lingardm

About Matt Lingard

Learning Technologist at the LSE Centre for Learning Technology

Introducing Moodle 2

We are planning our move to a new version of Moodle in Summer 2012 and need volunteers to pilot it during Lent 2012.

LSE MoodleThere is a new version of Moodle: Moodle 2. Earlier this year we explained Why LSE is sticking with Moodle 1.9 for 2011/2. We are now preparing to implement Moodle 2 next Summer. To help with the preparation we are looking for some courses to pilot it in Lent 2012.

Why Move?

The new version of Moodle is better:

  1. It will offer us possibilities we haven’t had before. It will be possible to integrate it with other LSE systems, such as LSE for You.
  2. There’s some new functionality. For example, conditional activities will enable you to control students’ access to items based on conditions, such as the completion of another activity.
  3. Existing functionality has been improved. For example, there’s a new wiki tool.

One more reason: our current version of Moodle will not be supported by the Moodle organisation in the long term so we have to move at some point to continue to offer a robust, secure service.

In many respects Moodle won’t be much different and it won’t be a case of learning it all over again. It will look different, as we will take this opportunity to improve its visual design.

Help us: Moodle 2 Pilots

To help us prepare for the full introduction of Moodle 2 in summer 2012 we are planning to have some lent-term courses use it in 2012. If you are interested in trying Moodle 2 first please let us know by emailing clt-support@lse.ac.uk. Two requirements:

  • Your course must be a Lent-only course
  • You will need time to work with us during Michaelmas term to prepare your course in Moodle 2. We will provide lots of one-to-one assistance but you will need to do some of the work to help us evaluate what support staff will need next summer.
August 31st, 2011|Announcements, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off on Introducing Moodle 2|

Preparing your Moodle Courses for 2011-12

Moodle training for September, further support & a Moodle end-of-year reminder!

LSE MoodleThere are several Moodle Training courses scheduled for September, including a new weekly Moodle Refresher to help you prepare for the new academic year. The refresher course is for staff who have used Moodle before and is a drop-in where we will be available to provide support & training on any topics you require help with.

Moodle ‘End-of-year’

Reminder: all students and student data, including forum posts and assignment submissions, will be removed from the majority of Moodle courses on Tuesday 30th August. If you would like to opt out of this process completely or opt for the later ‘reset’ date (Tuesday 27th September) please contact clt-support@lse.ac.uk as soon as possible if you haven’t already.

  • Moodle will be unavailable on Tuesday 30th August
  • Staff will not be removed from courses
  • Course resources (lecture notes, reading lists etc) will not be removed
  • Courses will be hidden.  You can make your course available to 2011-2 students at any point via Settings > Availability

Further details: Moodle End of Year arrangements

August 22nd, 2011|Announcements, Events & Workshops (LTI), Teaching & Learning, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off on Preparing your Moodle Courses for 2011-12|

Introducing Google+

The Google+ Project is Google’s new social networking service.

There have been lots of detailed reviews already, for example, the Huffington Post’s Google+ Review Roundup so I’ll keep this short.

The cornerstone of G+ is Circles. Circles allow you to put your network friends into groups. You can then send updates to specific Circles or filter your reading by just viewing updates from a particular circle. I love the idea of Circles and while they are more easily understandable & usable than twitter lists (which only work as a reading filter, not in reverse) I do find the interface a little confusing. G+ Circles get a B-.

Google+ Cartoon Strip

August 4th, 2011|Social Media, Tools & Technologies|Comments Off on Introducing Google+|

5 tools for making your working day easier

A brief overview of my 5 favourites: Remember the Milk, Dropbox, Delicious, Evernote & Doodle.

After reading The research lab in your pocket: apps and the academy in this week’s THE I thought I’d highlight the 5 tools I make most use of, which includes two from the article. My recommendations are focused on tools for everyone’s everyday working rather than as “essential academic tools”.

All of these tools have free versions. Some also have paid for upgrades offering more features or removing usage limits.

1) Remember the Milk

http://www.rememberthemilk.com/

Remember the Milk screenshot

A to do list. It has many features, including shared lists but I use it quite simply. I don’t set deadlines, I just use the 3 levels of priority and I use the Notes feature a lot to add information to tasks. For example I regularly paste emails into Notes. My working day always starts with RTM. I use both the website and the (Android) app. You can also update your list via email, Twitter, your browser and probably in many other ways. See Services. Some aspects, including the Apps require a Pro account (US$25 pa).

