What Are Moodle Blocks?

There Is More To Google Drive Than You Might Think

… much more!

I started this post with the idea of entitling it: "Who Says You Can't Teach Math Via An LMS?" when I realized the picture is much bigger than that. I'll first show what I originally planned to share:

I have been hearing for years now how you supposedly can't teach math via an LMS, so, naturally, I have been on a campaign to prove that wrong (next up: an online Speech class!). I would probably do well to let this simple video do the talking for me:

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Lucky for you, that's as far as I got, when I realized I should really be posting about the dozens of great apps that suddenly appeared in our Google Apps for Ed system a few months ago. The awesome Desmos tool above was the first app I started using, and then I quickly added a few more. Be advised that you may want to set aside a good hour or so, as you will likely be sucked in by the awesomeness of a lot of the available apps.

How do you connect apps to your Google Drive? Funny you should ask:

Do you prefer a static step-by-step tutorial? We've got you covered here. Still hungry for more info before you dive in? Ok, just one more great resource before you get your feet wet, but only if you promise to share via a comment below your experience and thoughts on Google Drive apps!

A Post About Another "Role of Social Media in eLearning" Blog Post

I read a good blog post about "The Role of Social Media in eLearning" today, and couldn't help myself when it came to its mention of Twitter:

In eLearning [Twitter] can be used as a backchannel to connect learning communities or smaller classrooms over a specific topic or event, to share highlights, make statements, upload pictures, etc. All instructors have to do is create an account and communicate its #hashtag to their students/followers. Twitter is heavily used for social learning.

I wonder why more people aren't aware of the OTHER great use of Twitter. It's easy to focus on the value of the "backchannel" aspect, but to me, the greater value is as a passive research tool. Set up some search columns in TweetDeck (or a similar tool) to grab every mention of a given word or phrase, and you have a great source of sorted comments, links, and discussions about that word ready for you to do some final sifting for the gold nuggets. You don't have to feel like you need to search out and follow every influencer and SME on Twitter to get the good stuff; just set up some smart search parameters and let the tool do the work for you. THAT is the real value of Twitter, for both educators and students!

LBCC eLearning on Twitter

5 Colleges With Great Mobile Apps

"While institutions of higher learning have historically been criticized for their failure to embrace modern technology, the rapid growth of mobile adoption — 2/3 of Americans now connect to the Internet via a mobile device — has forced some colleges and universities to jump on the mobile app bandwagon."

Read more here.

Internet Explorer 10 and Moodle

Although we do NOT, nor have we ever recommended Internet Explorer as a good choice for an Internet browser with Moodle, we have recently discovered a new incompatibility with our new version of Moodle and IE10.  

SUMMARY:  Students and faculty have reported that using IE10 and the new version of Moodle will not allow them to complete certain operations such as:

(1) Sending a Moodle messages

(2) Cannot upload documents or submit assignments

WORK AROUND:  Firefox, Chrome (preferred), older versions of IE (version 8 works)

LINK TO TRACKER:  https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-36663

New Features in Google Forms

LBCC is getting some great mileage from Google Forms, and has been for over four years now. If you have never explored Google Forms, you really should take a glance, as I bet you will find a few good ways to save time, effort, and/or paper!

If you have been using Google Forms for a while, be ready for a few tweaks in the interface, the biggest one being clicking into a form from your Drive interface. That now takes you directly to the form, not the spreadsheet. It took me a little while to figure out how to get to the spreadsheet (the real power behind Google Forms), and I thought I should share here how to do that.

Now when you create a new form:

You will now see this:

You can entitle your form and choose a theme right from the get-go. At that point, you can (and probably should, so you don't forget later) click the "Choose response destination" button:

You will see this dialog:

If you simply want your data to flow into a spreadsheet, more-or-less like it used to, go ahead and keep the "New spreadsheet" radio button selected, and click "Create." You will now have a link to the form, and one to the (Responses) - the spreadsheet in your Google Drive:

You will probably want to explore the new options in the "Choose response destination" dialog box, so please do that, and share your findings and impressions in the comments section of this blog entry.

Want more info? Here is Google's info page on Google Forms.

Advantages of Using the Institutional LMS

I was working on some copy to send to a staff member who is building a glossary and asked me what Moodle is, when I discovered this interesting piece from the University of Toronto. It might come in handy if and when we want to tell… I mean encourage faculty to use the institution's LMS.

