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

Posting “LearnEveryware” content to Moodle

Hi all, I’ve had some questions about how to post the new LearnEveryware content to Moodle. These are DL courses designed by the province for students in Math, Social Studies and some CTS – new resources are continuously being added. In a nutshell, here are the steps:

1.  Go to http://learnalberta.ca – if you haven’t already sign up for a personal teacher account.
2. Click on the Tools4Teachers tab at the top.
3. Find your course. 
4. Click on the “Teacher” version of the resource and find the “IMS” packages for Moodle. (Usually the middle of the page) and download all of them.

Now browse to your Moodle course and:

1. Turn editing on
2. Choose IMS from one of the resources drop downs.
3. Give it a title
4. Upload and link the file you downloaded above as you normally would.

The first time you visit the resource, it will ask you to deploy. Students will not be able to access this until you’ve completed this step once.

Here’s the screencast,

Doug

 

Templating your Moodle

Recently I’ve had questions regarding “how do I create a template of my moodle course to share with another teacher?”

There are actually two answers to this question:

1. Create a backup file without user data.

• Click Backup on the admin panel of the course you want to template.
  • Make sure that “include user data” is set to none.
  • Make sure all role assignments are unchecked.
  • Press continue on each screen until the backup file is displayed and save it.
• Hand the saved file to the teacher you are passing the template to and have them restore it into their class:
  • Make sure your new course has the same number of topics as the template.
  • Click restore from the administration panel.
  • Upload your backup file and press the Restore link to the right of it.

2. Import from a shared class.

• Make the colleague you are sharing with a teacher of your class.
• Within your colleague’s new class have them:
  • Make sure their course hase the same number of topics as yours.
  • Choose import from the Admin panel
  • Select the course you want to copy
  • Click Continue until you’re done.

Here’s a short youtube video demonstrating both methods:

 

Snapshot overview of the currently available tools on the FSD Moodle

Hi all, here is a snapshot of some of the tools currently available on the Foothills School Division Moodle. For visitors from other districts please note that not all of these will necessarily be available on your sites. I’ve used an (R) to represent tools available through “Add a resource…” and (A) to represent tools available through “Add an activity…”

Web Tools

• (R) Compose a web page – Create a rich web page right in Moodle using the built in editor.
• (R) Link to a file or website – Post your presentations, videos, word documents, or favorite websites to your moodle.
• (R) Insert a label – Place rich text on the main Moodle page. Commonly this is used for headings and menus, but can also be used to write instructions or even post video.
• Video streaming – You can embed video into any object on the Moodle. Just upload the video file and link to it. Moodle will do the rest! (Math teachers: this will also work with Geogebra files).

Assessment and Evaluation

• (A) Assignments – a place for students to hand in their work:
  • Advanced uploading of files – The best way to create a “digital drop box” for handing assignments in.
  • Online text – Students can use Moodle’s full featured editor to write their response directly on the Moodle page.
  • Peer review – Students can submit work for other students to give feedback.
• (A) Quiz – an online adaptive quiz system that works well for both formative and summative assessments. Questions can range from multiple choice to full essay responses.

Student Collaboration

• (A) Forum – A discussion forum where students can respond to questions and engage in rich conversation.
• (A) Wiki – A website that any student in the class can edit and change. Every change is logged and stored so there is no risk of work being lost. This is a very engaging way for groups of students to work on a larger project.
• (A) Bookmarks – An excellent tool for students to share links.
• (A) Glossary – A tool for students to create, share, and comment on the class vocabulary

Reflection, Self Regulation and Metacognition

• (A) Journal – An easy to use journaling tool between the student and teacher.
• (A) Checklist – A todo list created by the teacher but can be added to by the students. Both the teacher and student can track their completed tasks.

Let me know if you have questions about any of these.

Cheers,

Doug