I admit to being a blog reader. I can spend way too many hours hitting buttons like this (each time you hit it, you'll randomly go to a different blog--most of them innocuous), surfing through various blogs to see if anyone is saying anything interesting.
And I have thought a great deal about having my students blog... using the forum for reading response journals; to post assignments; to report on various issues.
Is anyone interested in having a blog module, or maybe just boosting the forum module so that a student's blog is really just his or her main discussion forum? The subscription element of the forum, along with the html editor, etc., go along way in making the forums blog-like.
I imagine a button on the journal that the teacher or the student hit in order to "post" it to the blog (to make it public). This would add the public element of polished writing/learning to the mix.
Is anyone experiementing with this format?
Thanks,
Tom
Hi Tom,
I also spend a few minutes reading blogs now and then. Blogging is how I discovered Moodle. A very simple blog feature would be excellent as I believe this will draw in participants that, maybe, wouldn't participate otherwise. I have also been wondering about the easiest way to do this. I am not using this in an academic environment although my reason for learning Moodle is so I can introduce it to the local school officials and teachers. As many people are now aware of blogging I think a simple blogging feature may be the spark that ignites their interest. Anyone else have an interest or idea? Maybe someone is already using Moodle to blog and would like to share their experience.
John
I also spend a few minutes reading blogs now and then. Blogging is how I discovered Moodle. A very simple blog feature would be excellent as I believe this will draw in participants that, maybe, wouldn't participate otherwise. I have also been wondering about the easiest way to do this. I am not using this in an academic environment although my reason for learning Moodle is so I can introduce it to the local school officials and teachers. As many people are now aware of blogging I think a simple blogging feature may be the spark that ignites their interest. Anyone else have an interest or idea? Maybe someone is already using Moodle to blog and would like to share their experience.
John
Hmmm. Well, I have just set up two Moveable Type Blogging Zones! Students on Moodle will be offered the chance to Blog. Rather experimental at this stage, and not really integrated into Moodle. That is the way I would prefer it at the moment. Risk taking with 11-18 year old students...Hey, everyone, you are free to Blog! Now then....has anyone thought about the Moderation of such zones! I can see my Year 7 students going into worlds where no Year 7 has gone before....and beyond, perhaps.
Let's Moodle....
Martyn, how is your blog project going? I've been watching a history teacher down the hall working with blogger and I see some advantages to what he is doing.
I've struggled with what kind of material should go into a blog (which is probably some of the allure of the blog anyway), and, frankly, most of the ed-blogs I've stumbled across on the web just don't seem impressive. But while reading the history blogs (of students that I share with the teacher) I've realized that he is learning things about the kids that I never knew. The information is not necessarily relevant, but I tend to believe that teachers benefit from knowing as much about the kids as possible (even off-topic information).
When we currently click on a user name in Moodle, we get a page with all of the discussions he/she started. I wonder if that page could become the primary blog page. The students could maintain links (minimally), and have some customizations, etc.. Activity on the blog would also be signalled on the "recent activity" bar. I imagine a blog (which is primarily ungraded) might allow some students chances for exposure and success that they do not receive in the academic realm of Moodle. Still, the information could be moderated by the instructor or by individuals in the class, so that it doesn't become inappropriate (if that is a concern).
Now, as an additional cookie, I offer this preposterous idea: what if the blog were available across courses...so that it became a kind of roost for interdisciplinary musings?
I have been working on integrating simplog (www.simplog.net) into moodle with some success. As a starting point I have been concentrating on the member. Each user/member gets their own personal blog. They can post on categories of their own definition or categories created by a site admin. At the moment I have user login, basic blog administration for user settings, and rss feeds working. There's still much work to be done. If anyone wants to help out let me know.
Thanks,
Daryl
Thanks,
Daryl
Daryl, how is your project? If you need troubleshooters, I bet a bunch of us would be willing.
-Tom
-Tom
Tom,
I have been making slow but steady progress. At this point I do believe that I am ready for some testers. There is still a lot to be done, but I'm pleased at how far I have gotten things so far.
http://www.cocoaobjects.com/moodle/mod/simplog/index.php
Daryl
I have been making slow but steady progress. At this point I do believe that I am ready for some testers. There is still a lot to be done, but I'm pleased at how far I have gotten things so far.
http://www.cocoaobjects.com/moodle/mod/simplog/index.php
Daryl
Cool! Thanks for the peek. I'd be happy to put it on my dev install and test it!
-Tom
-Tom
By the way - I finally got simplog's news feeds working again.
RSS 0.9.x formatting: http://www.cocoaobjects.com/moodle/mod/simplog/rss.php
RSS 2.0 formatting: http://www.cocoaobjects.com/moodle/mod/simplog/rss2.php
and Atom 0.2 formatting as well: http://www.cocoaobjects.com/moodle/mod/simplog/atom.php
RSS 0.9.x formatting: http://www.cocoaobjects.com/moodle/mod/simplog/rss.php
RSS 2.0 formatting: http://www.cocoaobjects.com/moodle/mod/simplog/rss2.php
and Atom 0.2 formatting as well: http://www.cocoaobjects.com/moodle/mod/simplog/atom.php
I've just added the simplog moodle module as it stands to cvs. It's in the contrib folder: cvs:/contrib/simplog
I have included my messy todo list.
I'm interested in any discussions on the module.
I'd love help in integrating the simplog side blocks with the blocks module as well as integrating blog entries with the new calendar module to avoid duplicated functionality within moodle.
Also, if anyone is bored and wants to help in converting raw sql calls to moodle sql function calls I'd certainly appreciate the effort.
Thanks.
I have included my messy todo list.
I'm interested in any discussions on the module.
I'd love help in integrating the simplog side blocks with the blocks module as well as integrating blog entries with the new calendar module to avoid duplicated functionality within moodle.
Also, if anyone is bored and wants to help in converting raw sql calls to moodle sql function calls I'd certainly appreciate the effort.
Thanks.
Hi there, I love the idea of Simplelog. I don't see it in the module area of Moodle. Is there a place I can download it and find some assistance in what files to put in Moodle to intergrate it?
Thanks so much.
Thanks so much.