More Moodle -2

After the initial Moodle exploration I decided to continue exploring by picking features I use and describing my experience with them. Ninehub came back up but was down for 4 days. This was frustrating. It also would have been disastrous if it had happened at exam time. I'm going to look into signing on with Classroom Revolution next.

In the meantime I continued exploring moodle on ninehub and the next feature I looked at was 'course backup.' My developing course is still small so backup time was really fast. It also was easy to use. There are numerous settings that allow you to backup very little or a lot of your course. I appreciated this since backing up courses on other platforms can be cumbersome. I was able to both save the .zip file on the ninehub site and also download for archiving onto my computer.

The one aspect of backup that still have to explore is restoring a backup. I'll report on that later.

Learning Moodle - Acquiring a Second Online Learning Platform

Are they laughing because moodle is so easy to use or laughing at moodle?

Recently I found a web hosting site that offers free hosting for moodle accounts. I need to develop a Spring 2009 course and I want a platform that runs smoothly, reliably and quickly so I can spend more time developing the quality of the course and very little 'thumb twiddling' time. I set up a new course called 'Global Issues' there.

Last Saturday two other faculty and I met to look at the beginnings of the course. I wanted to illustrate the basic features shared by most platforms and so we looked at file uploading, adding a syllabus, discussions, assignments and quizzing. As we looked over the basics we found ourselves also exploring other features like adding media, web links and more. Fortunately for every feature, there is a link at the bottom of the page which goes directly to the doc files which show how to use that link, although the features were mostly intuitive and tutorials were not needed.

Moodle is the most popular open source platform in the world - used in over 150 countries and in hundreds of thousands of courses so far. While the moodle platform is free, hosting is not so each user must either host moodle or find a suitable host. The official moodle site at http://moodle.org/ includes links to hosting partners in the USA. These sites offer hosting: Moodlerooms at www.moodlerooms.com/services/academicpackages/ , Remote Learner Inc., at http://remote-learner.net/moodlehosting, or Classroom Revolution at http://www.classroomrevolution.com/?moodlead=cr.general. Classroom revolution offers a single user license for up to 5 courses for one year for $149.

To start with I wanted to try the free hosting site at ninehub. Getting an account at ninehub and creating a course shell took about 45 minutes (I was a little slow.) Once the course was created, it took several hours to figure out to create or in some cases transfer doc files I already had to my 'Global Issues' course shell. I call the first hours 'playing around' time as I became comfortable with the easy-to-use features and thought out how I wanted to use them. I used a weekly format (not a chapter or unit format) and placed my content under Week One. I set aside a couple of hours on a subsequent day to create a short quiz. The quizzing tool is also easy to use and quizzes can be imported from many sources according to the documentation I read (as we all know, documents are one thing and reality can be quite another.) I intend on continuing to blog my experience with setting up my ‘Global Issues’ moodle course - it may prove useful for those who are considering learning a second platform.

Since setting up the course on the free website, it seems to have disappeared so I'll set up a course on classroom revolutions which offers a license for as low as $150.00.

TTIX08 MAkes Keeping Up Easy & Exciting

As anyone who uses technology in education knows, keeping up is a challenge. Successful strategies for keeping up almost always include the quest for parsimony - in other words finding a mother load of useful information which is available in a single place over s short time span. A colleague of mine and I attended just such an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The 2008 Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange ( TTIX08 ) was an event cram packed with people looking to share ideas and find ideas they could latch onto and use. The two day event featured speakers from across the US and in a few cases from beyond. All the sessions were videotaped and appear on the conference website at http://www.ttix.org/

A quick sample of usable technology is twitter ( twitter.com .) Do you already use it? Check it out. that and many more ideas filled pages of notes and laptops of those who attended this year.

Ning - The Social Networking Package*

Ning - An Introduction

Ning is a great website for those that want to create their own social network or just join new and different social networks. It is flexible enough and easy enough that even new users can enjoy the benefits. Creating a network can be a little confusing at first, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of it.

Pros
Very flexible.
Integrates with Flickr and Facebook.
Offers premium services like hosting on your own domain name for a monthly fee.
Social Networks can be set to public or private
Join one of over a hundred thousand social networks already created
Create your own social network.

