Moodle Girl's Blog

Awesome Moodle People

2009-09-13T07:32:00.008+12:00

Andrew Field (@andyfield on twitter). He is Head of ICT at Neale-Wade Community College, Adobe Educational Leader & effective ICT enthusiast.

Andrew has several websites: Effective ICT - on this site you will find some of his inspirational presentations he has done for example "40 ICT ideas in 40 minutes" I thought this was a really fantastic idea to get colleagues sharing their successes of incorporating ICT into their curriculum and teaching. He has produced a presentation which you can view on his website or slideshare. He has others on slideshare too.

He is the father of the Content Generator games that I use on my Moodle site. The kids absolutely adore these games, I use them predominantly for revision as a change from the Moodle quizzes. They introduce a fun aspect which really increases the engagement with revising. Andrew is now in the process of making his games SCORM compliant, meaning scores can be tracked in the Moodle gradebook!

Recently he released a Moodle course which allows the participant to create a poem using flash. It is really professional and again really engaging for the learners. He has allowed me to put a copy of this Flash Poem Moodle course on the TEK Moodle site. It is a great example of how you can use Moodle to make a customised course for your students.

Andrew is definitely on my list of "Awesome Moodlers" his work has had a real influence on my use of Moodle.

iMoot 2010

2009-08-29T11:41:00.007+12:00

There is going to be an imoot - a virtual Moodlemoot. It is to be held 7th - 10th January 2010. You can register now on this website.

You can follow the iMoot on twitter and what all the tweeple have to say about the iMoot because people are using the hash tag #imoot in the twitter posts.

This will be fun particularly because it falls during our NZ school holidays so I can stay up and participate without the worry of being tired for school the next day.

Awesome Moodle People

2009-08-29T11:37:00.013+12:00

Moodleman (Aka: Julian Ridden) is on twitter, and has a cool blog too! He is the man in charge of the inaugural iMoot which I will blog about soon. During daylight hours he is the IT Knowledge Services Manager for Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview. An independent private boys school in Sydney, Australia.

Julian has made a lot of Moodle videos which you can watch on You tube. His blog has loads of really useful tips and "how to" posts. His posts are clear and easy to follow. Check out his post about podcasting supported with a video, or this one which is sneak peek at conditional activities which is one of the new features that Moodle 2.0 will offer, also supported with a video.

This is a Moodler worth keeping tabs on if you want to keep up to date with all things Moodle.

Awesome Moodle People

2009-08-29T11:22:00.006+12:00

In preparation for ulearn, I thought I would mention (again) some awesome people who are great Moodlers.

First on my list is the Moodlefairy (aka: Mary Cooch). She is also on twitter. Her blog has really useful tips and she supports a lot of her tips with screencasts which makes it even easier to follow. Her work is definitely worth looking at, particularly if you want to become more competent at Moodling.

Mary has helped me out numerous times, I contact her via twitter but she also answers queries on the Moodle.org forums and so is on my list of Awesome Moodle People.

Getting Ready for Ulearn09

2009-08-29T11:00:00.004+12:00

Richard van Dijk the founder of TEK (The Educated Kiwi) has got a Moodle site up and running so we can demo Moodle to those who choose to come along to our uLearn presentation.

I have been creating a course to give our participants a taste of Moodle's capabilities. There is just so much you can do and I don't know how we will cover it all in the short time frame we have available but as long as our participants get enthusiastic I'm sure they will keen to explore it more after the conference, well that would be the goal of our presentation I think.

Here is a glimpse of what the course is looking like at the moment:

You can log on as a guest if you would like to have a glimpse of what I have done so far but it is still under construction. Here is the link.

Apples and Moonfruit

2009-07-05T08:36:00.008+12:00

Well this is not a serious post but just a means of sharing some humorous links

To start with, a macbook that converts into a spaceship:

The website I found this video is here. Incidentally on that website are some very cool screen savers like this one here:

Highly reccommend this video

2009-06-01T13:57:00.004+12:00

Mobile Learning Institute - Stephen Heppell

This is a link to Stephen's website.

Stephen Fry, he sums up learning nicely

2009-05-18T19:03:00.003+12:00

Stephen Fry is one celebrity that I do follow on twitter.

