Moodle4Mac

I finally got around to installing Moodle4Mac (version 3.5) once again on my MacBook Pro as well as the GIT tool for updating Moodle in the future. Using the latter, a double-click is all that is needed to get the newest Moodle without downloading the complete installation package anymore.

I still have my free online Moodle at MoodleCloud although I need to log in from time to time or else I get a warning that the site will be deleted. I've not made much use of it but I still like to maintain it.

I'd like to begin using my Moodle installation as an organisational tool to keep track of various projects that I'm embarked upon. In that way, I maintain familiarity with the interface and accomplish something practical at the same time.

A Review of Educational Resources

Looking at my first post on this blog (Sunday, March 15th 2009), I noticed that I had a link to my Edublog's site that was still operational. My very first entry there was in September of 2007 and my last on December 24th 2008, almost exactly 9 years ago. I ceased using the Edublog site for blogging because it only offered 20Mb of storage. I'm not sure what it offers now. The blog is powered by WORDPRESS so it looks good.

I did have the Edublogs' app on my phone for a time but I've since deleted as it's really only useful if one has a class of students. Nonetheless, it's interesting to look back at past posts and read about my battles getting Ubuntu to work properly on my laptop. I'm reminded that I do have a WORDPRESS site at seanreeves.wordpress.com. It's titled Staying Healthy but I haven't made much use of it. My first entry was:

• Getting Fit (August 5th 2010) followed by 
• Zen Buddhist Meditation Technique Wins Survey (August 8th 2010)
• Ramadan and Muhammad (September 5th 2010)
• Desy and Sabina jalan jalan (September 19th 2011) and lastly 
• Weight Comparison: 2010 versus 2017 (May 19th 2017)

On the subject of students, I still have my free Moodle Cloud site active at http://seanreeves.moodlecloud.com but have made no use of it recently. I also have MAMP installed on my laptop but again haven't used it in quite a while. Having thought of MAMP however, I've taken the opportunity to download the latest version of the software: MAMP 4.2.1 (a 331Mb download from here although it's still not operational at the time of writing). May as well keep it up to date. I find it hard to let go of these relics of the past. There is of course Google Classroom as well, which I've only dabbled with briefly.

Creating Online Courses and Classes

moodlecloud offers a free service along with paid plans

Despite my retirement from active teaching, I remain interested in education and am engaged in intermittent mathematics tutoring. I'm always on the lookout for ways to extend the tutoring session beyond the hour or so that I spend face-to-face with my student. To this end, I've made use of moodlecloud that provides a free service as well as paid options. Having so far only one student at any given time, I've found that the free service is quite adequate. Even though only 250 MB of storage is available, I've only used a small fraction.

The free service is adequate for those with a small number of students

Of course, it means that you can't upload large video files but you can link to them and that's enough. The free option is an excellent choice for people who work with only a small number of students.

When I was teaching full-time, I used the school-based Moodle installation most of the time but I did dabble with Edmodo and I still have an account. I recently archived my old courses and even posted to the Mathematics Forum. I may begin to experiment with it again. The site has an app that enables access via smartphone or tablet, so that's useful.

My Edmodo profile

I've also been experimenting with a site called Versal, that amongst other things offers an excellent tool for rendering mathematical expressions.

An example of the rendering of mathematical expressions

Of course, there's a hundreds of similar sites out there but these are three that I am using or have used, and they are all free. While writing this I was reminded of an excellent educational blog that I used to reference but haven't done so since leaving teaching. Here is the link. 

This site offers excellent reviews of educational resources

Microsoft Classroom

I've just read this article about Microsoft Classroom, a new educational offering from Microsoft, slated for release around the middle of 2016. Here is what the article had to say:

Microsoft Launches a New Classroom Platform

The future of the classroom is taking shape through digital workspaces shared by teachers and students, and Microsoft is carving out its own place in an increasingly competitive market.

Today, Microsoft announced a new platform for education — Microsoft Classroom. Having stitched together tools from Office 365 and a series of learning management partnerships, Microsoft has high hopes that Classroom will become the central hub for the class experience.

"Classroom is deeply integrated into the fabric of Office 365," says Tony Prophet, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of education marketing. "It's a tailored experience for managing classrooms and assignment workflows."

Microsoft has faced stiff competition in the U.S. education sector. Google's Chromebook notebooks have gained tremendous ground in the market over the past five years, but Microsoft still dominates worldwide, according to a recent FutureSource Consulting report. Microsoft Classroom is the Windows giant's latest bid for maintaining that dominance in the classroom.

Like Google Classroom, which integrates various tools from the Google Apps for Education suite, Microsoft Classroom works within the cloud-powered Office 365, giving educators and students a home page for their everyday classroom activities. The tool unifies Office apps in an educational context, creating a digital hub for all class activities. From scheduling events throughout the month to delivering quizzes, starting class conversations and grading homework, Classroom automates the everyday paper workload that can slow down a class.

The platform has been piloted in several schools already, and one of the major benefits seen by educators has been time gain-back, according to Microsoft.

"This frees up our teachers so they can spend more time with students and less time administrating a classroom," says Prophet.

It also empowers students, giving them a digital space to collaborate on work. Through Microsoft OneNote Class Notebook, students can leave handwritten messages and sketches or place images and videos onto a shared canvas. Sway, a new app in Office 365, helps students create and share interactive reports, presentations and stories. Through another new release, Microsoft Forms, educators can launch quizzes and surveys, with the results displayed on a spreadsheet. Security features can be enabled to ensure students don’t switch apps to peek at answers online.

To facilitate Classroom's launch, Microsoft also unveiled a series of upgrades and tools. School Data Sync will give districts a running start when launching the new platform. The process streamlines the transfer of existing class and student information from 25 other learning management systems, including Edmodo, Canvas and Moodle, into Microsoft Classroom, easing the transition onto the new platform.

Microsoft will also be offering classroom enhancements to Windows 10 in the forthcoming Anniversary Update, including dramatically improved login time. Prophet says the average first login time for teachers will drop from 120 seconds to less than 30, with subsequent logins for students taking about 6 seconds.

Microsoft Classroom is slated for arrival this summer, just in time to prepare teachers for the new school year.

Also coming this summer — a free preview of Minecraft: Education Edition. Microsoft acquired Mojang, the company that created the popular exploration and building game, in 2014 for $2.5 billion. In January, Microsoft also acquired MinecraftEDU, a version of the game often used in schools. More information on Microsoft’s new version of Minecraft will be available closer to its release.

Of the alternative learning management systems mentioned (Edmodo, Canvas and Moodle), I've used Edmodo and Moodle but not Canvas. Currently, I'm using a free Moodle hosting service called MoodleCloud. The URL is seanreeves.moodlecloud.com and I have an astrology course there that I'm working on at the moment. Google Classroom is also mentioned in the article and here is a YouTube video showing some of this platform's capabilities: