Random Quote
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
---- Malcom Forbes
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
---- Robert Frost
To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.
---- Robert Copeland
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
Drink coffee! Do stupid things faster!
---- unknown
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
---- Thomas A. Edison
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
---- Fred Allen
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
---- Jack Lynch
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
---- John Ciardi
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
---- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
Those who know nothing of foreign languages, knows nothing of their own.”
---- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 -1832)
Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.
---- Terry Pratchett
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself.
---- Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995
Technology will not replace teachers...teachers who use technology will
probably replace teachers who do not.
---- Ray Clifford
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.
---- Gail Godwin
I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.
---- Terry Pratchett
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
---- Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519)
Book Review: Moodle 1.9
A while back I was approached by Packt Publishing to review Moodle 1.9 E-Learning Course Development: A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle 1.9, by William H. Rice IV. I was approached to review this book due to my semi-regular blogging about Moodle as well as my extensive experience using it as a teacher of English as a Second Language.
Moodle 1.9 E-learning Course Development is a book that achieves its goal of being a complete guide to successful learning with Moodle. This book will definitely be useful for newbies as well as experienced users such as myself. Rice takes the reader through a tour of Moodle in the first chapter that serves as an excellent summary of its capabilities as well as a roadmap for the rest of the book. A friend who is a newbie to Moodle visited my house and read the first third of the book and expressed how helpful it was just reading it. He was very impressed and bought the book.
I would highly recommend any teacher or site administrator new to Moodle to read this book.To get the maximum benefit out of this book it would be best for the reader to have access to a Moodle installation, preferably as an administrator. However, if you only have teacher access this book will still be highly useful. For those curious about what Moodle has to offer but without access to a Moodle site this book will provide you with the insight you are looking for to decide if Moodle will meet your needs.
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Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Wednesday Nov 5, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Teaching | Moodle | Book_Gigilo | Book Reviews | (0)
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Moodle 1.9 Book
Awhile ago I was contacted by Packt Publishing about reviewing a copy of Moodle 1.9 E-Learning Course Development. Of course I said yes - note to other publishers I like freebies and will review for you - it took awhile to get the book as an older version was mistakenly sent.
I finally recieved my copy of the current edition the other day and I’m sitting in Starbucks right now reading it. I’m planning on getting the review written sometime within the next 10 days or so. Hope someone finds it useful.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Saturday Oct 11, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Book_Gigilo | Moodle | (2)
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Moodle 1.9.2
A couple of days ago I upgraded my moodle install to 1.9.2 I never upgrade mid semester just in case there are problems, even though the upgrade is always flawless.
Today I’ve been setting up my courses for fall semester and noticed a couple of new features that I like. First off, when adding a resource such as a pdf or word file you have the choice of veiwing it or returning to course - previously moodle automatically displayed the file. I know what it is and don’t need to see it, so this is a good change.
When I reset my course and changed the start date - all assigment due dates changed to match the new semester. Previously I had to go in and manually reset each assignment, which was annoying as I inevitably missed one or two and had students in a panic about not being able to submit assignments. Also in the assigment edit screen is the ability to set grade categories - previously you had to save the new assigment and then go into the grade book. This will be a good time saver.
The best part is AJAX editing!The best part is AJAX editing! Yes, now you can drag and drop weeks, resources or assignments wherever you want them to be. This is much more efficient than the old method of multiple clicks and page refreshes. This is truly a great find.
Overall I’m very happy with this upgrade so far and will have to explore the other new features, perhaps it’s time to checkout the changelog. In any case some nice changes from 1.8+
My materials vs Commercial materials
Over the mid term exam period I set up a survey in my moodle course for advanced students using the excellent third party module feedback. In the survey I asked students to rate the various activities we had done during the semester as well as a couple of other questions to get a feeling for how the students liked my class. I’ve made a couple of adjustments for the second half of the semester.
What I found most interesting was the responses related to the activities we did during the semester. Students consistently ranked activities I made myself much higher than ones from teacher resource books. I’ve included screenshots (in the extended entry) of the survey results where I’ve highlighted in yellow the activities I did myself.
Do I think this means I make better materials than can purchased commercially? Yes and No. I make better materials for my teaching style and my students. With the materials I develop they are 100% tailored to my class and students. Many of the materials I created are available on this blog if you do a search for them. However with commercial materials they are designed to please everyone and quite often end up being less than excellent but better than okay.
Looking at the survey results makes me want to create more personalized material for my students but the amount of time necessary to make quality materials is alot and thus I am required to use my own material to mostly supplement. Any thoughts or comments? What is your experience with personally created material vs commercial?
