http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=19&rid=1022

LSU to Move to Moodle

Type: Web article

From: LSU Information Technology Services

Published: 2 November 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 31, 2007

LSU TO MIGRATE TO MOODLE LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

LSU’s Flagship Information Technology Strategy, or FITS, Task Force for Teaching and Learning submitted its recommendation for a single learning management software to the chief information officer for action. The Task Force recommends that Moodle, an open-source learning management resource, replace the University’s two learning management tools, Semester Book and Blackboard. This recommendation follows a nearly year-long process which involved input from the entire campus community.

Joseph Hutchinson, executive director of the Centers for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, spearheaded the campus-wide learning management system review process. “LSU had two course management tools, Blackboard and its internally developed application called Semester Book. The FITS called for a single resource that would best meet the needs of the entire campus community,” explained Hutchinson, “Having a two LMS environment was burdensome from both a user and support perspective.”

Brian D. Voss, LSU chief information officer regards the process as a tremendous success. “Dr. Hutchinson led an excellent, thorough review process which included a needs assessment, campus survey, proposal reviews, hands-on product assessments and presentations from vendors. I want to thank him and the committee for their hard work and especially the faculty and students for their participation,” stated Voss, “It was really important that this decision be guided by the community of scholars as it is not primarily an IT issue, but a pedagogical one.”  

Executive vice chancellor and provost Astrid Merget envisions substantive increases in faculty use of information technology to enable their teaching as a result of this change to a single, open source learning management system, “LSU is now positioned to more effectively leverage our investment in learning management systems and also provide the support faculty need to make use of that technology. This strategic focus on a single solution will allow our campus community to more pervasively use information technology to improve teaching and learning, beyond what we could have accomplished previously."

Currently one half of the faculty on campus uses a learning management system, and twenty percent of those faculty use Semester Book and Blackboard simultaneously. The single solution is intended to provide a more comprehensive learning management solution that is able to satisfy the somewhat disparate functionalities of Blackboard and Semester Book. Bill Wischusen, associate professor of biological sciences uses both Semester Book and Blackboard to manage his large introductory sections, “I look forward to having a single solution that meets both my needs and the needs of my students from a large course management standpoint and a learning facilitation one.”

While half of the faculty on campus currently may utilize a course management system, all of the LSU student population has had to use both systems. Nancy Dardis, an LSU senior in kinesiology, welcomes the change to a single learning management system, “I have three classes that use Semester Book and two that use Blackboard. It is aggravating to have to navigate between the two.”

ITS and CELT are working to have Moodle operational in time for faculty to test run it in the Spring 2008 semester. Moodle will be fully deployed by Fall 2008. Faculty will be able to migrate their course content from Blackboard and/or Semester Book during the Spring semester. Training sessions will be held beginning in January.

The final report of the FITS subcommittee and information on the selection process for Moodle may be found online at www.lsu.edu/cms. Information about LSU’s use of Moodle may be found on the LSU online knowledgebase, GROK, http://grok.lsu.edu/.

About Moodle

Moodle is a course management system – a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effect online learning communities. For additional information go online www.moodle.org.

For more information, contact Sheri Thompson, IT planning and communications officer for LSU Information Technology Services, at 225-578-5739 or sjt@lsu.edu.

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Added to this database by: Sheri Thompson

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=19&rid=1027

Louisiana State University System chooses Moodle

Type: Web article

From: Michael Penney

Published: 3 November 2007

Louisiana State Moves to Moodle

David Nagel reports in Campus Technology that the LSU system has chosen Moodle to replace it's commercial and homegrown LMS systems. LSU is the ~98,000 student state university system of the State of Louisiana.

See the full publication

      

Added to this database by: Michael Penney

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=83736&parent=37

Could you tell me if there are any moodle workshops, conferences, "moots", being held in Michigan or Chicago in 2008?

Carol 

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=612&parent=1536

OpenLearn has been shortlisted in the Learning and Skills category of the e-Government National Awards 2007. Announced today, the awards highlight UK services which improve citizen and business transaction with councils, central government departments and other public sector organisations.

This year’s awards focus on social inclusion and the use of innovative technology to deliver services to help the disadvantaged. In its first year OpenLearn has provided free access to Open University study materials to over 1 million learners and educators, supporting the University’s mission to open up access to education for all. Working with key partners, such as unionlearn, the Workers Educational Association (WEA), the Third Age Trust and Lifelong Learning Networks, the website has been used to reach learners from under represented groups in higher education.

