Moodle Resources (especially 2.x)

Decided this information needed updating.

Moodle Community
·    Moodle.org forums  http://moodle.org/forums/
·    Moodle.org documentation http://docs.moodle.org/

Sample courses:   (sample courses to see how they’re put together)
·    Moodleshare http://courses.moodleshare.com/
·    Moodle Commons  http://www.moodlecommons.org/
·    Mt. Orange School Demo (example of 2.x course)  http://school.demo.moodle.net/

Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers: (marvelous summary of functions, ease of use, relation to Bloom’s Taxonomy, from Joyce Seitzinger)
·    1.9  http://www.cats-pyjamas.net/2010/05/moodle-tool-guide-for-teachers/
·    2.0  http://www.somerandomthoughts.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/AMoodle2ToolGuideforTeachers.pdf

Blogs include:
·    Moodle News – regular updates and news about Moodle.  Very helpful.  http://www.moodlenews.com

Hosting – some possibilities
·    http://globalclassroom.us/
·    http://www.moodlerooms.com/markets/k-12/ 
·    Free:  http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=146897
·    Free – collection of free hosting possibilities  http://www.moodlenews.com/collections/hosting/

Tutorial resources include:
·    http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/05/moodle-tutorial-videos.html
·    http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/jason_renshaws_web_log/moodle-tutorials-from-english-raven.html
.    New!   http://www.youtube.com/user/Gr8TechTools


Books about Moodle include:

Moodle 2.x
·    Moodle 2.0 First Look, Mary Cooch
·    Moodle 2 Administration, Alex Büchner

Moodle 1.9
·    Moodle 1.9 for Teaching 7-14 year olds, Mary Cooch
·    Moodle for Dummies, Radana Dvorak
·    William Rice
·    Administration – Using Moodle,     Moodle Administration

Using TeachersFirst to Find Teaching Resources

    Every Sunday for several years, I’ve been opening a present – my weekly email from TeachersFirst.  This free email includes a bunch of websites that teachers might want to use –  to improve a lesson in class, to provide students with an extension of learning in class, as professional resources. 

    Each website review identifies the age-group most appropriate for the resource, the subject matter, how it might be used in class (or to extend class), any safety concerns (what students might see on the website), how tech-adventurous a teacher might need to feel, logistical matters (such as if registration or an email is needed).  There is a direct link to the website, and even a way to share the link with others or bookmark it to your Delicious account.

    The TeachersFirst website has much more, of course.  All those reviewed websites  (hundreds of them) are collected and searchable – by grade level, by topic – and also browsable.  And each review suggests other resources within this extensive collection.  Further, if you want to get into a big technology topic like student blogging or wikis, in-depth information is available to help you understand the logistics, the safety concerns, the politics, as well as links to good blogging and wiki tools. 

    Now my weekly email “present” includes more than reviews, although I used to concentrate on the reviews in the beginning.  There’s also information about free online professional development workshops, a weekly poll, a tidbit about something on the TF website…  you get the idea. There’s a lot here.

    Hop on over to http://teachersfirst.com. To start getting the weekly email, go to http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001vpPtPyii4VqQn5B85c49-A%3D%3D

    You’ll be glad you did. 

(Disclosure:  I’m a member of the TF Educator’s Advisory Board.) 

How should I get started with Moodle

     Recently received an email asking for advice, so I’m repeating - and adding to - my advice here.

     I'd suggest you get a couple of books (Moodle docs are great, but don't make sense to a lot of people until you've been working with Moodle awhile).  I haven't read Moodle for Dummies but it was well reviewed by somebody I respect.  I also read Moodle 1.9 for Teaching 7-14 year olds - the age group may be wrong for you, but it goes step by step, which is very helpful when you're first starting out. William Rice has several books - he talks more about pedagogy, less about "how to" but his ideas are very helpful. 

     Some other resources are listed here: http://adventuresonlineteaching.blogspot.com/2010/12/moodle-resources.html  Check into sample courses - they really help give you ideas.


     Consider: are you hosting the course on your school servers (you really need somebody who knows hard-core tech for that, also sufficient network resources to handle the load), or are you having it hosted somewhere (what I do).  If you are hosting the Moodle yourself, you'll need some Moodle administration books, too.  I've found Using Moodle by Cole and Foster, and Moodle Administration by Alex Buchner to be helpful.  There are others – I just haven’t used them yet.


     One way to start designing a course that I have always found helpful is to look at my learning objectives - what do I want my students to be able to do/know.  How will I know (assessment)?  Then how can I get them there? That leads me to my next point.


     If you get a chance, do some reading about instructional design - there are amazing resources and ideas out there, most of them free.  Here are links (many from an instructional design course I took): go to http://www.delicious.com/francesblo/instructionaldesign   All the courses I've taken about teaching online/blended were helpful, but by far instructional design was the most useful for figuring out how to design/lay out the course. I highly recommend Susan Manning’s Instructional Design for Elearning at http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/instructonline.cfm

Moodle resources - UPDATED - and Again

          First, a heartfelt thanks to the Moodle community, all the people who generously share what they’ve learned so that we can all improve learning and teaching.  Here are some of the resources the Moodle community has created:

Sample courses: 
          These are copies of courses that you can look at to see how they’re put together.

• Moodleshare  http://moodleshare.com/
• Moodle Commons  http://www.moodlecommons.org/
• JUST ADDED Moodle 2.0 Live tour (Mt. Orange School) http://www.moodlenews.com/2010/live-tour-of-the-mt-orange-school-demo-by-lasic-and-moodler-122210-8am-est/   
• Another new one:  http://courses.moodleshare.com/

Moodle Tool Guide for Teachers:

• A marvelous summary of the many Moodle functions, including ease of use, relation to Bloom’s Taxonomy, from Joyce Seitzinger.  http://www.cats-pyjamas.net/2010/05/moodle-tool-guide-for-teachers/

Tutorials (mostly videos):

• Lots of how to's here: http://onlinelearning.calhounisd.org/cisd/course/view.php?id=69  New
• http://www.moodlenews.com/2011/8-moodle-tutorial-videos-forums-to-chats-to-assignments-to-editing/   New
• http://tomazlasic.net/moodle/moodle-tutorials-2-minute-moodles/
• http://www.moodletutorials.org/   
• http://treadwell.cce.cornell.edu/moodle_doc/index.html  
• http://www.youtube.com/user/UsingMoodle#p/u/4/aIxP00gtEpU  
• Searchable written guides/tutorials from California State University https://quickguides.calstate.edu/public

Blogs:

• Moodle News – regular updates and news about Moodle.  Very helpful.  http://www.moodlenews.com
• http://tomazlasic.net/
• http://patrickmalley.com/
• http://www.moodleblog.net
• Many other blogs refer to Moodle as well. 

Books I’ve found helpful:

• These and others available through http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=55&advanced=0&paging=&page=0 as well as Amazon.com.
• Moodle 1.9 for teaching 7 – 14 year olds by Mary Cooch (step by step so great for the beginner, teacher oriented)
• Moodle Teaching Techniques: Creative Ways to Use Moodle for Constructing Online Learning Solutions by William Rice (very thorough and helpful).
• Using Moodle by Jason Cole and Helen Foster (more slanted towards administrators, but still useful for teachers).

       
Documentation, community, the mother lode:

• http://moodle.org/

Sandbox:

• A place to play with Moodle without messing up your own course. http://demo.moodle.net/
• I sometimes create a dummy course to make mistakes in.

          If you’ve found other useful resources, blogs, please add these in comments, below.