Mary Cooch

I am posting this on behalf of Γιώργος Κασαπίδης who is having problems posting it:

 Είναι η τρίτη προσπάθεια για αναβάθμιση από 3,6 σε 3,7  Η αναβάθμιση γίνεται κανονικά, όταν όμως προσπαθώ να κάνω επεξεργασία σε μάθημα πατώντας το κουμπί "επεξεργασία" με πηγαίνει στην κορυφή(top) της σελίδας χωρίς να ανοίγει τις επιλογές.  

Since 2002 when Martin Dougiamas first released Moodle, it has been enhanced by the contributions of hundreds of developers and translators around the world.

This stunning animation (created by Eloy Lafuente using the open source software Gource) represents Moodle development as tree, with the root directory at the very centre and other directories as branches. You can clearly see how, in the early days Martin is developing almost entirely alone and gradually more contributors get involved. In addition to developers, in the early years, translators are also shown (up until the language packs were moved to a separate repository).

 Many thanks to all our developers, without whom this Moodle ‘tree’ could not have grown and flourished as it has.

We're so proud of our global open source community and want to celebrate by inviting YOU to design to Moot 2019 T-shirts!

As many of you know, everyone who comes to an HQ-run or an official MoodleMoot receives a branded T-shirt to wear. Could it be your vision and design chosen by Martin Dougiamas as the 2019 T-shirt?

For our upcoming MoodleMoots we'd like to invite YOU, the Moodle Community, to submit designs for Moot 2019 T-shirts!

Don't miss out on the opportunity for your vision to be represented and worn by thousands of Moodlers across MoodleMoot Australia 2019, MoodleMoot US 2019 and MoodleMoot Global 2019.

How to enter:

1. Based around the Moodle brand and logo, create a design for the front of every T-shirt which includes/complements the iconic Moodle orange (Orange: C:0 M:61 Y:100 K:0)
2. Save your design as a PDF
3. Email your design to marketing@moodle.com with the subject title: [your name] - Moot 2019 T-shirt Entry
   
4. Cross your fingers to win!

Dates:

Submit your design as a high-quality PDF before the deadline of the 24th May 2019.

The winning design will be chosen by Moodle CEO, Martin Dougiamas, and printed for every delegate at upcoming 2019 moots and available to purchase through our online Moodle store.

And of course, all earnings from the online store go directly to funding the development of the Moodle platform.

*Please Note: Final artwork submissions may be subject to editing and/or re-formatting to allow for printing specifications. *

Sunday 3 February was the last day of our latest Learn Moodle Basics MOOC. From this week the course is in read-only mode (using the new Context freezing feature!), and Helen and I are busy preparing for the next run, Learn Moodle 3.7 Basics, starting 10 June 2019. Here’s a short overview of how the MOOC went: 

Some facts and figures: 

•  3005 people started the course and of these 46% were awarded a Learn Moodle 3.6 participant badge for posting in a forum.
•  21% (624) went on to complete all 33 activities and obtain a certificate of completion and badge.
•  32% of participants chose to progress through the course one week at a time, while 68% chose to see all the activities at once.
•  In the week 4 final feedback, 93% of participants said that their overall impression of the course was good or outstanding.
•  In the week 4 final feedback, 86% of participants said that the tasks in the course were just the right level for them.

What we did well:

 Course design

 The course design was well received, both the short videos and explanations and the social constructionist element. Here’s a summary from one participant in our anonymous feedback: 

 Following are the things which I liked in your course so I am writing this. These were implemented at different points (before, during and at the end of the course): 

 1. flow and the way you have designed the course which gives scope for both novices and advanced user of moodle to learn many things. 

 2. learning activities eg course creation which applies the principles of active learning and utilizes the power of peer learning. 

 3. collaboration and evaluation of content by the participants across the globe.  

4. reflection on how the course meets our learning preferences. 

 Thanks for the well-designed course. I hope to learn more from the future course.

MOOC management 

One of the MOOC’s strengths is in its diversity, again something mentioned in our anonymous feedback: 

Given the large number of participants with different languages, skills, backgrounds and knowledge of Moodle, I think the course went very well indeed. Great support from the tutors and others online. 

 It is always a challenge looking after so many people, but we are grateful to our regular attendees, experienced Moodlers who like to help out. Along with the Participant and Completer badges, we award a “Helper” badge to those participants we feel have done a great job helping us. This badge is only awarded to a handful of Moodlers. The Learn Moodle 3.6 Basics Helpers are below: many thanks to them all!

John Bennett

Gisele Croce

Joost Elshoff

Varenne Riocha

Alejandro Vásquez

Hart Wilson

How we can improve:

Clarify the workshop times and instructions

 Although we try each time to make the deadlines and instructions clearer, participants still get confused. Confusion arises because the activity is not marked complete until the very end of all stages of the Workshop, and there is confusion amongst some about the final deadline time. We do encourage participants to make sure their timezone is correctly set in their profile, but we plan also to include times as well as dates for the workshop submission and assessment deadlines. 

 We're also changing the instructions for submission from 'Add a picture...' to 'Attach an image...' and setting the maximum number of submission attachments to 1.

Notify participants via email about their certificate

In future, once participants complete the course, they will be emailed their certificate. This should help people who have struggled to understand the instructions for locating and downloading the certificate on the course page.

 Make more of Moodle’s new features

 While the MOOC is designed for complete beginners, people also join to discover the new features of each new version. We’re going to try to highlight these better in the next MOOC, for example with new quiz questions or activities or a dedicated summary page, to ensure there is something for everyone, new or experienced.

Bug fixes! 

Participants are great at finding the occasional bug in in the web version or the Moodle app. We make sure these bugs are reported so they can be fixed not only for our next MOOC but for all Moodle users. Here are some of the bugs recently reported or confirmed: 

• CONTRIB-7589 - BBB session times different on timeline from in the course 
• MDL-64571 - Duplicate 'This is a copy of a message sent to you...' in message notification emails
• MOBILE-2876 - Error in the Moodle app when assessing workshop submissions 
• MDL-64625 Odd display of Book TOC in MS Edge/IE
• https://github.com/markn86/moodle-mod_customcert/issues/266 Custom certificate should state the number of certificates awarded
  

In April, we’ll be opening up the site for sign up to the Learn Moodle 3.7 Basics MOOC.

Follow us on social media for news of when sign-up will be open!

Hi all

As you might be aware, MoodleMoot UK & Ireland 2019 is taking place in Manchester, from April 15 to 17.

The key topics of this Moot are Moodle development, Moodle usage and success stories in Education, Moodle design and functionality and the use of Moodle for corporate training in the workplace.

If you feel you can contribute to the Moot with a presentation on any of these topics, don’t miss the chance to do it and inspire others in the Moodle Community. You'll be helping improve how we teach and learn with Moodle while getting feedback and new ideas to continue your projects!

The deadline for submissions has been extended until January 31st, so you've another three days to submit your abstracts here.

If you want to know more about what presenting at a Moot is like, you can read our recent chat with the OU's Tim Hunt.

Hoping to see you in Manchester