eLearning Blender

Moodle Music Video

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:02:00 +0000

I came across this Moodle music video on Twitter via @moodlerific and I just had to share it. Hilarious and well put together. I know I'll be spending the rest of the day with the chorus line stuck in my head. Hope you enjoy.

"I think I know what you need now, switch from Blackboard go with Moodle right now!"

eLearning Guild OLF Resources

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:58:00 +0000

Today I will be presenting with Montse Anderson in the eLearning Guilds Online Forums. Our session is titled “How to Give your eLearning Graphics a Voice” and takes place today at 12 pst. This post will serve as a resource page with examples and source files that I will be sharing in the webinar.

Source Files:

Examples:

Other Resources:

Now Contributing to MoodleTuts

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:26:00 +0000

I’m happy to announce that I will now be contributing to MoodleTuts, the Moodle blog that makes learning Moodle easy. If you’ve worked with Moodle you know it’s not easy to find what you are looking for in short easy steps. MoodleTuts was started by Dave Mozealous with the intention of solving this problem through short, less than 5 minute video tutorials that make learning Moodle easy.

As a contributor I will be posting videos on Moodle topics that I come across in my day to day work. By contributing I am hoping to help make MoodleTuts an even better resource than it already is. I’ve already posted my first MoodleTut about using SCORM with Articulate and Moodle and I am looking forward to posting many more.

If you are not familiar with MoodleTuts go check it out. You might just learn something new in less than 5 minutes. And if you have any topics you would like to see covered in a MoodleTut be sure to let me know by posting a comment below.

Articulate, Moodle, and SCORM

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 14:26:00 +0000

You've got Moodle and Articulate now you want them to talk to each other using SCORM. One of the most common questions I see in forums, twitter, and blogs is how to use SCORM so that the results of eLearning courses developed with articulate can be tracked in the Moodle gradebook. While it is a fairly simple process, many eLearning developers run into problems tracking scores for Articulate courses in Moodle. All it takes is one wrong setting for your scores to not be tracked and there are a lot of SCORM settings to choose from in both programs. This blog post is an attempt at helping out eLearning developers having trouble using SCORM features in Articulate and Moodle. I hope that the video and written instructions below help one of those many people encountering issues using SCORM with Articulate and Moodle.

(Click Here to view video on Screenr)

How to use SCORM reporting with Articulate and Moodle:
The instructions below highlight some of the key points covered in the video. For full details and a visual example please see the video above.
Articulate Settings:

From within your Articulate Presenter project, access the "Publish" feature.
Select LMS as the publishing option
Click on the SCORM Reporting and Tracking button
Enter course description on "Reporting" tab (Optional)
Click on the "Tracking" tab and set the project to track slide views or a quiz score.

Slide views - Best used for Presenter projects that don't include a quizmaker or Learning Objects quiz.
Quiz score - Best used for Quizmaker and Presenter projects that include a Learning Objects quiz.

Click OK and Publish
After publishing, compress all of the published files into a compressed Zip folder

Moodle Settings:

From the Moodle course site in Editing Mode, add a "SCORM/AICC" Activity. A common mistake is to use the "Link to file or web site" resource.
After selecting the "SCORM/AICC" activity, you will be able to upload the zipped folder of published articulate files.
After uploading the zipped folder, click the "Choose" option.
From here you will be able to adjust the rest of the settings to your liking.
Once you have all the settings adjusted you can go back to the course site and test your Articulate project. After completing the project your grade should show up in the grade book on the course site.

Hope this helps out and let me know if you have any questions or alternative approaches to using Articulate, Moodle, and SCORM.

Related Posts:

Using SCORM with Adobe Captivate and Moodle

Moodle Pros and Cons Update

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:12:00 +0000

With all the hype surrounding the upcoming arrival of Moodle 2.0, I thought it might be a good time to revisit what we love and hate about Moodle 1.9. In a previous post, "Moodle Pros and Cons" I set out on a mission to build a robust list of Moodle Pros and Cons that would be a great resource to someone researching whether Moodle would fit their needs. I thought a list created on my own would not be nearly as useful as a list created with the help of fellow moodlers who come from different perspectives so I created a wiki page and posted a call for help compiling the ultimate Pros and Cons list. While the response wasn't enormous there were some great pros and cons added to the list from Joseph Thibault and other fellow Moodlers. Now that we are getting ready to say goodbye to Moodle 1.9, I thought it would be a good time to post the updated pros and cons list and send out another call for help adding more pros and cons to the list. If you have any contributions please click on the link below to add your thoughts to the Moodle pros and cons wiki page.

Click Here to Contribute to the list of Moodle Pros and Cons

Moodle Benefits	Moodle Drawbacks
Open Source - Free to download and lots of great plugins to customize to your needs. - Joe Deegan	Reporting - There is no simple way to run a site wide report with users grades in multiple courses. You are stuck going into each course site to view one courses grades at a time or using the overview report to view grades for one user at a time. - Joe Deegan
Great Community - There is a great community of Moodlers more than willing to help you solve any problems you may come across. - Joe Deegan	User management - No easy way to manage groups of students. It would be much easier if there was a way to manage groups site wide rather than on a course by course basis. I need to use groups for position and region which requires a lot of maintenance of the groups in each course site. - Joe Deegan
Customizable - There is a huge selection of plugins and add ons freely available to help you customize Moodle to your needs. - Joe Deegan	Takes a little tech savvy - Not just any trainer or teacher can download Moodle and be up and running with a quality LMS. It takes a little tech savvy and access to IT Dept resources to implement. - Joe Deegan
Widely Available - Most low cost hosting solutions on the web will install Moodle for you at no cost through simple scripts or an easy to use interface (which makes starting up much easier than having to know/install php, etc.) - Joseph Thibault (MM - GC )	Closed - if you're looking to create an open repository of information that anyone can browse and engage, Moodle is not necessarily the best tool. You can "open" your Moodle, but most installations require registration, and even more courses require course passwords (enrolment keys) - Joseph Thibault (MM - GC ) Actually, it is possible to set up a Moodle site so that anyone can read without registering and without login. And anyone can edit via self registering.
Sell content - one of the less talked about benefits is that for small businesses, Moodle offers a fully capable course delivery and sales platform. Just plugin your paypal email address and list prices. Though users will have to register before being able to make a purchase (which might be viewed as a drawback) - Joseph Thibault (MM - GC )	the admin side is not very user friendly. many info on the web but its not that easy getting used to the Moodle logic as admin, especially as the whole thing is strictly course oriented (as pointed above). also the "helps" are rather brief and hardly offer help for a begginer. but generally i do like moodle. guess im just a cons kind a guy...
Familiar - During workshops I like to put teachers at ease by letting them know if they've filled out an online application or form, they can master Moodle. All activities and resources are driven by similar form templates (title, description, etc.), if teachers can look past the fact that there are a lot of choices, working with Moodle to build content is easy - Joseph Thibault (MM - GC )	The Real Cost - Upside Learning wrote a good post highlighting some important factors to take into consideration before implementing Moodle. While Moodle is free to download but in reality the costs can add up if you go with a "Do it yourself" approach. - Joe Deegan Click here for article from Upside Learning
Content - Moodle's backup and restore functions are two of my favorites. The shear number of sites and courses on the web is HUGE...so if you're willing to do a little research/searching odds are you can find a pre-constructed course that the author is willing to share with you. Check out sites like Moodlecommons.org and Moodle.org 's course exchange for free resources - Joseph Thibault (MM - GC Related Posts: Moodle Pros and Cons Why Moodle?

