Backbone & live slides (examples) from a presentation titled Forum -the heart of Moodle at the 2010 iMoot by Tomaz Lasic Details & supporting docs at http://tomazlasic.net/2010/02/forum-the-heart-of-moodle-imoot-reflection-1

1. An iMoot 2010 presentation by Tomaz Lasic

2. Places you will find me best after this presentation… moodle.org (of course…) ‘ Human’ blog (http://tomazlasic.net) 2 Minute Moodles (Vimeo) @lasic

3. Where are you joining us from?

4. Let’s see how familiar we as a group are with Forum Which of these statements best describes you: A > I use Forum activity in Moodle frequently B > I use Forum activity in Moodle sometimes C > I have never used the Forum activity in Moodle D > I have never used Moodle Please click the voting letters. We can’t see individual votes, will tally totals only. Thank you

5. Sure you can have students participating in conversations on class topic online with forums like Google Groups. Sure you can give the quiet, shy, reflective students a chance to express their views equally with others with their blogs. Sure you can have students viewing, posting, commenting on and rating a video clip about the subject on some kind of ‘tube’ that isn’t blocked. Sure you can give immediate feedback to a student in the off-site literacy programme with some web-conferencing software. Sure you can ‘provoke’ a class with an open ended, controversial question then control and worry who is actually working via some monitoring device. Sure you can give some students moderator rights for online class discussions through password changes and confirmations of access levels. Sure you can give clear instructions and links to resources to class equally… when they eventually settle down to listen. Sure you can have students working together and arguing about the best option in creating something online using Wikispaces or similar.

6. Sure you can give students an algebra problem using some maths notation software that may allow students working together to solve it “by Friday”. Sure you can run an online auction through a specialised website. Sure you can share photos and comment on each other’s shots using some kind of photo sharing website. Sure you can trace a lengthy staff discussion through an email trail. Sure you can gather rapid-fire responses through an online quiz. Sure you can have students posting a thought about the class topic they just thought of through a social networking site...at 10pm. Sure your students can jointly create a list of useful websites with some kind of bookmarking service. Sure you can make a link, document, file, resource available to students by way of some content management system of folders, files and passwords. Sure you can hear the views of all students at your school instantly, regardless of their age, on some shared virtual pin-up board.

7. Sure you can create a list of solutions to common issues by constantly updating that Word document on staff shared drive yourself. :-( Sure students can evaluate their peers and self and you collate, add and calculate all results in Excel. Sure you can keep an eye on things said online to spot and fight cyberbullying using tracking and recording software. Sure you can run a football tipping competition using endless ‘allstaff’ emails and Excel. Sure you can easily see and grade your students contributions to group effort (it just takes some fine detective work). Sure you can hear from all students and staff within a set and advertised period to help create a policy on cyberbullying. Sure you can subscribe to what your students write to arrive to your designated RSS reader. Sure you can let all students know the latest notices and give instructions with a click of their email (when they check it...). Sure you can archive ALL of the above with two clicks.

8. Did you know you can do all of the above and more (smarter) with just ONE versatile, robust, easy-to-learn activity in Moodle called Forum ? Interested to hear more? Want to talk about it with moodlers from around the world? Share your Moodle experiences? Visit imoot.org to register for the first wordwide online MoodleMoot from 4 to 7 February 2010

9. The video clip version (with some lovely soothing music :-) ... ) is on 2 Minute Moodles channel at Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/channels/44004 - 9088660

10. Image: ‘Round table conversation’ http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephanridgway/699814738/ of

11. Want the real deal .... ? Let’s go on a little tour of what happened this Thursday in my class . A web tour coming up ...

12. > We are all potential teachers as well as learners. > We learn a lot by watching others. > We learn well by creating and expressing for others. > Understanding others transforms us. > We learn well when the learning environment is flexible and adaptable to suit our needs. The 5 “Principles of Moodle”

13. WE are now going to create some slides... (remember the 5 principles !?) Slide 1 Doodle slide, practice ... Slide 2 How is an online Forum different to a live conversation? Slide 3 Good practices in using Forum activity Slide 4 Is introducing Moodle to others by using Forum a good idea? Why (not)? Slide 5 Problems using Forum activity? Slide 6 Cool things you can do with Forum activity...

14. Slide 1 Doodle slide, practice ... Go on, write something here ... Or here... Can you insert a picture?... Delete things? How about a doodle? YOU have the pen now !

15. Slide 2 How is an online Forum different to a live conversation? Positives Negatives “ Not sure, hmm interesting” Write your points in column you think fits best...

16. Slide 3 Good practices in using Forum activity

17. Slide 4 Is introducing Moodle to others by using Forum a good idea? Why (not)? Yes, because... No, because... Not sure, because... Write your points in column you think fits best...

18. Slide 5 Problems using Forum activity? Things to watch out for...

19. Slide 6 Cool things you can do with Forum activity...

20. So.... how did we go? Use the voting buttons again please to select the statement that best describes your view : A > “That was great! Time well spent because...” B > “It was OK, expected a little more because...” C > “Not good, really, because...” D > “What a waste of time! Disappointed because...” Honesty appreciated...

21. Hanging around? Got a question ? Shoot (the question, that is...)