The Curricular Technology team has scheduled a Moodle workshop in December:

• 2-3 pm, Thurs, Dec 8th, Library 105, Introduction to Moodle (sign up)

The above workshop gives an overview of Moodle for faculty who want to try it out for the first time.  Faculty already using Moodle who have specific questions about the platform or would like help designing a course site should consider attending one of our curricular technology work sessions:

• 3-4 pm, Tues, Dec 13th, Library 105, Curricular Technologies Work Session (sign up)
• 2-3 pm, Wed, Dec 14th, Library 105, Curricular Technologies Work Session (sign up)

Finally if you are currently using Moodle but are interested in trying out WordPress as an alternative or additional platform for your course, consider attending a WordPress workshop:

• 3-4 pm, Thurs, Dec 8th, Library 105, Introduction to WordPress (sign up)

For more information about these workshops and work sessions, see:

• Segue from Segue > Workshops

Professors Miguel Fernandez and Andrea Lloyd have agreed to lead a workshop on how to use Moodle’s grading functionality:

• 10:00 – 11:00 am, Friday, October 14, Library 105

To sign up for this workshop, see:
Moodle Grading Workshop Sign Up

We have also scheduled a number of work sessions where any faculty or staff can stop by and ask questions about Moodle or other curricular technology platforms.  Here are dates/times:

• 4:00 – 5:00 pm, Tues October 18, Library 105
• 4:15 – 5:15 pm, Thurs October 20, Library 105
• 4:00 – 5:00 pm, Weds October 26, Library 105
• 2:00 – 3:00 pm, Thurs October 27, Library 105

To sign up for any of these work sessions see:
Moodle/WordPress Work Sessions Sign Up

The Curricular Technology team has organized Moodle training sessions, see:
Segue from Segue > Workshops

These sessions will provide an introduction to Moodle including how to create a site (via the Course Hub), how to add resources such as web pages and links to files or site and how to create forums and assignments.  For more information, see: Segue from Segue > Moodle Workshop

Moodle has been selected as Middlebury’s new LMS platform.  This selection was made after extensive research into LMS platforms and communities and a pilot program that included Sakai and Blackboard.  For more information, see:
Segue from Segue > Moodle @ Middlebury

We have many faculty trying out Measure (aka Moodle) for their courses this spring.  We also have a good number of faculty trying out Sakai and Blackboard.  Thanks to all of you for helping us.

If you are not participating in the pilot study but would like to try out Moodle, you can contact Alex Chapin (achapin@middlebury.edu) and he will set up a test site for you and help you get started.  Alternatively, you can try it out at demo instances of Moodle, see:
http://demo.moodle.net

Also check out Moodle documentation and forums, see:
http://moodle.org/forums
http://docs.moodle.org

As part of the our first Moodle training session, I created a simple “animation” that gives an overview of the Moodle UI.   For a pdf version of this animation, see: Anatomy of a Moodle Site

(This may drive people nuts since it offers no control over the playback….)

I’ll be offering a workshop on using Moodle (aka Measure) for LMS pilot participants.  Here are details:

2:00 – 3:30 pm, Thurs, January 13th, Library 105
2:00 – 3:30 pm, Fri, January 14th, Library 105

This workshop will give an overview of Moodle and then provide hands-on training in using Moodle to create course sites.  LMS pilot participants who have agreed to try out Moodle are encouraged to attend.

Here is a link to the presentation slides I’ll be using for these workshops:
Moodle LMS Pilot Workshop – slides

Some of what will be covered at this workshop is documented on this site, see: Course Sites

The LIS Curricular Technology CT) team will be conducting pilot studies of a number of learning management systems (LMS) to determine which to implement at Middlebury as an alternative to Segue for at least some course sites.  Measure is one of the LMS that will be piloting.

Based on focus groups and surveys of faculty at Middlebury and in affiliated programs, The CT team has identified some features of Measure that may be particularly useful including:

• online grading
• assignment module
• discussion forums

These are  features that provide functionality that is not well-supported at Middlebury in the current technology solutions offered.  If you would be interested in participating in a pilot of Measure, contact Alex Chapin (achapin@middlebury.edu) for more information.

Want to try out Measure, take the Web 2.0 Quiz

(when prompted type in the following: username: middtesting; password: iwanttobetested)

Web 2.0 is a phrase coined by O’Reilly Media in 2004. It refers to a perceived or proposed second generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users. O’Reilly Media, in collaboration with MediaLive International, used the phrase as a title for a series of conferences, and since 2004 some members of certain technical and marketing communities have adopted and loosely adapted the phrase. Others, notably Tim Berners-Lee, see the term as a needless and poorly-defined buzzword.

A version of the ShadowBox theme was created for Moodle and is now used in Measure, an instance of Moodle customized for use at Middlebury College.  This is part of an effort to create a more unified UX across those platforms used for teaching, learning and research

For more information,  see: Measure Update (when prompted enter the following username and password (usename: middtesting; password: iwanttobetested)