Using Moodle as a tertiary learning tool - a student perspective

Recently I have started studying at TAFE college, and have had to use Moodle as a student.
What is the biggest problem?
A/ Not the technology - but the fact that some of the teachers are very slow or forgetful about uploading student assignments etc,  and when they do upload the assignment files  they put it under "course content" or some other illogical place. This wastes SO much time just trying to locate work which is due in a short time frame. All this does is just frustrate the motivated students, and give the slackers an excuse not to do the assignments.
In these cases it would be far more effective just to hand out the printed question sheet to the students in class.

Moodle seems to be getting used more widely in university settings

My university has ditched the boring looking, user-unfriendly Blackboard Vista and has finally embraced Moodle. I haven't had a chance to use it myself with students this year, and I'm looking forward to hearing feedback from staff who are now using Moodle.

Moodle is getting better and more popular

It seems that 'Moodle' has taken a big leap forward and is now being adopted by some universities as the main electronic teaching platform. The University of Wollongong has recently ditched Blackboard Vista and is now using Moodle, and offering staff training workshops in how to use the new platform. Hopefully it will be a bit more user friendly for both staff and students.

Preserving your blog information

Just found out today that if you don't regularly post on your blog it will eventually be deleted by blogger.com.
So posting this to keep the information alive. One day I may need the information again, and others may also find it useful.

Finally got my domain name!

I finally got my domain name today! I think I should have made the request for to the web host to attach the new domain to my existing domain again, after I paid for it. I had made an enquiry before I paid, and I think they just went ahead and processed the fee and the registration.
My new domain is profpenny.com and I've set up my Moodle EFL course at www.profpenny.com/Englishzone

I learned something interesting today:
That URLs are case sensitive. "englishzone" comes up as a 404 error but "Englishzone" works!
I'm wondering now whether I should have used lower case for all the letters, as it may prove a stumbling block for students to access the site. OR is that a useful way of teaching the Korean students that the word "English" needs capitalisation!

Anyway, I chose to automatically setup Moodle through the Cpanel of my webhost (www.unlimited-space.com), using 'fantastico' It was unbelievably easy.
The only thing I am not sure of now is why I am having trouble uploading resource files - the files seem to upload but the don't open as they seem to be not in correct folders or directories. I will try to make some dedicated data files for audio and photos and see if that helps.

the waiting game

I'm still waiting for verification of my new domain name 'profpenny.com' so I can actually set up my website and host Moodle on it. It doesn't really matter for setting up the Moodle course framework whether the host is the local host or my website, but it would be nice to get it done. It seems that uploading resources doesn't work properly on the local host. I am assuming that the resources have to be held on the web host server in the correct folders for public access.

I think I wasn't setting up the folder system properly in Moodle today - I had forgotten how totally unforgiving the assigning of correct web folders is...
But I was generally pleased with setting up a wiki, a blog, a Message box system, a calendar and a few other bits & pieces. Using moodle is fairly easy - it just takes a few hours of poking around and seeing what happens when you change things.

progress on Assignment 2

In the past 4 days for assignment 2 I have:
* registered a new domain name "profpenny.com" with my current host provider at www.unlimited-space.com
* downloaded 'Moodle4Mac' from www.moodle.org
*played with Moodle settings

I hit a snag with getting my domain name registered as i didn't receive the automated payment details email, and had to chase around by email. I am currently waiting for confirmation from the webhost - unlimited-space.com - that they have all the technical requirements to actually host Moodle properly. I didn't think that there would be issues, but apparently some webhosts just don't use all the required bits & pieces...

I was proceeding on the basis that I can add an extra domain name to my existing hosting account at no extra charge, but now I can see that maybe I should have gone through a dedicated Moodle host. Damn... but maybe it will be OK?

The set up for the Moodle page was difficult as there are very few instructions of what to actually do and I spent about an hour just looking around at the MAMP administrator page wondering what the hell to do. What is MAMP anyway?
Then I realised that there is another 'Welcome to Moodle for Mac' page that does NOT show up automatically after you install the Moodle package. It's found at :-
http://localhost:8888/moodle18/
On this page I can log in as 'admin' with a password of 12345, but then what?

Looking at wiki software

Today I spent all morning looking at various wiki software. I am trying to work out how to use a wiki/ blog/ forum for my Korean EFL classes. It's got to be super easy to use, must have closed , invitation only access, and be free!
I found a site called WikiMatrix that compares them all by features www.wikimatrix.com.
And I tried out a business-oriented wiki/ forum called CentralDesktop. It was very clean, easy to use, and I had it up and running in 2 minutes but - for an unlimited number of users it would be $99 per month!