Best of Both Worlds: Integrating Adobe Captivate and Articulate Presenter

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:42:00 +0000

Adobe Captivate and Articulate Studio have different skill sets and sometimes you need the best of both worlds. While Captivate is great for software simulations, I think Articulate is better for soft skills projects and tying the whole thing together. Because Captivate and Articulate have unique qualities you may come across the situation where you want the best of both worlds by using the two programs together. For example, I'm currently working on a project where branching scenarios lead into software simulations. I wanted to use Articulate presenter for the branching scenario but I also wanted to use Adobe Captivate for the software simulations. This brought me to the challenge of embedding an Adobe Captivate software simulation in an Articulate Presenter project. Through a little research and trial and error I found a way to smoothly embed an Adobe Captivate software simulation in an Articulate Presenter project. This post includes a Screenr video and written instructions describing how to take advantage of the best of both worlds by integrating Adobe Captivate and Articulate Studio. Please post a comment if you have any questions or ideas of how to improve upon what I started.

Video Overview:
The Screenr video below overviews how to embed Adobe Captivate Software simulations in an Articulate Presenter project as well as a cool way to transition from a branching scenario into the Captivate software simulation. Check out my post "How to Create a Zoom and Pan Effect in PowerPoint" for more information on the "Zoom and Pan" transition effect.

(Click Here to View Video on Screenr)

Written Instructions:
Why reinvent the wheel? Dave Perso wrote up great instructions of how to embed Adobe Captivate in Articulate Presenter in his post at the link below. You may have got the jist from my Screenr video above but if you would like more details or a written set of instructions then click on the link below to check out Dave's post. I also included a link to my previous post which describes a method for transitioning from a scenario into a software simulation by creating a "Zoom and Pan" effect in PowerPoint.

How to Create a "Zoom and Pan" effect in Powerpoint for eLearning

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:50:00 +0000

I am working on a software training project developed with Articulate where the eLearning course transitions from a branching scenario into a software simulation and I wanted to create a smooth transition from the scenario into the simulation. The scene transitions from the character sitting at a desk in front of the computer to a full screen software simulation developed with Adobe Captivate. I thought it would be cool to zoom in over the characters shoulder for a smooth transition into the full screen simulation but I wasn't quite sure how to approach this "Zoom and Pan" effect using Powerpoint animations. After a little playing around I discovered that by grouping all objects on the slide and using the "Grow/Shrink" animation I was close to achieving this effect. I figured out the Zoom but I knew there was room for improvement. I knew that with a little help from the Articulate community I could improve the effect so I recorded a Screenr video describing how I created the effect I had so far and asking for suggestions on how I could improve on it. As usual the Articulate community came up huge and responded with some great suggestions to improve the effect.

The Screenr videos below take you start to finish through the process of creating the "Zoom and Pan" transition using PowerPoint animations. The first video is what started things off and the following videos take it to the next level by using Powerpoint "Motion Paths" to add the "pan" effect and "parallel proximity." With the help of David Anderson, Kevin Thorn, and other helpful Articulate users I now have a nice transition from the scenario into the software simulation. Now that I know how to create this affect I have a lot of ideas of how to use it in other types of eLearning scenarios to bring attention to certain parts of the screen or scene that you are developing. In the spirit of sharing I have included the source files and posted the videos for anyone looking to create a similar effect. Please post a comment if you have any suggestions to improve the scene or ideas of how to use this effect in other types of eLearning scenarios.

I started things off by describing how I created the "Zoom In" effect using the "Grow/Shrink" animation. This was getting close to what I was looking for but there was still room for improvement.

(Click Here to View on Screenr)

David Anderson and Kevin Thorn both responded with the suggestion of adding a "Motion Path" to go along with the "Grow/Shrink" to achieve the Zoom and Pan effect. David Anderson describes this in the Screenr video below.

(Click Here to View on Screenr)

I guess I got David's wheels turning because later in the day he took it to the next level describing how to use the "Grow/Shrink" and "Motion Path" animations to create the "Parallel Proximity" effect.

(Click Here to View on Screenr)

Written Instructions:
I also received a response pointing me to written instructions from Microsoft explaining this and alternate methods of creating the "Zoom and Pan" effect.

Create Pan and Zoom effects in PowerPoint

Source Files:
If you would like to tinker around with the PowerPoint or use it for your own projects feel free to download the source files using the links below:

Related Posts:
If you are looking for tips on creating an indoor scene in eLearning like you see in the Screenr videos then check out the post at the link below:

Creating an Indoor scene in PowerPoint for eLearning

Should I change the name of this blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:52:00 +0000

Back when I started this blog about 3 years ago I was coming from an instructor led training background and transitioning into the world of eLearning. I was working on a variety of instructional design projects involving instructor led (face to face) training and beginning to implement eLearning within my organization. I was hot on "Blended" training solutions involving both ILT and eLearning so I thought "Blender - Training Solutions" was a decent name since I was blogging about instructional design projects involving "blended" training solutions but I've never been very happy with the name.

Fast forward to today and you could say eLearning has reached the tipping point within the organization and is now dominating my "To Do" list. I still work on and blog about instructor led projects from time to time but the majority of my work and blog posts are focused on eLearning. The change of focus and dislike of the current name has pushed me to consider changing the name of this blog. Before making any changes I wanted to tap into the wealth of knowledge out there in the blogosphere to make sure I have a complete understanding of the pros and cons involved in changing the name of a blog. Below I have a list of some name possibilities, the pros and cons, and a few questions I have about making this change. I would love your input on whether I should go forward with this and if you have any ideas for what I should call this blog if I do decide to make the change. I'm looking for feedback from a variety of perspectives so you don't have to be a blog or SEO guru to chime in and let me know what you think. Thanks in advance for commenting.

Blog Name Ideas:

eLearning Blender - This is the one I am leaning towards since it is a similar name but more focused on eLearning. I blog about a variety of topics related to eLearning so I feel blender is still fitting in the name.
eLearning in Practice
eLearning in Action
eLearning Insider
eLearning Dude - This is what I am called within my organization. It sure stuck at work so maybe it will stick as a blog title.
Something focused on eLearning in the corporate sector? - Should I narrow the focus even further to "Corporate eLearning."
Your Ideas?

Pros and Cons:
Here are just a few of the pros and cons that have crossed my mind. I'm sure there are many more issues to take into consideration before making this change.

Pros	Cons
A Better Name - I don't feel the current name is memorable or very fitting of the content.	Established - This blog has had this name for around 3 years now so it's somewhat established although I'm not sure if many readers remember the name.
Improved SEO - I don't know a lot about SEO but I would imagine having the word "eLearning" in the title would improve search engine rankings.	Mess up feeds - I have some concerns about messing up feeds that are addressed in the questions below.

Questions:

Will I mess up my RSS feed? - I'm concerned that I may have to set up a new RSS feed for the new name which would put me at risk of losing current subscribers. I haven't done any research on this yet so it may not be an issue.
Will I mess up my "eLearning Learning" feed? - This may be a question I need to ask Tony Karrer but I am hoping changing the name won't mess anything up on the eLearning Learning site.
Is there anything else I am not taking into consideration? I haven't done much research on this yet so I am sure there are many more issues I need to consider. If you can think of any of those issues please let me know by posting a comment.

Synchronous eLearning Design Overview

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 03 May 2010 13:55:00 +0000

As I described in my last post (Help me Design Synchronous eLearning), I am working on a school project that requires the design of an eLearning course that includes at least one online synchronous session. After getting some comments with tips and doing a little more research, I have come up with a decent lesson plan for the introductory session of the course. Keep in mind that this is just an introductory session and the majority of the course is a project based lesson involving participants completing a project on their own. I've included an outline of my lesson plan for the introductory synchronous session and would love your feedback. Please let me know if you have any ideas to help improve the design or if you just have a comment about synchronous eLearning in general.

