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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Moodle is currently the world's most popular E-learning platform. The long-awaited second version of Moodle is now available and brings with it greatly improved functionality. If you are planning to upgrade your site to Moodle 2.0 and want to be up-to-date with the latest developments, then this book is for you.This book takes an in-depth look at all of the major new features in Moodle 2.0 and how it differs from previous Moodle versions. It highlights changes to the standard installation and explains the new features with clear screenshots, so you can quickly take full advantage of Moodle 2.0. It also assists you in upgrading your site to Moodle 2.0, and will give you the confidence to make the move up to Moodle 2.0, either as an administrator or a course teacher.With its step-by-step introduction to the new features of Moodle 2.0, this book will leave you confident and keen to get your own courses up and running on Moodle 2.0. It will take you on a journey from basic navigation to advanced administration, looking at the changes in resource management and activity setup along the way. It will show you new ways tutors and students can control the pace of their learning and introduce you to the numerous possibilities for global sharing and collaborating now available in Moodle 2.0
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Seitenzahl: 225
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010
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Table of Contents
Moodle 2.0 First Look
Moodle 2.0 First Look
Copyright © 2010 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: September 2010
Production Reference: 1170910
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
32 Lincoln Road
Olton
Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.
ISBN 978-1-849511-94-0
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Ed Maclean (<[email protected]>)
Credits
Author
Mary Cooch
Reviewers
Alex Büchner
Susan Smith Nash
Acquisition Editor
Sarah Cullington
Development Editor
Dhiraj Chandiramani
Technical Editor
Gauri Iyer
Indexer
Tejal Daruwale
Proofreader
Lesley Harrison
Editorial Team Leader
Aanchal Kumar
Project Team Leader
Ashwin Shetty
Project Coordinator
Ashwin Shetty
Graphics
Nilesh R. Mohite
Production Coordinator
Melwyn D'sa
Cover Work
Melwyn D'sa
About the Author
Mary Cooch has been a Languages and Geography teacher in the UK for the last 25 years, Mary Cooch now spends part of her working week travelling the country as a VLE trainer specializing in Moodle. The author of Moodle 1.9 for Teaching 7-14 Year Olds https://www.packtpub.com/beginners-guide-moodle-1-9-for-teaching-7-14-year-olds/book, she regularly promotes its benefits in schools and has a deep understanding of what works best for younger students. She is looking forward to putting to practical use all the new features of Moodle 2.0. Known online as the moodlefairy, Mary is a moderator on the help forums of www.moodle.org where she aims to encourage others with her passion for this Open Source Virtual Learning Environment. Mary's blog is at www.moodleblog.org.
Mary is based at Our Lady's Catholic High School in Preston, Lancashire, UK, but will go anywhere to Moodle! She may be contacted at <[email protected]>.
I would like to thank Packt for the chance to write another book, my family for their tolerance; Helen Foster at Moodle HQ for her behind the scenes support; Carl at CS New Media for his excellent customer service; Andrew, Stuart and Emma for (ab)use of their names and of course to my Moodle Manager Mark Greenwood for having all the Best Ideas.
About the Reviewers
Alex Büchner is the co-founder and technical lead of Synergy Learning (www.synergy-learning.com), the UK's and Ireland's leading Moodle and Mahara partner. He has been working with virtual learning environments of all shapes and sizes since their advent on the educational landscape. Services offered include Mahara & Moodle hosting, support, training and branding.
Alex holds a PhD in Computer Science and an MSc in Software Engineering. He has authored over 50 international publications, including Moodle Administration by Packt Publishing, and is a frequent speaker on Moodle, Mahara, and related open-source technologies.
Susan Smith Nash has been involved in the design, development, and administration of online courses and programs since the early 1990s. Her current research interests include the use of learning objects, mobile learning, leadership in e-learning organizations, and energy, and sustainability technology transfer. Her articles and columns have appeared in magazines and refereed journals. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 1996, and in addition to e-learning, Nash has also been involved in international economic development training, interdisciplinary studies, international energy education (renewables and non-renewables), and sustainable business and career training. Her book, Leadership in the e-Learning Organization, was co-authored with George Henderson, and published by Charles Thomas and Sons. Her most recent books include Klub Dobrih Dejanj (Good Deeds Society) and E-Learner Survival Guide (Texture Press). Her edublog, E-Learning Queen (www.elearningqueen.com) has received numerous awards and recognitions.
