Moodle Monday (Labels, Choice Activity, Real Estate)

By -

Label Resource: The most used modules in Moodle by first year Moodlers are the “Adding a link to a file or website”  and “Label” resources.  While these are not collaborative pieces, they are vital for teachers in being able to move and organize their resources online.  The Label module is especially useful in personalizing the Moodle course.  Some ways teachers use the Label resource:
·         To add pictures and graphics, making the page more dynamic
·         To give some immediate instruction or directions for activities to follow
·         To add a welcome or opening message
·         To help organize the page.  (Because labels can contain links, they can even be used to point to other items within Moodle.)

Here are some tidbits about using the Choice activity.  It is ones of the quickest & easiest activities to set up, yet can be used in a variety of ways .
1.       Formative assessment activity:  for a quick formative assessment activity in class, look to use the Choice activity.  It takes only a minute or two to set up and students complete it in under 20 seconds.  How have teachers used this for feedback?  Here are a few ways:
1.       Math:  Perform a quick quiz by posting a question, and the choices are the correct answer and several common wrong answers (and a choice of other… occasionally don’t put in a correct answer so this is the correct answer)
2.       Literature: Setup for the next reading in a novel by asking a foretelling question from the previous day’s reading
3.       English: Put up a definition and ask students to identify the correct word for that definition (or vice versa)
4.       Social Studies: post a picture of a country and ask students to identify it
5.       Science: Use the choice to set up an diagram identification question.
2.       Assignment activity: use the Choice activity as a down & dirty method for forming groups or assigning topics.  Since you can limit the number of times a selection can be made, you can set the size of the groups or number of people assigned a particular topic by default.  If you use groups to separate section hours of your class within the course, you can even set this activity to NOT use groups if you are forming groups or limiting topic assignments across sections of your course. 

  Screen Real Estate: you never know what browser and display settings a user has when viewing your course.  It is very important to keep this in mind when setting up the overall look of your course as you don’t want users frustrated by lots of scrolling to get to different sections of the course.  While the default setup may be in a 3 column layout, most courses that are pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate have the blocks moved around so that it is a 2 column layout instead: blocks on either the right or left side, and content over the rest of the page.  When in edit mode, you can use the arrows found at the top of the block to shift them from one side to the other… and up and down.

Popular posts from this blog

Google Script - Create a Drop-Down List from Spreadsheet Column

By -
Image
(Updated on 3/21/2017 - triggers have been moved!) ( I just created a new related post on how to create a multiple choice  question on the form that a bit simplified - takes the "other" answers in a multiple choice question on a form, and updates the multiple choice options with those as options.) I guess it was only a matter of time before I ended up dabbling with Google Scripts.  Today I was asked by a teacher how he could populate a drop-down list on his Google Form from data on a spreadsheet - and have it update as he changed the data.  Not finding an add-on for this (why recreate the wheel? :-)  I explored creating a script.  And...discovered that this task is not too hard! To do this yourself - 1. Create your form.   Really important step.  Make sure to create your drop-down item and give it a title, but you do not need to add any options to it (because later you will populate it from the spreadsheet). 2. Create the spreadsheet where your list will reside. Yo
Read more

Google Calendar - How to Share Your Calendar Via Link

By -
Image
Google Calendar provides a couple ways you can share your calendar.  The first way you will see below provides a link that lets another person subscribe to your calendar.  They will need to be logged into their Google account, and it will display YOUR calendar along with their own. (Personally, I find this method the best for adding my kids' and husband's events so I see our families events all in one calendar.)  The second method displays your calendar in a browser window.  This is probably the preferred Teacher method for sharing with parents. (Here is a video on How to Share Your Calendar Via a Link .) When in your Google Calendar: Click on the Options menu (stacked dots) for the calendar you want to share - Select Settings and sharing - Click on Access permissions on the left side - Click on the Get shareable link - Note that who can see the calendar with this link depends on the access permissions you have set right above.  For example, with the setti
Read more

2019 MACUL Conference Tipsheet #1 - Food Tips & Special Events

By -
Image
(This is 1 in a series of 4 to help you get ready and excited about going to this year's conference.) Yes, you are attending the conference for all the great learning and networking.  However, eating is still a necessity and it is important to know where to find food while in Detroit...especially food that you can get quickly, without waiting in long lines!  Here are some tips and hints for dealing with that while at Cobo, along with some special events you should know about: Staying Hydrated : make sure you stay hydrated! there are several fountains and water coolers provided throughout the venue to get water - bring along a refillable cup/mug and keep filling it all day instead of purchasing expensive bottles of water Food at Cobo : there are several food vendors right in COBO; some tips about these: there will be around 4000 attendees AND hundreds of additional vendors at the venue, and everyone will be taking about the same meal breaks - either pick up food at
Read more

Google Contacts - Newest Area to Get Some "Google Love"

By Anonymous -
Image
Be ready!  Your Google Contacts is about to update its looks.  I don't know about you, but I don't go to Google Contacts often.  I just don't like it.  If you need a refresher, this is what it looks (looked) like - Looked & felt very...dated.  This morning in going to one of my Google accounts, I got the pop-up window in my contacts.  Here is a screenshot of the new look - Hoping that the Google Love includes more than just the interface.  If there are any big changes that make Contacts more easily managed & navigated, you can be sure to see another blog post or two about it!
Read more

Google Slides - Rulers & Guides

By -
Image
A menu change happened for me this morning in Google Slides (on just my work account, not on my personal account yet).  The addition of both turning on/off a ruler, and adding guides onto the slide to help with placement if you are varying from the pre-built theme layouts. Here is the menu change showing the additional options - RULER The ruler works as you would expect it to.  When you select it from the View menu, it displays a horizontal and vertical ruler at the top and left of the side - When you are moving an object on the slide, you will see blue lines marking the location of the ends and middle of the object on both toolbars - GUIDES When you select to view the guides, you see the midpoint guides on the slides -  Guides do have some more flexibility as you can add additional guides on the slide, and drag them to the location of your choice - There is also the option to "Edit guides" and enter them in a window, as well -
Read more