(View Video on Screenr)

Goals of Introductory Synchronous Session:
The overall goal of the course is for participants to learn how to build Moodle course sites by actually building a site on their own. Because participants will be off on their own to build a Moodle course site, it's important that they leave this session with an idea for what they want to use a course site for. Therefore the goals of this course are to introduce Moodle and what it can potentially be used for and to help participants develop an idea for the project.

Outline:

Welcome - Brief overview of the course structure and objectives of the course. Keeping this "Broadcast" portion of the course short and sweet so that I can dive into the activities.
What is Moodle? - Many of the course participants have never used Moodle and really don't know much about it's potential. Before they can fully develop an idea for their project they need to have an understanding of what they can do with Moodle. I found a great "What is Moodle" video at MoodleTuts.com that drives home this point for me so I will use that as a brief introduction to Moodle and to get the conversation started.
Moodle Hopes and Dreams (Poll) - In this section we will start developing ideas for the projects by taking a poll asking them what they are hoping to use Moodle for. This will give me an idea of the participants backgrounds and the kinds of projects they will want to complete. I'll segue from this poll into a brainstorming session by discussing their expectations for Moodle.

Poll Question - What are you hoping to use Moodle for?

K12 Course Site
Corporate Training
Other

Brainstorming for Project Ideas (Whiteboard) - Now we'll dive into creating project ideas. In this activity I'll be asking participants to write down potential project ideas or just uses for Moodle while I write down their common ideas using a "whiteboard" feature or simply writing them in a word doc while sharing my screen. The goal of this section is to get their wheels turning about how they can possibly use Moodle and what they want their project to be.
Sharing Ideas - At this point participants should have a great idea of what Moodle can be used for and hopefully they will have narrowed down what they want to do for their project by taking the stage and using their mic to share their idea with the rest of class. This activity will give them the opportunity to bounce their ideas off the rest of the class and receive feedback to nail down what they want to do for their project. Participants should have an idea for their project narrowed down after sharing their idea with the class and receiving feedback.

In all I feel I have a decent plan for the structure of the course but would love to hear your ideas on how I can help course participants to realize the potential of Moodle and to nail down an idea for their project. I've done my best to keep the "broadcasting" to a minimum but still feel there is room for improvement to make this session more engaging and effective for the participants. Please share your ideas for improving this design by posting a comment.

Related Posts:

Help Me Design Synchronous eLearning

Help Me Design Synchronous eLearning

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:58:00 +0000

I am working on a project for my Ed Tech class at SDSU which is putting me a little out of my comfort zone. The project requires the design of an eLearning course including a synchronous portion where the facilitator and learners meet online using web conferencing software. I have a lot of experience creating asynchronous "self paced" eLearning courses but rarely have the opportunity to work on eLearning courses with a synchronous session involved. I am excited about the opportunity to try something new and would love your input on the design of the course especially when it comes to the synchronous online meetings at the beginning and end of the course. Below you will find the syllabus which summarizes the design I have come up with so far and the direction I am headed with the project. Help me earn an A+ on this project by posting any suggestions, ideas, or questions you may have about designing synchronous elearning as a comment.

Excerpts from Syllabus

Course Description:
This course introduces Moodle, the Learning Management System and how it can be used to create an online course site and learning activities. Course participants will take a "Hands On" approach to learning Moodle by completing a project based lesson which requires the development of a Moodle course site. Through the development of this project, participants will learn how to take advantage of the Moodle features described below and finish with a course site that can be used for their own courses:

Customize course site settings for your specific needs
Add text and graphics to your course site
Add resources such as web sites or documents to your course site
Create graded online activities such as quizzes and self paced online lessons.
Create social learning activities such as Forums, Chats, Wiki's, and Blogs.

The course starts and ends with synchronous online discussions while the majority of learning will take place asynchronously using resources available on the course site to complete the project. The online discussions will get you started on the project and provide the opportunity to receive feedback while learning the basics of Moodle through the development of your own course site. Because the majority of the course is completed independently, it is important that you take advantage of the forums on the course site to ask questions and complete your weekly progress reports. Don't wait until the last minute to ask a question, be proactive by posting any questions or concerns on the forums so that you can build the course site of your dreams.

Course Site and Resources:
You are not on your own when it comes to completing this project. By completing weekly assignments, communicating with your instructor and classmates, and taking advantage of resources found on the course site you will learn a lot about Moodle and walk away with a finished product that you can be proud of. Everything you need to attend online meetings and complete the project is found on the course site. Prior to attending our first online meeting, familiarize yourself with the course by reading through each section on the course site.

Course Schedule:
Week 1:

Online Meeting

Accessed through course site
Topics - Moodle overview, Project overview, Discuss project ideas

Post your idea for project in progress report

Use the "Progress Report" forum on the course site
Summarize the purpose and content of your course site. Outline what content, resources, and activities will be included in your course site.

Week 2:

No meeting
Create project course site and begin adding text using resources in section 2 of course site.

"Add a new course" using resources in section 2
Assigning participants to the "Student" role
Add instructions for students and outline content of course using resources in section 2.

Post Progress Report

Use the "Progress Report" forum on the course site
Summarize what you have done so far, lessons you have learned, and any questions you have.
Post link to your project site in forum posting.

Week 3:

No meeting
Add resources and activities to course site using resources in section 3 of course site.

Add a resource such as a web site or document using resources.
Add a graded activity such as a quiz or self paced lesson using resources.
Add a social activity such as a forum, chat session, wiki, or blog

Post progress report

Use the "Progress Report" forum on the course site
Summarize what you have done so far, lessons you have learned, and any questions you have.
Post link to your site in forum posting

Week 4:

Online Meeting

Accessed through course site
Topics - Project Presentations and feedback

_______________________________________________________

Any Feedback??:
So, what do you think? If you have any ideas, questions, or suggestions please let me know by posting a comment.

Creating a Better eLearning Scene With a Little Help

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

A great way to create effective eLearning is to throw the learner into a simulation of the task or performance you are training them to complete. Don't just tell the learner about it, make them do it. This often requires simulating the scene where the task takes place which can be difficult to make look realistic in whatever authoring tool you may use. One way to create a realistic scene is to use pictures of the actual environment but in some cases you might want to design a scene that is easier to manipulate so that various scenarios can be constructed from the same scene. The latter is the situation I was in in for an eLearning project I just finished. I was trying to create a scene of the inside of a room and was struggling to make it look realistic with 3D perspective so I turned to the Articulate community for a little help by adding this Articulate forum post and they came through with some quality tips as you can see by the before and after image. This blog post takes you through the development of this scene, and describes some of the lessons I learned along the way with a little help from fellow eLearning developers.

Tools:
The eLearning course was developed using Articulate so most of the work was done in Power point. I did use Photoshop to create the floor and wall textures but other than that it's all Power point.

Before:
I started out by creating floor and wall textures in Photoshop to create the scene in Power Point. You can find images of floors and walls on sites like istock or create your own. In my case I used an image of carpet for the floor, and I created the walls by following the steps in this tutorial to create a drywall texture. You can also find textures on this Flickr site that David Anderson (@eLearning) referred me to. Once you have the images you are going to use for the floors and walls you are ready to put your scene together in powerpoint using the 3D formatting and rotation options. This is where you will need to spend time tinkering with the 3D options to give your floors and walls the correct perspective. The video below describes what 3D options I used and how I got started creating this scene.