Preface
Moodle is currently the world's most popular E-learning platform. The long-awaited second version of Moodle is now available and brings with it greatly improved functionality. If you are planning to upgrade your site to Moodle 2.0 and want to be up-to-date with the latest developments, then this book is for you.
This book takes an in-depth look at all of the major new features in Moodle 2.0 and how it differs from previous Moodle versions. It highlights changes to the standard installation and explains the new features with clear screenshots, so you can quickly take full advantage of Moodle 2.0. It also assists you in upgrading your site to Moodle 2.0, and will give you the confidence to make the move up to Moodle 2.0, either as an administrator or a course teacher.
With its step-by-step introduction to the new features of Moodle 2.0, this book will leave you confident and keen to get your own courses up and running on Moodle 2.0. It will take you on a journey from basic navigation to advanced administration, looking at the changes in resource management and activity setup along the way. It will show you new ways tutors and students can control the pace of their learning and introduce you to the numerous possibilities for global sharing and collaborating now available in Moodle 2.0
This book is your personal guided tour of the new and enhanced features of Moodle 2.0
What this book covers
Chapter 1, What's New and How To Get it: This chapter gives a brief look at what Moodle 2.0 has to offer with the exciting new modules and enhanced features, and the major overhauls in the file uploading and navigation system
Chapter 2, Finding your Way Around: This chapter will cover finding our way around Moodle, with the improved navigation system and the new way blocks are dealt with.
Chapter 3, Editing Text and Adding Files: This chapter will focus on editing text and adding files—looking at the replacement HTML editor and the new way files are brought into Moodle.
Chapter 4, What's New in Add a Resource: This chapter concentrates on the "add a resource" drop-down and we investigate the different terminology and additions to this menu.
Chapter 5, What's New in Add an Activity: This chapter concentrates on the "add an activity" drop-down and we investigate improvements to existing modules such as Quiz, Workshop, and Wiki.
Chapter 6, Managing the Learning Path: This chapter deals with how to manage the learning path of our students. It focuses on Conditional Activities and Completion tracking.
Chapter 7, New Modules for Moodle 2: This chapter deals with improved communication. We'll look at the new Comments feature, and changes to the Blog and Messaging.
Chapter 8, Admin Issues: This looks at the admin side of things. We will go through the site administration menu, considering changes in roles, themes, filters, file uploads, and other features that don't fit in anywhere else!
What you need for this book
You should have access to an installation of Moodle 2.0, either locally hosted or online. If you plan to install Moodle, the requirements are as follows:
If you are upgrading, you need in addition to the above you will need to have Moodle 1.9. If you have an earlier version of Moodle, you will need to upgrade to 1.9 before proceeding.
Who this book is for
If you are an existing Moodle user, tutor, or administrator, then this book is for you. You are expected to be familiar with the operation of Moodle.
Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Choose your learning style and Orientation quiz are marked complete."
Note
Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.
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Chapter 1. What's New in Moodle 2
Nine years ago, in Australia, a Computer Science graduate named Martin Dougiamas was trialing a web tool he'd developed to help teachers create lessons online. Inspired by his own experiences with the outback "School of the Air". Martin's Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment offered tutors a way to connect remotely with their students in a collaborative and supportive workspace.
Did any of us foresee back then just how global a phenomenon Moodle would become? Now used by over 31 million students in over 44 thousand sites in over 200 countries, Moodle has truly changed the face of learning.
With improved access to the internet, and with commercial companies being quick to spot a potential money-earner, many such Learning Management Systems have arisen since then. What makes Moodle special, however, is the fact that it has remained as Open Source technology. Anyone can use Moodle; everyone can make Moodle better. While official Moodle Partners will give you peace of mind if you want Moodle installed at your establishment, you are also entirely free to go for it alone. If you need advice, whether of a pedagogical or technical nature, ask in the forums at http://moodle.org/ where the doors are never closed. If you spot an error or a bug, then someone (perhaps even you) will fix it. If you have an idea for a "plug-in" that might be useful for other Moodlers worldwide, you can put forth your suggestion to the community. The world changes constantly and Moodle changes with it.