August 3rd, 2011|Tools & Technologies|Comments Off on 5 tools for making your working day easier|

CLT Closed on Thursday 21st July

CLT staff will not be available on Thursday 21st July as it is our annual away day.

You are welcome to email us clt-support@lse.ac.uk and we will be in touch as soon as we can.  We will be back in the office on Friday. Our away day will be focussing on our 5-year strategic development plan as well as our priorities in the coming year.

July 20th, 2011|Announcements|Comments Off on CLT Closed on Thursday 21st July|

Moodle End of Year Arrangements

Students & student data from 2010/11 will be removed from Moodle in August/September and courses will be hidden

LSE MoodleWe will be resetting courses – removing students and their data – on two dates:

  • Tuesday 30th August – most courses will be reset.
  • Tuesday 27th September – remaining courses will be reset.  Primarily courses used to collect dissertations from masters students.

If your course needs resetting at the later date or if it doesn’t need resetting at all please contact us: clt-support@lse.ac.uk

The reset does not affect resources such as lecture notes and reading lists.

New for 2011/12: making your courses available to students

This year will will be hiding courses from all students as part of the reset process. This is to prevent new students accessing resources from 2010/11 that they shouldn’t (yet) have access to.  You must make your course available to new students when you are ready via Settings > Availability.

Further details: Moodle End of Year Arrangements

July 19th, 2011|Announcements|Comments Off on Moodle End of Year Arrangements|

Blogging & Twitter Workshops

Due to popular demand we have scheduled two additional workshops next week. A handful of spaces remain for each.

  • Introduction to Twitter – Wednesday 22nd June @ 12:00 – Uses of Twitter in education, including a hands-on session to get you up-and-running or develop your existing use. Details & Booking
  • Introduction to Blogging – Thursday 23rd June @ 12:00 – Covers blogging for researchers as well as other uses in education such as newsletters & teaching. Includes the opportunity to create your own blog. Details & Booking
June 13th, 2011|Announcements, Blogging, Events & Workshops (LTI), Research Skills, Social Media|Comments Off on Blogging & Twitter Workshops|

Watch Teaching Day 2011 online

Tuesday 24th May, 2011 is LSE Teaching Day. You will be able to participate online as follows.

Niall FergussonKeynote – this year’s keynote is by Professor Niall Ferguson: ‘History Teaching & the History of Teaching’. All LSE staff are welcome to attend in the Sheik Zayed Thetare from 09:45-10:45.  You can also watch it live online:

Watch Niall Ferguson Keynote
(From 09:45, Tues, 24/5/11)

Twitter & Social Media – you can join in online via Twitter. You should include #lsetd11 when tweeting.  You can see what others are saying at Teaching Day via this #lsetd11 Twitter search (no twitter account required!).  If you are using other social media & social networking tool make sure you use the lsetd11 tag!

May 23rd, 2011|Announcements, Events & Workshops (LTI), Teaching & Learning|Comments Off on Watch Teaching Day 2011 online|

Blogging Help & Support

 We are developing a new website to support LSE bloggers

Blogging Help & Support is a guide for LSE Staff & students on creating & contributing to blogs. It provides general guidelines on blogging and specific help with WordPress, the blogging tool used by the LSE Blogs service, edublogs.org & wordpress.com

We recommend that you visit the site and subscribe for either email or RSS feed updates to receive notification of the latest additions.

Blogs can be used for a variety of purposes and there are already a large number of LSE Bloggers.  If you want to join in please see the new website or contact us for a chat.

February 22nd, 2011|Blogging|Comments Off on Blogging Help & Support|

Emerging Technologies

 The 2011 Horizon Report includes predictions on the technologies that will enter mainstream use in Higher Education over the coming years.  I’m a bit sceptical of these predictions as they always seem overly optimistic.  For 3-years in-a-row Mobiles have been listed as entering mainstream use in one year or less… (or more it seems).

This year’s report suggests the following will be entering mainstream use in:

One Year or Less

  • Electronic Books
  • Mobiles

February 9th, 2011|Reports & Papers|1 Comment|