(Click here to view the "Before" video)

After:
After posting the Screenr video in the Articulate forum I got some great tips to make the scene more realistic. I learned that there are many different ways to do the same thing and ended up using a variety of tips from multiple contributors to the forum post that helped to improve the scene. The lessons I learned and used to improve my scene are described in the points and videos below:

David Anderson recommended removing the shadow underneath the wall, moving the floor and wall higher, and adding a person to the scene to add perspective.
Andrea05, and David Anderson all recommended adding depth and perspective to the room by using a larger image of the carpet and drywall that is not so focused, shrinking the baseboard, adding more objects to the scene, and adding a side wall.
Jeanette Brooks recommended adding a dark to light gradient on the carpet to add perspective and depth to the room.

Tom Kuhlmann demonstrated and described how to implement many of these ideas with the Screenr video embedded below. This was a big help in making the ideas happen.

(Click Here to view Tom Kuhlmanns suggestions)

Bruno De Pace (@evolve4success) suggested an alternative way of adding perspective by using side walls. This is also a great tip that may be a little easier to develop than what Tom suggested. Like I said, there are many different ways to do the same thing and this video proves that point.

(Click here to view Bruno De Pace's suggestions)

Posting this question was a very educational experience for me and I hope others can learn from it. Although I learned a lot about design and power point one of the most powerful lessons learned for me is to not be too proud or embarrassed to ask a question. There are a lot of eLearning all stars out there more than willing to make a contribution to the eLearning community. That being said, I'll bet some of you have more ideas or questions about how to attack this situation. If you have a tip or a question please post it as a comment here, post it in the Articulate forum, or even better do both. I also highly encourage you to jump on Screenr and show us what you are talking about with a short demo. Help make the eLearning world a better place by sharing your thoughts.

Resources:

SCORM Problems Caused by Moodle Review Mode

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:16:00 +0000

I ran into a problem this week involving Moodle and SCORM and wanted to share the problem and solution for my own good and for the good of anyone else out there who may be having a similar problem. What I was trying to do is relatively common so I am sure I am not the only one running into this problem with using SCORM on Moodle no matter what authoring tool you are using.

The Problem:
The problem was with a SCORM based course not tracking scores correctly in the Moodle gradebook due to it forcing learners into "Review Mode" after their first attempt. The "Review Mode" feature is designed to allow the user to review the eLearning course without their score being tracked in the gradebook. The problem I was having is that for this course I wanted to allow unlimited attempts and have their highest score tracked in the Moodle gradebook but Moodle did not make that easy on me. Moodle was forcing the user into "Review Mode" on their second attempt no matter what their score was on their first attempt. This was no good because it did not give the user the opportunity to improve their score after their first attempt like I was hoping for. The gradebook only reported scores for the users first attempt due to them being forced into "Review Mode" on their second attempt. This lead me into a scavenger hunt for information on how to disable "Review Mode." What I ended up finding is a better solution.

The Solution:
After digging through Moodle forums I discovered that "Review Mode" kicks in after the user has received a "Passing Score" on the course. At first this didn't make sense to me because in Articulate, I had the passing score set to 100%. If the passing score was set to 100% then why is "Review Mode" kicking in for lower scores? Then I realized that the Moodle gradebook has a "Passing Score" option also. After this light bulb kicked on I set the passing score in the Moodle gradebook to 100% and voila, "Review Mode" doesn't kick in unless the user has scored 100% and at that point who cares because they can't score better anyway. If you have run into this problem you can change your passing score by following the written or video instructions below.

(Click Here to view Video Instructions)

Changing the "Passing Score" to avoid Moodle's "Review Mode":

The settings on the SCORM activity can vary depending on your preferences but in my case I used the settings below:

Grading Method = Highest Grade
Maximum Score = 100
Number of Attempts = Unlimited
Attempts Grading = Highest Attempt

From the Moodle Grade book, turn editing on.
Click on the edit icon located in the column for the SCORM activity
After clicking the edit icon you will see an option labeled "Grade to Pass." Set this to 100 or whatever you would like the passing score to be.
Click Save. After changing this option the user will not be forced into "Review Mode" unless they have received a passing score.

Related Posts:

Using SCORM with Adobe Captivate and Moodle

Using SCORM with Adobe Captivate and Moodle

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:04:00 +0000

If you are thinking about using Moodle and Adobe Captivate together one of the first things you need to take into consideration is the use of SCORM. Both Moodle and Adobe Captivate are SCORM 1.2 and 2004 compatible. What does this mean? It means that you can create an eLearning tutorial with Adobe Captivate that will communicate the users scores and other information to the gradebook in Moodle. If you were ever wondering how to track completion of flash based eLearning tutorials, SCORM is the answer. You could drive yourself crazy drilling down into the details of SCORM but the most important thing to know is how to make it work. This post answers one of my most frequently asked questions from blog readers by walking you through the steps of using a SCORM based Adobe Captivate tutorial in Moodle. I've included a video from Dave Mozealous (@dmozealous) at MoodleTuts screencasting the procedure. Check out the video to see the process in action or simply use the written instructions for an overview. Hope this information helps and please leave a comment if you have any suggestions for using Captivate with Moodle or if you have any questions.

(Click Here to view video instructions)

Using SCORM with Adobe Captivate and Moodle:

Turn on SCORM reporting in Adobe Captivate.

Go to "Quiz Preferences"
Select "Enable Reporting"
Select SCORM 1.2
Leave other options at default (optional)

Publish the Captivate tutorial with the "Zip Files" option checked.
Go to the Moodle site and add a "SCORM/AICC Activity."
Add a name and description for the activity
Click the "Choose or Upload File" button to add the SCORM package.
Click the "Upload a File" button and Browse to the Zipped SCORM package you published with Captivate.
Click the "Choose" option once the zip file has been uploaded.
Leave the other options as default. Once you get things working I would recommend playing around to see how the different options affect the activity. You'll need to find the correct combination of settings that will work for your situation.
Click "Save and Return to Course" and test the activity. You may need to login as a student to ensure that scores are tracked in Moodles grade book.

Resources:

Moodle Docs Instructions for using SCORM Activities

SCORM and Bandwidth

5 Reasons Why I Decided to Buy Articulate Studio 09

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:45:00 +0000

I'm just finishing up my test drive of Articulate Studio 09 and I am sold on driving my own version off the lot. As I discussed in my post "Articulate, Captivate, Both, Or....?", I have been using Adobe Captivate but would like something that integrates with Power Point and speeds up the development process. Articulate has definitely proven that it provides what I was looking for and many other benefits that I was not aware of. Here are 5 reasons why I decided to pay the price for Articulate Studio 09.

Rapid Development - Yes, it still takes time and effort to design and develop a quality eLearning experience but Articulate has definitely sped up the development process for me. I went into this just hoping to eliminate the steps I was taking to convert my power point into a Captivate file but got more than I was expecting with Quizmaker and Engage. I was expecting these tools to speed up development but I was not expecting the quality results. Before diving into this I thought these tools were just for cookie cutter eLearning and not as flexible as you see in the Screenr videos here and here and here.
Community - I had been following Tom Kuhlmann's Rapid eLearning blog for quite a while and have learned a lot from him but I had no idea about all the great Screenr videos, blog posts, and forum posts from other Articulate gurus such as David Anderson (@eLearning), Dave Mozealous (@dmozealous), and Jeanette Brooks (@JeanetteBrooks) all of whom have already helped me troubleshoot an issue or sparked a creative idea for a project after only a month of using Articulate. The community's ability to show me the potential of Articulate products and quickly help me troubleshoot an issue is what truly sold me.
Bandwidth - The learners in my organization are what I like to call "Bandwidth Challenged." You may have read previous posts of mine describing the problems I have with learners computers freezing on SCORM based Captivate projects. This is no problem with Articulate. SCORM based projects are running like a dream even for my "Bandwidth Challenged" learners. I believe this may be due to Articulate producing a package of smaller files compared to Captivate publishing one big .swf file. However, I am using Captivate 3 and I have heard that this is not as much of a problem in Captivate 4.
PowerPoint Integration - I often find myself doing the majority of the work in power point then importing those slides into Captivate to make the final touches and publish. I felt like I was taking extra steps by jumping between the different programs and thought I might be able to save time and possibly get better results using a tool that integrates with Power Point. I was right about saving time and pleasantly surprised about the difference in results of the published files. I have noticed that power point slides with Articulate come out with a cleaner, crisper look and smaller file size compared to Captivate.
Flexibility - Compared to other tools that integrate with Power Point, Articulate is more flexible. There are many more options giving you control of the navigation and behavior of each slide and the overall template. I've only completed a couple of projects so I feel like I am just scratching the surface with all of the customization options available.

