Moodle in the Cloud

On July 6th 2015 Moodle launched a free service in the cloud: "moodlecloud.com". This new service will be very useful for small companies or individual teachers. Some of the features are as follows...

1. Limited to 50 users
2. You can upload files up to 200 Mb of space. A good workaround will be to host files with Droxpbox or Google Drive or videos with Youtube and once online embed them in our Moodle cloud web.

3. Only allows core themes and plugins, so you can not use the themes or plugins contributed by users of the moodle community

4. They have implemented an authentication system that relies on your mobile/cell phone instead of email. (To minimize the effect of spammers and troublemakers, is the reason they give). I found this a bit intimidating when taking the decision about creating my site.

5. Allows videoconferencing through a open source service calls "bigbluebutton.org" but it´s limited to 6 people and we will not be able to record the classes (bigbluebutton.org offer that feature when not used with Moodle cloud).

The new Moodle cloud seems to fix very well for small companies or individual teachers who do not have the resources to install their own Moodle on a server.

A downside of this service is that it comes with some advertising adds in the footer what is a big problem for companies but could be of not much importance for individual teachers or freelancers. You can hide the ads from your students for AU $5/month

Here you can see an introduction to MooldeCloud and guidelines in how to create a free account.

Thanks for reading!

Articulate Storyline Timeline: Change States at a Specific Time

Welcome back! I have been working in a project and I needed to build a tutorial in Storyline 2. When working with the timeline, I needed to change the character´s expression when the timeline reached a specific time. Here is is how you can do that...

The trick here is to use the "change of states at a specific time",  look at the next two steps:

1. Create a new state (s)  for the character,

 2. Add a trigger so when the timeline reaches an specific time the character´s state changes

I set up the change when the timeline reaches 6 seconds

In that easy way you can control the character´s expressions when the timeline is playing.

 Here you can see the complete videotutorial

PoodLL plugin for Moodle

During the last days I have been working with PoodLL. It is a set of plugins for Moodle that add an amazing functionality. It was really useful when working with a client who demanded the possibility of students
to drawn electronic circuits in a Moodle quiz.

PoodLL provide more great features than just drawing, it allows you to record audio or video. In my opinion, these features are very useful and bring Moodle quizzes to a new step.

I found a bit problematic the installation in  Moodle 2.9 (the last version) but when writing about it in the moodle.org foro, dedicated to that plugin, I got a fast answer from the developer of PoodLL, Justin Hunt, who gave me the key steps to make it work. The trick was to choose the option "PoodLL Whiteboard" as the default whiteboard when configuring the filter for that plugin (installation of that filer is required too). As well, he said to be working for the total integration of PoodLL in Moodle 2.9 which is going to be ready soon.

To install the plugin an the filter go to the next links:

• Plugin: https://moodle.org/plugins/view/repository_poodll
• Filter:  https://moodle.org/plugins/view/filter_poodll
• This video will help you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on34a9MIaiY

Thanks for reading!


 











------------------Please see below the Spanish translation of this article (En Español)------------------------------

 Durante los últimos días he estado trabajando con PoodLL, un kit de plugins para Moodle que agrega unas funcionalidades increíbles. Dicho plugin "salvo mi vida" cuando trabajaba con un cliente que me demando la la posibilidad de que sus estudiantes dibujaran circuitos electrónicos in un actividad Examen de Moodle.

PoodLL proporciona más posibilidades, permite grabar audio y video. Desde mi punto de vista todas estas características son especialmente importantes y sitúan los exámenes de Moodle en una nueva dimensión en la cual el estudiante puede contestar a las preguntas verbalmente y grabar la contestación.

Tengo que reconocer que encontré algún problema con las instalación del plugin en Moodle 2.9 (la última versión) pero que cuando escribí sobre ello, en el foro de moodle.org dedicado a este plugin, ,Justin Hunt el PoodLL, me contesto rápidamente explicándome los pasos a seguir para hacer que funcione. También me explicó que está trabajando en la integración total de su set de plugins en Moodle 2.9.



Puedes installar el plugin y su filtro si vas a los siguientes enlaces:

• Plugin: https://moodle.org/plugins/view/repository_poodll
• Filtro: https://moodle.org/plugins/view/filter_poodll
• Aquí tienes un video que te ayudará: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on34a9MIaiY

 ¡Gracias por leerme!

Learning analytics in the e-learning sector

Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimising learning and the environments in which it occurs.

 The reality of where and how data analytics can improve performance varies dramatically by company and industry. Companies are interested not just in storing costumer data but analyzing data to improve services or marketing campaign.

How could we apply Learning Analytics to e-learning? 

One of the best practical examples to understand what we can do with data analysis in e-learning, can be found the next conference where Vernon Smith from Rio Saldo College in Arizona is talking about…

• Analyzing LMS data 
• Predicting which students will have problems to successfully complete courses
• Take action before it is too late help that students

Please have a look to Vernon Smith speech from minute 19 in this video.

Learning analytics could be a revolution in e-learning and Learning Management Systems in a near future.



------------ Article translated to Spanish---------------
Learning analytics es un tema que empieza a dar mucho que hablar en educación actualmente.

La definición que cita Fernando Santamaría en su blog es la siguiente:

"Learning analytics consiste en la medición, recopilación, análisis y presentación de datos inteligentes sobre estudiantes y sus contextos para una mejor comprensión y optimización del aprendizaje en los entornos en los que se produce"

La definición (traducida a español) del concepto en Wikipedia es la siguiente:

"Learning Analytics es el uso inteligente de datos, producidos durante el aprendizaje, y modelos de análisis para descubrir información y conexiones sociales que servirán para predecir y así poder aconsejar a la gente que aprende"

Hace unas semanas me dí de alta en un curso, online gratuito sobre el tema y tengo que reconocer que me ha costado saber de qué se habla exactamente al referinos a "Learning analytics".

Mi interés en este tema se centra sobre todo comprender que puede aportar "Learning analytics" al e-learning y la verdad ha sido después de ver la grabación de la intervención de  George Siemens y Vernon Smith en la conferencia anual "Educase 2011" cuando realmente he comprendido por donde van los tiros.

Sobre todo la intervención de Vernon Smith , a partir de minuto 19, da algunas pistas sobre como puede afectar el avance de "Learning analytics" al e-learning.