Special Summer Series: Hosting – MoodleReader
Part five of our Special Summer Series on free hosting services.
This part of the Special Summer Series on hosting highlights a different kind of Moodle hoster in MoodleReader. We highlighted MoodleReader recently because of its complete utility for teachers managing developmental writing courses. Literally this module comes with 100s of preset quizzes based on popular young-adult and children’s books that can easily be integrated into your course. It’s all quite amazing and the list of books continues to grow and grow.
Through a brief exchange with Tom Robb, site admin at MoodleReader.org,
[Moodlereader.org does] sponsor free courses at moodlereader.org for any legitimate educational organization. I’ve recently created a “registration block” that allows the course owners to upload their own student registrations since this is normally a site-admin function in Moodle. Teachers can select subsets of the quizzes to match the books available locally and tailor the point scheme used — by words, pages or books and assign their own values for these to each quiz that they use.
We now have quizzes for some 900 books and about 50 schools worldwide using the module.
So if you’re teaching developmental or elementary reading and want to use Moodle (either your own or a free hosted solution) consider MoodleReader and the Moodle Graded Reader Module.
MoodleReader
URL: http://moodlereader.org
Description: Module-centric site for reading
Ads?: no
3rd party plug-ins: Moodle Graded Reader Module
Mobile-enabled: no
Support: local/email
Business plan: university and government supported
Limits: no
Basic Plan: 1 course
LikeMoodle 2.0 Theme Contest Community Judging is OPEN!
12 to judge, all great themes.
GO VOTE!
http://newschoollearning.com/theme/submissions/
The new Anti-Moodle Moodle theme: Decaf
This possibly the most progressive Moodle theme to ever hit the theme repository at Moodle.org was created by Lei Zhang. It’s very attractive, and it bends the general Moodle aesthetics to a more functional Moodle site. Settings and Administration blocks have been moved to a dock across the top of the page (horizontally) while site performance has been provided in an always-on notification bar along the bottom of the web page.
Personally, it makes me think of the WordPress administration dashboard.
Can’t wait to see what mods and pretty skinning other developers do to this one. Check it out here: http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=26&rid=4000; or give it a test run here: http://lei.jobhunting.co.nz/moodle2/.
This one was also entered into the Moodle 2.0 theme contest. If you like it a lot, consider weighing in to make it (and Lei) a winner.
Another Moodle 2.0 Theme from @moodledan (I like this one a lot)
This theme is an adaptation of Dan’s EduMoodle theme [http://vl3.co.uk/moodle/?&theme=EduMoodle], but it goes a little further in creating a customizable slide show as part of the header. It’s pretty.
Happy Friday: Nine Moodle 2.0 Themes to peek at & a final contest reminder
Today’s the last day to submit your Moodle 2.0 theme to the NewSchoolLearning theme development contest.
Submit today for a chance to win a new iPad! http://newschoollearning.com/theme/contest/.
To whet your whistle, here are links to NINE Moodle 2.0 themes for inspiration (or just to drool over like I do).
They are, in no particular order (click the names to go to their download pages, click the images for a larger screen shot),
Special Summer Series: Hosting – LearningObjectivity
Part four of our Special Summer Series on free hosting services.
This one is new to me: LearningObjectivity [http://www.learningobjectivity.com/]. The service is available for any teachers that want to try out Moodle before their school (or they as individuals) take on a Moodle site of their own. According to the site,
Organisations and individuals who are new to Moodle can use this area to run one or more courses at minimal or no cost until they are ready to set up their own Moodle site. We can also host your own Moodle test site.
LearningObjectivity also offers elearning consulting, training and professional development by Richard Goddard, someone well versed in Moodle uses and development to add additional functionality (Richard worked on both MrCute and EasyView).
URL: http://www.learningobjectivity.com/moodle19/
Description: testing ground for Moodle-curious teachers and organizations
Ads?: no
3rd party plug-ins: NA
Mobile-enabled: no
Support: self serve/email
Business plan: consulting
Limits: no
Basic Plan: 1 course
New “SimpleSpace” theme for Moodle 2.0
Is it just me or do all of the new Moodle 2.0 themes look awesome? This new one was posted to Moodle.org and features a customizable background, logo and supports the navigation block. Crisp, clear and it has the handy user profile image in the header. I dig it.
Expect another from the same author for the Moodle 2.0 Theme contest which runs through tomorrow: http://newschoollearning.com/theme/contest/. Did I mention you can win an iPad?!
http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=26&rid=3985
SCORM Cloud + Moodle = #SCORM 2004 conformance
SCORM.com has recently announced that Moodle + SCORM Cloud, it’s own web hosted service has been certified for SCORM 2004. Until now Moodle has only supported SCORM1.2 (though steps have been taken to support SCORM 2004). The third party module is available at no cost and can be installed like other Moodle add-ons and plug-ins.
Easy to follow documentation is available at SCORM.com [link]. Though you will have to sign up for the free trial version to test it out.
For people and companies looking for next level of SCORM capability, SCORM Cloud lets them push Moodle miles forward … in about five minutes.
SCORM is a project of the US Department of Defense and is designed to create a framework for universally plug-able learning content. SCORM Cloud is a new service from Rustici Software that allows you to host your SCORM content online (and now plug it into other sites like Moodle where it will log student progress and/or grades). For more information about SCORM Cloud check out this video:
Related:
- More about the certification here - http://www.scorm.com/blog/2010/07/certified-scorm-for-moodle/
- More about the module here - http://www.scorm.com/moodle
What the #Blackboard Acquisition means for Moodle
Wimba and Elluminate, both synchronous learning tools, have been purchased by the leading proprietary learning management company, Blackboard and have been re-branded already as Blackboard Collaborate. The news comes as a surprise to many (considering the similar market of both companies).
Implications for Moodle users are not yet known, but what is known is that Elluminate has been an increasingly popular synchronous learning plug-in for Moodle (Elluminate Live ELM). According to Blackboard business will continue,
Will you continue to support integrations with competing LMS products?The answer is YES. Our aim is to support learning and collaboration wherever it may occur, and wherever these products are used today. Both Elluminate and Wimba provide toolkits for integrating with open source and commercial learning management products, which we’ll continue… As a combined company we will maintain all existing service level commitments from Elluminate and Wimba. [link].
- Elluminate http://www.elluminate.com/
- Wimba http://www.wimba.com/
- Blackboard http://blackboard.com/
- Coverage at The Chronicle of Higher Education http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Blackboard-to-Buy-Two/25357/
Summer Special Series: Hosting – Sqooltools
Part three of our Special Summer Series on free hosting services.
Next up, a k-12 exclusive hosting service, SqoolTools. According to the site, “Sqool” is actually an acronym (not just a homophone) for “Supporting Quality Online Opportunities for Learning”.
The business offers additional edtech consulting services [http://sqooltechs.com/] and sites and several tiers of paid Moodle hosting above their free, basic plan. Check out their Youtube channel [http://www.youtube.com/user/sqooltechs] or even their hosted video site, http://sqooltube.com/. All in all they’ve created a resource-rich collection of educational tools and resources.
More information is available at http://www.sqooltools.com/
URL: http://www.sqooltools.com/
Description: 1 course at the basic level. Supported by edtech consultants with a resource-rich tool kit.
Ads?: yes (but minimal)
3rd party plug-ins: yes (audio recording only, other 3rd party modules with paid contract)
Mobile-enabled: no
Support: self serve is free, $10 per ticket for help desk
Business plan: Freemium model
Limits: yes, must be k12
Basic Plan: 1 course, 30 students, 250MB