Netcipia (netcipia.com) looks good and was recommended by Justyna as a project wiki for teachers, but it's not quite so easy to use and is probably a little too complicated for Korean EFL students.
I think Justyna might be right - just get them to set up a Blogger account - the set up page is in Korean so they don't have all the hassles of dealing with technical instructions in English - they can just focus on their blog content. Good idea. I'd been forcing them to set up an English only Yahoo! email account (because their Korean email accounts do not accept English language emails) and then sign up and use the phpBB forums only in English - and it was Ok for the top 20 % of the students but for the lower level students in each class it was just a stress, and hampered their learning.
Hmmm... the search continues and I must narrow down the focus for my Assignment 2.

pondering assignment 1 questions...

I think I've finished my report on my knowledge Garden wiki page "Wikis & tikis for Dummies"
I wasn't quite sure if section 11 about "suggestions for the way the wiki could be improved as a learning environment ..." was referring to my facilitated page or kG as a whole, so I took it to mean the latter.
My main issue with using the knowledge Garden has been the non user-friendly layout, template and poor navigation. So while I am still interested in exploring wikis as an educational tool, I want to look at others besides the TikiWiki powered one, that may be easy and simple to use, especially in an EFL environment. (My Korean students would never handle all the technical difficulties of kG, let alone the tiny font, etc - I found kG extremely difficult even as a very experienced computer user and a native-speaker of English!)).
Justyna has obviously been looking at similar issues and she posted a link to Neticipia as her chosen wiki platform. I will have to check it out myself when I get some time (after this course has finished).

Thoughts on my WIKI page on kG - Wikis n Tikis for Dummies

After the Wimba conference session this morning with lecturer Peter Evans and fellow FET 8611 students,
I feel like I have clarified some issues I have been having with my facilitated Wiki page on Knowledge Garden - "Wikis n Tikis for Dummies".
There are significant issues of setting up a wiki page under fairly strict assessment guidleines about number of words, content, number of contributors and needing to be "fairly complete" after only a few weeks. It can become a very artificial exercise - as it seems to be the inherent nature of wikis is to grow and change according to time and user needs.

At present my wiki is only about 1600 words - far short of the 3000 needed for the "finished" wiki page. However, I feel that as my page is not meant to replicate other existing "introduction to using wikis" pages in knowledge Garden, but rather answer some basic questions that maybe aren't addressed elsewhere (like how do you pronounce wiki and tiki?) AND , most importantly, to give links to the other relevant pages - it is OK for it to be shorter. I don't want to fill it up with theoretical or instructional information just for the sake of making up a word count.

Maybe what I could do is add a section for people to share their beginning experiences with using wikis.

New Year starts off slowly

2008 is here and I have a head cold, and am slogging through essays and assignments on my holiday days off. Sigh...
Anyway, found a good website on technology at BBC Technology . They had a predictions for technology in 2008 section.
I found this thanks Twitter.. again.
The issue with not being able to add or search for new Twitter people to follow has been solved by 3rd party software called Terraminds - it lets you search for names you might know. link to Terraminds.
One of the best ways to add Twitter links though, is if you've found someone interesting check out their Twitter profile page and check all the avatars for all the people they are following. By clicking the chosen avatar image you will be taken to that profile page and can easily click "Follow", or not.
That's how I found the BBC technology site. It now sends me regular tweets about new tech articles.

More thoughts on using Moodle for EFL classes in a Korean university

Having spoken now to various teachers about online systems for university EFL postings I am leaning towards Moodle because it is a Course Management System rather than just a bulletin board, or a Content Management System like Joomla or TikiWiki.

I think that Wikis are too technically difficult for EFL students to use at less than advanced level - considering how much difficulty most native-English speaking, computer-literate students in FET 8611 are still having with kG use, I wouldn't consider this for use in Korea.

However, it seems that Moodle is coming up as a good candidate as I have spoken to 3 English teachers who use it successfully with Korean university students. There are no sign up problems reported like the awful mess I had with phpBB, and it is secure and reasonably stable. The only problem I have heard reported about Moodle was the board content suddenly disappeared mid -semester, and was only re-instated after the adminstrator updated to the latest version of Moodle. Something to watch out for, I guess. Also I heard that there is a steep learning curve to set it up for courses, but once it's up and running it's pretty easy to maintain.

So now that I am sure Moodle is free and suitable for use with Korean university students I feel more confident to go ahead and explore its application. I will have to change my Assignment 2 proposal though...and ditch phpBB. There's no point in putting any more energy into an insecure, redundant system that I have no intention of using again for classes.

FET 8611 - Where is everyone?

Well, after the initial flurry of cyber activity in FET8611, everyone seems to have gone to ground.
My thinking is that there are so many disparate elements - personal blog, many kG pages, and multiple forums on the Moodle course environment that it is difficult to know where to post stuff to get a response. I was wanting some feedback on the talking heads animation stuff and maybe finding a partner or 2 to test out the effectiveness of email contributions (ie. starting an animated show and then emailing it to a friend for them to add more dialogue and so on) but there is just no response.
The SHOUTBOX on kG seems a dead loss mostly, and the kG pages don't seem to be updated by their facilitators often enough to get questions answered on the topics.

