Ignore the Baloney. Check the Facts

Our recent advertisement in the EDUCAUSE Quarterly probably has you wondering... “Who’s serving up a bunch of baloney?”

Their baloney has a first name. It's "truthiness"

Here’s the backstory...

Late last year, an LMS company that was fairly new to the scene published a comparison matrix measuring themselves against their competition (we were included). At first, the comparison gave us a good chuckle... Why? Because the claims made within the comparison were simply not true.  But rather than respond, we had better things to do with our time: like concentrate on providing the best possible Moodle experiences for our customers.   

But a few months ago, customers started asking about this comparison matrix. Apparently, they were noticing that "truthiness" had now entered the LMS marketsphere.

We love our customers, and we value reality over rhetoric. So, we created a little comparison matrix of our own to set the record straight. It’s in the same format as the original, except the information about Moodlerooms is factually correct.

So go ahead.... Take a look and see how we stack up. We invite any of the other companies to create matrices of their own, if they felt they were in any way misrepresented.  

Thanks for reading, 

Brad Schleicher

Marketing Manager

Best Practices: Choosing the Enrollment Method that’s Right for You!

By Janelle Giseke, Moodlerooms Senior Trainer

Sometimes as course designers, we put all our efforts into building stellar content, and fail to think about how students are going to take advantage of the course. Determining the best option for enrollment into your course will lessen administrative work time, and allow you more time to focus on course facilitation. 

Accessing the choices you have for enrollments is easy! All you have to do is navigate to the Settings block, and head to Course Administration > Users > Enrollment methods. This area of Course administration allows an instructor or site administrator to choose applicable enrollment methods, or create individualized enrollment instances with specific guidelines.  All enrollment options are available to utilize individually or simultaneously to work with every organizations enrollment needs. It’s important to note that some enrollment instances are not available by default and may need to be turned on by a site administrator if you don’t see them available in the course. In today’s blog, we want to take a look at several of the most popular enrollment methods including how you would use it, and why it might be the right enrollment method for you!  

Manual Enrollments

What are manual enrollments?

The Manual enrollment method allows for selective enrollments, per user, created by the site administrator or course instructor. 

Why would I use it?

Institution A has created a new employee course where a few number of users are enrolled into a course each month. Since the enrollment is small and sporadic the site administrator has decided to manually enroll participants on an individual basis. 

How do I configure manual enrollments?

1. Decide the default options for role and enrollment creation in the Manual enrollment settings.
2. Select Enrolled users from the settings block, then click Enrol users to choose users to enroll in the course.
3. The default user role and enrollment duration are listed in the settings pop up window, but can be altered as needed.

Note: If choosing to use group enrollment keys set Allow self enrollments and Use group enrollment keys to Yes. Enter an enrollment key in the self enrollment settings to block users from enrolling accidentally in the course. Use group key, created in the group area, to send to the users to enter as their enrollment key when they self enroll.

Self Enrollments 

What are self enrollments?

The Self enrollment method allows users with the proper credentials to enroll themselves into courses of their choosing, at a time of their choosing. 

Why would I use it?

Organization B has multiple types of users that enroll in their courses and would like to control the duration of enrollment and user role type. For these reasons they have chosen to use the self enrollment method and give out the corresponding keys to each user to self enroll in the course.

How do I configure self enrollments?

1. Create one or many self-enrollment instances per course, allowing for either the same settings for every instance (one user type) or different settings for multiple instances (multiple user types). 
2. Customize enrollment settings.
3. Send enrollment keys to participants for self enrollment.

Note: If choosing to use group enrollment keys set Allow self enrollments and Use group enrollment keys to Yes. Enter an enrollment key in the self enrollment settings to block users from enrolling accidentally in the course. Use group key, created in the group area, to send to the users to enter as their enrollment key when they self enroll.

PayPal

What are PayPal enrollments?

The PayPal enrollment method allows users to complete a payment authorization through PayPal to gain entry into a course.

Why would I use it?

