MoodleMoot UK 2010 Day 1

Posted by: loujak78 on: April 23, 2010

• In: Moodle | pedagogy | Technology Enhanced | VLE
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I was excited to be attending MoodleMoot 2010 in London, with my VLE Manager (Lewis Carr), on the 13th and 14th April; it was my first! This blog post includes details of the sessions I attended and main highlights – as I saw them from day 1. I would like to apologise now for the length of this post and the next; despite splitting to reflect the 2 days separately, they are still very long. Also I am sure several shorter posts will follow as time allows, relating to different key points, I will tag and tweet them all with Mootuk10 for those who want to follow them
The organisation was good for ‘signing in’ and collecting a name badge (with bright orange lanyard) and storing additional bags and coats, however the table with individual letters, with details of our own wifi login details, was very disorganised by the time we reached it – though once we worked out what the system was we found our sheets.

For future events I organise / host, creating individual accounts for all delegates may be a good way to enable access to wifi connectivity while retaining control / security of the system?

It was clear from the start that there was a lot of technology in the room. Many of the delegates (including myself) were using netbooks and laptops to record notes. Most were also accessing, following & contributing to a twitter conversation using the #mootuk10 hashtag – I have included my own (@loujak78) as well as others’ relevant tweets throughout this post, including some of mine that were retweeted by others!. Later during the conference comparisons were being made to the number of tweets per delegate against a JISC conference – I think MoodleMoot won, which was not surprising as the engagement with Twitter continued throughout the whole of the 2 days!

mattlingard: How many delegates at #jisc10 ? Rumour has it that earlier #mootuk10 was out-tweeting #jisc10 per delegate… 13:47 PM Apr 13th

tutor2u_econ: #mootuk10 1st conference I have been to where at least 2/3rds of audience continually scanning Twitter during the key note presentations! 13:51

On the second day, between presentations, the tweets were being displayed on the big screen in the main hall using http://visibletweets.com/

It was a great talking point and something I have already used myself at a JISC RSC-YH Moodle User Group event!

Welcome (Professor Geoffrey Crossick): Through trying to find out who had come the furthest to the conference it was discovered that there were participants from the UK, Europe, Middle East, Caribbean, USA and Australia! Lots of the delegates were from HE, Some (including me) were from FE, with only a few from Schools & Other Areas.

Some departments that use Moodle, including how / why, were highlighted as:

• Education department – PGCE (communication)
• Media and Communications (international collaborative work)
• Widening Participation (reaching disadvantaged learners)

Morning Keynote: Professor Sugata Mitra (Newcastle University): The Hole in the Wall:

After catching the 7.30am train in Newcastle Prof Mitra arrived at Senate House to deliver his speech just after 10.30am!

A testimony to British transport, but I’m not sure I could plan to arrive at an event that close to the time I was due to deliver a big keynote and still have the energy that was visible on the stage during this speech?!

Sited as the inspiration behind the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ the ‘hole in the wall’ project, led by Professor Sugata, researched autonomous learning in primary age children in India and the UK.

It started when he realised that computer teachers wouldn’t go into a slum to teach as most have made money doing things other than teaching! His aim was to use a computer ‘outside’ in order to reach more people. A computer was installed in a ‘Hole in the wall’, then they waited and wondered what people would do? Evidence was shown of a little boy who had figured out what it was (after someone, walking past, showed how to use the touch pad), he then showed a little girl about browsing. Prof Mitra questioned what would happen if no-one could show them what to do? The second installation was in a more remote location, after teaching themselves how to use it, their response … “we want a faster processor and better mouse!”! In another project “Speech to text” software was used to improve individuals’ pronunciation (after ‘training’ initially with an English accent). In order to learn, students’ downloaded voice based material (including a speaking oxford dictionary) and took turns to correct each other!