I am experiencing problems with Twitter and I have had no answer from the other Twitter users, despite direct questions on Twitter, kG SHOUTBOX, the kG Twitter wiki page, or even from Twitter management!
Very frustrating...

I'm wondering where this kind of talking head animation would fit into educational settings? I used a Comedy Central comedian animation powered by OddCast in my conversation class last year to deliver messages to my Korean EFL students, and I encouraged the students to use it themselves - although I think they found the technical instructions a bit too complicated.
Given the huge popularity of video computer games and the fact that even movies now, like Boerwolf, are being made to look like computer games, maybe this would be a good way of reaching children & teens who are resisitant to normal text-book based learning environments.
Here is a site that allows users to make their own animated Tv shows;
Jaduka TV

A new CMS - Joomla

Just discovered a new CMS (content management system). Joomla
Thanks again to Twitter.
I wonder how it compares to Moodle? It seems a little more colorful and easy on the eye at first glance, and it purports to be extremely easy to set up and use.

here's a school website made in Joomla (Thanks to Mrs-Banjer on Twitter):

Considering Moodle for Assignment 2

After thinking a lot about the shortcomings of using a public community board like phpBB for university class use, I am now considering using Moodle, mainly because it is secure. I can give the students a one-time initial invitee password to get in and we can set up classrooms etc. This would totally circumvent all the unwanted outsiders dropping in with their pornography, and gambling links, spam etc.

One of the the new teachers at my university in korea -( who incidentally is just completing his M.Ed at USQ too, but didn't do FET8611, only the Internet-based langauge learning courses) - has just shown me his student site. I will check out what he is doing.
I actually thought that Moodle cost money _ I guess I assumed that a big university like USQ wouldn't be using a free piece of software for academic courses...
So I hadn't considered it for personal use a teacher.
But yes, it's free...
Welcome to Moodle!
"Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. You can download and use it on any computer you have handy (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a University with 200,000 students".

Thoughts on Assignment 2 - using online forums for Korean EFL classes

After, thinking about Peter's comments on my legal liability of using public forums as a university peripheral course activity I have decided that phpBB is not a very good choice for student postings.
This semester we did have problems with outsiders posting pornography or gambling links, or dating messages on the class boards. As I don't have administrator priviledges this is hard to control. Also I noticed that one of the female students had listed her interests in her personal profile as " pleasing my lover". Uh, oh...

I will have to change my Assignment 2 plan to explore better options of more secure online class activities. I wonder how to create a closed discussion room for only the class members?

Also Peter commented that my use of the discussion forums did not allow for the students to have much control or sense of ownership of the space, but I think in Korean educational culture that is normal. Students don't know how to be self-directed learners, as it's not part of the culture. They have had 20 years of passive rote learning by the time I get them, and they are generally not very motivated students. They think university is meant to be a holiday after the grind of their high school years (they are not allowed to sleep more than 4 hours a night for the last 2 years of their schooling) , and so they expect the university lecturers just to spoon feed them the information. Students in my English composition class complained that I had made them actually write every lesson in a student-centered class!

I think maybe a blog might be more useful for them than a discussion board as they are familiar with making a homepage on Cyworld to post photos etc.
I will have to give it more thought.

problems with Twitter

Hmmm.
what has happened to the search function on Twitter?
I only seem to be able to follow people now by sending them an email invitation - that's if I know their email address, which I don't.
I was really getting into Twitter, and discovering some useful Ed TEch people to follow , but now I can't add them to follow as I don't know their email address, only their User name.

Twitter is useful

I looked at the public postings on Twitter today and found a good blog about integrating technology into education by a guy called Glen Moses http://mrmoses.org/

He had embeded this thought provoking video:

Plodding on ...

Feeling a little overwhelmed with all the emerging technology. Even the next FET8611 online class discussion was said to be held in 'Wimba". Where or what the *#@! is Wimba? I haven't even got used to Elluminate yet. I wish people (course instructors especially) wouldn't just throw around jargon like that when most of the students probably have no idea what it means. This aspect of the course I find really alienating - many of us don't know the software or the terms and so end up feeling stupid and 'out of the loop'.
Oh yeah, we can Google everything, or open kG and search around but it's tiring having to always do that. I did go to the kG class session sign up Wiki page but under the heading of 'Familiarity with Wimba' was just a blank. It took me a long while to work out that there is a section on the FET8611 course page for the group sessions. There are just so many different cyber places in this course it is very disorientating and confusing.
It would be so easy if the instructor just said, "by the way we will use a new online conferencing system this time. It is called Wimba, and instructions and information about it is here (LINK).It's really easy to use and very similar to Elluminate. We are using Wimba because I want you to have a chance to try out some different software."
Is that too much to ask?