons to move to Moodle 2? (Part 1)
On 09/14/2011,
in business, CMS/LMS, education technology, innovation, publishing, vendors,
by Daniel Christian
New mentality entering LMS market — from deltainitiative.com by Phil Hill; this was also guest posted on Michael Feldstein’s eLiterate site
Excerpt:
The real significance will be the entrance of a new mentality – one based on new investment (venture capital, private equity, strategic publisher moves), one based on startup companies willing to challenge the status quo with new approaches, and one that is almost naive in its assumptions about giving end users what they want.
On 09/07/2011,
in blended learning, CMS/LMS, hybrid learning, instructional design, productivity / tips and tricks, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools,
by Daniel Christian
On 08/17/2011,
in CMS/LMS, higher education, K-12 related, presentations, professional development,
by Daniel Christian