The keynote featured the thought that encouraging self-discovery could be as simple as responding with ‘I don’t know’ when the student initially asks ‘how’. However, the real differences between younger and older individuals is their attitude:

• Child: “if I teach myself the language, I can (learn to) use the machine” (2 positives)
• Adult: “I don’t understand the language so I cant use the machine” (2 negatives)

I hear the second phrase many times from teachers as I am trying to teach them how and why to use technology to enhance their teaching and learning. At what stage/age do individuals have this change in attitude?

A key finding from the project is that children enforce self-regulation and order when left alone but they know that everything is being monitored. Also because the technology was installed in a public place, it appeared less formal and reached many people but there was very little misuse or damage – which goes against what many people assume will happen.

Bbarrington: RT @loujak78 over 300 children become computer literate in 3 months – with one computer! #mootuk10 10:49 AM Apr 13^th

jamesmichie: RT @loujak78: #mootuk10 keynote – important to put computer in place associated with fun and play to encourage self development & learning 10:56 AM Apr 13^th

The project has developed through the addition of a ‘questioner/supporter’ like a critical friend / ‘grandma’ figure and more individuals and groups are being supported through the use of video conferencing to teach and help others develop. There are now ‘clouds’ of mediators being ‘beamed in’ to a variety of different environments! Prof Mitra talked about his projects with such passion and enthusiasm that the whole audience was captivated. His inclusion of humour was perfect (though I’m not sure he realised just how funny he is) and his delivery was inspiring. Despite not having any direct connection to Moodle it set the theme for the event exceptionally well. 

mhughes2k: Oh yeah … RT @loujak78: Excellent, inspirational (and very funny) Keynote by Prof Mitra at #mootuk10 Great start to the conference! 11:34 AM Apr 13th

Tuesday (am) Breakout session 1 – Moodle Showcase – Using Quizzes:

There were 3 presentations: from; Wissam Nahas, Eoin Campbell and Tim Lowe

• Wissam spoke about the use of Moodle quizzes as a formal assessment / online testing tool. In his organisation they focus on developing tests for teachers, they also facilitate lab based timed tests and help teachers with the task of manually grading some question types as well as analysing results. They had found that with larger numbers of individuals accessing a ‘quiz’ at the same time it negatively affected the server / speed so they now stagger the start at intervals of 2 minutes, and limit questions to 5 per page – in case any are lost.

Particularly useful tips during this 20 minute slot included: The importance of staggering start times and the use of Moodle quizzes as online tests –> it would be good to have a conversation with awarding bodies to establish the validity of this. However we do not have a large enough team to provide the level of hands on support as in this example, however we do encourage tutors to create their own resources, including quizzes, so that they take ownership and the eLearning team’s available time is efficiently used.

• Eoin spoke about research he had done with primary learners about giving individuals permission to generate quiz questions as a differentiated activity, that encourages higher order thinking skills. He identified that the interface of the Moodle quiz was not friendly enough to use directly though as it added barriers to the learning process / potential of the activity. Nonetheless he had found that students were very interested in and keen to create their own questions and naturally differentiated the activity, with less able individuals opting for simpler question types (e.g. True/False, Multiple Choice), while more capable learners writing more difficult (Matching / Cloze / Short Answer) questions. In response to this he developed a word template based around a table and wrote some code to help import the questions into Moodle. There are aims to release as a plugin after a rewrite but the existing resources can be found at http://www.moodle2word.net.

mattlingard: Word to Moodle question authoring looks great http://bit.ly/ao3Xwr but would be better if it were just easier in Moodle #mootuk10 12:31 PM Apr 13th

digitalmaverick: RT @mattlingard: Impressed with OU Quiz interface & it’s use on this Maths course #mootuk10 Are these OU amendments feeding in to #moodle2 12:45 PM Apr 13th

While it was good to hear someone talk about using question generation as a learning activity it wasn’t something new to me and I wish that it had linked more to the core features of Moodle – maybe the new quiz in Moodle 2.0 will solve some of these issues? Alternatively there may be an option to tweak the code / appearance ourselves to improve some of the negatives highlighted, however it may be that working with older learners from 14+ the interface wouldn’t be such a barrier?

