Questions - Please help

Questions - Please help

by Karrie V -
Number of replies: 5

Hi, I just found this site which seems to be similar to something I am currently using for an online literature circle between two sixth grade classes.

I have been using snitzs fourms which has some GREAT features which I am hoping this site can offer secure FrontPage server which I am hoping I can run this off of. I am going to email my tech to see if we can use PSP files on this server. If anyone has information regarding Access please share I saw Access listed somewhere but mostly I just see MySQL listed

  1. hot topics you can set a number of posts to make a topic hot this way kids know which topics their classmates are interested in
  2. Posting titles you can set a number of posts and titles for example 10 posts makes you a newbie, 20 a master of the boards and so on. This provided my students with incentives to interact with their peers
  3. Recent topics students can see all the recent topics since the last time they logged into the forum
  4. Bad word filter a filter that *** any bad words
  5. Member list this allowed the teacher to see all of a particular students posts throughout the course

I would also love to know if there is a spell check for students to use when posting

I am also wondering if there are instructions to use this forum with Access. We have a which we dont have.

Thanks in advance!!!

Karrie

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Karrie V

Re: Questions - Please help

by Przemyslaw Stencel -
Hi Karrie,

Access and FrontPage - no, Moodle runs on PHP and MySQL

Hot topics - no, but in forum view you can see how many replies each post has and when the last message in a thread was posted (threads are sorted by this last post date) - see here for an example.

Posting titles - no, but why do you need it?

Recent topics - yes, there is a "Recent Activity" box with new course members, new forum posts, new activities, etc. Soon, there will be an even more functional "Recent Activity" page.

Bad words filter - yes, you can define your own words.

Members list - yes, see this for example.

Spell-check - no

However, Moodle has tons of other useful features, and more are coming...

I hope this will help you make your decision. If you have any other specific questions, feel free to ask smile

Przemek
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Przemyslaw Stencel

Re: Questions - Please help

by Don Hinkelman -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers
Hi Karrie (and Przemek),

Like you, I came to Moodle from the discussion board world, using phpBB (I haven't tried the one you use). Most forum software like those have many features I would like to add in Moodle, such as...
- stickies (force a topic to remain at the top)
- pruning, merging and moving individual topics
- titles or other incentives to interaction
- editing options after the initial time limit
- easier quoting of other posters' comments
The great thing about Moodle is that all of these things can be added. You just have to write the PHP code smile (but don't laugh, many teachers like myself are starting to learn PHP now just to be able to modify Moodle).

Moodle has forums but its main purpose is tracking many kinds of learning activities and integrating them (quizzes, groupwork, assignments, journals, etc.).

Pzemek, in answer to your question about why "titles" are needed, I find my students absolutely love it, and the amount of postings double or triple with it. As an EFL teacher of reluctant communicators, I want to encourage as much practice in the new language as possible. I even saw a forum here in Japan that gives each member a simple icon of a house. As they post, rooms, levels and decor is added to the house icon. Eventually, a member who has posted hundreds of times, has an elegant castle. The students were so excited.

Don
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Don Hinkelman

Re: Questions - Please help

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Quantity vs quality

My experience with this method od scoring participation is that people who want them tend to post a large amout of short posts like "LOL!" or "Me too".

I think if average forum ratings could be displayed publically (on every post) then we would have more powerful incentive than a simple post count.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Questions - Please help

by Karrie V -

I have to disagree, I just finished an online literature circle and the students had a rubric to follow therefore they had to have meaningful posts and the titles gave them incentive to post healthy competition never hurt anyone! smile

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Karrie V

Re: Questions - Please help

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Sure, nothing at all wrong with healthy competition, I just disagree that quantity is the best measure by which students should be compared.

It sounds like you had the quality side taken care of by another means (rubrics) which is admirable but what I'm saying is that basing rank on the number of posts doesn't itself promote quality. Many less-thoughful teachers or those new to online learning would come across the feature and assume it is "the way to do things".

One place Moodle differs from generic forum products is that it always tries to promote good online pedagogy.

In most online classrooms you really need to encourage reflection, connection and thus quality posting, because quantity can rapidly scale out of control (eg 30 students x 4 posts a day = 120 posts for everyone to read every day).

In Don's case though (language practice) I can see how cumulative scoring could be a good incentive, so perhaps there is room for both methods after all.  tongueout
Average of ratings: -