Custom Moodle theming and reporting
Welcome to 2011, wishing you all an exciting and prosperous year!
Over the past year we have been involved in several projects that have involved developing custom themes for the Moodle Learning Management System usually aiming to match an existing website design. I thought I would share some of these in the image above which shows just how versatile Moodle is when being themed. This really is one of the strengths of Moodle as its open source nature means you can get right into the code to modify the interface to match designs and layouts in detail.
Another benefit of the open access to Moodle code and database is that customised reporting facilities can be developed to meet the exact needs of course tutors and administrators (below is an example custom moodle report on a user’s progress in a course).
Accessing appropriate data for tracking user progress in any Learning Management System is usually complicated and and off-putting. Moodle is no exception to this. However with a bit of PHP coding and an understanding of the data structures used by Moodle to log user interactions with the system, facilities displaying the appropriate information clearly and without extra clutter can be developed.
Developing custom Moodle themes and reporting facilities are spome of the many e-learning related services that we offer here at Webducate. Please get in touch for more information.
Drawtivity presentation at OpenEd 2010
Just left Barecelona following an intense and enjoyable few days at OpenEd 2010 where I presented the Drawtivity project. Thanks to those who attended my presentation. Here are my slides:
It was great to meet up with some old friends, learn more about the current thinking in the open education movement and finally meet Scott Leslie having been in touch and influenced by Scott several years ago now.
Use of Dragster in teaching veterinary anatomy
I would like to highlight a piece of research undertaken by Octavio Lopez Albors and colleagues at the Royal Veterinary College which involved collaborations with the Veterinary Faculty in Murcia (Spain) and the Minimally Invasive Surgery Centre in Caceres (Spain). This looked at using Webducate Dragster as a tool to improve the teaching of the important subject of anatomy to veterinary students where the activities were created and shared between these international partners. Below is the presentation made at the XXVIIIth Congress of the European Association of Veterinary Anatomists describing this project.
Drawtivity poster at ALT-C 2010
I’ve just sent my Drawtivity poster for this September’s ALT-C 2010 conference to the printers. I’m looking forward to the conference again this year and hope to get lots of interest in this exciting new system. If you are attending please do call by during the poster session! In the meantime here is a preview of the poster (fingers crossed there aren’t any typos!)
Geek Dad – Enough ABC apps already
Geek Dad on Wired asks app developers to move beyond applications to teach basic literacy arguing that these are all very similar, often not well thought through and do not make use of the unique characteristics of the iphone and ipad.
This is indeed a useful and valid point, but it seem to me to miss the fact that there are a huge number of free flash based educational “apps” already available on the web that users of these devices cannot currently access. So app developers have an opportunity here to recreate some of these as apps and make a bit of money in the short term from those users who will pay to access otherwise free resources on their prefered device. Those app developers that really get to grips with the unique educational opportunities offered by these devices will have in my opinion a more valid reason to build a business model around selling educational apps.
Personally I feel like waiting for the non-apple tablets to appear which are likely to run flash before I throw my hat into this particular ring and I would advise any purchaser of mobile devices who has learning and education in mind to do the same.