Billy Khokhar, Assistant Director of Regional Collaboration and Widening Participation for the OU in Yorkshire has been using OpenLearn to introduce people to learning. He said, "We’ve been recently working with a group of Asian women in community centres in the region. Many of these women would be lost to the system because family, cultural and traditional ties often make their participation at traditional campuses difficult. OpenLearn introduces and provides a flexible method of study and we work to ensure that they have the IT skills necessary to be able to continue e-learning on their own."

OpenLearn has also been used to train staff working with disadvantaged children. The Children's Workforce Network in Plymouth City Council is using OpenLearn to provide a common learning experience for a team of practitioners from different disciplines, based at over 15 locations around the city.

The winners will be announced on the 22nd January 2008 at the Dorchester Hotel in London.

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=84296

Some people are wondering: "Where is Moodle 1.9"?



Well, it's still being polished in order to make it as good as possible. One of the things I really want to avoid is a repeat of our Moodle 1.7 release which was (in retrospect) a little rushed - the implementation of Roles caught a lot of people by surprise.



So in the name of stability and clarity and consistency and all those good things, we are having a Moodle Bugathon. Some seriously nice prizes are available to developers who fix the most bugs, test the most bugs, file the most bugs, or even just identify the most duplicate bug reports in the Moodle Tracker!



All developers and testers are welcome, even if you've been lurking until now. Join in the bug stomp, and let's make 1.9 the new 1.6.



Full details are here: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Bugathon

http://moodle.org

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=77887&parent=37

I'd love to participate in MoodleMoot in Idaho, either Boise or Pocatello.  I just started managing Moodle for Prescott College in Prescott, AZ.  I'd really like to make some connections with other users.  Please keep me posted of dates.  Thanks.

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=77887&parent=37

Hi Jan,

Thanks for responding to my post. I'll let you know as soon as we have a time, date and location ready for announcement. In the meantime, if there is anything I can help with please feel free to contact me.

Thanks,

Lori

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=84862&parent=37

I work at East Central College, a small community college about 45 minutes south west of St. Louis. For the past year, we have been running a Moodle / WebCT comparison project with 15-18 faculty members. As of last week, our college has officially decided to adopt and transition to Moodle from WebCT. Yeah!

My colleagues Barry Bookout, Chad Baldwin, and I attended the Moodle Moot in Albuquerque last year. It was a great experience and very beneficial in our work to proceed with Moodle on our campus. Our WebCT license expires in June 2008. We have a lot of faculty and staff to help with the transition. We thought that we would see if there was any interest for a Moodle Moot in the St. Louis area. We would either host it on our campus or at a hotel. We were thinking about putting it together for May or June of 2008.

Please respond if there are any others interested in Moodle Moot St. Louis.

Talk to you soon,

Todd Phillips
Title III activity Director
East Central College

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76018&parent=37

I work at East Central College, a small community college about 45 minutes south west of St. Louis. For the past year, we have been running a Moodle / WebCT comparison project with about 15 faculty members. As of last week, our college has officially decided to adopt and transition to Moodle from WebCT. Yeah!

My colleagues Barry Bookout, Chad Baldwin, and I attended the Moodle Moot in Albuquerque last year. It was a great experience and very beneficial in our work to proceed with Moodle on our campus. Our WebCT license expires in June 2008. We have a lot of faculty and staff to help with the transition. We thought that we would see if there was any interest for a Moodle Moot in the St. Louis area. We would either host it on our campus or at a hotel. We were thinking about putting it together for May or June of 2008.

Please respond if there is any others interested in MoodleMoot St. Louis.

Talk to you soon,

Todd Phillips
Title III activity Director
East Central College

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=84862&parent=37

Good Afternoon,

Just so that we don't get our dates crossed, we are in the planning stages of a Moot in San Francisco in mid June. The final dates should be set within the next couple of weeks, and then we'll make an official announcement.

The 'we' in the first sentence are Jason Cole, Kevin Kelly and myself, who were the co-conspirators in the Albuquerque Moot...I can still spell that without thinking about it.

jon

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=84862&parent=37

I would attend the San Francisco Moot when registration is opened.
Tom Wilson

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=84862&parent=37

Jon,

That is good information. In fact, There are a few of us that will try to attend this Moot to. Thanks for the heads up, and we will certainly go for alternative dates so we do not conflict.

Talk to you soon,

Todd

// <![CDATA[ ]]>

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=85090&parent=37

Hello all fellow Scandinavian moodlers,

We are proud to hereby invite you to MoodleMoot Scandinavia 2008.

We represent moodlerooms a US MoodlePartner offering Authorized Fullservice for Moodle.

