Backing up your Moodle course

As the semester is coming to a close it is time again to backup the latest version of your courses.  The following screencast shows how to backup your Moodle course for archiving:

 

 

Here are the steps:

1) Go to your course main page.

2) On the admin panel click “Backup”

3) If you are creating a template, uncheck the box that says “Include enrolled users” then click next.

4) Make sure all components that you want included in your archive are checked (they should be by default) then click next.

5) Click perform backup (this may take a while so this may be a good time to get coffee

6) Press continue, then click the download link next to the “Backup” file you created.

7) Save the file somewhere you can find it. 

 

Let me know if you have questions,

Doug

Wonderful Mahara Tutorial

Hi all, 

Short post today – without a screencast to watch (woohoo!). I found this excellent Mahara tutorial compliments of the American University of Beirut.

Follow this link to access it.

Cheers,

Doug

Burning Questions

Hi all,

Hot Questions is a new Moodle Activity module used to collect burning questions from your students and proritize them. Students can either post their own questions or “like” questions posted by others. The most “liked” questions bubble to the top. Take a look at the screencast below for more details.

To add a Hot Question to your moodle page:

1. Turn editing on.
2. Select one of the “Activities” drop downs.
3. Choose Hot Question.

Cheers

Doug

Accessing Resources with LearnAlberta.ca

LearnAlberta.ca is a powerful source of curriculum aligned learning objects to include within your moodle courses including videos, simulations, readings, audio, and more!

Big brother? (Tracking your students)

Here are a few ways to track your students’ involvement within your Moodle space. Enjoy.

Let me know if you have questions,

Doug

New and better blog for the FSD Moodle

Hi all, 

Many of you have asked me if there was a better way to blog than the built in Moodle blog platform. I’ve now installed “OU Blog” as a new activity module. This allows you to create a blog space for each of your students within the classroom space. It includes the ability to create both private and public blogs and the ability to post moderated comments to each student’s post!

To check it out, look for “OU Blog” under Add activity.

Let me know if you have questions….

Cheers,

Doug

Introduction to Mahara

With the tie between Moodle and Mahara now complete FSD teachers can now access their eportfolio by:

1) Browsing to Moodle: http://moodle.fsd38.ab.ca

2) Clicking the Mahara link at the bottom of the main page.

Here is a 15 min screencast taking you through the basics:

Uploading archived courses to the new moodle

Let me know if you need any help,

Cheers,

Doug

Using the Moodle Database – Clever ways to store data

Hi all, 

In this screencast, I look at the Moodle Database tool. This tool enables you to create forms and store data in a variety of ways. It has data fields that include text, numbers, dates, pictures, and any form of digital file. It allows you to edit how the information is stored, searched, and displayed. Here’s a short screencast outlining the tool:

Cheers,

Doug

Viewing your Moodle Calendar from iCalendar, Outlook, etc.

Hi all,

If you have a mobile application that has the ability to subscribe to an iCal feed, Moodle supports this. You just need to copy the address from the iCal button that appears at the bottom of your calendar. Below is a demonstration of how this works using Mac iCalendar.

Cheers,

Doug