I am excited about the potential for future projects now that I am able to leverage the best of what both Articulate Studio and Adobe Captivate are best at. I'm sure not everyone will agree but from the perspective of a busy eLearning Developer in a smallish organization, Articulate will definitely improve the quality of many projects and reduce the time it takes to produce those results. Please help others lost in all the software options by posting your take on Articulate, Adobe Captivate, and other eLearning development tools.

Related Posts:

Articulate, Captivate, Both...or?

Distance Education - Ed Tech 650

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:01:00 +0000

The Spring semester has begun and I started a new class in the Educational Technology program at San Diego State called Ed Tech 650 "Distance Education" although the name may soon be changing to something like "eLearning Design and Development." I'm excited about the class taught by Dr. Bob Hoffman because it really dives into the development side of eLearning by applying principles from the textbook; "Michael Allens Guide to eLearning." To this point, most of the classes I have taken focused mainly on instructional design topics so I am eager to learn more about the tools that can make those designs happen. I've always taken a "Do it yourself" approach to eLearning development and I am looking forward to learning about different tools and methods from others in the class. Being that I am the lone instructional designer/eLearning developer in my company I don't have as many opportunities to learn from others in a formal learning environment like this class provides.

I love that the structure of the class is flexible and highly project based. Most of the semester is based around completing 2 eLearning projects that can be for any topic, audience, or in any format you would like. I think this is a great idea considering we all come from different backgrounds and have different goals for the course. The first project is to design and develop a "self paced" eLearning course and the second project is to design and develop a synchronous, instructor led eLearning course. At work, I mainly develop self paced eLearning courses so that project will provide the opportunity to use a work project and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. Due to scheduling difficulties I don't have many opportunities to develop instructor led eLearning so I am looking forward to learning more about developing that type of eLearning course in the second project.

Things are off to a good start as I am already working on a needs analysis for the first project and I am looking forward to what the rest of the semester has in store. I'm sure you will see more blog posts throughout the semester updating you on my progress on the projects. I'm hoping to keep the blog posts coming while juggling school assignments so hopefully the class will give me some hot topics to blog about.

Articulate, Captivate, Both, or....?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:56:00 +0000

I've been using Adobe Captivate for a while now and I am very happy with it for technical training projects but I can't help but wonder if other tools like Articulate may be a great addition to my toolbox. Since I already have Captivate, I need to determine whether it would be worth the investment to purchase new software when I may be able to get along just as well with what I already have. I'm hoping you can help me make this decision by commenting with your thoughts on the skill sets of Articulate, Captivate, or a different eLearning authoring tool altogether.

In my humble opinion, Captivate is second to none when it comes to software simulations and technical training projects but I believe there is a little left to be desired when it comes to soft skills projects that don't require screencasting. I often find myself creating most of the content in Power Point, then importing those slides into Captivate to add interaction and publish as flash. Being that Articulate integrates so well with Power Point it makes me wonder if maybe I would be happier with it for certain projects. But then there's that price tag that comes along with Articulate that makes me think I should just stay with what is already working okay for me. So, what do you think, is Articulate worth the investment when I already have Captivate? Before I jump into the trial version of Articulate to test it out I'd like to hear your opinion on eLearning development tools. Here's a brief description of some of the requirements that will come into play in the decision making process.

Requirements:
This is definitely not an exhaustive list of requirements but my main concerns going into the research stages.

Works well for low bandwidth users - You could say that my learners computers are bandwidth challenged. I have a difficult time using SCORM with Captivate because of the added bandwidth. Keeping bandwidth to a minimum is a huge concern for me.
Moodle friendly - If you've read this blog before you know I am using Moodle so it is important that whatever tool I use is Moodle friendly.
SCORM works well on Moodle - I've had my challenges using SCORM with Captivate and Moodle due to bandwidth issues. Hoping a different tool might be able to handle this better.
Budget Friendly - I don't have much room in the budget so it needs to be something that's not going to leave too much of a dent in it. The price tag on Articulate is pushing it. Although I do have a student discount so I may be able to find a better deal then what is advertised on the web site.
Branching Friendly - This year I will be working on a lot of scenario based branching eLearning tutorials. I'd like a tool that is designed well for laying out a branching tutorial and makes it easy to create menu screens with variables based on the users path.

Moodle 1.9 Multimedia

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:45:00 +0000

I thought I knew about most of the cool tools out there for developing multimedia instructional materials but was proved wrong after reading "Moodle 1.9 Multimedia" by João Pedro Soares Fernandes. This is one in a series of books from Packt Publishing that will help you learn the ins and outs of Moodle. If you're looking to take your Moodle courses to the next level with easy to use multimedia tools then "Moodle 1.9 Multimedia" is a great place to start. I have also read "Moodle 1.9 eLearning Course Development" which mainly covers using tools available within Moodle while "Moodle 1.9 Multimedia" covers multimedia tools outside of Moodle that can be used to add a little pizzaz to your courses.

The book starts out teaching you how to configure Moodle so that you are able to take advantage of the multimedia tools that are covered throughout the rest of the book. I was happy to see that the book started out by going over some of the administration tasks involved in using Multimedia tools such as increasing the Max File Upload Size, and embedding flash files as configuring Moodle is crucial to being able to use multimedia in Moodle courses. Once you've got the boring configuration tasks out of the way so that you can use sound, images, and video in your Moodle courses, the book jumps into a variety of tools most of which are freely available on the web. Tools such as Gimp, Google Docs, Jing, Audacity, Windows Movie Maker, and Hot Potatoes are covered just to name a few.

I recommend this book for any Instructional Designer, Corporate Trainer, or Teacher looking to increase engagement in their eLearning courses by taking advantage of multimedia tools. Not only does it teach you about many great tools freely available on the web but it also teaches you how to configure Moodle so that you can make the most out of those tools. Even a seasoned instructional design veteran can learn about a new multimedia tool or two from this book.

Related Posts:

Moodle 1.9 eLearning Course Development

Moodle Pros and Cons

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:59:00 +0000

Making the decision to go with Moodle over other Learning Management Systems can be a very difficult decision, especially when you don't have the experience to know the benefits and drawbacks of Moodle. Something that can be very helpful in this decision making process is feedback from Moodlers on the Pros and Cons of Moodle. In an effort to help those struggling with this decision I am looking for your help constructing a list of the pros and cons of Moodle from multiple perspectives and opinions. A list created on my own will not be nearly as complete as a list constructed with your help. Help make the Moodleverse a better place by sharing your experience.

I have kick started the list with a few pros and cons on a wiki page. All you need to do to contribute is click on the link to the wiki page below, click the "Edit" option on the wiki page, and add your contribution to the list. There are a few more details on the wiki page but wikispaces has made it very simple for all of us to collaborate on this list. Also, don't be shy to get a conversation about the pros and cons of Moodle started by leaving a comment here or using the "Discussion" option on the wiki page. So, what are you waiting for? Make the Moodleverse a better place by clicking on the link below and contributing to the list.

