We’ve been re-structured!

More than a year in gestation, the ‘Smart IT‘ reorganisation in UCL’s Information Services Division has finally transformed the old LTSS (Learning Technology Support Service) into shiny new E-Learning Environments, aka ELE – (and yes we’re planning lots of cheesy ‘ELEphant in the room’/'ELEphant that’s scared of mice’ jokes and cute logos).

What does it really mean?

Well we are very pleased to be expanding from 8 staff to 15. This means that in addition to the core services that we’ve long been associated with we will be able to work more closely with departments and individuals, we’ll be doing more ‘horizon scanning’ and evaluation work, and will be running trials of new technologies and educational approaches. We will also be working with colleagues in UCL Estates to develop UCL’s physical learning spaces (hence the ‘environments’ part of our name).

ELE has three new sub-teams:

• E-Learning Services, led by Jason Norton, managing our core services, end-user support and the central training programme.
• E-Learning Advisory, led by Clive Young, supporting and disseminating good practice through school-facing facilitators who work closely with CALT colleagues, running local events and staff development activities. The team includes a distance learning facilitator.
• E-Learning Developments, led by Steve Rowett, horizon scanning and evaluating new technologies and pedagogies, running and evaluating trials. The team includes a learning spaces specialist and an evaluation specialist.

If you want to contact anyone in the group email ele@ucl.ac.uk or call x 40820.

A very interesting Echo360 ‘community conference’ was held at UCL yesterday. There was a strong UCL presence  including ViTAL webinar star Carl Gombrich, talking about flipping.

Echo360 outlined their technical roadmap, including better editing and social learning features, quizzes and so on. All very exciting but some saw a potential overlap/confusion with the VLE.

I also did a presentation on behalf of the ViTAL/REC:all projects reviewing how our pedagogical ideas of using video had developed over the years and gave a snapshot of how far we had got with the REC:all project.

The slides are below.

We have had UCL Moodle linked to Google Analytics for the past three or so years, the data this allows us to see about Moodle usage and browsing habits is getting increasingly interesting. The concept of looking into data for measuring learning is obviously bonkers, no amount of pure data of browsing behaviour of Moodle will give indication about any actual learning taking place. Observe a classroom or people on the bus, you can see how many people are there and what they’re doing, but you won’t know what they’re thinking, what connections are being made etc. But, do not despair, there is a reason for this post – albeit it’s a bit dry and technical…

What Google Analytics does is give us an anonymous view into what happens when someone comes onto Moodle. For example, you do this:

1. Browse to the Moodle homepage
2. Login
3. View a course
4. Send a forum message
5. Log out

Data Trail

You’ve just left a data trail behind you about your computer (not you). This trail isn’t used for snooping on you personally, it’s anonymous, it also isn’t used for snooping at all. What it does, and I hope you believe me, is leave data tracks telling us something useful. For example, let’s look at the above and break it down.

You and your browser

Google analytics can find this information out:

• Web browser (Internet Explorer 9)
• Operating system (Windows 7)
• Device-ish (only really useful for mobile devices like smartphones)
• Rough location (London, UK)
• Internet Provider (University College London)
• IP Address (your computers’ address to the internet)
• Web software capabilities (Flash, Java, Javascript)
• Some other stuff (passport, NI number, date of birth, name – all not included!!!)

Don’t be scared about this, none of the data can be used to identify you. As a side note: if you’re worried about UCL Moodle collecting this data, remember that for other sites (such as the big ones outside of UCL which you may use daily) your data is their product, and you give them nearly everything about you, this data is only about your computer, but let’s not go down that route, this is about learning…

Other data collected

Google’s Analytics also collects data about your pages you view; so for example each page you load is marked as a ‘view’ on that page. Pages with higher numbers of views are clearly more popular, for whatever reason. Then there’s unique views, one person viewing a page ten times means one thing, ten people viewing the page once each means something else. Adding to this there are other metrics, such as time on page, page exits (if they leave the page, can we see where they go) and eventually building pathways through a site.

So, what’s my point?

What Google reports is really hard to read into but there’s a few changes to Moodle code (really small changes) which makes this data far more useful. Over the coming year I hope we can make these changes, and next year, report back on what the data says about Moodle usage. We want to know what’s popular (read: working) and what isn’t (read: not?).

Informative and technical links:

• http://basbrands.nl/2012/04/18/google-analytics-with-moodle/
• http://www.somerandomthoughts.com/blog/2012/04/18/ireland-uk-moodlemoot-analytics-to-the-front/

Perhaps mostly useful for the technically inclined, but it’s what we work with to make Moodle more useful for you.

More soon!

Kindle with keyboard

So I thought I’d give  some feedback to my colleague today on a document he is preparing and although it’s a little different it still gave me a good idea about how practical it would be to marking assignments on a Kindle.

Many people don’t like to read long documents online (me included) and I also don’t like wasting paper by printing everything out, so this seemed like a nice alternative. I should mention I was using the Kindle with Keyboard – although when it arrives I would like to try this again using the Kindle Touch. I find the Keyboard on the Kindle a bit clunky and slow to type with. I also miss the ease of navigating by touch that I get on my smart phone.

Ok, so here’s what I did…

First of all I had to adjust my Amazon Kindle settings to allow documents to be forwarded from my UCL email account. See this sending personal documents to Kindle help article. Alternatively, you can transfer files from a computer using a USB cable.

It took me a while to find the document on the Kindle, but once I’d located it I started to read and add my comments.

To add feedback to the document I highlighted the word or sentence and typed either a comment or the wording I would prefer to see.