Academy C requires payment for enrollment in their courses and would like to remove administrative overhead costs. By setting up a PayPal account and enrollment method they allow participants to enroll in their courses once the payment has been completed. 

How do I configure self enrollments?

1. Create a PayPal account.
2. Configure PayPal settings at the site level.
3. Create a PayPal enrollment instance by determining the settings at the course level.

Cohort-Sync

What are Cohort-sync enrollments?

A site administrator can create a cohort (or group of users) and then that group can be enrolled into a course with one click by selecting the cohort you want enrolled.

Why would I use it?

Foundation D has groups of new volunteers that must complete a series of courses. By creating a cohort, the volunteers can be quickly added to each course as an entire group all at once.

How do I configure cohort-sync enrollments?

1. Site administrators will first need to combine a group of users into a cohort. 
2. Select from the predetermined cohort groups to enroll the course from the Cohort-Sync enrollment method. 

Note: Site administrators must create cohorts unless the default settings for another role are altered.

If you are a site administrator wanting to learn more about enrollment options, consider enrolling in the Effective Site Administration online course. Alternatively, if you are an instructor wanting to learn more about enrollment enroll in the Course Building Fundamentals course.

~Janelle Gieseke

Best Practices: Creating a Moodle Course To-Do List

Best Practices: Creating a Moodle Course To-Do List 
By: Rebecca DeSantis, MSIT, Moodlerooms Instructional Designer

Did you know that in Moodle you can create a course To-Do List for your students and customize how they experience a course based on conditions? You may have noticed some completion tracking options when adding resources and activities into courses, but perhaps you’ve just glossed over them. It is also quite possible that you’ve never enabled activity completion in your course settings, and you don’t even know it exists! In today’s post, I’m going to explain how you can start using the completion tracking features and how it can be powerful when used with restricted access.

Tracking activity completion

Activity completion allows students to track their progress visually as they complete activities and resources in the course. As students complete items, they can mark them as complete or Moodle will mark is as complete based on conditions that you set. If you want to use activity completion, you’ll need to enable “Completion tracking” in your course settings. As a best practice, enable this before you start building out your course content so that you can set activity completion settings when first creating resources and activities. This will save you from having to go back and editing each item later.

When you view the settings for resources and activities, you will see activity completion options. Set the completion tracking method and select any of the conditions that you would like to use for each. Be consistent with the tracking method you choose to use. The available conditions will vary depending on the type of resource or activity.

Restricting access based on completion conditions 

Conditional access allows you to release content based on certain conditions (e.g., date, grade, completion status). In order to restrict access, the criteria must be set in the restrict access settings within a resource and activity. The restrict access settings are located directly above the activity completion settings. Your site administrator must enable this feature at the site level in order to use it.

To set the conditional access based on activity completion, set the completion conditions. If you do not see an activity listed when trying to configure the conditions, the activity completion settings have not been set yet for it. You can easily go back and modify these as needed. You might want to consider setting restrict access conditions at the end of the course building process as this can get complicated, depending on your design.

Course completion tracking

You will see a “Completion tracking” link within the course administration area after enabling completion tracking in your course. The completion tracking feature allows you to set what must be done in order for a course to be considered complete. As a best practice, set up all of your activities and resources (with activity completion) before you configure this area. Then, before your course goes live, delete all user completion data and set all course completion settings. Once a course is live and tracking begins, you can NOT alter this information without removing all completion data. So, be sure to set it up correctly before students begin the course!

Course completion status block
You can use this block in conjunction with the course completion tracking feature to see how students are progressing in a course. It also serves as a course To-Do List for students. They can view the set criteria for the course, along with the requirements, completion status, and date of completion for each item. This block can be added at the end of the course building process, as it is not needed to set up any completion conditions.

Summary

In order for you to make the most use of the completion tracking features in Moodle, make sure you:

1. Enable completion tracking in the course.
2. Set activity completion requirements for activities and resources as you build them.
3. Set conditional access for activities as desired.
4. Set the course completion tracking settings when you are finished building the course.
5. Add the Course completion status block to the course to track progress.