Click Here to contribute to the list of Moodle Pros and Cons

I kick started the list with the pros and cons below. These are some of the major pros and cons that stick out for me from the corporate perspective. Hopefully this will spur some ideas for you so that the list of pros and cons can grow. Thanks in advance for your contributions.

Moodle Benefits	Moodle Drawbacks
Open Source - Free to download	Reporting - There is no simple way to run a site wide report with users grades in multiple courses. You are stuck going into each course site to view one courses grades at a time or using the overview report to view grades for one user at a time.
Great Community - There is a great community of Moodlers more than willing to help you solve any problems you may come across.	User management - No easy way to manage groups of students. It would be much easier if there was a way to manage groups site wide rather than on a course by course basis. I need to use groups for position and region which requires a lot of maintenance of the groups in each course site.
Customizable - There is a huge selection of plugins and add ons freely available to help you customize Moodle to your needs.	Takes a little tech savvy - Not just any trainer or teacher can download Moodle and be up and running with a quality LMS. It takes a little tech savvy and access to IT Dept resources to implement.

Related Posts:

Moodle Pros and Cons Update

Why Moodle?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:57:00 +0000

Why Moodle?
One of the most frequently asked questions I get from blog readers is "Why did I choose to go with Moodle" over other Learning Management Systems. The answer is simple; Moodle gives you the most bang for your buck, especially if you don't have a lot of bucks. A huge factor in my case is that I had zero budget to implement eLearning in my organization so I didn't have many options. However, when it comes down to it, Moodle met most of the requirements I had listed out and met those requirements at the lowest cost by a long shot. I spent a lot of time researching LMS systems that added on a lot of expense for bells and whistles that my organization didn't need so why pay for it when with Moodle all you need is a little hard work.

However, Moodle is not all rainbows and unicorns. Although Moodle is turning out to be a good fit for my situation, it is not the ideal solution for all organizations. It is important to do your research and testing before making the leap to Moodle or any Learning Management System. Below are some factors I took into consideration and some tips that may help you in the LMS selection process.

Making the Decision
Thinking back on my LMS decision making process there were 3 key steps I took which helped me narrow down the huge amount of options and make a final decision. This is just a high level description of the steps I took to come to a decision that works for my organization. There are many more details to drill down into but I could go on all day with the small stuff.

Write an RFP - Writing a request for proposal (RFP) really helps you to analyze what exactly you need in an LMS. Starting out by describing everything you want to use the LMS for in an RFP helps to ensure that you take everything into consideration before making a final determination. If you go straight into the research without listing out your requirements it can be easy to get swept away in LMS features that you may never have use for and end up overpaying for a system that you don't need. You also want to make sure that you don't make the mistake of going with an LMS that doesn't meet your requirements and end up having to go with something else down the line. For more information on RFP's and samples to help you get started, check out this blog post about LMS RFP's by Tony Karrer.
Research - Plan on spending a lot of time with Google researching the wide array of LMS options. Don't get stuck in the research phase forever but make sure to talk to plenty of LMS vendors and take the time to view their Demo's. A great resource that got me off to a good start was eLearning Guilds 360 report on Learning Management Systems. This gave me a good starting point of LMS's to begin researching. Because there are so many options with subtle differences it is a good idea to put together some kind of tool to take notes while viewing demos so that later on you can easily compare the key differences and narrow down your options. I put together a simple excel spreadsheet that later turned into a great tool for narrowing down my choices. Once you have your list of contenders narrowed down you can send them your RFP and start testing out their trial versions.
Get your hands dirty - This is the most important step of the LMS selection process. Don't make any decisions until you dive in and test out the trial versions of your finalists. This can be a little time consuming but actually putting together a sample course and testing out administration features tells you a whole lot more about the LMS then any demo will ever tell you. Many LMS vendors provide trial versions and in Moodle's case it is a free download anyway so you can test out the full version at no risk. This is how I ended up deciding on Moodle. I was able to easily get it up and running on my own and it met most of the requirements I had described in my RFP.

Going through these steps helped me come to the conclusion that Moodle would fit the needs of my organization at the lowest cost. You may come to the conclusion that you would be sacrificing too much by going with Moodle. Either way it's important to do the work involved in selecting an LMS before you go too far down the wrong path and waste money. Do you have any suggestions that will help others decide whether Moodle is the right choice? If so, please leave a comment with your suggestions, tips, or questions.

In this post I brought up that there are a lot of pro's and cons to Moodle that are helpful to know about when trying to decide on whether Moodle fits your needs. In a future post I will be asking for contributions to a list of Moodle pro's and cons that will help others in the decision making process. I hope you'll contribute your opinions of Moodle for the sake of others struggling with the decision.

PBL Cheatsheet featured in eLearn Mag

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:21:00 +0000

The "Best Of" the information from my series of posts about Project Based Learning in a business environment was published on eLearn Mag today. With the help of Jill Duffy from eLearn Mag, I boiled down the key steps and tips for developing project based learning into one article covering it from head to toe. If you liked the PBL posts on my blog you will like how this article brings it all together. Check it out and leave a suggestion, tip, question or just a comment with your thoughts on project based learning.

Click Here for eLearn Mag Article

A Corporate Example of Project Based Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:19:00 +0000

Enough talking about how to design project based learning, let's get down to the brass tacks and look at an example of a PBL lesson. If you would like more information on project based learning before looking at an example please review my series of project based learning blog posts. This example is titled "Selling Sleep Disorder Relief" and was designed to help sleep products sales people improve their sales with customers suffering from sleep disorders. Most of the process is designed to be completed over the course of 6 days by groups of sales professionals within their store location during free time in between customers.

The process begins by the facilitator communicating the guidelines through email and will conclude with the participants meeting to perform the presentations. The email sent to participants at the beginning of the project will outline the guidelines of the project and provide access to the project web site which serves as a resource to participants throughout the project. The details of each step of the process are described in the table below.

Day	Milestone	Description
1	Project Begins	Project facilitator groups participants according to their store location and assigns each group a sleep disorder. This step of the process is initiated through an email from the facilitator describing the guidelines of the project and providing access to the project web site. Once groups are formed and assigned a sleep disorder, they can begin working on the project and contact the facilitator for assistance when needed. Because the project is able to be facilitated online there are less expenses associated with travel and time in a classroom.
2	Research	Groups begin researching symptoms of their assigned sleep disorder using multiple internet resources. Potential links are available in the Resources section of the project web site to help get participants started. However, they are encouraged to extend their research beyond the sites listed on the Resources page of the project site. Learners will develop a greater understanding for the information by conducting research on their own rather than being spoon fed the information.
2	Develop Outline	Groups develop an outline highlighting the key findings of their research and possible solutions for the customers sleep disorder. The outline will be submitted to facilitator for feedback. This allows the facilitator to provide formative feedback to the group before they potentially go too far down the wrong path.
3	Develop Handout	Groups will begin developing the handout after receiving feedback on their outline from the facilitator. The handout will be designed to summarize the key points and distributed during the presentation. This will serve as a job aid to other participants of the class who will be learning about the sleep disorders presented by the groups.
4	Develop Presentation	Groups develop their presentation including the role play sales presentation simulation. There will be an opportunity to receive feedback and practice the presentation in front of the facilitator. The opportunity to practice the presentation in front of the facilitator provides another opportunity for formative feedback to ensure they are headed down the right path and are grasping the instructional objectives of the lesson.
6	Perform Presentation	The groups will perform their presentations for the other groups and the facilitator. The handouts will also be distributed at this time. Performing the presentation in front of other class participants provides the opportunity for participants to demonstrate the performance described in the instructional objectives and for other participants to learn about the specific sleep disorder.
6	Debrief and Discuss	The facilitator will debrief and discuss the key points of each groups presentation using the handouts provided by each group of learners. These handouts will then be assembled by the learners to be used as a reference/job aid helping them take advantage of what they learned from other groups presentations. This and the final project grade are where summative feedback is given based off of the culminating project.