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Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Wednesday Apr 30, 2008 at 01:29 PM
Teaching | Moodle | teaching_application |
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MOODLE - Korea Herald Article
The latest column is out. It was originally slated to be a two parter but ended up getting delayed and combined into a double length column. The subject is MOODLE - hope you enjoy it and find it useful. If you have any comments or thoughts please share. Read it at the Korea Herald or look below.
update
I just added a poll to this entry. Do you use Moodle?
Korea Herald Readers
Welcome. Feel free to comment and leave your thoughts on this weeks column. If you would like to learn more about me visit my bio page. I have also been blogging at this site for 4 years so there are a lot of entries if you care to look through the archives. Some of my favorite or more popular entries are available on the classic entries page.
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Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Apr 22, 2008 at 08:21 PM
Polling_Station | KH Column | Moodle |
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NanoGong
Nanogong is a third party add-in for moodle that allows students to do audio homework directly inside moodle. If I can get some time this weekend I’ll install this and see if I can use it with my students.
Students can submit their voice and/or text message using a NanoGong recorder and the HTML editor as shown on the right. Once the message is submitted it can be changed or deleted later, provided that the message has not been locked by a teacher or an administrator.
A locked message means it cannot be changed or deleted by the student. The NanoGong activity only allows teachers and administrators to lock a message. For example a teacher may not want the student to change his/her message after the message is graded. Students can revisit the activity to check his grade and comments anytime.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Friday Mar 21, 2008 at 04:21 PM
useful_web_sites | Moodle |
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Moodle 1.8
Moodle 1.8 has been released. I of course will not be upgrading until after the semester is over due to not wanting to take chances with important data mid-semester. Full release notes are here.
CALL sig day
A while ago I was invited to speak at a CALL sig event. The day has arrived and I’ll be heading to the train station on my way to the SunMoon University (of moonie fame) to give a presentation on Moodle. My topic this time is Why I use Moodle. I’ll be be breifly talking about How I started off using the internet with my classes then I’ll head into why and how I use moodle for the bulk of the presentation followed by a breif time for Questions. I’ve uploaded my powerpoint after removing references to my personal teaching site and my real name. (PPS 2.8MB)
I was also asked to submit an extended summary, up to four pages. I used a modified version of the post How I Use Moodle which I wrote in March. Some things have changed but that post is basically what I’ll be talking about.
update - I’ve returned from the event
details in the extended entry.
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Miscellaneous
Did you miss me? Answer the poll and let me know. The break from blogging has been good for me. I’ve learned how to spend less time in front of the computer and I’ve trimmed my RSS subscriptions from 200+ to about 100 some of which are student feeds. I’ve also taken the time I used to spend in front of the computer and used it to lose weight. Today I am wearing a pair of pants I haven’t been able to wear for six years. I’m not done on the weight loss program but figure I will reach my target weight some time before mid-November.
I’ve got a lot to say on teaching and other things which I will continue it in the extended entry.
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Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Sep 17, 2006 at 06:44 PM
Random_Ramblings | Polling_Station | Video | Teaching | Moodle | web_site |
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Moodle 1.6 is now available
Moodle 1.6 is finally available for download. It does require MySQL 4.1.16 for full unicode conversion but only 4.1.12 if using latin-only languages. The problem for me is that my host is not running 4.1.16 (Just checked and it was upgraded when I wasn’t looking so I’m set 
) so I’ll be waiting to upgrade until my host is running the latest MySQL version. This is fine for me since I don’t really need the new features, but I do like to stay current.
The Official Announcement:
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Blogs or Moodle
I vote for moodle of course. However Marco has a long post up about a number of issues he’s having. I posted a lengthy comment there but I’m sure that he would appreciate feedback and advice from others as well. Go read Moodle or Blogs.
update
Marco writes another post with more issues to deal with - check it out.
Moodle for fellow teachers
On Sunday night I spent about an hour setting up a new domain and moodle installation for my colleagues at the university that I am working at. I also set up a teacher’s course where I can provide useful information and video tutorials once I make them in the summer. Additionally I thought that the teachers place would be good for coordinating social activities and centralizing resources that are useful to teachers such as policies, forms, maps and links to useful sites.
I sent out the email and was honestly only expecting about 2-5 teachers to be interested. We have a total of 23 teachers. However in one day I have had six teachers express interest. Anyhow I’ll be around over the summer and offered hands on training. Later this week I’ll be uploading an archived course of mine so that they can look around and get a better idea of what can be done with moodle.
The email I sent off to teachers is in the extended entry - edited to retain anonymity.
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You Tube and ESL
Recently I’ve posted a few videos or links to videos that are amusing. For the most part these focused on language or language learning: I speak no English, Berlitz commercial, and another English commercial. In the comments to I Speak no English Gord and Jamie both suggested the possibility of using that clip with their students.
I have since created a page on my student site that incorporates the video and script. I realize that the video may be a little complex for many students but the script is there and the context of the page should help as well.
