moodle newsletter november 2011

7/29/2019 Moodle Newsletter November 2011

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A Note from John S. Lucas

Moodle Tips of the Month...

Guides and tutorials for the Moodle modules and blocks featured in

monthly newsletter can be found on the MoodleLearn website:

https://moodlelearn.muat.iesabroad.org

Use the following generic log in: User ID - iesstudent

Password - Student1

Want to create a virtual sign-up sheet for an activity, eld trip or event?

Use the Choice Activity! The Choice Activity allows students to vote or

sign-up for events in Moodle. Once the students select their choices,

(e.g.: yes/no, attending/not attending) the instructor or administrator can

view the results from a list of student names along with their responses.

Our Educational Technology eort is in full swing. This years Annual Conference and Center Directo

Retreat featured presentations on creative applications of Moodle across IES Abroad Centers. Dr. Ar

Yabln, Assistant Director, IES Abroad Buenos Aires, demonstrated the use of Moodle in Buenos Aires, an

the innovative ways that students are using video cameras as tools for cultural exploration. Dr. Octavio

Leo, Center Director, IES Abroad Rome, presented a case study from the Rome Center featuring severalthe Centers courses and a glimpse at the ways in which the Centers student aairs team uses Mood

We also highlighted Moodle course pages from Barcelona, Vienna, and Berlin at these events.

kyo

cial thanks to Karl Friday from the IES Abroad Tokyo Center for submitti ng these photos!

November 1,

You can read more about the use of Moodle at IES Abroad Centers in the upcoming edition of th

Interculturalist, the IES Abroad newsletter that highlights IES Abroad intercultural activities an

initiatives.

In the month of October, IES Abroad partnered with the Center for Innovation and Learning at Woord College to train the ve

Regional Educational Technology Specialists (RETS) who were featured in last months newsletter. At Woord, the group of RETS

worked with Woord College faculty members to analyze the ways in which Moodle is used at IES Abroad Centers and at Woord

College, and to develop a set of best practices and training tools that the RETS can share with their Centers through webinars

and trainings, and through the IES Abroad Moodle training site.

It was a pleasure to meet Martn, Laura, Wolfgang, Jeremiah, and Stephen. This highly skilled team represents diverse academic

disciplines, teaching backgrounds, and technical skill sets. The RETS have already returned to their Centers and will be

contacting the Faculty Champions in their regions to introduce themselves. To assist them, we have recently sent out a survey

to all Faculty Champions to help us to understand how best to support the Centers as you use Moodle to acheive our shared

educational goals.

I was impressed by the enthusiasm and creativity of each of our new RETS and the other colleagues from IES Abroad who

attended the Woord Seminars. With their incorporation into the team, you now have a fully staed educational technology

department available to help you with technical concerns and pedagogical aims. I encourage you to write to your RETS often

to share your best ideas for using Moodle with your colleagues around the world, to ask questions, and to help IES Abroad grow

in our use of technology in order to achieve our intercultural, pedagogical, and linguistic goals.


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November 1,

Featured Moodle Module - Glossary Activity

New Modules/BlocksTeachers & Admins Can Now

Choose Course Themes

Wiki Module:

The Wiki Module is a series of web pages that anyone can ad

to or edit.

* Enables document pages to be authored collective

* Includes many teacher-based editing tools

* Encourages and support group work

The Glossary Module is one of the modules that be

illustrates the way that Moodle can fundamenta

improve upon the experience of a tradition

classroom. When students contribute to a course in

public place like the glossary, their ideas are giv

weight and attention and this often results in greatpride or ownership of the assignment. The Glossa

Module allows participants to create and maintain a l

of denitions, like a dictionary.

Student entries can be previewed by instructors before publishing. Entries can be searched or browsed using alphab

category, date, and author. A glossary of terms can be easily referenced by students. Almost any module of Moodle can b

set to hyperlink - automatically - to any word or phrase that is stored in or added to the glossary. Glossary items can b

grouped in categories. Participants can comment on glossary entries. Entries can be rated using teacher-dened scale

Glossaries are searchable and can be viewed with dierent display formats.

A course theme is a pre-designed user interface

that changes the view of your Moodle page.

Although it does not aect the functionality of

Moodle, it will change the design or theme of your

course page. Moodle comes with a standard set of

themes you can choose from.

To choose a course theme: From your main course page, clickSettings

underAdministration.

In the Generalsection, click the drop-down

option next to Force theme.

Here, you can choose any design from the

standard set of Moodle themes.

Once youve selected your theme, scroll down

to the bottom and clickSave Changes.

Chat Module:

The Chat Module allows smooth, synchronous text

interaction. Chats can be limited to group members or to

roles, or can be open for anyone in the course. Prole picture

can be included in the chat window. The Chat Module

supports URLs, emoticons, embedded HTML, images etc and

all sessions are logged for later viewing.

kyo

This newsletter was sent to provide the latest information for IES Abroad Moodle.