Being a Chemistry teacher, I regularly get asked why do we need to learn this. What use is this information to me?

This is a short clip that has Stephen Fry sum up kids learning what might not necessarily be seen as critical material:

Moodle Development

2009-05-06T22:06:00.002+12:00

Moodle is constantly developing and evolving....

Check out this slide from Martin Dougiamas. He did a presentation at the Educause conference and this is what he had to say:

Checkout this slideshow for more details.

Tweets recieved after a "call out"

2009-04-30T21:34:00.005+12:00

Big thanks to all those who replied to my "call out" today.

Twitter

2009-04-30T19:43:00.007+12:00

A few students I teach came into class today talking about twitter. They had been shown this video:

This video also does not help promote the "coolness" of twitter:

Twitter is a great tool. I have referred to it regularly in my blog, often calling it my personal learning network. It is just that PERSONAL. Someone wanting to utilise twitter can not just start an account and then start "following" all the people who I follow and have a meaningful experience.

To have a positive experience with Twitter you need to start your account, edit your profile - add an avatar and give some details about yourself in your bio. It does not need to be personal info... generic details that you are an educator is fine.

The next step is to start following people who are of interest to you. If you have your avatar and bio in place there is a much greater chance they will follow you back.

Next steps for those who want to advance are to use a twitter browser such as TweetDeck. It makes it a lot easier to track your tweets.

For more info this link will take you to a "handbook" for teachers using twitter.

A link to help you find teachers on twitter.

23rd October... Mole Day

2009-04-30T19:26:00.002+12:00

I thought I'd blog about this video here: Happy Mole Day so I don't forget to play it to my Chemistry students on the 23rd October. I have put it in my google calendar and set it with a sms (text to my mobile) reminder.

I know it is a terrible video clip but I bet deep down they will love watching it:

Stop Motion

2009-04-24T21:43:00.005+12:00

A good friend of mine Toni Twiss introduced me to something new (for me) stop motion. This week she made a video to explain her view on how new technologies have made our world a smaller place and how this impacts the role of both the teacher and education. To get the effect with the spinning globe I think she used istopmotion software.

This is a great example of stop motion - Lego Thriller.

Shawshank Redemption summed up in a minute

2009-04-24T21:32:00.006+12:00

This is a 2min 30sec (1min 19sec is credits at the end you don't need to watch) summary of the Shawshank Redemption. If you have seen the movie you will find this youtube video entertaining.

This is a link that has 99 movies on YouTube you should have watched. Note they are not all educational.

You won't believe what MIT students are making....

2009-04-24T20:51:00.003+12:00

This is a gadget which is truely unbelievable.... what next?

Moodle Tutorial Video's

2009-04-20T19:47:00.008+12:00

Cool - a whole website dedicated to Moodle tutorials.

No excuses now... not to be an awesome Moodler.

Self explanatory really. Definitely worth a visit!

Impressive! Danny MacAskill - Inspired Bicycles

2009-04-20T14:55:00.008+12:00

This guy is one talented cyclist!

WARNING: You are not try any of his "tricks"... he is obviously a professional. So that's the disclaimer now for the vid:

This is the web-link if you would like to go and see more of Danny's videos. He has a few. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z19zFlPah-o

More Moodle Material - Lesson Activity

2009-04-20T13:55:00.009+12:00

Moodle is clever! There are so many "activities" that you can create without being a computer genius. One of those that I have not explored in great depth is the Lesson Activity. I have made two attempts but I did not feel they were particularly good and consequently I have not spent a huge amount of time developing in this area.

Until today. Today I was inspired. I was checking out my list of "must view" blogs. On that list is Mary Cooch's blog: Moodle Blog. She has gone to the trouble of making this must see video which clearly explains how to make a Moodle lesson.

Well now I have a much clearer understanding of how to make a Moodle Lesson the hard bit is coming up with my own context to start my creation. Any help out there? I am currently teaching a Physics unit on Speed etc to my Yr 9 Science class. Perhaps I should focus on creating one for the next unit - it's Biology based with emphasis on Food Chains, Food Webs, classification etc. Any one with ideas for a context to create a lesson please leave me a comment. I seem to be a little brain-dead.

