I found editing my Moodle course much less anxiety-inducing than recording myself in various ways. Play around with things and make them how I want them (or as close as the system seems to allow)? Now that I can handle!
While I did create my various multimedia objects with specific questions in mind, with the full intention of posting at least some on the library website, those don't necessarily come together into anything you'd call a cohesive "course"... but I'm pretty satisfied with what I've managed to pull together.
Except I gave up on Voki... no matter how I tried, the audio bit I recorded just would not upload/save/whatever, even though it didn't say anywhere that there were file size limitations or anything like that, and I shortened it several times in hopes that was the problem. So frustrating. I know there are other options for the audio, but by then I really didn't want to have to fuss around with it anymore, since I'd re-created the character part at least three times by the time I gave up (since it doesn't save without some sort of audio).
AND!
In trying to figure out what I could try to put on Moodle as group work I remembered that I work with students on a group project every summer: the Bridge Program students have to put together brief group presentations on one of three questions related to college (the benefits of higher education, adjusting to college life, and planning for after college). For the purpose of Moodle I pretended it's an annotated bibliography instead of a presentation, but putting that together made me realize I could totally use Moodle space for them to work in their groups.
In the past, I think most of them have just emailed everything to one another, and then they work in person to put it together, but it's definitely worth it to try having them use a collaborative document/forum to compile everything (a Moodle wiki could also work, but I'm wondering about the learning curve... we only have a few hours together and I like to make a good portion of that work time). So that was a much-appreciated flash of insight into how an online "course" could be awesome for something I already do.
I'd definitely say that this experience has been valuable, both in forcing me out of my comfort zone a bit and in being able to experiment with the Moodle system to figure out what it can do and how I might be able to use it. And also to get to know some of my teaching colleagues better. :-)
I have been quite impressed what you have done with your library Moodle course. I'm not sure what the audio issue was with Voki. You're not trying to upload an Audacity file, are you?
ReplyDeleteWhat you might try with your Bridge group work is a Moodle course with link to a Google file for collaborating. With a Moodle wiki, students would still have edit the page and save it, but with Google, they don't have to really know how to do anything except add to the shared document. I'm glad you had a chance to play around a bit with Moodle and could see some benefit.
I tried both wav and mp3 files, so I'm not sure what my hangup with Voki was!
DeleteYes, I'm definitely leaning toward trying a Google doc with the Bridge students. Thanks for providing the opportunity to play around with Moodle!
I also had an issue with Voki when I chose something that required an upgrade beyond the free version. I do not know if that was your issue, but I am throwing it out there as I also experienced that frustration when I created a character and then it did not work at the end. I worked on Voki first, so that helped me to have some energy to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteI agree that working on Moodle felt comfortable and also helped me to think of ways to use it more in my current work life.
Also you quiz was very fancy. I am going to remember that you are good at those if I need to make one again in the future!
The tools are nifty until they don't work the way you want them to! But knowing where things can go wrong can be helpful, too.
DeleteYes, having time to play around with Moodle really helps you figure out how else you could use it. :-)