I'm about to show my superiors a demo of Moodle 1.7.1 and it would be very helpful if I could show some "previously live" data. Is there a sample course that would have such data, including quiz results, so that reports and activity report generation could be demonstrated?
Seeing a class set would be better than just sticking a few students into a demo without any real context.
Any real data with the names and other key info changed could do the trick.
Is such an example course available?
thank you
RC
Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Richard Cory -
Number of replies: 13
In reply to Richard Cory
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by John Isner -
Fred Quay has done some excellent work on "anonymizing" student data (see this discussion). Except for his own site (which is in French), I'm not aware of any sites in the English speaking world that do this. It's a pity. The availability of such courses with real (but anonymized) student data would have tremendous value to those learning or advocating for Moodle. Please vote for MDL-8148.
In reply to John Isner
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Frances Bell -
Unfortunately, as we have found on a research project, changing the 'name' of the poster is insufficent to conceal the identity since, as social animals, people reveal their identity and others' in their postings.
On CABWEB (about international student collaboration rather than trad courses) we set up demo collaboration spaces that used anonymised versions of real exchanges to give people a flavour of what could happen. You can check one out at http://www.cabweb.net/portal/course/view.php?id=41
You'll need to log in as a guest and accept our site policy - let me know of any problems.
On CABWEB (about international student collaboration rather than trad courses) we set up demo collaboration spaces that used anonymised versions of real exchanges to give people a flavour of what could happen. You can check one out at http://www.cabweb.net/portal/course/view.php?id=41
You'll need to log in as a guest and accept our site policy - let me know of any problems.
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by John Isner -
Can you give us a reference to the research project?
In reply to John Isner
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Frances Bell -
What sort of reference do you want? Article, web site or what.
The first example was from a project where the participants' posting are currently in a closed group for reasons of privacy. The second one I have given you a reference to the demo forums.
The first example was from a project where the participants' posting are currently in a closed group for reasons of privacy. The second one I have given you a reference to the demo forums.
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by John Isner -
When you said "research project" I thought maybe it was published somewhere.
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Richard Cory -
Good question Francis
My experience with other type of IT demonstrations allowed school administrators to see what the manipulation of a set of data might function like. For example, running a demo on a scheduler as part of a view of a student information system to see how it actually works with "real/dummy" data.
In the case of Moodle or any ther such system, along with seeing how the assignments and forums work, school admins would also be interesterd in seeing how the gradebook and reports function ... which means there should be a few sample assignment marks, quiz results, etc. to faclitate a demo of how the weightings work, as well as how reports are run on a single student or a class for a type of assessment/the entire gradebook of the student or class.
The data itself is less important than the fact that there is a class of 20-30 students who have mutiple graded assignments in a few categories to give a real flavor of the power of the gradebook and reporting features of Moodle.
RC
My experience with other type of IT demonstrations allowed school administrators to see what the manipulation of a set of data might function like. For example, running a demo on a scheduler as part of a view of a student information system to see how it actually works with "real/dummy" data.
In the case of Moodle or any ther such system, along with seeing how the assignments and forums work, school admins would also be interesterd in seeing how the gradebook and reports function ... which means there should be a few sample assignment marks, quiz results, etc. to faclitate a demo of how the weightings work, as well as how reports are run on a single student or a class for a type of assessment/the entire gradebook of the student or class.
The data itself is less important than the fact that there is a class of 20-30 students who have mutiple graded assignments in a few categories to give a real flavor of the power of the gradebook and reporting features of Moodle.
RC
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Richard Cory -
Thanks John and Frances.
This helps demonstrate forums quite nicely.
It would be nice to find some "dummy" data that demonstrates how teachers could view and run reports on student grades. This aspect is often of concern to school administrators.
RC
This helps demonstrate forums quite nicely.
It would be nice to find some "dummy" data that demonstrates how teachers could view and run reports on student grades. This aspect is often of concern to school administrators.
RC
In reply to John Isner
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Fred Quay -
Thank you John,
I'm thinking more and more often to the fact there is so few contend to visit and share. Is it a worldwide feeling to be shy about ones own pedagogic practices and reluctant to be under peers' sight ?
Wouldn't it be a solution to create a central sample Moodle site organized by teaching level, (categories) knowledge domain (under-categories) and so on down to course creators. We would deliver anonymized courses to advocate and share significant practices -I mean not only so to be creative, but proper to induce rich exchanges. Inner teachers forums would be dedicated to analyzing teaching practices, both achieved and unsatisfying, from real experience.
Thus we could diffuse a culture of "teaching with Moodle analysis workshops" among us Moodlers, who earned to be confident on others through our contributions to Moodle community. This confident spirit would be a good basis to share considerations about pedagogy on real cases, both with concern and respect.
I'm thinking more and more often to fill the gap between Moodle community intense technical exchanges and deeply concerned teaching practice shares. It's not so obvious to make ones unsatisfying pedagogic contend public, not only because of legal considerations...
This Moodle community is a place where it might be possible, wouldn't it ?