Part of our current activities is to prepare a gathering for Scandinavian Moodlers.
Here's the preliminary program for: MoodleMoot Scandinavia 2008 which will be held on Monday March 10, Tuesday March 11, 2008 in Orsa/Grönklitt, Dalecarlia, Sweden. There are many options of
various quality and level of prices when it comes to accomodation and food. http://www.orsagronklitt.se/Konferens.asp

We also have three courses mostly in Swedish, for the MoodleMoot one for those interested, one for registered participants and one for those planning to contribute to the program. We welcome feedback on the program so that we can adapt it and make it as relevant and as suitable as possible to all
participants' needs.

Here's an invitation in Swedish, to contribute to the program, or rather a Call-for papers. Please contact us if you need an English version.

We will want your paper before December 15, 2007 and you can submit it to a forum in the course MoodleMoot for contributors The requires an enrolment key. You can contact us for a key.
See contact info below.

The registration for the Moot will be open in January 2008.
More info on this later.

Here's the Swedish Office online.

Best regards!

Anders Berggren
anders_sweden (at) moodlerooms.com
Skypename: andersbrg
moodlerooms Sweden Office
Pers väg 14
S-794 92 Orsa
+46 (0)250-44522

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=19&rid=1050

Moodle Bugathon Opened to Finalize New Release

Type: Web article//

From: Cherckpoint Elearning

Published: 22 November 2007

See the full publication

      

Added to this database by: Ralf Hilgenstock

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=19&rid=1052

Intel Education releases new Moodle tools

Type: Web article//

From: Michael Penney//

Published: 23 November 2007

Intel Education engaged with Moodlerooms to develop a new course format and several new community building functions that are now available to the open source community under the standard Moodle license.

The new Moodle course format and community functions are core elements of the new Intel® Teach Essentials Online Course which will train teachers around the world how to use technology effectively in the classroom. To date, after 18 months in development, the Intel® Teach Essentials Online Course has gone live in Russia, Egypt, Brazil and the United States.

To download the code and learn how it works, click here.

See the full publication

      

Added to this database by: Michael Penney

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=19&rid=1054

Secondary ICT Management - Choosing a VLE

Type: Audio/Video

From: Teachers TV//

Published: 23 November 2007

Discussion about VLE's in UK Schools involving moodle//

See the full publication

      

Added to this database by: Dan Poltawski

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=19&rid=1061

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76018&parent=37

Todd --

I would be interested in a MoodleMoot anywhere in the Midwest. I've been Moodling for about 3 years; Moodle has become very popular in Indiana high schools.

Carla Beard

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76018&parent=37

Good Afternoon,

Indianapolis would be a good spot to have a Moot in the Midwest. I'd be interested in looking into that for mid-late summer. I'll start looking into availability this week.

jon

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76018&parent=37

I will attend any Moot within a day's drive of the NYC area. Indianapolis is just under 700 miles -- I can do that

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=77887&parent=37

Lori,

I live in California but am relocating to Montana and I would love to attend a Moodle Moot in Idaho. Would there be a focus or concentration on Moodle use in elementary, middle, or high school? I know of at least three other people that would attend from my district. I will help in any way I can. Please let me know.

Scott Johnson

Atwater, CA

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76018&parent=37

Hi all,

I am interested in a MoodleMoot anywhere in the US this spring.  I just took over Moodle management for Prescott College, a small liberal arts college.  I'd really like to get some feedback and see what others are doing.  Please post any confirmed places/dates. Thanks.

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=77887&parent=37

Hi Scott,

There hasn't been a decision to focus on a certain area other than Moodle. I work in Higher Ed, but have learned some very helpful uses of Moodle from those using it in other levels of education. It is my hope that this will happen with this Moodle Moot.

I'll keep the forum updated as things progress.

Thanks for the support and I'll let you know if there is anything you can do to help!

Lori

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76018&parent=37

Jon,

Would there be interest to hold this in the St. Louis area? Maybe we could collaborate on this. I could help work out the on sight arrangements.

Todd

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=19&rid=1065

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76018&parent=37

I'm just down the road in San Jose using Moodle for grades 6-12. Be happy to help out.

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=85629

After their very successful Summer of Code program for University students, Google just announced their new Highly Open Participation contest, designed to encourage pre-University students to get involved with open source projects via much smaller and diverse contributions.



I'm very proud that Moodle has been selected as one of only ten open source projects to take part in the inaugural year of this new contest.



We have a long list of small tasks prepared already for students, but we would definitely like to see the Moodle community come up with more - so if you have any ideas for things you want to see done, please send them to us! Just remember they can't take more than five days.



Google will pay students US$100 for every three tasks they successfully complete, plus send a cool T-shirt. There are also grand prizes including an all-expenses-paid trip to Google HQ in Mountain View, California. If you are (or know) a young student with an interest in Moodle then give it a go!



You can find out all the details on the Moodle/GHOP contest site.