• Tim demonstrated some of the features of the quiz module that the Open University (OU) have been developing and using, specifically related to the Maths and Statistics department. He explained that the OU do not like the term ‘quiz’ as that is something ‘done in the pub’ – instead they use the term ‘iCMA’ (Interactive Computer Marked Assessment)! They have found it important to create at least 5 versions of iCMA questions and deliver them randomly so that students can have almost unlimited attempts at practice tests. The additional functionality of a question navigation panel, with colour coding for right / wrong answers, was shown and examples of providing links to coursework through feedback and using the drag and drop question type for equations were highlighted as good practice.

Again some great tips were included in this presentation, that I can use to encourage staff to make greater use of the quiz module. I especially like the use of drag and drop for equations that could easily be used for scientific formula too and the development of large banks of questions to improve the flexibility of resources.

sukhwantlota: it’s funny how all the #mootuk10 tweets suddenly stopped – it must be lunch time 13:38 PM Apr 13th

Afternoon Keynote: Dr Ross Mackenzie, Strategic Development Manager, Open University (OU):

Ross started with a brief history of the OUs journey with Moodle. The original decision to change to using Moodle was taken n November 2005, following a major review of all their systems in May of that year. They piloted from May 2006 and had a full launch in February 2007. They decided that they would release all developments back to the community – which would be different to their previous engagement with the open source community. Dr Mackenzie highlighted how they would often work with beta releases – and in one case even went live with an alpha release – just to have the functionality they wanted!

tomtiros: #mootuk10 OU went like with beta releases! described as living on the edge 13:53 Apr 13th

vaughany: OU once went live with an alpha release… that’s fairly hardcore! #mootuk10 13:54 Apr 13th

Ross continued to present details about the many developments they have worked on, including a new forum and blog, resource page and study calendar course layout as well as huge changes to the quiz and the creation of a way to author content via Word. He reported that they release quarterly with a cycle that includes 3 months development and 2 months testing before it goes live. They are also making links with Elluminate and Google Docs to improve the flexibility of the delivery and increase synchronous teaching and learning opportunities. He also highlighted the number of changes to Moodle code (2,000) and the impact that it could have on their upgrade, or not, to Moodle 2.0 as they may have to decide to not replicate some so that the site is done more the Moodle way and less the OU way. However they have already had some influence over Moodle 2.0 content in relation to the conditional resources functionality and the very different, updated quiz module.

digitalmaverick: Incredible that OU would CONSIDER changing THEIR ways to do things more Moodle-y shows how high a regard they have for it #mootuk10 14:12 Apr 13th

With 5,330 courses on the main VLE (579 currently active as they archive as read only and allow learners to have continued access for 3 years after the end of a course), 648,000 users (168,000 currently active) and 2,000 to 3,000 concurrent users the key messages delivered were:

• Never underestimate the traffic, and,
• Keep evangelising the platform (sell, sell and sell again!)

digitalmaverick: @rossmackenzie In 24h period OU Moodle has 35-50,000 unique users with 2-3,000 users on at any one time! Incredible stats #mootuk10 14:06 Apr 13th

Ross concluded with their roadmap which includes mobile and ePortfolio developments, increased links with Google Apps, user generated content, personalisation and life in the clouds. The developments just go on and on!

vaughany: RT @MichBalazs: RT @loujak78: #Mootuk10 OU Keynote: The VLE is never finished! 14:08 Apr 13th

Tuesday (pm) Breakout session 2 – Blending Moodle:

There were 4 presentations: from; Anna Holloway, Joanna Butler, Ludmilla Smirnova and Jo Burbidge

MichBalazs: #mootuk10 at the blending moodle workshop. Headstart project at Newnman uni college 14:28 Apr 13th