I fund my proposal on the fact that I share such practices with peers inside a pedagogic movement( Urbi world, not Web orbi), where it is possible to, with confidence. A very good place to be, to face some difficult inner resistances to changement and reluctance to pratice under peer sight.
I'm thinking more and more often to the fact there is so few contend to visit and share. Is it a worldwide feeling to be shy about ones own pedagogic practices and reluctant to be under peers' sight ?
Wouldn't it be a solution to create a central sample Moodle site organized by teaching level, (categories) knowledge domain (under-categories) and so on down to course creators. We would deliver anonymized courses to advocate and share significant practices -I mean not only so to be creative, but proper to induce rich exchanges. Inner teachers forums would be dedicated to analyzing teaching practices, both achieved and unsatisfying, from real experience.
Thus we could diffuse a culture of "teaching with Moodle analysis workshops" among us Moodlers, who earned to be confident on others through our contributions to Moodle community. This confident spirit would be a good basis to share considerations about pedagogy on real cases, both with concern and respect.
I'm thinking more and more often to fill the gap between Moodle community intense technical exchanges and deeply concerned teaching practice shares. It's not so obvious to make ones unsatisfying pedagogic contend public, not only because of legal considerations...
This Moodle community is a place where it might be possible, wouldn't it ?
I fund my proposal on the fact that I share such practices with peers inside a pedagogic movement( Urbi world, not Web orbi), where it is possible to, with confidence. A very good place to be, to face some difficult inner resistances to changement and reluctance to pratice under peer sight.
In reply to Fred Quay
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by John Isner -
Hi Fred,
I like your idea very much, but let me make sure I understand it.
We would create a site for contributed courses (with real but anonymized data). The site would also provide forums where teachers could freely discuss and critique the courses. The emphasis of these discussions would be pedagogical, rather than technological.
As a teacher I would use this site in two ways
The site would need an admin/editor to maintain the course hierarchy and to moderate the forums. The editor would screen courses to make sure that they contained real (but anonymized) student data. The admin would probably also provide anonymization tools.
Some people will say that the Moodle course exchange already serves this purpose. It does not. There is no discussion of the courses on Course Exchange (the contributors are not anonymous, so even if there were discussion, it would be limited to praise
. The biggest problem is that there is no data.
I like your idea very much, but let me make sure I understand it.
We would create a site for contributed courses (with real but anonymized data). The site would also provide forums where teachers could freely discuss and critique the courses. The emphasis of these discussions would be pedagogical, rather than technological.
As a teacher I would use this site in two ways
- I would use it to find courses similar to the ones I teach, in order to compare my practices (for better or worse) with those of the course creators
- I would contribute my own courses to the site in order to get feedback from the community (contributors should also be anonymized!!)
The site would need an admin/editor to maintain the course hierarchy and to moderate the forums. The editor would screen courses to make sure that they contained real (but anonymized) student data. The admin would probably also provide anonymization tools.
Some people will say that the Moodle course exchange already serves this purpose. It does not. There is no discussion of the courses on Course Exchange (the contributors are not anonymous, so even if there were discussion, it would be limited to praise
In reply to John Isner
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Frances Bell -
Sounds like a good idea. Educators often share 'context-free' materials and it would be good to see content and activities in a realistic context. It is a significant amount of work to produce such anonymised materials though, and Art Lader's request for case studies (a more abstract but less demanding alternative) did not get many responses as I recall. People are very busy.
On the other hand, Moodlers do share context-bound examples in their discussions on Moodle.org.
On the other hand, Moodlers do share context-bound examples in their discussions on Moodle.org.
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Fred Quay -
Hi Frances,
let me precise one technical aspect I did not make clear about anonymization and giving life to a demo site:
It is a significant amount of work to produce such anonymised materials though,
Not so much work if a I attest that Moodle backup-restore respect initial anonymization. As an example, my demo site once created and pupils identity anonymized once :
I proceed to backup-restore monthly or less, from the courses wich changed significantly for the demo purpose. Anonymization is thence automagically set by Moodle restore process. Anonymization is not lost by following restores. > It's a breeze.
and Art Lader's request for case studies (a more abstract but less demanding alternative) did not get many responses as I recall.
Maybe Moodle community is large and generous and motivated enough to give a new frontier to our practices : some will remain invested in technical support, others will give life to a wholly usefull community of practices, if it's clearly identified. Art's generous proposal could be once again widely spread and give place to a direct access place from main site, to drain people. What has not been a success in so complex world as Moodle's community, could become on a second try, and better aimed, like it is in a class stream of events : last month, I failed to support my pupils endeavour to answer a webquest through forum. This mont, I chose the wiki to structure our information collect, and it's an immediate success.