I know that it is common for students to try to memorize conversations and speeches. However most teachers do not like to listen to memorized conversations as they are not natural and are very difficult to listen to. In fact, most teachers I know would rather listen to a natural conversation with grammar and vocabulary mistakes. This serves two purposes it shows the students true English ability and also helps the teacher to find areas that the student needs to practice.
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How I use Moodle
Lately I’ve seen a number of blog posts talking about being interested in using moodle. Additionally, I’ve recently installed moodle for a couple of people and done training on how to use some of the basic features for one person. I’ve done this numerous times in the past and been paid for it. Obviously I do have some success because the only way I get new work is via referrals from past clients. The point I’m trying to make here is that I thought I would post about how I use moodle with my students.
Using Moodle
I use my moodle installation as a way to provide course information for my students outside of class time. I do this by making announcements via the news forum - email goes out to all students or alternatively you can decide to send it out to only one class. I also add information or downloads to the front page of the site.
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Moodle Documentation
Moodle has announced a new documentation site.
This is good news since previously most of the best documentation has been scattered throughout the forums. If you are using Moodle or are planning/thinking about using moodle be sure to check out the new Moodle Documentation Site. Here’s another interesting bit...All existing documentation has been moved into this new Wiki (or will be soon), and that is the place where all new documentation should go. To start with, we have been focussing on organising just the English documentation, but the setup will be duplicated shortly for other languages too (eg Spanish will be at http://docs.moodle.org/es).
Finally, Moodle 1.6 will contain optional links on each page that lead to the most relevant page in the documentation wiki - you can already see these in the footer of pages on moodle.org.
Language and Culture Exchange
Last semester, in early September, I recieved an email from a Teacher (Martin) living in Hokkaido Japan inquiring about the possibility of setting up a language exchange between our classes. The basic premise was to have our students interacting with each other in English for authentic purposes hopefully resulting in a natural increase in intrinsic motivation for learning the language. We agreed to use the moodle installation which I already use with my students. I set up a new course and starting working with Martin on Ideas for a quick implementation.
The Plan
We came up with a number of ideas which were scrapped due to time constraints. One idea which I really liked was to set up a online magazine where students would write articles on topics of interest to them. Other possibilities with the e-zine were to have a topic discussed from both a Japanese point of view and a Korean point of view. I got that idea from my friend Timothy Allen who successfully did that with his moodle - though he had more time for planning and was teaching a course specifically designed around that premise rather than integrating it into a pre-existing four skills course. We didn’t have time to properly prepare for this, so it was scrapped.
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Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Sunday Jan 15, 2006 at 09:50 AM
Teaching | Moodle | teaching_application |
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Moodle NewsLetter
Moodle has now started a (bi?) Monthly newsletter. The first one is available for download in pdf. I’ve just printed it up and am going to go read it now.
student privacy issues
I’ve been on the mailing list for eLearn Magazine for some time now. Todays mailing will be of interest to anyone using an online component to their class especially if you are managing your own LMS such as Moodle. I recommend that you read the feature article: Student Privacy Issues, Ethics, and Solving the
Guest Lecturer Dilemma in Online Courses Here is an excerpt -
Many assume that anonymity is a given in the virtual course, but the truth is that there are many levels of anonymity. A teacher/tutor may not know what the student looks like or even the gender of that student, but some things are known, such as the student’s name and email address, for instance. (Of course, it is also known that the individual is enrolled in the given course at the given institution!) Through community development and ice-breaking activities, even more may be shared among virtual classroom participants. The sharing of personal information should end with the class community. When a student posts information in a forum, the intent is not that it will be shared with the world. Herein lies a problem for the online instructor.
Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Wednesday Sep 28, 2005 at 01:43 PM
Public_Service_Announcement | Moodle |
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Presentation Proposal
I just submitted a proposal for a presentation at the October 2005 KOTESOL National Conference. If accepted I will be co-presenting with my freind Timothy Allen. In the extended text you can read our abstract.
Submissions for presentations are being accepted until June 30 so you still have time to put one together if you are interested. I hope to see you there.
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Sean. inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Jun 14, 2005 at 08:20 PM
Public_Service_Announcement | KOTESOL | Moodle |
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Moodle Theme Site
I was just browsinge around the moodle forums when I discovered that there is a new site devoted to releasing new moodle themes, appropriately titled Moodle Themes. If you are using moodle now or will be in the future I suggest taking a look at this site. Currently there are only 3 themes, but it is a new site. Additionally this thread on the moodle forum states that We plan to release 5 to 10 themes in a month.
This solves one of the problems with moodle in that there was no central place to find themes. Now if this were only the case for blocks.
update
Classroom revolutions also has themes.