MoodleMoot.org

2009-04-20T10:54:00.012+12:00

I would be the first to admit that the title of this blog is very misleading. There is virtually no posts about Moodle so if that is what you came to read about then this blog will disappoint!

Til now that is!!! I live in New Zealand for those who don't know. I did not go to the UK Moodlemoot 09' (7th - 8th April) and the small logistic that NZ is +1200 GMT does not help when you want to keep up with what is going on at the UK Moodlemoot. However that is where technology plays a massive role and without too much trouble and a great website (MoodleMoot.org) I have learnt some new new Moodle tips and tricks which I thought I'd share here!

First up GLOSSARIES!!
Within a Moodle course you have a primary glossary which collects together ALL glossary entries. So to create an individual topic specific glossary you need to set up as a secondary glossary. Also students can only make entries to a secondary glossary (V1.8).

Put more simply when you create a glossary, use the secondary option and you won't have any problems.

Ideas then on how to use the Moodle glossary: think outside the square... it can be more than a traditional glossary:

Book reviews - using the authors name students put that in the concept box and then write their book review in the large space. Remember if students use firefox for their web browser they get an html format toolbar so they can format their text - ie. Change colour of text, make it bold, italic, centred etc
Homework diary - each week you create an "entry" in the glossary and outline the homework task. To be extra nifty - create a Random Glossary Block and connect your homework diary glossary to this block. Set the Random Glossary Block to display the latest entry and that way it will automatically change when you create a new entry.
Home economics/Food technology - need I say more. All those scrumptious recipes. Yep... post them to a glossary and then 24/7/365 students can access their favourite class creations. It is possible to link images/photos to glossary entries, so when a student/class has created their favourite dish, take a photo and display it along with the recipe.
Introducing... most fitting at the start of the academic year no doubt... each person (staff and/students) write a short brief introduction about themselves. This one could also be displayed in a Random Glossary Entry (RGE) block. It is possible to have multiple RGE blocks.
Dictionary/Encyclopedia - CREATED by STUDENTS. At some stage when students have a grasp of the content in the unit they can brainstorm common terms in the unit. (or the teacher can make a list). Then each student is assigned one of the terms to then add to the glossary. Remeber to tweak the settings so editing is/isn't allowed depending on your circumstances.
A novel idea - Each student gets a character from a novel/shortstory to write a "character thingy" for. Again, depending on the class and how you want to operate the task you can allow other students to edit the original glossary entry. You could effectively allow editing and then the task would become more wiki like and in fact a wiki could be more suitable.
MFL - Languages I have not forgotten you. Obviously there is a lot of vocab for a student learning a MFL but it could be that students research their own little phrase, joke, or quote in the language being taught.
ESOL (Basic) - picture based glossary of everyday objects. A thought, if students were able to edit this glossary it could be a task for them to add the word from their language so each term would have the English term, a picture then the chinese, mandarin, samoan etc term too.
ESOL - each student makes an entry which includes an image of their home country and a liitle about that country like how many people live there and the climate so others can gain an appreciatian for where their fellow class mates are from

Useful modelling software for Science, Maths, Computing and Technology teachers

2009-04-20T09:37:00.007+12:00

Yenka - This is a new generation of educational modelling software from Crocodile clips, which allows teachers and students to simulate concepts.

I have had a brief look at the electrochemistry, it looks very manipulative and the user has a lot of variables that they can select/control.

Physics is cover well, there seems to be a lot of simulations that would be useful when teaching topics in Electricity, Optics/light, Motion and sound.

The software is not free but they do give you a free 15 day demo! Check out their website to get started.

Finally, to quickly acknowledge @andyfield who tweeted the link - Thanks!

Lastly: evidence a PLN (personal learning network) is hugely valuable to professional development

A "FLASH" Flickr Widget

2009-04-19T19:48:00.005+12:00

I was visiting @sunshinetalia's blog because she had tweeted that she had a yummy chocolate brownie pudding recipe and while reading her blog I saw this cool Flickr widget.

Roy Tanck's Flickr Widget requires Flash Player 9 or better.

