SP 08: May
Moodle Mania Quick Bytes
A Faculty Based Communication
May 9, 2008
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What we love about Moodle
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Moodle Forums (discussion boards) can be set up in such a way that students cannot look at each others responses until they have entered their own. This is a wonderful way to deal with the student who always comes in at the last minute and paraphrases what other students have already stated.
"Q And A Forum - The Q & A forum requires students to post their perspectives before viewing other students' postings. After the initial posting, students can view and respond to others' postings. This feature allows equal initial posting opportunity among all students, thus encouraging original and independent thinking." ~Moodle Help
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How To!
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This week’s How to! Website is Moodle Docs. The link below will take you to the page that contains the documents created (primarily by teachers) specifically for teachers using Moodle. It has a very basic description of the Homepage and then goes through how to add various components. It also includes useful legends as quick reference guides to the various pictographs you will need to use to edit your Moodle course.
“Course Design” Website of the Week:http://docs.moodle.org/en/Teacher_documentation
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Best Practices
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Communicating with students: There are many modes of communicating with students with Moodle based courses.
First, state clearly in the syllabus the dates and times you make yourself available to answer emails etc. so students have reasonable expectations as to when they will hear a response from you (otherwise students forget that you are not available 24/7). However, only use email for individual private and personal interaction. All communications that can be public should be. As part of the initial course set up, create a forum (discussion board) for general course questions.
Second, be responsive. If you pop in and answer student questions in the general forum a couple times a week and comment on the discussions going on in other forums students will know you are available and involved in their learning process.
Third, don’t just post your lecture notes and/or PowerPoints. Without you there to explain they will be difficult for students to grasp. You can narrate PowerPoints which adds to them, but students will still require interaction from you to clarify points and deepen their comprehension.
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June 10-11: Moodle Moot ’08 – Now streaming on your computer!!
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For interested Moodlers there is a Moodle Conference coming up this Summer. Moodle Moot ’08 will be held in San Francisco June 10-11.
For those who are not able to make it in person, they will be streaming all of the general and breakout sessions from the Moot over the web using Apple's QuickTime Streaming Server. A new Remote Streaming option has been added to the Moodle Moot registration at http://www.moodlemoot.org/. Details and technical specifications will be posted there soon.
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Keep the discussion going
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If you have questions about Moodle you would like discussed in a future issue of Moodle Mania Quick Bytes please e-mail Siobhan[email protected] and we will research the answers.
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About Moodle Mania Quick Bytes
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Welcome to Moodle Mania Quick Bytes, an ad hoc e-news brief published every other Friday for the Alliant faculty community by the Alliant faculty community to discuss the benefits of switching to Moodle and some of the ways Moodle can be used to improve your online course delivery. This briefing is distributed to Alliant faculty and administrators and is a product of the Learning and Education Technology Committee of the Faculty Senate.