People are very busy. Yes we are, it's a fertile ground to our inner progress, and free to choose the field of our business, and to make our involvement in community go from one field to another, depending our practices fields of interests through our times and projects. What's facinating in Moodle's commitment is that the platform extensive ressources (modular approch to answer many needs) is not so fulfilling as it's intensive contribution to inner experience, if I dare... I mean that community of practice is a new frontier to inner practice of online teaching experience. Maybe not so many people to practice it, but an urgent step to promote.
let me precise one technical aspect I did not make clear about anonymization and giving life to a demo site:
It is a significant amount of work to produce such anonymised materials though,
Not so much work if a I attest that Moodle backup-restore respect initial anonymization. As an example, my demo site once created and pupils identity anonymized once :
I proceed to backup-restore monthly or less, from the courses wich changed significantly for the demo purpose. Anonymization is thence automagically set by Moodle restore process. Anonymization is not lost by following restores. > It's a breeze.
and Art Lader's request for case studies (a more abstract but less demanding alternative) did not get many responses as I recall.
Maybe Moodle community is large and generous and motivated enough to give a new frontier to our practices : some will remain invested in technical support, others will give life to a wholly usefull community of practices, if it's clearly identified. Art's generous proposal could be once again widely spread and give place to a direct access place from main site, to drain people. What has not been a success in so complex world as Moodle's community, could become on a second try, and better aimed, like it is in a class stream of events : last month, I failed to support my pupils endeavour to answer a webquest through forum. This mont, I chose the wiki to structure our information collect, and it's an immediate success.
People are very busy. Yes we are, it's a fertile ground to our inner progress, and free to choose the field of our business, and to make our involvement in community go from one field to another, depending our practices fields of interests through our times and projects. What's facinating in Moodle's commitment is that the platform extensive ressources (modular approch to answer many needs) is not so fulfilling as it's intensive contribution to inner experience, if I dare... I mean that community of practice is a new frontier to inner practice of online teaching experience. Maybe not so many people to practice it, but an urgent step to promote.
In reply to Fred Quay
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Frances Bell -
I think your idea is definitely worth a try.
What we did at CABWEB was construct demos with matching 'templates' (i.e. empty shells with trigger text for editing that tutors could edit quickly to get started). The structure and text were not fixed but could be treated as a starting point. The demo spaces are available to view but the templates are not at present (you get one on request) so I have attached a screenshot to give you the idea. did n't work so here is link on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/francesbell/395315666/ best to choose original size.
Fred I am probably being dense but I still don't understand the automagic nature of anonymisation.
*** next bit is a demo ***
Oh Fred Quay, you primary school teachers from Avignon are so clever. I looked at your web site at http://virelibre.eu and I was very impressed
*** end of demo***
Your challenge is to explain to me how you would automagically anonymise this posting
I like the idea about the Wiki buit think it needs to be complemented by dialogue, and the sociotechnical challenge is how to combine those and make them work with people.
What we did at CABWEB was construct demos with matching 'templates' (i.e. empty shells with trigger text for editing that tutors could edit quickly to get started). The structure and text were not fixed but could be treated as a starting point. The demo spaces are available to view but the templates are not at present (you get one on request) so I have attached a screenshot to give you the idea. did n't work so here is link on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/francesbell/395315666/ best to choose original size.
Fred I am probably being dense but I still don't understand the automagic nature of anonymisation.
*** next bit is a demo ***
Oh Fred Quay, you primary school teachers from Avignon are so clever. I looked at your web site at http://virelibre.eu and I was very impressed
*** end of demo***
Your challenge is to explain to me how you would automagically anonymise this posting
I like the idea about the Wiki buit think it needs to be complemented by dialogue, and the sociotechnical challenge is how to combine those and make them work with people.
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Sample course with quiz data and other samples for advocacy purposes
by Fred Quay -
Thanks for expressing such constructive and cute dialogue (is cute for precisely thought ? I do not intend another meaning, of which I wouldnt' be conscious...).
I spent some time to understand your quest about anonymization, and I feel you touch at least 2 limits of the simple system I use :
teacher convinced the pupils to refer to themselves in the site with their wellknown double letter ID : in my class, any documents identifying persons use their double letter ID : everybody know who's FQ, BQ, and so on...
*** next bit is a demo ***
Oh FQ, you proved that you primary school teacher from Avignon are not so clever. I looked at your web site at http://virelibre.eu and I found a security risk in your anonymization process.
*** end of demo***
FQ answers : Yes you did... Please vote for MDL-8148
I spent some time to understand your quest about anonymization, and I feel you touch at least 2 limits of the simple system I use :
- Anonymization concerns the user identity : I adopted FirstName+Name initial letters to rename childdren, as users in the demo site : original site pupil Baptiste Quay becomes BQ in demo site. His black & white photo is blurred in demo site, keeping human presence to the demo tool, with no chance to recognize him as real person but only persons from his near environment could, which are members of the school community (teachers, pupils and parents).
- If in a more constraining environment, I would not carry to the demo site, such forums which deal with psychological values at stake, or with learners' community inner problem resolution place, which limits the system extension.
teacher convinced the pupils to refer to themselves in the site with their wellknown double letter ID : in my class, any documents identifying persons use their double letter ID : everybody know who's FQ, BQ, and so on...*** next bit is a demo ***
Oh FQ, you proved that you primary school teacher from Avignon are not so clever. I looked at your web site at http://virelibre.eu and I found a security risk in your anonymization process.
*** end of demo***
FQ answers : Yes you did... Please vote for MDL-8148