I was then planning to transfer the file back to the PC using a USB and send it back to my colleague with the notes attached, expecting that he would be able to read them using the Kindle for PC software that is freely available. Unfortunately this functionality doesn’t seem to be available yet, so my only option is to hand the device over for him to read directly or ask him to view it on his smart device (Android and iPhone are currently supported, as well as iPads).

If the Kindle software can sort out sending the document and its notes back to the PC for review I think this system would definitely be a good way to mark student assignments. It would suit those who are comfortable with new technologies, but don’t want to sit in front of a computer marking assignments for hours.

Benefits:

• High contrasting text doesn’t strain my eyes like a computer does
• Easy to read in sunlight (yes, it happened to be sunny so I tried it outside)
• Easy to send documents via email to the device (using username@kindle.com)
• Using Send to Kindle for PC I can easily send one or more documents to the Kindle from my Windows computer (a Mac version is coming soon). Once installed the software lets me right click on the document’s name in Windows Explorer and send it to my Kindle or smartphone
• I can mark anywhere without requiring Internet access and send the document back when I am re-connected
• My typed comments are legible to others

Disadvantages:

• Adding feedback is slower than hand-writing or typing on a standard keyboard, which might limit the amount of feedback provided (I’m hoping this is faster on the Kindle Touch)
• Words can’t be crossed out or inserted, you can only add notes to highlighted pieces of text
• Limited options for the author to read the feedback after its been provided – Kindle, iPad and smartphones only
• How to manage large numbers of assignments would require consideration – bulk downloading them from a VLE and syncing them to the device would work, but how would they be delivered back to each student?

Another feature I noticed today was the dictionary automatically pops up a definition when I point the cursor alongside a word. This could be useful for learning languages and for students studying with English as a second language. I’ll write separately on this at a later stage.

Picture sourced from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjlonien/6031032246/in/set-72157625188064373

How has file management changed in Moodle 2?

• You only upload files as you need to link to them.
• You must choose a license every time you upload a document.
• A copy is made every time you link to a file.
• This means you can’t currently link to one file from more than one place.
  Note: The ability to link to the same file from more than one place is in development.
• You can not view files outside of the linking to a file / folder / image areas.
  I.e. there is no ‘files’ link in the Administration block.
• The files in Moodle 2 are more secure.

Why has this changed?

Moodle is not a file repository. Only files being used in your course are retained in Moodle 2. Files not being used will be automatically removed, unless they have migrated over from the existing UCL Moodle – in this case they will be available in the Legacy course files area in the Administration block.

“But I like the old Moodle file manager!”

There is a workaround – speak to the LTSS if you would like to know how to continue to share your old files amongst staff or follow these instructions:

1. Go to the Legacy course files area in the Administration block and [Download all files].
2. Create a hidden staff only area in the last topic of your course homepage – click the eye so it is closed and everything inside the topic will be hidden from students – be careful all course editors know never to make this area unhidden area, otherwise students will be able to see the files.
3. Add a folder to this area (you can hide this too to make doubly sure students can’t see it)
4. Upload the zipped folder (must be smaller than 160MB) and unzip.
5. Delete the zip file.
6. You can now share files between staff in a similar way to before.

Electronic voting systems are a curious thing, first they run under many guises (EVS, PRS, clickers, doofers, voting pads – to name a few), they show strong signs of increasing engagement for learning and they are successful all over the college. They’re often well below the radar and often spread within departments harmoniously between technology evangelists, rather than just a central supporting team. Sometimes they even bust out of our little campus and make it to some faraway lands. One of these places is Cheltenham and the Science Festival which is held each year. Last night, the clickers were being used by FameLab over at the Royal Institution.

Usually used for promoting and engaging student learning this time they were used for an audience vote. There were ten scientists who presented their research/idea/area of interest and at the end of the evening the audience cast their vote, using the clickers, and the winner was Andrew Steele.

FameLab contestants all lined up

Why this matters

First of all it’s a real logistical pain having to drag 380 handsets across London. These things are small, credit-card sized devices. A single one is OK but once you start carrying two hundred+ they become a burden. We already know this but by remaining active users of the technology ourselves, we can ensure that people who use them across UCL will get the best method possible for having hundreds of these things for a large session – as this is when they can be most useful. To help address this we’re looking at more permanent installations actually within the Lecture Theatres – and we shall be releasing more information on this over the coming months.

Carrying 380 handsets - not ideal & could be better!

Secondly it’s another user-case challenge. You can usually use up to 1000 clickers with one laptop, usually enough, and it’s all radio frequency and the only problem we’ve had before is two rooms interfering with one another. We found that the environment rarely gets in the way, but last night it did. Upon testing the Lecture Theatre at the Royal Institution had a huge black spot in the middle. Luckily we tested the voting and moved the laptop into a position where everyone could vote and the results could be read.

Lastly, we had an open vote. This meant that people could vote at any time throughout the evening. If another talker swayed them, they could always change their mind – a standard feature of the clickers. But this meant running a laptop for hours with an open vote – and we’ve never tried this before. Further experimentation could have made this even more exciting, for example there’s a ‘point to point’ option in the voting which allows a heart-rate monitor style open question and it can show the results of the buttons at set intervals. If, for example, teams were up against one another and the audience could continually vote, this would have provided some interesting longitudinal results. Maybe next time?

So the reason why FameLab matters, isn’t necessarily that it’s good outreach (Cheltenham Science Festival has an established relationship with UCL) but that it provides yet another testing environment for creative uses of the voting and this will come back around into the teaching and learning for the institution.