The latest Moodle and e-Learning News from the Learning Technology Team...

Say goodbye...

As the majority of users are now accessing Moodle either directly or via the Learning Centres website, we've decided not to renew the moodcat.co.uk domain name. We'll let you know in plenty of time when moodcat.co.uk will no longer be in use, and tell you how to update your bookmarks for the new address.

---

Slow Moodle?

You may have been experiencing difficulty accessing the College Moodle areas for the last few days. This has been due to a number of technical issues that are beyond our control. The Network Team are working on these problems and hopefully
everything should be resolved soon. We'll keep you informed with any Moodle service issues here on the LRC website noticeboard - http://learning.themanchestercollege.ac.uk/lrc/
so please visit that page on a regular basis.

---

Resource of the week

http://www.acljohn.com/

This should actually be "hundreds of resources and ideas of the week"....Run by John Dalziel of the JISC NW Regional Support Centre, it's aimed at practitioners, learners, managers, administrators, in fact anyone who has an interest in e-learning. John's site is divided into different categories with help, advice, and links to a wide range of useful resources. To pick out just one of the many resources listed, why not have a look at Eggwatchers here http://www.eggwatchers.com/

---

Help me!

Just another reminder that if you have problems using Moodle or elearning, need any help, advice or training, don't hesitate to contact the Learning Technology Team on 0161 918 6855 or email vle@themanchestercollege. We can come out and see you at a time and place that's most convenient for you.

---

Easter Holidays

Don’t forget – Moodle is still available during the Easter holidays, so wherever your students are, whatever the time of day, they’ll be able to carry on learning!

---

Tell us what you think of this newsletter. | Tell us your Moodle and e-Learning news.

Want to Moodle?

If you'd like to start Moodling or add a new course, please fill in the Moodle Course request form. You'll need your College network username and password to access the form. Once the request has been completed, you will receive an email telling you that your course is available to use.

---

Can't log in?

If you can't log in to Moodle or any of the other college online services with your College network username and password, it usually means there's a problem with your network account. The first place to get help with this is the IT Helpdesk. Email helpdesk@themanchestercollege.ac.uk or 'phone 0161 918 6855.

---

Why not try....

Quizbusters

What is it?
An online interactive quiz resource in the style of the tv show "Blockbusters". Use the ready-made quizzes or make your own.

What can I use it for?
Assessing prior knowledge, revision, encouraging teamwork, making learning fun! (and much more)

Where can I use it?
On a computer that's connected to the internet - best played on an interactive whiteboard in a classroom.

Click to try a quiz...

---

Why don't you....?

...See how many times a student has viewed a resource in Moodle

1 - Click on "Reports" on your admin block
2 - Where it says "Choose which logs you want to see:".....
3 - Choose from "All participants" or individual users, and all days (or single days for individual queries).
4 - You can either select "display on page" or download in a spreadsheet format.
5 - Then click "get these logs".

---

This weeks' news has been brought to you by the eServices Team at The Manchester College and the letter "M" for Moodle.

Get more news / Comment / Add your Moodle & eLearning news

Single Sign-on

We're currently testing access to Moodle using college network accounts for those staff who have accounts on the ex-Mancat network. We'll be contacting some of these users so we can change their manual Moodle accounts over to network accounts and then they'll be able to log in with the same username and password that they use to log into the college computers.

The biggest benefit of this way of logging into Moodle is that staff can use the same username and password to access many of the college's online services, including all of the other Moodle sites, the Ourtube video hosting service, and the forthcoming staff intranet. In case you hadn't noticed, students using the ex-Mancat network have been logging into Moodle with their network ID since September, and students on the ex-CCM network have been doing the same since we started to use Moodle over nearly five years ago.

Mind your language!

We have now successfully tested and installed a moderated forum module on MOL. This module allows the teacher to moderate their forum topics and moderate any replies to forum topics.
We have also created a short video showing how this works.





If the video doesn't appear or play properly, please check the following link:

http://ourtube.themanchestercollege.ac.uk/watch.aspx?v=3TSFX

Final Answer?

Ever wondered why Moodle does not send you automated email whenever your students attempt a quiz?
In this video we will show you how you can enable the notification option for your quiz module so that you know who has attempted it.