• Anna, from Newman University College, spoke about how they had developed an online course to support new university learners through the development of skills required via a group project. They linked sections using meta courses and developed their own navigation bar that was at the top of the page. She showed how they used Moodle books for content to reduce the length of the pages and included audio files (with text transcript for accessibility) from fellow / provious students – which continued throughout the activities. Anna highlighted the issues surrounding getting the learners into Moodle because this ‘course’ was takin place before their official start date, and that the temporary accounts created had not been completely successful. However she concluded with the positive impact the course had with two thirds of learners resitting the previous year with only half following the introduction of this type of preparation.

loujak78: Good use of “Moodle book resource” by Newnman university college, HEADstart project in the #mootuk10 blending moodle workshop. 14:39 Apr 13th

A fellow delegate asked if it would be something the University would consider doing with Further Education learners before they leave their course. This is something that I could develop where I work as we provide a lot of help and support for individuals moving on to Higher Education and having a formal, structured programme could improve the learners experience and ongoing success?

• Joanna explained the changes to the eLearning development at Blackpool and the Flyde college in part related to staff development. From just having eLearning Champions in departments training and supporting their colleagues they now have a dedicated eLearning Facilitator post. She reported that they have had rapid growth in the use of Moodle year on year but that despite small pockets of excellence most tutors were still using it as a repository and were no even aware of simple course settings (like changing the number of topics displayed, regardless of the amount of content in there!). Therefore they were trying to encourage tutors to think about the student’s online experience during training, specifically via a 12 week (3 hour a week approx) online courses exploring the basics, where the outcome was to translate the new knowledge and skills into practical actions in their own courses. Screencast video training materials are developed with camtasia and an evaluation is included at the end of each session. Joanna added that staff liked the fact that they could access and print off their own certificate (from within Moodle) when they had completed the course. She concluded with statistics that 96 had completed so far with 84% of them interested in an advanced course that would be developed. Joanna believed that the course had reached some of the usually ‘ unreachable’ teacher as a result of best practice spreading.

This is something that I am already in the process of developing – a basic suite of 3 online courses, at beginner, intermediate and advanced level, that can also be used as the foundation for ‘traditional’ face-to-face deliveries too. I am conscious of the numbers of tutors I need to reach (around 1,500) so I am designing the courses to be self directed, with the minimum level of facilitation possible for many tutors. However checking the quality of the ongoing Moodle use will be strengthened through individual projects where the tutor will be expected to rationalise the design of an area and the inclusion of resources and activities.

• Ludmilla presented a case study on an online course that had been developed to deliver ‘Moodle for Teachers’ – internationally! So far 32 countries have participated and the initial basic course with 3 facilitators has grown to a larger course that include sandbox areas for practical application with 10 facilitators. she showed how they use a range of technologies to communicate and engage with the participants including, Ning, Skype and a weekly WiZiQ session that enabled live audio/video conferencing. Ludmila demonstrated some of the courses that had been created throughout the last delivery and mentioned that an advanced level course was being developed.

It was interesting to see how a course could be delivered successfully by and to such diverse and geographically dispersed individuals. I definitely need to look more into the use of video conferencing services, especially given the links the OU are making with Elluiminate and Ludmilla’s example of using the free WiZiQ and Skype services – however there will be the ongoing battle of IT always using the ‘too much bandwidth’ answer to any request for opening access!

• Jo from Lewisham College shared the experience of the eME project (taking the VLE from vision to implementation). Formally a Blackboard college they investigated Fronter (used by most schools in the area) before deciding to go with Moodle – following discussions with ULCC. After deciding that they would have a small pilot first they very quickly changed to a whole organisation launch instead! Jo explained how the name of the platform (eME) was chosen by the learners, which was felt to be an important way of helping them take ownership and use it, along with their own ‘Get Involved’ section which encourages engagement with issues that matter to them. Functional use is improved through the use of a ‘stick block’ on every page with links to PDP (including attendance tracking), MyPortfolio (which is Mahara and is used by all students, and staff for CPD) and MyTimetable. Tutors use the chat tool, often for 1-to-1s between a learner and their teacher, the lightbox and Moodle Lesson and include lots of online assessments. The learner voice is valued and prior to the internal inspection process all students are asked to complete an online questionnaire to collate ‘real views’. Showing the additional sections, Jo made it clear that it was much more that just a VLE as it included a dedicated area for the Learning Centre including links to the library management system and for Careers who have online ‘career fairs’ and ‘hot jobs’.

