Moodle set up with the Second class

There were 38 students to enter and set up. Pat assures me that using People soft will be a quicker way of setting up the students. What a day!
At the moment I feel there is so much more potential for using moodle, for instance using quizes, and expanding the glossary of terms. Also I want to look at the forums where I could be answering questions. The students have to do a reflective log. It would be good if this could be handled entirely on Moodle. Of course there is the issue of confidentiality. Also there is the students who don’t have computer access at home or work. Is their something the institution could do to give them the opportunity of participation. I think if I was in their shoes I would feel alienated or excluded by my lack of resource. I think this fact renders the project undemocratic. In the second class we set up this week there is a good portion of students from the scholarship programme (Maori and PI). The scholarship programme supported these students through their certificate, now they are in the diploma where is the support? I have contact with their previous tutor who continues his supportive role (unofficially). I will have to talk to him about the Moodle project and see if he has any advice on making it work for them.
I am still positive and optimistic about the potential of the project

Day 1 with the students.

Today we launched the course on Moodle (Structures 2). It was great to be in the lab and see them taking to it straight away. Some of them starting communicating straight away others were into the resources. They seemed on the whole comfortable with the software. Another good thing was that when I was giving instructions to one student other students were exploring at there own pace. Some students were mucking around on the internet, but it was good that I could approach them and they were able to click back into the site straight away. Probably they do this in class anyway in terms of drifting off or being distracted. Because the course was still in loaded on the computer it made it easy to snap there focus back to the course. It was also good having the visual elements, such as drawings and plans, loaded for them to access. The movies I want loaded were accessed from elsewhere, but they seemed to be interacting with the medium well. For me watching them, it was exciting to see them all ‘shooting off’ into the course material and exploring and playing. At this stage of the process I would say that I am excited and optimistic about this new dimension to the course. Where to from here? The students still have to see if they can open moodle from home. I need some more instruction and training from Pat to expand the usefulness of the software. It was great to have Pat there in support for the launch, thanks Pat.

Uploading Courses

Had some good time with moodle today. 30 minutes. Starting to understand its syntax and options. I couldn’t upload files for some reason. Possible technical glitch. I could not adjust the calendar to show only one a week. Despite the glitches I found quiet time with the software valuable (it’s Sunday and I’m at work). I can see that it will be a good tool for the students if I can key in information in different areas, such as the calendar, resources and announcements. This linking works well as an idea. Another critique of the setting is that sometimes it is unclear how to return to the course window. When i was altering the calender there are prompt icons to lead you to the next window and at the end of the process there was only an icon for export. Is export the same as save? As with other set ups it is important to click on save changes. The calendar does not have this option. In summary, inconsistency can be frustrating when using software when you are trying to establish patterns.

Using Moodle at home

I have opened the Unitec Moodle site at home and the videos still don’t work. Also I was wanting help on using moodle for reflective logs. So I clicked on the Moodle related documents icon. This took me to the Moodle site where another log in was required. I could not activate this as the unitec e-mail was down. Very frustrating and hardly seamless!!

Getting faster at the set up

I have been on the Moodle site tonight and found it easier. Videos still won’t play. The shock wave file plays, but only quarter of the screen shows…Frustrating!! I also uploaded a critical path plan (CPP). The pdf opens differently to my native version. It took a while to find how to zoom in. I will hopefully be getting a phone as part of a trial. I will be using the phone to take photos and movies, which in turn could be uploaded. The idea sounds simple but the technology will take some mastering. I remember rating my IT capabilities as a 7-8/10. I think this may be too high, today I feel it is a 5/10. This is due to being exposed to a conversation with very IT able people. This can be intimidating for the novice.

Using Moodle from Home on a Mac 15.02.09

I am starting to get to grips with Moodle’s formatting. I tried to add an entry into the glossary which worked fine except for the

adding of an image which was just a cropped screenshot. It loaded as an icon only. I wanted to adjust the settings so I went back to editing mode. I could not find the help I needed so I tried to find the help icon. I could not see it. Then the screen kept crashing and in frustration I forced quit. I will try again at work. How would the students handle crashing? Probably get frustrated to, and give up.

Using Moodle – Begin the set up

Today I used Moodle with the instructor, Pat. A lot of information to take-in in one go! The software is still not as intuitive as I would like. The editing logos are small and there needs to be a new learning to understand them. Also the widgets or blocks down the side have their own language. This is not too bad, but as always, there are a lot of them and their meanings are sometimes vague. I use Google Sketchup quite a lot. This is the best example I have ever come across as ‘intuitive software’. One of the good things Sketchup does, is not give the operator too many options first up. This is a big help in terms narrowing down your choices and just getting started. As you get to know Sketchup you realise or learn how to expand the software. You grow with the software. Sketchup is not perfect, but I do think this ‘growing with the software philosophy’ is good in terms using and learning the software. For example a lot of extra capabilities of Sketchup are downloadable as plug-ins that have been developed by the Sketchup community of users.

Using Word in Moodle

 

Today I attended a workshop on using word. I can now see its potential when used electronically. I have used it in the past with my intuitive approach. This is the way most people approach software. This has caused some frustration. It is good now to have shared someone else’s understanding of the software. The aspect of intuition and software is interesting. Is their an average intuitive response to using software? Do software designers understand this? I liked the facilitators (Don Mardle) description of spiky logic. It is where we all have different profiles to our logic or understanding. He displayed it graphically as random shapes that overlap in different places, a similar graphic to a Venn diagram.

Figure 1- Spiky Logic

My first Experience with Moodle

I have logged on and found the access fairly easy. I would categorise my IT experience at 7-8 out of 10. As always there are plenty of options. This is overwhelming at times. I played for five minutes and was able to navigate easily. I am excited with the potential, as I perceive it, but still wonder about the students reaction. One thing I would like to do is have a protected link to this blog site. This would be good in terms allowing only certain people to read feed back. (issues of confidentiality). As to date I have loaded course material and smartboard sessions onto the student H drive which is accessible only whilst the students are on campus. My students are only in for one day a week, so for the other six they are on their own. I am meeting with Pat tomorrow to discuss the setting up further