I am using Moodle to teach art. One feature I need to have is to be able to offer a photo gallery that students of each class can upload their artwork to, and then be able to comment on their classmates' artwork. It would be kind of similar to what you can do on Facebook (view pictures, add to a running comment thread below or beside the image). Is there a plugin for this, or can one be created?
Also, anyone using Moodle to teach visual art, photography, or music online?
Hi Tim Well to start the ball rolling I would like to suggest Moodle's database module http://docs.moodle.org/en/Database_activity_module which can be used for just that. Alternatively there is the Lightbox gallery contributed module http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=mod_lightboxgallery which would need a bit of tweaking to allow students to upload. I have used the database myself for students to upload photos to and comment on each other's
Hi Tim,
There are several Moodle modules that you could use; database, discussion forum, glossary, etc.; and they all have their pros and cons. I'm assuming you want to encourage peer review, co-construction, sharing of ideas, etc. Perhaps a different platform would be better in that case. Wordpress.org is worth having a look at since lots of photographers use it for their portfolios and there are a lot of plugin modules especially for it. Better still, BuddyPress (http://buddypress.org/) is a more social version with groups, microblogging (Facebook style) and discussion forums. Elgg (http://elgg.org/) is also a social constructivist platform for learning that could have some possibilities, depending on what your particular needs are.
The main advantage of using a Wordpress format is that learners can easily export their blog content and data so that they can take it with them when the course has finished, and upload it onto their own Wordpress site as a personal portfolio. This provides an extra motivation for learners to really put their hearts and souls into their online assignments.
I hope this helps!
Mary, and Matt- thanks for the quick responses! Mary- are there screenshots of Moodle's database module http://docs.moodle.org/en/Database_activity_module ? I'm all visual, and a view speaks a thousand words for me.
Matt, I appreciate your suggestion to consider WordPress or BuddyPress, as I've wondered if Moodle is overkill for what I'm trying to accomplish. Perhaps you can tell me, based on what I'm after:
Re the gallery 'look' that I'm after (a Photoshop comp):
Thanks for your input!
Hi Tim,
From the formal school/course administration side, Moodle does all this very well. All of the options I've mentioned can be hidden from public view and require users to log in.
Moodle 1.9 also has plugins that allow things like rubric based peer assessment (peer assessment assignment module plugin), and it's perfectly feasible to embed Flash or Javascript based photo galleries into Moodle pages along with discussion forums.
Moodle 1.9 is much more friendly than Moodle 2.x towards multimedia in this respect since you can upload all the photos you like, anyway you like and access them easily and predictably. Personally, I find Moodle 2.x unnecessarily complicated for file management.
It's all swings and roundabouts and I don't what your specific intentions are and you may not have fully formed ideas yet either; It's something that usually evolves over time. I recommend spending some time with all the most suitable options at your disposal and trying out what you'd like to achieve. I wrote an article on how to set up local versions of web software on a PC, using Moodle as an example. The principles are the same for any PHP based system including Wordpress, BuddyPress, and Elgg: http://blog.matbury.com/2012/01/02/do-you-want-to-get-started-with-moodle/
I hope this helps!
Matt- thanks for the response. I visited your site- nice! I also explored using WordPress as my LMS, but feel that I'm simply opening up a can of worms by reinventing the wheel (i.e. another LMS) when Moodle has been refined a thousand times via open source.
So...I think my best bet is to make use of Moodle (probably will use only a small, small fraction of its capabilities), but find someone who can design a gallery (see above post) that'll do what I need it to...within Moodle.
Know of anyone that could accomplish this? and soon?
Hi Tim,
Not meaning to complicate your decision, but to throw another option into the mix - you could look at Mahara (which can integrate quite nicely with Moodle) and is originally designed as a portfolio tool (as I understand it anyway)
Richard
Checked out Mahara, but not sure how to interpret it, or how it would work?
Here's an example of a Mahara art gallery https://olchs-mahara.luns.net.uk/view/view.php?id=462 from my school
Students can make their own; others can comment on individual photos. Only issue is -this is a big learning curve on top of Moodle. I still think the Moodle database or Itamar's dataform would do pretty much all you need and much more simply.
Hi Tim,
We seem to be posting across threads. I'm gonna stick to this one so it's easier for others to follow.
I think you'll love Elgg with the TidyPics plugin. I've been playing with it and it supports all kinds of features that you'd expect from a photography album manager, as well as features for commenting, tagging, EXIF data, etc. It's very easy to use too. Here's my experiments so far: http://elgg.matbury.com/photos/album/361/marshmallow-challenge-brighton
Thanks Tim!
One thing I found with moving stuff onto Moodle was that I found lots of other things that worked better or were more convenient in it. For example, having the grade book and feedback available to learners online means that they can keep track of their progress as and when they want to or need to. I also like the attendance module for face-to-face class attendance. When learners can see that, they have a clear idea of where they are and what they have left to do on a course. And getting learners to make choices about topics, themes and activities, gradually giving over more control and responsibility to them, and getting useful feedback easily as the course or project progresses.
BTW, Wordpress is almost as old as Moodle and is also open source. I really like its file management and I wish they'd do something similar with Moodle 2.x's. Wanna develop a plugin anyone?
Hey all,
been a while. Hope all is well w peace!
any progress on an effective Facebook-like social gallery for Moodle?
Found this his one for WordPress: http://wordpress.org/plugins/social-gallery-lite/
Anything like this this for Moodle, yet?
Matt, this sounds ever so interesting. Wouldn't it be nice to have something in Moodle akin to the slider/gallery feature you see elsewhere online? See for example www.casae.cl/work/totem/ (takes a second or two to adjust itself), and of course other media use such sliders too.
might need to use google translate too
cheers
Dawn