This is a good example of how the VLE can be a portal to other tools. However for me it would be important to ensure that staff and students were clear about the differences, so that every problem wasn’t followed with ‘it must be moodle!’ and that key individuals had responsibility for maintaining and developing each element.

Closing Keynote / plenary: Philip Badman, Vice Principal Funding & Planning, Newham College:

Philip’s introduction introduced their term for ILT/ICT/eLearning as ILCT and the rational behind the technology focussed project as an inspection comment in 2005 that there was ‘insufficient use of ILCT in the classroom’. He explained the diverse mix of the 16,000 students at the college and the positive things happening and investment being made, in part because of the Olympics in 2012, in the area – which is within the £29 Billion regeneration investment (pointing out that for comparison the Olympics was expected to cost ‘only’ £8 Billion).

digitalmaverick: Newham poulation is 61% non-white, 33% are born outside the UK #mootuk10 15:51 Apr 13th

Philip continued detailing that the college had agreed to invest £8.3 million over 3 years to improve the network, hardware (including a Promethean IWB in every classroom, with a dedicated person to support problems / encourage use and Activote kit in every faculty) and software (versions). They developed a 78point dynamic action plan (checked bi-monthly by the ILCT Committee) and put emphasis on staff training and responsive support mechanisms as well as giving all tutors a portable device (netbook, laptop, tablet etc.). The project was linked to teaching and learning and quality and he pointed out that if a teacher at the college receives a grade 4 they are given a 6 month ‘capability programme’ of support, however if they have then not improved termination of contract proceedings begin!

digitalmaverick: Newham attached HUGE importance to on call classroom support for software issues #mootuk10 15:55 Apr 13th

Philip explained that they had called their VLE ‘NewLearning’ and that they were using Mahara as their ePortfolio – adding that they had been asked by UCAS for details from it on applicants and they were planning to offer an exported version of their portfolio to learners when they leave. One of the support mechanisms is an eLearning development centre, where tutors can ‘play’ with new technology / software and start to innovate with their teaching methods. They also audit tutor skills / competencies every year and provide individuals with a personalised development plan, which could be supported by one of the 4 dedicated eLearning posts or via the annual ILCT Fair, which consists of a full day of activities (around 15 short workshops) that tutors are required to attend as part of their ongoing CPD.

mickelous: Annual ILCT Fair – required CPD day for teachers <– sounds like an excellent idea #mootuk10 16:05 Apr 13th

thestubbs: Newham VP: teacher engagement essential; ILCT added to classroom mentoring, CPD, funded innovation projects, annual ILCT fair #mootuk10 16:07 Apr 13th

The presentation included details of the numbers of learners without mobile phones (12%) or access to the Internet at home (20%), however despite explaining that the Learning Resources Centres had increased opening times to allow access for individuals without connectivity one of his concluding statements contradicted, when he said that during the recent heavy snow 35,000 texts had been sent over 3 days – I hope they used alternative methods to reach the other learners!?

Final thoughts from day 1: It was good to hear a variety of different views of both Moodle being developed and used and Teaching and Learning more generally and I certainly have lots to think about. It was encouraging too that many of the ideas being shared are similar to what is already happening or in the planning stages where I manage eLearning so I guess I am on the right track and should just keep innovating moving forward.

Thanks for reading!

The next post starts from the Moodle Moot UK 2010 Party and goes through to the end of day 2!

Tags: 2010, contextualisation, inspirational, inspiring, Interactivity, learner experience, learning, Moodle, MoodleMoot, MootUk10, online learning, pedagogy, staff development, training, twitter, VLE