MoodleLair

Our MaharaBites course <http://www.moodlebites.com/mod/page/view.php?id=9087> started yesterday. Anna, Maryel and I have been working hard to put together an 8-week course all about Mahara, the ePortfolio system that works so well with Moodle. On April 1st it was launched!

We're excited to be facilitating this course, because Mahara is such a fun ePortfolio system it's more like playing on a social networking site at times than actually doing work - and yet it is about resources, reflection and sharing.

I really look forward to seeing how people's ePortfolios grow as the course progresses.

At the end of February we will be running a Second Life and SLOODLE (integration between Second Life and Moodle) training in Auckland. The course runs the week of Monday 28th February to Friday 4th March.

Please see HERE <http://www.moodlebites.com/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=3016> for further details of course fees.

This course is not an introduction to Moodle (it will be assumed you are familiar with Moodle and can set up quizzes, assignments, chat rooms etc), and while the first day *will* be a basic introduction to Second Life, you can choose whether you wish to attend this day or not. Participants *can* attend /part of this course/ if required.

Attached you can find a image of the mind map I put together for the course, but I will outline in more detail below...

_Day 1:_

* System requirements - minimum hardware required as well as
connection speed
* Second Life, Moodle, and SLOODLE - a brief overview of what they
are and how they are integratin
* Basics of Second Life - Creating your avatar, moving about,
teleporting (and landmarks), customising your avatar (clothes,
shapes, skins, hair), HUDs (heads up displays), using the search
feature, currency, adult content (not looking at it, but being
aware that it is there and how to avoid stumbling across it by
accident - especially your students!)

_Day 2:_

* Second Life advanced topics - types of land, what is the
difference between sim and parcel, building objects, scripting
objects to interact with (Second Life has its own scripting
language), what are prims and megaprims, lag (server & sim load)
and how to avoid it


_Day 3:_

* Developing a virtual learning centre - buying premium land (sim),
ongoing costs of owning virtual land, the benefits and downsides
of self-building your learning centre or hiring someone to do it,
security (how to keep people out or keep your students safe),
separate areas for different uses (dividing up your land into
parcels), advertising your land, creating and maintaining groups,
SLURL (Second Life URL), and visiting examples of existing
learning centres or universities
* Setting up SLOODLE in Moodle - installing the SLOODLE module,
setting up the SLOODLE controller and distributor, using the
presenter, what the assignment is, and setting up the SLOODLE menu
block (linking your avatar to your Moodle)


_Day 4:_

* SLOODLE base objects and functionality - the objects available in
the basic SLOODLE package (access checker & access checker door,
login zone, password reset, reg enrol booth, vending machine,
metagloss, primdrop, choice, quiz chair & pile on, web intercom,
blog HUD)
* Notecard configuration - making life easier by configuring your
objects using notecards in Second Life


_Day 5:_

* Extra SLOODLE objects - Gameshow, Awards System, Pre-made
classroom (where to find these and how they work)
* Bringing it all together - how to make it all work as a cohesive unit!


It will be a practical workshop, with each participant using a dedicated computer. I will be leading the training, with Stuart Mealor as a support facilitator. We will also try and coordinate a couple of guests who are Second Life and SLOODLE users to share their experiences with the group.

We will be using our own private Second Life area and other public virtual areas for training, so it is not vital that you already own land yourself.

At the end of the training, delegates will be issued with a "Second Life and SLOODLE" training certificate from HRDNZ, Moodle Partner.

If you would like to reserve a place for this, please contact helpdesk[AT]hrdnz.com

If you have any further questions about the content of this course, feel free to contact me either by replying to this post, or by contacting me in Second Life - my avatar is Merryn Lawksley.

Kind regards,
Miriam Laidlaw

Getting back into Mahara after my forays into Moodle theme creation. I like Mahara, I like the idea of Mahara, but it's really difficult to navigate your way around at first. There are bits and pieces hidden here and there everywhere.

Goal:
To know where everything is in Mahara and have it all mapped out in my head.
Then to create a video helping other people find their way around the maze that is Mahara.

PS - Mazes are challenging, but fun!

After doing things the hard way all morning, I'm going to see if there's an easier way.

I have been working on a theme for Moodle 2.0 all day. This means I have been brushing off my rather rusty CSS skills. I played around, changing colour codes to bright pink to see where they turned up on the site for a while. Then, with a reasonable grasp of what went where and how to change things, I went from turning things pink to turning things green, as per the needs of the customer.

So, with more and more success as the day progresses, I have been editing the CSS to my needs. But one darn thing stumps me. I can't figure out why some menu highlights aren't turning yellow like I told them to, but remain stubbornly pale blue.

So... I have installed Firebug in the browser, and the Moodle 2.0 CSS Theme Block into my Moodle site. Between the two of those, I should be able to track down that elusive command! Menu highlight, you are mine!

Thanks to a thread on Moodle.org I have learned more about Metacourses. It was something I'd always struggled to understand, but after reading through this thread I finally get it. I know what Metacourses are! Hoorah!