5 top open source Moodle modules - by Peter Smith
One of the reasons for Moodle's current pre-eminence in the LMS market is the large, talented and very active community that undertake all bug reporting, fixing and development duties. Over the years this community has created a huge quantity of third party modules and plugins that can be downloaded from the main Moodle plugins page. Through these modules Moodle administrators can add a range of new features to their site which go far beyond the basic Moodle installation.
The available modules vary greatly in terms of usefulness and the level of polish that have been applied to them. Some of the modules are so longstanding that they can be considered inherent Moodle features; these include the Questionnaire and Feedback modules, which are being incorporated into the new Moodle 2.0 Survey module, and the Certificate module.
The following are my current favourites - for a much more comprehensive list and the chance to see some of the plugins in action I would recommend the HRDNZ non-standard Moodle site.
As the name suggests this module enables you to schedule a face to face event as an activity within a Moodle course. The functionality is quite simple but well thought out and includes full integration with the Moodle calendar, automatic confirmation, reminder and cancellation emails and a handy wait listing feature.
A new Moodle Wiki is amongst the many improvements which will be released in the imminent Moodle 2.0. For anyone still favouring the 1.x version of Moodle we would recommend installing the OU Wiki which offers much neater navigation than the clunky Moodle Wiki 1.0. Also if you want to search wiki content install the OU Search Block.
Created by the University of London Computer Centre, this module enables an administrator and learner to set and specify deadlines for goals, targets and actions. Templates for progress reviews and personal reports can be set up, and the system uses a traffic light metaphor to quickly highlight areas of concern.
There are a number of eportfolio systems that plug into Moodle, but the best of the bunch is Mahara. Developed as part of a collaborative venture involving a number of leading universities in New Zealand, Mahara enables learners to collate information (artefacts in Mahara parlance) from a variety of different sources into a file repository that is shared with other users. Individuals have a very fine level of control over exactly which artefacts other users can access. The tool also includes social networking functionality, blogs and a CV builder.
A module created by the omnipotent Google which integrates Google Apps Premier or Education Edition with Moodle. With this module installed users can access their Google Apps mailbox via SSO directly from Moodle and set Google Apps as their default Moodle email account. Administrators can manage Google Apps accounts from within Moodle and run some fairly basic reports. Full integration with the other Google Apps tools (including docs and the calendar) are in the pipeline.
Adobe Story Review - by Lee Bailles
I’ve just been trying out the new offering from Adobe - ‘Story’ - designed to enable Adobe to encroach on the world of writing applications. As an avid cinephile and amateur screenwriter I am always in the market for a new tool that can aid my creative productivity. As an amateur filmmaker, what could be better than a writing app that also interacts with your film editing applications? Enabling you to see the idea through from inception, to the big screen debut and eventual DVD release complete with localised subtitles for overseas territories.
So far it looks like a very primitive version of something like: the free and very competent platform agnostic tool CELTX that offers inexpensive collaboration 'studio' tools; the expensive but market leading Final Draft; and the relatively inexpensive Mac tool Scrivener.
However, it’s real strength may be the ability to work online and offline, work collaboratively and benefit from the tight integration with other future Adobe apps - especially any production / breakdown software they might be planning.
Pros
• Financial - although there is no incentive for home users to dive in, early adopting corporate users will no doubt enjoy the benefit of getting a great deal on the application when it is bundled as part of a suite.
• Cloud collaboration will be useful for non-collocated teams. This is already very popular with those using CELTX.
• The ability to tag your script elements, such as props and wardrobe, are crucial in order to break your script down for production. Story uses heuristic analysis to automatically identify key words in your script and tags them under various categories like Character, costume, food, beverage etc.
• Working within projects - enabling everyone to share and version control their projects will speed up the production process and ensure the team will be working with the latest version of the scripts.
Cons
• The interface is not engaging, dull flat and lifeless and difficult to work with in some lighting conditions. Working on a small netbook is not recommended at present, and on certain displays or builds you will find it launches with parts of the interface obscured by the dock
• Features like Page numbers, 'MORE' appearing on page breaks and a title page being missing are absolute deal breakers for professionals working in the industry. How can you send a script to someone for possible sale or review without such basic information that is already freely available in Word?
• No index card functionality. This is imperative for many writers, being able to visualise your scenes and reorder them on the fly, both virtually and later when printing for inclusion on a cork board
• Currently no planned integration with exporting to other tools such as CELTX.
The conclusion? At present it cannot compete with CELTX and Scrivener. But I would keep an eye on it. Within a year or two it could soon become a non-Hollywood industry screenwriting standard; especially for small and medium enterprises and those in Advertising and e-learning production.
It will be interesting to see how much this early version will eventually retail for. Right now you can obviously try it out for free, just go here: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/story/
Why can't I learn in my sleep? - by Imogen Casebourne
It sounds so tempting. Buy a set of audio tapes, turn them on at night and learn a new language in your sleep.
Whilst it was once believed to be possible, this is one learning technology that has been thoroughly discredited since the fifties. That hasn’t stopped it showing up in various novels and films and TV sitcoms though. In one episode, Homer Simpson learns vocabulary by accident when he orders a hypnosis tape, and it’s featured in an episode of Red Dwarf and even in Terry and June!
However, it turns out that sleep is fundamentally connected with learning.
Studies have shown that sleep plays a role in consolidating learning. And different types of sleep seem to be linked to different type of learning. Declarative knowledge (like new vocabulary) is consolidated during slow-wave sleep, whereas procedural knowledge (learning new tasks) and emotional experiences seem to be consolidated during REM (dream) sleep.
But how do you know how much of each type of sleep you’re getting at night? Well, now there is a technology offering a way to find out.
Sleep Cycle is a Swedish-designed app that turns your iPhone into a sleep-tracking monitor. It works using a sensor in the iPhone that monitors movement. You put your iPhone on the corner of your mattress before you go to sleep, and based on your movement, Sleep Cycle creates a record of your sleep states which you can view as a graph when you wake up in the morning.
What can you do with your new found knowledge? Well if you think you’re not getting enough REM or NREM deep sleep then you might want to consider how much caffeine or alcohol you’re drinking during the day. Studies have shown that even small amounts of either can impact how you sleep at night even if they don’t actually stop you sleeping.
So perhaps we finally do have a technology which will help us learn more thoroughly whilst asleep!