Please see a video demo of it :




If the video doesn't appear or play properly, please click the following link:

http://ourtube.themanchestercollege.ac.uk/watch.aspx?v=6RZ4Z

New Moodlings

Welcome to all our staff who have recently started to use Moodle in their Teaching and Learning. We've had requests to set up over 40 new Moodle courses since the beginning of term, many of which were for staff who are new to Moodle. If you'd like to set up a new Moodle course or would like to know how Moodle can enhance your Teaching and Learning, please contact a member of the e-Services Team by email at vle@themanchestercollege.ac.uk

"Add a resource" missing?

If you cannot see the "Add a resource" or "Add an activity" dropdown menus in your course when you have editing turned on, it is almost certainly because you are using Internet Explorer version 6. There is a known error with Moodle in this browser, which we are aware of and we will inform you when it has been resolved.

In the meantime, you can use ONE of the two following solutions so you can see the dropdowns again:

1. Log into Moodle in a web browser other than Internet Explorer version 6. You could use Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox version 3. (click on "Help">>>"About Internet Explorer" to locate the version number if you do not know which version you are currently using).

2. Continue to use Internet Explorer version 6, but turn off the advanced web features in your user profiles. This will disable the crosshair/drag and drop facility in your course area and you will only be able to use the standard arrows to move content around. Click on your name at the top of your course, then "Edit Profile", then change the AJAX and Javascript settings to "No: use basic web features". Then click the update button and go back to your course page.

Fun and Games

Many of our teachers and support staff are now using Moodle to enhance their students' learning and to provide 24/7 access to resources such as handouts and worksheets. However, more and more are starting to introduce a wider range of resources into Moodle that can enhance students' learning experiences. For example, The Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy teams are now using interactive training resources and quizzes such as Who wants to be a Billionaire, all from within Moodle. Tutors have commented on how much the use of these resources has engaged students more and helped students with their studies. Students have also said how much they enjoy working on these activities.

Mobile Learning 

Learnig Technology Team is now responsible for managing a number of Mobile Learning projects, which primarily cover Work Based Learning. He is currently working to identify and manage the use of mobile learning equipment such as Netbooks, iPhones, and other smart media, that will enhance the collecting and recording of evidence, and provide access to resources that would normally only be available to students who are college-based. Although there is a wide range of equipment available in college, you don't need expensive technology to record evidence of students' work. Just use your mobile phone and use Bluetooth or your phone cable to send the recording to a laptop.

Video

Don't forget that Mobile Learning doesn't just have to take place away from college. If you are teaching on vocational courses, you can record practical demonstrations for students to view in their own time, record evidence of students' work, and use audio and video recordings for peer review. You can also upload the recordings to the College's own media resource area - Ourtube. Users can view your recordings in a wide range of formats and download them to their iPods, PSPs and mobile phones. Also, using a wide range of learning resources, including mobile technology in your teaching, engages your students more, enhances their learning, and makes things fun and interesting for you and them.

Have look at some examples of recorded practical demonstrations used by the Hairdressing department.

You can even embed your videos into Moodle.

Problems solved

A number of recently reported Moodle-related problems have now been resolved. Students who were having to change their network password before being able to log into Moodle, should no longer have to do this. Also, the student email system should now be available to those using the computers at One Central Park. If staff or students are still having difficulty logging into Moodle for the first time or cannot enrol on a Moodle course, please view the help files on Moodle section of the Learning Centres website.

If you want to know more about how using interactive resources and Mobile technology in Teaching and Learning, contact the eServices Team on 0161 918 6855. You can also email us - we're now in the First Class directory!

Change your password now!

If some students are able to log into Moodle one day, and not the next, we've been informed by IT Services that this is likely to be a problem on the network and not with Moodle. We're passing on all reports of this to IT Services to resolve the problem. Until then, students can get back into Moodle by changing their network password on their college computer, and then logging into Moodle. However, they may have to change their password every day they want to use Moodle. So far, this problem has only been reported at Openshaw, Harpurhey, and Moston Campuses. If you've come across this problem at any other campuses, please contact the eServices Team.

