Apr 20 2006

Arrgghhhh…screencasting is EVIL…

Hmm spent all day playing with Camtasia and its not as easy as it seems, ended up with a screencast for showing how to use ‘del.icio.us’ of over twelve minutes which works out ehen converted to .swf as being quite large. However the main problem was the fact that Camtasias pre-loader does not work, so had to save and convert in a different way, to finally get it working. You can check it out at this link – note the other problem is I still have a cold and some there are many sniffles!!! LOL.

Decided I will break screencast down into manageable chunks……..the above will end up in three chunks. I do like the flash questions you can add to the presentation but have not tried to connect them to Moodle yet. Tommorrow will be screencastign all day to produce the casts needed for ‘del.icio.us’ and ‘blogline’.

Everybody must checkout ‘del.icio.us’ because now you can upload /import all your favourites /bookmarks from Firefox , and so now end up with a complete bookmarking setup online!!! Wowee!!
Will then use the rest of this holiday to sort out the style sheets and graphics along with adding ‘lesson and assignment’ modules.

Also spent some more time today with the Questionaire module which is actually after a period of time easier to use than expected. So will definitely add this to evaluation.

By drtech • Moodle • Comments Off on Arrgghhhh…screencasting is EVIL…

Apr 19 2006

Created YackPack on my WIBBLY..

Well still wandering around the periphery of my WBLE, not wanting to do the hard jobs of theming, css and screencasting in favour of messing and adding other facilities and tools/objects for communciation. Part of this is probably due to one of the main positives with using a VLE creation tool like Moodle. Which is the fact that you can design course and tasks in an iterative / brick by brick kind of way. Each time adding alterign and changing the enviroment and tools to hopefully improve the learning environment for the students.
Just came across the YackPack which looks like a great idea for communciating with classes and also providing verbal feedback on assignments within Moodle….whether it will work or not we will have to wait and see. Have added a connecting button to Moodle and sent emails to my prospective students…..

I wish I had a little more time, as I feel after my holidays this week, I could do with runnign through the scenarios again and also testign with a small group of students to see the issues and problems that come up. Also worried about load times of Moodle pages, if I have embedded so many different resources to use?? Needs checking.

Anyways below is a picture of the AS Applied ICT Yack Pack , check out their website too some nice demos to give you the idea…

By drtech • Moodle • Comments Off on Created YackPack on my WIBBLY..

Apr 16 2006

Cron Jobs, Adding Modules for Interaction and more…

Well had a busy and successful day, deciding to leave the themeing for a little while. And sort out some technical aspects of the site and add some extra elements to the WIBBLY specifically for intereactivity and evaluation:-

*Cron Jobs – Hmm what are these, well I have been assured by a webpage somewhere on the internet that they allow me to automate my backups of Moodle so fingers*crossed from now on I don’t lose anything!

*Questionaire Module – Should be good for use by students to use to create questionaires (will need to check this), but also for me within evaluation of the course (if I manage to get it finished in time for anyone to try and use it?)

*Gizmo Block – From this java module, I should be able to monitor and chart and then export all the students movements and uses within Moodle. But as above depends if I get it finished in time to do so?

*Presentation Module – I have been messing with screencasting, but this will also give an alternative with a PPT like inbuilt activity, that students should find very usable and also great for ‘chunking’ information.

Tommorrow I promise to give you a sample screencast, and some improvement on the themeing of my Moodle.

:)~

By drtech • Moodle • Comments Off on Cron Jobs, Adding Modules for Interaction and more…

Apr 15 2006

Finally Easter holiday is here ..so…

..I have started on the themes for Moodle and messing around with CSS styles. So heres my first screenshots with the road background banner that I use in my blogs. Have’nt added titles or logos yet..ooops. Have also stumbled across a great collaborative Web 2.0 style spreadsheet that can be embedded in Moodle called NumSum which I will be adapting for the users to interact with in one of the collaborative assignments.

Realised I am probably trying the opposite to most people, and trying to make the site as busy as possible. Mainly trying to follow the principle that everythign should be connected to somewhere else, and that the site should lead to students understanding such ideas as ‘tagging’, ‘social bookmarking’, ‘community blogging’ and the like. Next 10 days should be free so that I can get alot of work done, if not now then never. As I say…
Will finally start my screencasting trials tommorrow, as my cold and sore throat are departing finally. Found another good link over at Educause about screencasting which would you believe contains an actual scenario being used…wowweee…here it is.

By drtech • Moodle • Comments Off on Finally Easter holiday is here ..so…

Apr 5 2006

GCSE Projects and Screencasting!

Well not getting very far with my ‘WIBBLY’ at the moment, mainly due to the final two weeks of students handing in their GCSE and AS Level projects. So unfortunately most nights are spent marking projects to hand back for improvements!

Have managed to start looking at screencasting following advice related to this. Have tried the use of Macromedia Captivate before but always found it a little clunky and formal to use. Tonight managed to try out Camtasia’s latest screencorder along with Wink. Actually very impressed with Camtasias version seemingly easy to use and has many features including adding little quiz questions, buttons and effects…and much much more. A very valuable resource was the article at O’Reilly check it here

Specifically I like the different examples showing use of screendrawing, and more creative ideas. Will probably try a variety of ways. BIGGEST problem seems to be stopping myself laughing and making sure the screencasts are short and to the point! At least my students will hopefully not complain about my American accent as they have done when using any other screencasts I have shown them from the web!

By drtech • Moodle • Comments Off on GCSE Projects and Screencasting!