Also, notice the other FAQ questions on the left side:

When would I consider options or alternatives that go beyond the institutional LMS to meet pedagogical goals?

"…learning environments should only be considered in order to address functionality needs or access to content that is not supported through the institutional LMS. In such cases, individual faculty members or their department will be responsible for faculty and student support. "

New Features We Like in Moodle 2

Here is a list of the new and improved features we like, and have received positive feedback from Instructors on in the new version of Moodle. I will continue to add to this blog post as we discover more good stuff, so check back often!

1. Block Docking In Moodle 2x Video , you have the ability to dock your blocks to the sides of your course, giving more room for content. Written documentation.
2. File Management File Picker/Drag & Drop Video - Very different from Moodle 1.9 - Both System and Personal Repositories. Written documentation.
3. With Completion Tracking Video enabled in your Moodle 2.x course, you gain an easy-to-read display of which course items are complete, and which are incomplete. Written documentation..
4. Joule Gradebook Video - New & Improved. Written documentation.
5. Personal Learning Designer Video We are excited by this feature, as it provides the ability to automate personalized feedback to students based their progress in your course. Written documentation.
6. Moodle 2’s Filepicker integrates with a variety of repositories such as Google Docs, Flickr and Alfresco to allow teachers access to upload their course content.
7. Want a number of resources activities with similar settings? You will appreciate how Moodle 2.x lets you duplicate resources & activities.
8. Rubric Video - Moodle 2.x provides the ability to grade using Rubrics. Written documentation.

Using and Grading Groups in Moodle 2

I have been researching the new features we will have in Moodle 2, and came across these interesting videos on using and grading groups. Enjoy!

Using Groups in Moodle 2/Joule 2

Grading Groups in Moodle 2/Joule 2

By the way, when you see the word "Joule" in relation to Moodle, that is referring to the extra features Moodlerooms, our hosting company provides in addition to the basic Moodle LMS.

We Need to Take Our Own Advice

I received this question from an Instructor:

How many of us, percent & numbers, are actually using Moodle for class? Many of my students tell me that my classes are the only ones that use Moodle. If there are others, usually writing or math but not across the board. I have been told that some faculty are pulling out of Moodle because it is adding extra work just to do daily updates. (And it does.) What do you think about this?

Hi X:

The number of instructors using Moodle fluctuates from term to term, and it also depends on how you define the phrase "using Moodle." There are dozens of faculty using Moodle in a superficial way - links to files, manual grades, etc., similar to how instructor websites are typically used. There are others who invest the time and effort to learn the tool, and make it work for them, with worthwhile benefit for them and their students.

My observation is that the user who has missed the value of eLearning technology enough to let that technology do some of the work for them, and only uses the tool superficially, are the ones most often frustrated with it because it adds "extra work just to do daily updates."

An instructor who grabs ahold of even just a couple or three ways that Moodle can take a lot of the mundane, administrative work out of the equation soon realizes they suddenly have more student contact time.

Be the instructor who is willing to make the learning and effort investment up front, to reap the benefits later, in the form of a payoff with tangible benefits of lower effort and/or more effectiveness for years to follow. Don't be the person who lets themselves fall into the crisis-management rut, and not expand their knowledge and expertise to make the technology work for them and their students. Ok , now I'm sounding a little like my mom… sorry about that. ;-)

Speaking of learning the tool, and making it work for you, there are some seriously awesome upgrades along those lines in each new version of Moodle. Of course, as always, only the Instructors who take the time to look, and then realize the benefits of learning and using those tools, and then make the necessary investment of time and effort will benefit from them.

There's my 2¢ - probably a bit more than you bargained for?

LBCC Moodle 2.x Student Orientation Video

How to Add a "Subscribe" Feature to Your Blogger Blog

If there is one feature every serious blog needs, it's an easy way for readers to subscribe. Why Blogger doesn't include this feature by default is beyond me,  but luckily it's pretty easy to add. Just make sure you are logged in as the owner, and not just a contributor to the blog first!

Tasks in Google Calendar & Gmail

Are you into Tasks in Google Calendar and/or Gmail? If not, you should be. In your Gmail Inbox:

Type G and then K to open Tasks (also under the “Mail ▾” drop down above the “Compose” button)

Type Shift + T to create a task based on the open message

Access Tasks on your mobile phone at: mail.google.com/tasks/a/linnbenton.edu

Here is more than you ever wanted to know about Tasks in Google Calendar.

Oh yeah!!!