Message-ID: <6100565.1182488883146.JavaMail.joeescobar@joe-escobars-computer.local> Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2006 16:51:13 -0700 (PDT) From: lovejm Reply-To: Online.MC_PO3.LCC-Mail@lanecc.edu Subject: Re: Moodle updates Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_Part_1224_496482.1182488883145" GWItemID: 45320491.LCC-Mail.MC_PO3.100.1346735.1.1D0C.1 ------=_Part_1224_496482.1182488883145 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi Joe, Thanks for your further Moodle tips last week. I'm definitely coming around to your point of view on the importance of using the Moodle default "Announcements" feature. I will probably start using it next term, though, when I can state right from the beginning of the class that students need to click on that uppermost link. For now, I've made my own, "homemade," week-by-week Announcements forum into a "forced subscribed" feature (I finally decided that was for the best!). I actually don't mind moving the link from week to week (editing in Moodle is quite fun, espec. since I found out that the link names can be HTML tagged for bolding, colors, etc.). But I also like your suggestion of just typing in the word "Annoucements" so the forum will be hotlinked in various places. I actually think that is one of Moodle's very best features: its automatic hotlinking of Resource and Activity names. Very useful! I think David W. is going to help me next week with some browser problems I'm still having. (Moodle is also quite slow on my home dial-up connection--much more so than WebCT--so a faster connection is something I'm considering for the future.) At that point, I should be feeling happier, all around, with Moodle. Anyway, thanks again for all your help. Oh, yes--about the Moodle class. I will try to join it soon. (I'm a little uneasy about having "one more online thing to check," but I guess it's unavoidable. I'm sure it will be helpful to my teaching!) Thanks again, Jennifer Jennifer M. Love, Ph.D. Instructor of Writing Division of Language, Literature, and Communication Lane Community College 4000 E. 30th Ave. Eugene, OR 97405 Email: lovejm@lanecc.edu Office phone/msg.: 541.463.3393 Homepage: http://teach.lanecc.edu/kenz/llc/staffpage.html?userid=48 >>> Online 10/11/06 8:24 PM >>> Thanks for your email. You wrote: >> I have given up on the idea of emailing my students (thru Moodle) as a whole group. When I've tried this, I've been told by several students that they didn't get the message. So I'll just contact students in other ways (thru the forums, etc.). >> Just to reitterate, using the Announcement forum IS the recommended way to contact your class as a whole, and it works. It will email the message to all students (who have accurate email addresses in Moodle) AND it is readable by students who login to Moodle, if they click the Announcements forum. (Also, I hope you know that you CAN turn off the Force subscription setting "Yes, Forever" in your annoucements forum. Try "Yes, initially". Then students can opt out, if they want... although in my courses, I'd be frightened if they did... are the announcements a bother and not important enough to get via email?) Here's another helpful hint (I hope you find it so, and I know you'll tell me if it does not work for you). If you create a Label in any week, and type "Be sure to read Announcements", the word "Annoucments" in that Label will be hotlinked to the Announcements forum in the top, undated block in Moodle. No need to move it to each week. Create a label in a week if you have made an announcement, and don't if you have not. This is a an efficient way to do what I believe you are trying to do. Of course you can continue to add (and maybe remove) announcements in your top, undated block summary area, but this just pushes the weeks (and content) farther down the screen. Joe P.S. Be sure to join the Moodle Class for instructors, by clicking the link below. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Use the work order form at: http://teach.lanecc.edu OR email online@lanecc.edu for all future webmaster requests. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >>> Jennifer Love 10/11/06 12:12 PM >>> Hi Joe, A few updates on my Moodle issues: - I am now using the method you suggested for sending students internal Moodle mail, and it seems to be working. Thanks. (I think the big reason for my confusion about Moodle emailing is that the method for emailing is separate from the "Messages" block--*unless* you already have the person in your Messages contact list. To me this is counterintuitive, and I think it must be confusing for students, as well. Oh well!) I have given up on the idea of emailing my students (thru Moodle) as a whole group. When I've tried this, I've been told by several students that they didn't get the message. So I'll just contact students in other ways (thru the forums, etc.). - I felt it best to hide my "Announcements" feature because I have two other ways of announcing things to my students: directly on the Homepage "Label," and in an "Announcements" forum that I simply move from week to week as the term goes by. I want my students to have the option of turning off their subscription to all the forums, so I felt it best to just keep my announcements "internal." It seems to be working so far. - I have inded been using Firefox as my browser. I am still having problems in some areas that are seemingly browser-related (disappearing forum posts when I click to "reply" to these posts), and I will be in contact with David about these. Thanks again for everything, including your suggestion about our meeting for a F2F Moodle trouble-shooting session. I'll let you know if this seems necessary. However, I think my main problems now relate more to using my own, home Mac to access Moodle. Thanks again. Jennifer Jennifer M. Love, Ph.D. Instructor of Writing Division of Language, Literature, and Communication Lane Community College 4000 E. 30th Ave. Eugene, OR 