You can learn more about these features and other activities in our Course Building Fundamentals  online course.

Thanks for reading, 

~ Rebecca

Moodle and joule: Beyond the Classroom

Moodle and joule: Beyond the Classroom

By: Tara Thompson, Instructional Designer and Trainer

Moode is based on the social constructivist pedagogy, founded on the ideal that a learning environment needs to be flexible and adaptable, and that if we can come to understand others, we can teach in a transformational way. Using the idea that we are all potential teachers, that we learn from creation and expression to others, and by observing the activity of our peers, this article will explore ways Moodle can add systemic benefit beyond the classroom.

1. Student Support Services 

Today’s students often juggle course work, class attendance, work, families, and extra-curricular responsibilities. Student Support programs provide personal and academic services designed to motivate and support students on their journey toward success. Using Moodle to support these programs can increase contact with today’s busy students, invite participation from those unable or unwilling to attended onsite services, and extend access to additional resources and support opportunities. Below are two examples on how Moodle can support student services:

Online Writing Labs: Enrolling tutors and staff as teachers, institutions can use Moodle to deliver these, whether completely online or technology supported onsite services, using features such as:

• Assignments to provide feedback to students on writing assignments,
• URL to link to web sites such as MLA and APA style guides, common grammar mistakes, etc.,
• Glossaries for collaborative work in which students can place questions and answers to each other, and
• Calendar for organizational purposes.

Advising/Retention: Creating a course for Advising and Retention services, organizations can use:

• Groups and Groupings to control access, visibility and availability, assigning staff to monitor appropriate groups,
• News forum to deliver importance announcements forwarded directly to students email inboxes,
• Calendar to house important dates such as drop/add, registration, withdrawl, etc.,
• File to upload frequently used forms,
• Journal to support at risk students, and
• Databases support the creation of internships/jobs classifieds.

2. Student Organizations

Student organizations connect students with a sense of community, provide opportunities for the development of leadership skills, and serve as an outlet for self and group expression. Consider creating Moodle courses for these organizations, enrolling student officers and staff mentors as teachers in the course with all other members enrolled as students. The following example highlights a Moodle environment designed to support a student organization:

Student Council: Student Council could use Moodle activities such as:

• Forums to discuss different topics, either amongst themselves or with the entire student body,
• Book to publish committee and meeting notes, creating a chapter for each meeting,
• Feedback to get a sense of where the whole student body stands on an issue,
• Calendar to keep themselves organized,
• Lesson to educate the student body on issues, and
• Choice to hold elections.

3. Technology Integration

Consider creating a Moodle site as a one-stop shop for technology support. Below are two practical scenarios using Moodle to support technology integration:

Tech Support: Empower users with resources designed to engage them in the support process using Moodle for a Tech Support Course using:

• Groups to differentiate student resources from staff resources,
• Forums to publicly record tech issues and resolutions moving resolved posts to topic specific forums building an FAQ resource,
• Lessons to create troubleshooting guides,
• Feedback as a technology and media checkout system, and
• URLs to link users to our Product Manuals and Clickables tutorials,

Communities of Practice: Consider creating separate courses for initiative specific community of practice sites such as differentiated instructions, Moodle adoption, PLCs, etc., designed to support members on their exploration by housing training and support materials as well as on topic discussion and resource sharing, using features such as:

• Glossary to house participate shared resources,
• Forums for focused and open discussion,
• Lesson for guided exploration,
• Calendar to publish meeting times and locations as well as related events, and
• PLD to encourage participation.

4. Organization Intranet

Why invest in a separate system when staff are already familiar with Moodle? Consider the following example when creating courses for internal use:

Human Resources: 

• Lesson to provide video and text based instruction with checkpoint assessments for required training such as Blood Borne Pathogens, Sexual Harassment, Anti-bullying, etc.,
• External Repositories and Moodle Resources to provide access to frequently used forms such as vacation request, payroll, W2s, etc.,
• Choice with limited response enabled to form committees, and
• Feedback to gather data regarding staff culture/climate.