IES Abroad Chicago

33 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL 60602-2602Phone: 1.800.995.2300


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Adding a Faculty Member to Moodle

Moodle Language Packs

Students Report Improved Grades via Technology/LMS Use

Jeff Hargarten of the MNDaily reports that Of more than 6,000 students polled across 36 campuses, 77 percent said theigrades improved through web-based course material and online classroom managing sites like Moodleaccording to a recen

annual National Lone Star Report. These are students self-reporting their own thoughts on education.

Is it a great argument for adopting technology? Perhaps. I think its partly due to students letting us know that their idea

learning environment (the ones that let them learn and explore without friction) just happen to be those that are cleanly

integrated with technology and online resources like Learning Management Systems and research tools. Youll be hard

pressed to nd students who didnt grow up with a computer at home, removing that from the educational equation is

like forcing a sh to breathe out of water. According to the article, The survey showed that the positive results were strongly

tied to proper use of the technology. Overall, students in the report said three major issues aected their academic success: lack

of progress updates, lack of technology availability and lack of instructors who know how to use the technology

Another concern raised was the lack of consistency across courses and formats in which information was provided to

students via a LMS. Course standards and ease of use can go along way in reducing the learning curve from class to clas

Author: Joseph Thibault, Post Published: October 21, 2011. Moodle News. Retrieved from http://www.MoodleNews.com

Moodle can be translated from its default English to many other languages. The translations are created in language pa

that are maintained by Moodle partners and community contributors. Over 90 dierent language packs are available foMoodle administrators to install on your Moodle site.

f you would like a language pack added to Moodle for your Center, please enter a helpdesk ticket for the IES Abroad Moo

Administrators. Also indicate the language pack required in your ticket: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese,

After your language pack is loaded, you can change the language by going to your main course page. From there, click

Settings underAdministration. Scroll down to the Language section and choose your language from the drop-down m

Click Save changesat the bottom of the page.

If you need to add a faculty member to Moodle, you must send the name of the faculty member and his/her email addre

your Program Dean (or ask someone on the Center sta to do this). After the Program Dean enters the faculty memb

information into Cerberus, the faculty members name becomes available in Atlas within a few minutes. The Center acad

manager/registrar then assigns the faculty member to the course in Atlas. Once the faculty member is assigned to a cour

Atlas, it takes approximately one hour for Moodle to synchronize with Atlas, and for the faculty member to be associated

the same course in Moodle.

If the log-in ID for a faculty member is not correct, please submit a helpdesk ticket that indicates the name of the fac

member, the original log-in ID, the correct log-in ID, and the faculty members email address. The Program Dean or the As

for Academic Systems will make the necessary changes to change the log-in ID in Cerberus, Atlas, and Moodle.

Moodle Webinars Coming Soon!

Upcoming dates will be emailed to both the Regional Educational

Technology Specialists and Faculty Champions for scheduling.


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IES Abroad Moodle Summit at Wofford College

In October, we welcomed our Regional Educational Technology Specialists (RETS) to attend the IES Abroad Moodle Summ

Woord College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The IES Abroad Moodle Summit at Woord College provided comprehens

training for our RETS covering a wide range of topics such as course design, metacourses, fostering interactivity and sett

up wikis, chats and forums. Wed like to thank our RETS for participating and contributing their creative ideas during

summit!

David Whisnant (right), VP of Educational

Technology (Woord), addresses the IES

Abroad participants in a workshop.

Anne Rodrick, Assoc. Professor of History

(Woord), speaks with John Lucas during a

break.

Ana Mara Wiseman, Dean of Internation

Programs (Woord) assists Ellen Keating (I

Abroad Chicago) in an administrative activity

John Lucas (IES Abroad Chicago) and IES Abroad

participants in a workshop during the Moodle

Summit.

J. David Alvis, Assistant Professor of Government

(Woord), gives a presentation on designing

eective Moodle sites.

Stephen McMahon, (IES Abroad Dublin), sha

technical tips with the group on his iPad.

W. Scott Cochran, Dean of the Center for

Professional Excellence (Woord), speaks to

participants about Moodle administration.

(From l to r) Stephen McMahon (IES Abroad

Dublin), Wolfgang Bialas (IES Abroad Berlin),

Christine Dinkins, Assoc. Professor of

Philosophy (Woord), and

Zhang Liqin (IES Abroad Beijing).

Dr. Dennis Wiseman, Dean of the Center

Innovation and Learning (Woord), ass

Zhang Liqin (IES Abroad Beijing) in a Moo

administration workshop.

moodle newsletter november 2011

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