Since its official "birth" in 2002, Moodle has gone through several full versions and a number of stable releases in between. You can even catch up on all the bug fixes and minor tweaks by downloading the weekly stable "+" build. This year, however, sees the advent of the latest, biggest, and most enhanced version: Moodle 2.0. It's a new "take" on an established package. It is rich with new features, and it retains all that was good from Moodle 1.9, blended with new ideas and improvements, suggested and developed by the huge Open Source community. Moodle 2.0 has been a long time in the making. Its arrival became somewhat of an in-joke on the forums of www.moodle.org. Over the last couple of years, the answer to many a query would has been "You can't do that yet, but you will be able to in Moodle 2.0" prompting one Moodle Partner to comment that alongside better navigation, cleaner appearance, more controlled activities, enhanced modules, and improved interaction, Moodle 2.0 was expected to "sort out wars and world famine". Well, they haven't quite managed that, (Although there's still time for Moodle 3.0!), but there are sufficient new features in Moodle 2 to warrant a close look, and that is the purpose of this book.
Why read this book?
This book aims to give users familiar with Moodle an insight into the new features of Moodle 2.0. Perhaps you've been using Moodle 1.9 as a teacher with your classes and are keen to make the most of the latest version? Or perhaps you are a Moodle admin who wants to check if you are ready to upgrade or maybe you want to ensure that you're able to help your tutors get to grips with the changeover?
This chapter will give you a few teasers of what's to come. Subsequent chapters will go into greater depth in order to prepare you for the Moodle 2.0 experience. From a learning and teaching point of view, rest assured that the object-oriented approach that makes Moodle so flexible is still solid in Moodle 2.0. In fact, there are even more ways to tailor your content to suit your learners, as we shall see in Chapter 6, Managing the Learning Path From an Administrator's point of view, role complexities have been tidied up, file uploads have been rationalized and Moodle 2.0 connects usefully with the best of the Open Web. While each chapter will point to new admin features where appropriate, Chapter 8, Admin Issues will focus on them more specifically. So what kind of thing can we expect? Let's take a tour!
Looks cleaner, moves faster
Previous versions of Moodle came with pre-installed themes, such as Cornflower or Wood, making an average Moodle site easily recognizable when meandering along the Internet. The Downloads tab on http://moodle.org/ links to a Themes section offering an array of other contributed "skins" for Moodle to enhance its appearance. Despite this, users still complained Moodle looked "clunky" in contrast with other, commercial Learning Management Systems. In recent years, the adoption of Moodle has broadened from universities and schools to major charities, businesses, and non-governmental organizations. They want integration with their websites and a clean, professional look. Moodle 2.0 has done away with the previous themes and will ultimately include 20 brand new themes, of which Boxxie , as seen in the following screenshot, is one:
For the sake of clarity in this book, our screenshots will use the very basic Standard theme from now on.
In the following screenshot you'll note that the Navigation block on the left has been docked to the side—this is a totally new way of moving around in Moodle 2.0. We have the option of saving space and docking—or of expanding the block as with the calendar to the right:
Within a course the Navigation block will show links to individual sections and expand to the activities in those sections. It is now possible to rename the topic sections so that these names appear in the links rather than numbered topics. If you look at the following screenshot, we are in a course French for Beginners and Introduction is actually topic 0 and First Steps in French is topic 1. Note also that the link at the top My Home takes the user straight to their MyMoodle page.
We'll start our tour of Moodle 2.0 in Chapter 2, Finding your Way Around by looking at how we navigate around the site and within a course.
A new way of managing your content
In Moodle 1.x, the Resource module offered the teacher in a course the ability to upload their documents, create web pages in Moodle, or even display a directory of materials. Users, who had particularly large files, say SCORM packages or multimedia for example, were able to upload via FTP once they knew the directory number for their course and were granted the rights to do so. Moodle 2.0 does away with most of this, using a different philosophy for file management. It has more functionality and is more secure; however, for some it might initially appear more complex to manoeuvre.
Compare and contrast the Add a resource… drop-down in Moodle 2.0 (on the left) and Moodle 1.9 on the right:
Note the simpler, clearer terms:
In Chapter 3, Editing Text and Adding Files and Chapter 4, What's New in Add a Resource we'll look more closely at the way you can display content in Moodle 2.0. While you are still able to upload all your word-processed documents and Powerpoint presentations, you can also easily embed media from other sites such as http://www.youtube.com/ or http://www.flickr.com/ from the new text editor (based on the popular tinyMCE editor as used in WordPress for example). Here's a screenshot of the so-called File Picker where you can see that, alongside files already in Moodle and files you might want to upload, there is a link and the facility to search YouTube:
More places to have your say
With the addition of a Comments facility in Moodle 2.0 it is now easier than ever for users to give feedback, voice their opinions and generally make their presence felt in your online community. A Comments
