My demonstrations and workshops for Oct to Dec

This is the schedule so far of events for Coventry University staff. It includes:

DEMONSTRATIONS

• Moodle 2 essentials for new tutors
• Mahara e-portfolio for your students
• Alternative presentation technology
• Using Moodle gradebook and assignments
• Moodle and media for beginners
• Communicating with your students using Moodle

WORKSHOPS / HANDS-ON DEMONSTRATIONS

• Your new Moodle Course: This is for course directors and tutors who need to edit courses
• Enhancing your students’ Moodle experience
• Tidying up your Moodle
• Moodle for technophobes
• Adding Content to Moodle2
• Moodle and Mahara with your Tutor Group
• Alternative presentation technology
• Moodle and media for beginners

I hope to branch out. Watch this space for a wider range of events...

LearnMoodle first experiences

It's great to be at the other end of a course!  I like the fact that the video could be played this morning - I was definitely busy earlier this week.
Oh - I'm on this Moodle MOOC...Teaching with Moodle. It started on the first of September and I'm catching up quickly. I have a badge already!  This version of Moodle (2.5) has the capability of giving out badges. So here's a reflection, based on the guidance suggested in the course:

• one thing we've learned
• why we consider it important
• how we can use it later
• which other questions it raises

I've found so far (compared with the Moodle I've been using):

1. There's an extra condition on the topic... FIELD.  Wonderful.
2. The editor for Page is different for the Description and the Content.  The number of times that I've put Content into Description...
3. The GORGEOUS dropdowns for the settings to de-clutter a page.

So one thing that I've learnt is that Moodle continues to evolve. The evolution is important because of the street cred of a system.  Technology is continually moving and this needs to be reflected in the applications that are available. It's great to see that Moodle is alive and continues to move. I'll be using this later to watch out for other snags that tutors might have that prevents them from using Moodle. I'm still thinking about the questions that it raises. Probably... if more people are aware of the wonderful facilities that are available in Moodle 2.5 then they will push for that to happen much more quickly.

Get another internet browser

If you have only used Internet Explorer (IE) to browse the Internet, you might like to consider some alternatives. Especially as the commonly used version of IE does not do some fundamental things that work with other browsers. You may like to know that according to GS Stat Counter, IE is no longer the most frequently used browser. Here are the most commonly used browsers, together with links to their download pages:

• Google Chrome
• Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Safari  (Mac and iPad users have Safari)

Portable browsers from PortableApps

If you want to use a browser that is self-contained (would run on a memory stick or an independent drive), there are portable versions of web browsers that are available here:
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet

All sites give free download and you don't have to log in or create an account.

Alternative Presentation Technologies - demonstration and workshop

This was first presented in September 2013 as both a demonstration and a workshop. In demonstration mode, the SpicyNodes was used.  For the Workshop, some applications were highlighted with the view of getting members to creates something, either from their own PowerPoints or from scratch.

So this time, the resource is a Mahara page. Note that I used one column at the top, three in the middle and two near the bottom.  Can you guess how?