Here's one I made earlier

Ganesh in the eServices Team has recently created an online presentation to show the wide range of e-Learning tools we recommend to create interactive, interesting, and fun, teaching and learning resources. Many of these resources are web-based and are very easy and intuitive to to use. All of the content created in these applications can be easily uploaded into Moodle for your students to access 24 hours a day. The applications include Xerte Online Toolkits, for creating interactive learning objects, and CamStudio, to record all screen and audio activity on your computer. If you want to learn more about these tools and how they can enhance Teaching and Learning, click on this link to see the video, and then contact the eServices Team to arrange a demonstration.

Hot Potatoes Unleashed

"The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web."

If you've been using the Hot Potatoes program you'll be pleased to know that it is now completely free to use. The application previously required a registration key to use it without restriction. If you are using Hot Potatoes at home, you can download it here, and if you are using it in college, please contact the IT Helpdesk to have the new, unrestricted version installed on your computer. You'll no longer be able to get a registration key to unlock a restricted version of Hot Potatoes.

What we're doing

The eServices Team are currently working on Moodle and e-Learning projects alongside members of Hairdressing, Beauty Therapy, Business Studies, MOL, Sports and Fitness, and Teacher Education departments, and many others. If you're a member of one of those teams and don't know about using Moodle and e-Learning, please ask your line manager about it, and then contact the eServices Team to discover how we can help you enhance your Teaching and Learning! If you're using Moodle and e-Learning and want to share your ideas with other teachers, let us know!

The e-Services Development Team

vle@themanchestercollege.ac.uk or use the messaging system in Moodle.

More news (Moodle login required)

Missing Students in Moodle

We've recently had a few reports of students disappearing from their Moodle courses. One week they were enrolled on a course, and the next week they weren't. If this has happened to you as teacher, or you're a student who is no longer enrolled on a Moodle course when you thought you were, it's likely that the following has happened.

Some continuing students have been enrolled onto a course by their tutors under their previous username (usually beginning "08"), or they were never unenrolled from their Moodle course at the end of the last academic year. Students have now started to log into Moodle with their new student ID (the 6-digit number on their student card) and are not enrolled on the course under this ID. The tutor thinks that the student is already enrolled but the student has not accessed any course materials, therefore it may seem to a tutor that a student is no longer accessing the course.

To avoid this, tutors: please make sure that your students log into Moodle and access your course under the username that you enrolled them with. If you have not already enrolled students on to your course, they should enrol themselves using the method described here on the Learning Centres' website.

Tutors: If you're tried this solution and your students are still missing from your course, please contact the e-Services Team.

Student email at One Central Park

The new student email system is currently unavilable from the computers at One Central Park. The problem has been reported to IT Services, who are currently working on a solution. In the meantime, the student email system can be accessed from the computers at other The Manchester College campuses and from home (if you have internet connection) by clicking the "student email" button on the Learning Centres website.

Welcome!

Welcome to the first official e-Services Blog! This blog will be used by members of the e-Services Development Team at The Manchester College to keep you informed of a number of things including:

• Issues, problems, and announcements about the College Moodle systems
• News and information on some of the e-Learning related projects we're working on
• Information about Moodle and e-Learning staff development sessions
• How to get help from the e-Services Development Team, and other College IT services

Broken Links in Moodle

We've recently noticed that some Moodle courses have "dead" links (ones that take your users to a web page that no longer exists), or ones that don't point to the correct web page or site.
Please can all course "owners" make sure that all of the web links in your Moodle courses work properly, and if they don't either please update them, or remove them completely if you no longer need them. If you are expecting your students to visit your Moodle course on a regular basis, they may become frustrated when links in your course don't work properly, and are less likely to return to your course area if something doesn't work properly. If you are unsure of how to update your links, please contact the e-Services Development Team for help.

Follow the e-Services Development Team

Please follow this blog for regular updates and news from the e-Services Development Team. You can do this by either logging into Moodle regularly and checking for updates yourself, or you can receive updates automatically by subscribing to this blog using a news feed aggregator such as Google Reader or Feedburner (look out for the RSS and Atom links at the side of the original blog page).