The My Moodle feature in Moodle 1.9x displays a list of registered courses to a user after logging in. The nice thing about the list is that each course link is followed by a listing of any recent news or events in the course. Unfortunately in highly active courses this list becomes quite lengthy, and ultimately obnoxious as the length obstructs quick access to other courses in one’s view.
To remedy this I have, for quite some time, maintained a custom bit of very basic Javascript and CSS that sets the default view of news items to hidden, with a clickable link to show the entire list from the My Moodle page (more…)
Mary Cooch has posted a number of videos on YouTube about Moodle, the latest showcasing new features found in the upcoming Moodle 2.0, now push back to Summer 11. Despite the delay, I’m still excited to see Moodle 2.0, as a number of features really help move it outside the traditional pigeonhole of the LMS.
2.0 includes an entire rewrite of my favorite Moodle tool, the collaborative Workshops activity:
Because we’ve been anticipating its release since early 2008 my co-worker Ken jokes that Moodle 2.0 is vaporware, the Duke Nukem Forever of LMS. I joked that we should call it Twoodle. But seriously, I’m still hoping we’ll see an official, stable release by Fall 2010.
I conducted a 1hr demonstration of the open source learning management system Moodle 1.9.5 for higher ed folks in Utah and the Utah Education Network. The demo went well enough, and I hope some of my colleagues from around the State got a little taste of Moodle, especially as it compares to Blackboard/WebCT Vista (more…)
WebCT was infamous for it’s calculated column formula textarea that you couldn’t type in. When John Krutsch developed a clever Javascript hack for it (just one of several cool IE-only hacks packaged as WebCT PowerTools), crafting unusual formulas was suddenly more viable, and we began dropping not just the lowest score, but several low scores (more…)
Mike Caufield asked that I put up a screencast on the OpenShare mod for Moodle. Here’s one that comes in just under 8 minutes–shorter even than my hatcheted and curtailed preso at MoodleMoot ’08 SFO (more…)
The OpenShare block in MoodleTonight I’ve released the first all-new version of the OpenShare modification for Moodle 1.9, which I demonstrated last week at OpenEd 2008.
You may view OpenShare documentation or simply download the OpenShare mod now.
Our Chief Information Office, Ray Walker sent me an article in The Chronicle: Blackboard Customers Consider Alternatives. It’s a great read to gauge the current state of the corporate LMS leviathan.
One passage in particular percolated my sense of irony. In addressing the idea that institutions may have more flexibility to innovate with open source solutions, Michael Chasen… (more…)
UEN and USHE are hosting a showcase of current learning management systems tomorrow, August 14th, at the Marriott library in Salt Lake City. I get to present Moodle at 9:30am, so here’s a quick link to my Moodle Demo presentation page, which includes an overview document and a backchannel for chat.
Today I am presenting at the SFo MoodleMoot on how Moodle can be used to deliver Open Educational Resources, especially through our modification of Moodle, the Open Meta Mod.
Presentation slides are now available and you are welcome to participate in the backchannel through the chat window provided below.
P.S. After my presentation was over, I came back to my hotel to find this bus in the parking lot. It’s nothing less than a sign for a questioning open education convert.