Cons
It can be a little confusing at first when customizing your social network due to the abundance of features.
There's no quick link to your social network from the main site.
free product so expect ads (only a minimum amount so far.)

For a look at Ning view this short video at

http://blip.tv/file/732451

Higher Education Application
-It's wide array of features may exceed those currently available on any particular institution's WebCt or Bb site. It has a contemporary feel which may appeal to generation Y learners. It can be hosted by Ning and there server is optimized for the delivery of a variety of media quickly and easily (no crashing.) Since it can be set up private it can give the same experience as blogging without being visible beyond the immediate learning community.

Sociology Course Example
In a sociology course I teach there are opportunities for building a community of collaborative learners. I can use discussion topics for hot topics that learners are motivated to explore. They can also use groups to share resources on the web and to share ideas. Last week students were gathering resources on either health care reform or drugs. These groups could have been created in Ning.

Ning Summary
Ning is a social networking website that allows you to create your own social network, or you can join a social network created by someone else.
It's your choice, right down to the questions asked in the social network's profile. You can create a network about books, or music, or movies, or even just create one for your friends and family.

Ning has pretty extensive management features, which can be daunting at first, but it allows you to have a great deal of control over your new social network. It comes with features like a message forum, sending private messages, blogging, photo and video sharing, and even the ability to make your social network private so only those you invite can share in the fun.
You can also import pictures from Flickr and promote your new social network on your Facebook account. You can even host it on your own domain name and set up ads on your social network to generate revenue, though those features require a monthly fee. But Ning isn't just for those who want to create their own social network. There are over one hundred thousand social networks already running on Ning, so if you have a particular interest, chances are there is a social network for it.

Ning is very easy to use. Even starting a new social network is pretty easy. Ning guides you through the process, and you can have your own social network up and running within a few minutes. It can be a little daunting once it is up and running. There are a number of ways you can customize your social network, so adding new features can be a little confusing at first. But if you compare this to the amount of flexibility you have, it is a small price to pay.

*This review is based on the previous review by Daniel Nations.

Social Problems - Sociology 2211 - Welcome Tour

suz.prescott@gmail.com

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Welcome to the Spring term 2008 Social Problems course. This welcome tour will help get you off to a great start.

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Using Videos in Sociology & Other Fields (3:13)

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Ah, videos. Many faculty think they want them but like any component, it pays to plan ahead when it comes to their use. In Sociology there aren't many I would want to make myself while there are many videos with good production values that are already available. When it comes to training, videos are an effective way of demonstrating 'how-to' skills.

I found blip.tv a couple of years ago and started using to host videos. Here's a link to a video I made with Camtasia for training purposes.

http://blip.tv/file/457398/ Add Weblinks (2 mins.)

And here's a link to a video I made with a camera (and a 'video toaster' connected to an Amiga 2500.)

http://blip.tv/file/1439/ Execution Barbie (about 1 min)It takes time to load.

With the appearance of video hosting sites there is more video content out there than I ever could have imagined - and a range of topics that almost defies imagination.

True Story: a friend of mine has had sinus problems for months. Finally she got a 'netty pot' to aid her in... well, draining her sinuses. But she couldn't figure out how to use it. I said, search YouTube; maybe they have a video demonstration. The following week she told me that sure enough, she found a video that showed her successfully how to use it and she felt very refreshed. Inspiring? ;-)

Collaborative Learning & Faculty

While many of us agree that collaborative learning is powerful, there are still many of us who find it difficult to locate and use collaborative learning exercises in our own courses. Faculty may not have experienced many examples of collaborative learning and their colleagues may not have many collaborative learning experiences to share. How can faculty who want to include collaborative learning be assisted in their quest for good course content that includes elements of collaboration or at least group work?

Here's a good example Michele Watson found which shows of how podcasting was used in a collaborative learning framework to enhance learning among young students in New Zealand.

We experienced some of the same benefits when the local public access TV station in Albuquerque sponsored a contest for the Albuquerque public schools in which students prepared speeches on the importance of free speech in a democracy and then delivered their speeches on TV. Many of the benefits mentioned in the New Zealand example were experienced by students (and their families.)