This is just one example of Project Based Learning in a corporate environment. Hopefully this example will give others ideas of how to get started and my series of project based learning posts will fill in the details of each step along the way. Do you have any examples of using project based learning in a corporate environment or suggestions of how to improve upon this example? If so please leave a comment with an example, suggestion, or have anything to say about project based learning.

Related Posts:
The posts listed below provide many more details regarding designing project based learning in a corporate environment.

Moodle Reporting and User Management: Is MOOMIS the answer?

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:03:00 +0000

Moodle does a lot of things great, but site wide reporting and bulk user management are definitely not included in those great things. If you are a Moodle administrator for an organization I am sure you know the pain of having to go into each course site to produce grade reports for multiple courses. In my case, I have to send out a weekly report listing every users grades in every course they have taken on Moodle. This means I have to go into each course site and export a grade report to an excel spreadsheet and then merge all of those separate spreadsheets into one big grade report. To complicate things even more, I have to maintain separate groups within each course site so that users can be sorted by position or location. To my horror, if a user changes positions or locations I have to move them to a new group in each course site. When you have a lot of users and a lot of courses this can become a very time consuming process. This puts me in the position of desperately needing a Moodle plugin that will make it easy for me to export site wide reports, and manage site wide user groups rather than having to complete these tasks repeatedly in each course site.

What is MOOMIS?
My Moodle administration despair lead me into a search for some kind of plugin or modification that will help me overcome these challenges. I was surprised to find that there aren't a whole lot of options out there until a conversation with Barry Sampson led me to the open source option called MOOMIS by aardpress. Keeping in Moodle style MOOMIS is open source and an acronym for Modular, Object, Oriented, Managed, Intelligence, System. It's not just one plugin but a suite of the business tools listed below:

Communication - Moodle already has messaging and email capabilities but it's nothing special. Moomis' communication tool adds a few bells and whistles so you can do things like send emails to groups and add attachments.
Competency Manager - This looks like a great tool for regulated markets such as insurance or health care. The competency manager allows you to setup "competencies" that can be linked to job titles. Users then complete coursework to work toward achieving these competencies. When they do reach the competency level for their position they have verified that they are competent for their position.
CPD (Continuous Professional Development) - This tool is key for creating site wide reports with Moomis' "Report Creator." Every course on Moodle needs a CPD which is awarded to the student for completing a course. When the user makes it to the end of the course they have to click on the CPD activity which will then award them a CPD for either achieving a certain score on a quiz or by clicking a box verifying that they have completed the course.
Events Manager - The "Events Manager" allows you to allocate "Real World" events such as instructor led training to users without having to create a course site specifically for that event. This is a nice feature which makes it easier to integrate instructor led training with eLearning and track it all in one place. As a big advocate for "Blended" training programs this is a feature that intrigued me.
Groups - The "Groups" feature had me drooling when I first started researching Moomis because of it's ability to create site wide reports. In my situation I am dependent on groups so that I can sort users by region or position when looking at the gradebook. This tool allows you to create site wide groups so that you can then create site wide reports sorted by those groups. I was hoping that this feature would save me from having to manage separate groups in each course site on Moodle.
Performance Manager - The "Performance Manager" is appealing to us corporate folk because of it's ability to tie learning objectives in with business objectives. We all know that the key to proving ROI in training is to tie learning objectives to what the overall business is trying to achieve. The performance manager allows you to setup business objectives in Moodle and then link users and courses to those objectives. This tool makes it obvious which courses or learning objectives are contributing to achieving business objectives.
Report Creator - This is where the rubber meets the road. The main goal I am trying to achieve is to find an easy way to create site wide grade reports and that is what the report creator is designed to do. The report creator allows you to produce reports in a variety of different formats listing CPD's awarded to users in all courses they have taken on the site. I was hoping this would save me a lot of time by not having to go into each course site to export a grade report and then merge all those together to create a site wide report

What MOOMIS doesn't do

Before diving in and installing MOOMIS so that I could take it for a spin I thought it was going to be the answer to all my problems. In particular, I was drooling over the "Groups" feature and the "Report Creator." Unfortunately these features don't quite work the way I was hoping for so I am going to have to continue my search for a plugin that will address my issues. However, MOOMIS does have potential and with some enhancements I think it could take the corporate world by storm. Here are my suggestions for MOOMIS that would make it the Moodle add on of my and I am sure many other Moodle administrators dreams.

Groups - The idea of being able to manage groups site wide rather than course by course is fantastic. However, MOOMIS groups do not cascade down to the course sites. MOOMIS groups are great for creating MOOMIS reports but if you need to use separate groups for any course activities or to sort through the gradebook then you will still need to manage those groups on a course by course basis. MOOMIS groups are only helpful for MOOMIS tools such as the report creator and communication tools. I would love this tool if the MOOMIS groups automatically imported into each course site so that I could manage all groups from one spot instead of in each course site. Unfortunately, MOOMIS groups do not address the problem I was hoping to overcome because I still need to manage groups in every single course site.
Continuous Professional Development(CPD) - Here's another great idea that just needs a little tweaking. CPD's work a lot like units for college courses. Students are awarded a specified number of CPD's for completing a course. My problem is with how course completion is determined. The only options for awarding CPD's are to automatically award the CPD for passing a certain moodle quiz or by having the student click a box verifying that they completed the course. This isn't ideal for me because I try to avoid quizzes and usually use other graded activities in courses such as Moodle lessons and SCORM modules developed with Adobe Captivate, but none of these activities are recognized by MOOMIS. If you are going to use any graded activity to determine completion it has to be a quiz on Moodle and can only be one quiz. Or else you can use the verification option where learners click a box to verify that they completed the course but I don't really trust my learners to not just scroll to the bottom of the course and click it no matter how engaging the eLearning course is. MOOMIS could overcome this option by awarding CPD's based off the "Total Score" in the course. This way you could ensure that learners completed all activities in a course because all of the activities contribute to the total score. It doesn't make sense to me to determine completion of a course solely on a final quiz rather than the culmination of everything the student has done in the course.
Report Creator - I think the Report Creator would be great if CPD's were based off the courses total score. The report creator produces reports based off of CPD's, enrollments, or quiz scores, so really your only producing a report of what users have done on quizzes in each course. I was hoping that the report creator would produce reports based off of all activities including SCORM and Lessons but it does not. All MOOMIS needs to do to overcome this problem is to award CPD's based off of the courses total score.

In the end, MOOMIS isn't the answer to my issues at this time but I am happy to hear that they will be continuing to make enhancements and are actually coming out with a new release in January. If you are thinking about implementing MOOMIS you might want to wait until the new release in January. In fact, if you want to test out MOOMIS try doing it on a test version of Moodle or at least make sure you back up your database before installing it. Luckily I tested MOOMIS on my test version of Moodle which now has CSS problems. My columns are all over the place after installing it. I've included links below to the aardpress site describing Moodle and to the download on SourceForge. If you decide to try it out please let me know what you think of it or if you have any suggestions for overcoming the hurdles I described in this post.

Resources:

Aardpress description of MOOMIS
SourceForge download (Be Warned: Back up your Moodle first!)