The list above is far from exhaustive so consider the needs of your organization, be creative with your application of the LMS, and have fun Moodling!

~ Tara

Best Practices: Creating Calculated Questions for Math and Science Courses

 

Best Practices: Creating Calculated Questions for Math and Science Courses
By Marcelo Mendes, Moodlerooms Trainer

Last week, Rebecca DeSantis provided tips for creating Quiz questions in Moodle. Today, I am going to talk about Quiz but will focus on calculated questions and the best practices for using them in your math and science courses. Moodle has a powerful quiz engine with a variety of question types, which are stored in a question bank and can be re-used within and between courses. Multiple Choice, True/False, and Matching are definitely the most popular question types; however, if you teach math or science, you’ll want to spend some time exploring the calculated question types as well. These question types offer teachers a way to use wild cards (variables) that can be substituted by random values inside a quiz question.

Calculated questions are fun because they allow students to enter the results and the system provides them with instant feedback. Teachers set the formulas and parameters for these questions. To create a calculated question, you just need to create a formula and adjust the range values of the wild cards. Then, students will be able to see the same question with different numerical values. It also supports the creation of questions with units in the answers, allowing teachers to create problems to promote the appropriate application of scientific units. It is even possible to use calculated questions in the creation of multiple-choice alternatives that change according to formulas and the selections available in the wild cards.

There are many creative ways to use calculated questions in your courses. However, the process to create those types of questions is not trivial. Here are six best practices that will help you master calculated questions in Moodle.

1. Start simple

• Resist the temptation of using complicated formulas. Instead, start simple by creating a Calculated simple question type with simple operations and a couple of wild cards. This exercise will help you understand how the mechanism works, and it will give you confidence to create more elaborate and complicated formulas in the future.

2. Select wild cards appropriately

• Wild cards are variables replaced by a pre-defined set of values. These variables are created by placing letters between braces inside the question text or the formula field (e.g., {a}, {X} ,{height}). When setting the parameters to generate the values in each one of the wild cards, pay attention to the number of decimal places. It will be easier if you match the number of decimals present in the range of values with the drop-down menu. 

3. Make sure you use the correct formula syntax

• A common mistake teachers make is to add an equal sign before entering the formula; this is not necessary in Moodle. Make sure you write the desired formula syntax. In general, you will write formulas in Moodle as if you are typing on a scientific calculator. You can use the four basic operations, parentheses, brackets, and functions. Click here to learn more about formula syntax.

4. Use the same wild cards in multiple questions 

• Moodle allows you to use the same datasets of wild cards in multiple questions. You can even synchronize the data so that you use all datasets of {x} consistently among a collection of questions. If you decide to use the same wild cards across questions, then I recommend synchronizing and displaying the shared datasets name as the prefix of the question name. This will give you a visual reference of the wild cards in use within a Quiz.

5. Change the order of operation and/or signs to produce new questions using the same wild card

• You can easily create new questions or multiple-choice alternatives just by changing the signs and the order of operations among the wild cards. The same wild cards can provide you several types of questions or alternatives. Here is an example:

          • {a}-{b}*{c} 
          • {a}+{b}*{c} 
          • {a}*{b}*{c} 
          • {a}*{b}-{c} 

6. Create a practice drill by making copies of the same question an adding them into the same quiz 

• You can copy the same question multiple times and place all the copies inside the same quiz. In this case, you do not want the wild cards to be synchronized; you actually have to generate new private sets of wild card values for each copied question. This will allow you to create a quiz in which students respond to the same question with different numbers. It is a perfect type of quiz to use as a drill or for warm-up exercises.

These are just a few tips to improve your quizzes and make your courses in Moodle more interesting and dynamic. I hope you are now excited to start using calculated question.

Sincerely,

Marcelo  Mendes