Get this widget at roytanck.com

If you would like this widget then you will need your Flickr feed url and Roy Tanck's website. It was very easy to do and I like it! Thanks to Talia and Roy.

App for the ipod touch (& iphone)

2009-04-16T15:38:00.004+12:00

Here you have it: A recording Application for your ipod touch. I was reading Nick Rate's Blog today and came across his entry titled "ipod touching". He highlighted a few applications that he is using and the iTalk really took my fancy the only problem is you need a 2nd generation ipod touch and mine isn't.

But in the future I may get a second generation itouch and thought I'd mention it here anyway so that I know I can find this information in the future. The software iTalk is available from Griffin Technology the only other thing worth pointing out is that you do require a headset obviously with a microphone and Nick to mention that this would be handy given that they have apparently released Skype for the iPhone/Touch! Something else worth investingating.

I love holidays

2009-04-15T13:17:00.003+12:00

Well it is the holidays... AGAIN... for me. I love the holidays! Most of the time I'm fairly inefficient during the holidays. I spend time reading newspapers (online of course) with a coffee when I first get up, eventually wean myself off the laptop and into the shower and then off to take Millie my boxer for a walk.

Throughout the day I pop on to my laptop to check out what my twitter buddies have to say, check me email accounts and of course re-visit the newspaper sites.

My (twitter) friend Michael Fawcett (aka teachernz) posted a link to this YouTube video:

I thought it was really creative. Actually my first thought was how much time would that have taken? I am sure one day I will have a spare 4 minutes to show it to a group of students... I'm interested to hear what some supposedly "digital natives" think of it.

New Toy - and it's NOT an iPhone!

2009-03-14T12:31:00.006+13:00

I have it in my hot little hand.... my Nokia 5800 ExpressMusic

Here are some of the reasons I chose not to buy an iphone and instead chose the 5800

* My number one reason is my phone had to have a radio. I listen to the radio in the mornings while walking my dog. I have an iPod touch and rarely use it because it lacks the radio function.

* A very high screen resolution screen. The 5800 has a 640x360 compared to the iPhones 480x320 - pictures and videos look better on the Nokia.

* Battery - 8.8 talk hours or 35 hours of listening to music compared to the iPhones dismal 5 hours claimed talk time (in reality 2 hours) and 25 hours of music. PLUS the Nokia has a removable battery so you can buy a spare battery or replace the battery after a while while with the iPhone you must go to a special shop for an iPhone battery replacement "surgery" which will cost you 350 NZD.

* Camera: iPhone is 2MP, no flash no zoom, basic lens. Nokia 5800: 3.2MP, flash and a very high quality Swiss Carl Zeiss lens. Also on the Nokia you get a second camera on the front for video calls and chat.

* Video Recording - the iPhone doesn't allow you to record video - you must "crack" it to enable this and thus void your warranty. The 5800 of course allows you to recording videos in High Quality.

* Video Calling: iPhone - no. Nokia - of course.

* Voice dialing: iPhone - no. Nokia - yup.

* Cut and Paste: iPhone - no. Nokia - yes.

* the touch screen can be used with a stylus of which you have two choices. The one which is housed in the phone and the plectrum-shaped alternative.

Here are a list of its fatures:

3.2" 16M-color TFT LCD 16:9 touchscreen display (360 x 640 pixels)
Symbian S60 5th edition
ARM 11 369 MHz CPU, 128 MB of SDRAM memory
3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with dual-LED flash
VGA video recording at 30fps
Dual-band 3G with HSDPA support
Quad-band GSM support
Wi-Fi
Capable GPS receiver and Nokia Maps 2.0 Touch
microSD card memory expansion, ships with an 8GB card
TV out
FM radio with RDS
Bluetooth and USB v2.0
3.5mm standard audio jack
Excellent audio quality
Landscape on-screen virtual QWERTY keyboard
Proximity sensor for screen auto turn-off
Accelerometer sensor for automatic UI rotation and motion-based gaming
Rich retail package
Affordable price
Office document viewer
OVI and MySpace integration (direct image and video uploads)

One trillion dollars....

2009-03-06T21:00:00.001+13:00

To put it into perspective you should check out this website.