Managing Users in Moodle

Project Based Learning in 3 Steps

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:59:00 +0000

An Instructional Designers "Cheat Sheet" for Designing Project Based Learning
Four blog posts ago I set out on a long strange trip to dissect project based learning in a corporate environment. Along the way I have received some great comments on this blog and through Twitter with insight and examples of how to take advantage of project based learning. For the last post of the Project Based Learning series I'm going to boil down the key points of the four posts and the comments I received into a "cheat sheet" for instructional designers getting started with project based learning. This "Cheat Sheet" is designed to be used as a job aid summarizing the project based learning design process and does not include all of the details you may be looking for. For more information please click on the links throughout the post or in the "More Information" section.

What is PBL and why should I care?
Based off the name "Project Based Learning", it's not so tough to figure out that it's all about learning through the development of a project. Although it is simple to understand the premise of Project Based Learning I believe there is a lack of resources available because many instructional designers are designing it but don't realize there is a name and method to it. So, what is PBL anyway? The textbook definition provided by the Buck Institute for Education in the "Project Based Learning Handbook" described PBL with the quote below:

A systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills through an extended inquiry process structured around complex, authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks.

In my opinion it's a flexible term that boils down to scaffolding a lesson so that learners construct their own solutions through the development of projects rather than being told what the solution is through formal instruction. Project based learning's focus on the learner constructing their own solutions using available resources is what makes it ideal for the corporate world. In the workplace, employees don't have their training facilitator there to give a lecture any time they come across a problem they don't know how to solve so it is important that employees learn to use available resources to solve the problem on their own. Project based learning achieves what a lecture cannot by providing the opportunity for the learner to practice using the necessary resources so that when they do come across a problem they are prepared to solve it on their own.

Step 1: Dream up the Big Idea
Before you can begin constructing the driving question you need to develop the "Big Idea" that the project will be based on. This is where you need to be creative and dream up an idea or theme for the project that is intriguing, complex, problematic, and most importantly requires the learner to demonstrate the outcomes of the instructional objectives being taught in the lesson. When it comes to project based lessons in corporate environments it's best to come up with a big idea or theme based off of problems that the learners face in the workplace. A big idea that matches what people do in their daily work makes it easy to design a project based lesson that will improve the learners performance on the job. A great way to stay focused on authentic concerns is to enroll the help of learners in the brainstorming process. Engaging the learners in the process of developing the big idea not only makes it easier to develop a "real world" concern, but it also ensures the learners "buy in" on the lesson.

Step 2: Develop the Driving Question
Once you have the big idea or theme for your project based lesson you are ready to develop the driving question. In this step you will be taking the big idea you dreamed up in step 1 and forming that into a realistic scenario requiring the learner to demonstrate the performance described in the instructional objectives. A great way to capture the "big idea" into the form of a problem is to present it as a realistic scenario that learners come across in the workplace. Think about what is going to happen on the job that will trigger the performance being taught and capture that in the form of a question or multiple questions. The driving question does not have to be told in a storyline but a good story is a great way to engage the learner while communicating the driving question(s) and guidelines of the project. Once you have an idea of what your driving question is going to be, ask yourself the questions below before committing to your final draft of the driving question(s):

Is it open ended?
Is it challenging?
Is it realistic?
Is it complex?
Does it require a performance or project?
Is it consistent with instructional objectives?

If you can answer yes to the questions above then your driving question may be ready to put into action. Once you have polished your driving question you are well on your way to a quality project based lesson.

Step 3: Design the Assessment
The project based learning design process concludes by developing a plan to assess whether learners are able to demonstrate the instructional objectives you set out for to begin with by completing one or more projects. You could say that this step puts the "Project" in "Project Based Learning." I consider this to be the most important part of the design process because it is where you evaluate whether the lesson was successful or not. The best practices described below will help you ensure a successful project based learning assessment.

Demonstrates Objectives - A great way of ensuring that the assessments demonstrate the objectives is to design an assessment where learners complete the actual task or project that they will be required to complete on the job.
Scaffolded Assesments - Scaffolding the project so that it builds up to a final assessment that represents a blend of all the content covered in the project ensures that the learners have improved over time and achieved the instructional objectives.
Able to Score - Some of the greatest assessments for project based learning can also be the most difficult to assess. A great way of overcoming this obstacle is to create a rubric to use as a scoring guide. A well written rubric not only helps the facilitator score the assessment but it also helps the learner understand what is expected of them and serves as a guide for their project.

More Information:
As mentioned earlier, this post is only a summary of the design process. The links below will take you to more information regarding each step of the PBL design process.

References:

Buck Institute for Education. (2003) Project Based Learning: A guide to standards focused project based learning. Novato, CA: Buck Institute for Education.

Designing Assessments for Project Based Learning

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Deegan) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:50:00 +0000

You have developed your big idea and polished the driving question, now for the most important aspect of Project Based Learning - planning the assessments. The project based learning design process concludes by developing a plan to assess whether learners are able to demonstrate the instructional objectives you set out for to begin with by completing one or more projects. I consider this to be the most important part of the design process because it is where you evaluate whether the lesson was successful or not. In this post I highlight some best practices that will help you ensure a successful project based learning assessment.

1. Demonstrates Objectives
It seems obvious that your project based learning assessment must require learners to demonstrate the performance described in the instructional objectives but it can be easy to become carried away with a creative project and lose sight of your goals. A great way of ensuring that the assessments demonstrate the objectives is to design an assessment where learners complete the actual task or project that they will be required to complete on the job. Yeah, it may seem boring to just have learners simulate what they have to do on the job but this is a great way to ensure that they have learned something that will truly improve their performance. If the learner comes back to work from the lesson with a task completed then you already have a return on investment to point to.

2. Scaffolded
It is often more effective to scaffold project based lessons to include multiple assessments or projects. I recently designed a project based lesson that gradually built on the learners skills by including an assessment at the beginning, middle, and end of the project. The assessments at the beginning and middle of the project provided the opportunity for a formative assessment where the learners can be given feedback as the project progresses, while the assessment at the end provided the opportunity for a summative assessment where the learners can be given a culminating appraisal of their performance. Scaffolding the project so that it builds up to a final assessment that represents a blend of all the content covered in the project ensures that the learners have improved over time and achieved the instructional objectives.

3. Able to Assess
Some of the greatest assessments for project based learning can also be the most difficult to assess. It's easy to give a test where each question is worth a certain amount of points but when it comes to assessments where learners are completing a project it can be difficult to measure exactly how well the learner performed. A great way of overcoming this obstacle is to create a rubric to use as a scoring guide. A well written rubric not only helps the facilitator score the assessment but it also helps the learner understand what is expected of them and serves as a guide for their project. Rubrics are a great tool that I think may be underutilized in the corporate world. There is a lot of information available that will help you create rubrics so I am not going to dive into the details here. The links below will take you to a couple of sites that will help you get started creating rubrics and to an example of a rubric I created for a project based lesson.

Creating Rubrics - This link takes you to teachervision.com which has a variety of resources for creating rubrics.
My Example - This link will take you to an example rubric that I created for a project based lesson.
MS Office Template - This link will take you to a template for a rubric on the MS Office site.

These are just a few of the best practices that I have developed in the short amount of time I have been developing project based learning in a corporate environment and should by no means be considered an all inclusive list of best practices. I would love to improve upon the tips I have in this post with your suggestions. My next post will conclude the project based learning series by summarizing the posts into a "quick guide" for developing project based learning. If you have any ideas or tips that will help others maximize the effectiveness of project based learning please leave a comment so that others can benefit.

References:

Buck Institute for Education. (2003) Project Based Learning: A guide to standards focused project based learning. Novato, CA: Buck Institute for Education.

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