97405 Email: lovejm@lanecc.edu Office phone/msg.: 541.463.3393 Homepage: http://teach.lanecc.edu/kenz/llc/staffpage.html?userid=48 >>> Online 10/08/06 9:21 AM >>> Jennifer, When messaging your students individually, I hope you do it this way. From your class homepage: Click Participants in the People block Click Student Name Click Send Message button at the bottom I you have been using the checkbox method, checking the box next to the student name in the entire Participants list, then scrolling to the bottom and choosing Send Message from the drop down menu at the bottom, then you will get an error message of the student has not entered a legitimate external email address into their Moodle profile. As for the links, you are the first instructor to mention that problem. I took a quick look at your course and don't see any external web links (Moodle Resource - Link to file or website). I see you are not using your Announcements forum (hidden). Also, I see you've posted announcements at the top of your class by using the Summary feature. Although this does put your information at the top of your course, the Announcements forum will email ALL students in the course AND it will keep your information in a forum post that students can read at any time (say, if their yahoo.com email inbox was full, or if their email account had been deactivated by their internet service provider). I hope that you are using Firefox as your browser, whether using a Mac or PC. It also sounds like we should take some time to meet. There has been alot of Moodle information giving/getting by way of email, but a face-to-face should help to clear up some of the frustrations you are experiencing. Let me know, Joe ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Use the work order form at: http://teach.lanecc.edu OR email online@lanecc.edu for all future webmaster requests. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >>> moodleadmin 10/08/06 1:15 AM >>> Jennifer, Sorry you didn't hear back from me before now; I was off on Firday and have been busy troubleshooting issues with the Macintosh labs today. My first thought about students having problems with your assignment links is that their browsers are probably misconfigured or out of date. This is particularly true if we're talking about resources not appearing in pop-up windows like they're supposed to; students should turn pop-up window blocking off for moodle.lanecc.edu. That's alluded to in the LCC Moodle FAQ, although for a different reason--specifically, it'll prevent them from taking quizzes if they don't. Now, browser configuration is the first thing I would look at. It's not the only cause, but it's almost always the reason behind problems which are inconsistent, i.e., where some students have them and some students don't. Students can get a certain amount of assistance from the SHeD on this--they can help make sure that students' browsers are up-to-date, that they've got the necessary patches, and that they're properly configured. We're not really well-equipped to provide that much assistance with the functions of Moodle yes, mostly because there hasn't been any time to provide the staff with thorough training. That's not a reason for students NOT to contact the Student Help Desk; I just want to make it clear from the outset that we in IT are still learning the ropes of Moodle. That includes me. On the email problem: can you give me the sequence of exactly what you're doing--emailing individual students or emailing a group? And precisely what the error message is (if possible, can you cut and paste it)? There are some issues with email, particularly when it involves recipients whose email addresses are invalid (because they haven't supplied on in Banner--Mandy Perez is the only person in your class in this category). It will help if I know precisely what you're trying to do (by which I mean, literally, click-by-click recounting--it's tedious, I know, but in this case it may be important). Finally, on the problems you're having with forums: this too may be a browser issue, but I'm not sure; I don't see it hapening when I click the reply link on any of the postings in your forums. Can you give me a specific example (i.e., which forum, which post) where this is happening? I've cc:d this to the faculty webmasters, since they are much better versed at troubleshooting the usability issues of Moodle than I am, and may know specifically what problems you're alluding to and how to solve them. David =============================================== David Walton Moodle System Administrator Lane Community College Email support: moodleadmin@lanecc.edu Voice: 463-3367 =============================================== >>> Jennifer Love 10/06/06 2:20 PM >>> David, I would like to ask if you could help me with a "Moodle function" problem some of my students are experiencing in my Moodle class (WR 122, 24466). (I have a couple of other "function"-related concerns, as well; please see below.) A couple of students have told me that some of the hyperlinks in my class have not been working for them. The problem links seem to be those that link to outside-the-class websites. Some students have told me that the links in my Assignment for this week, called "Forum/Discussion Topics--Week 2," are not working for them. (They work for some students, just not all.) I tried to remedy this problem by putting an important link (to a handout on "argument") directly on my Week 2 block in Moodle. But the student who is having the most difficulties said that this link didn't work for her, either. To be honest, for this reason and others, I am personally frustrated with Moodle. The "message" (email) feature within Moodle is particularly trying. When I try to email individual students who are not already on my Moodle contact list, a message pops up saying "Something went wrong - Some may have received the email." (This message usually seems to mean "The person did not receive the email.") I can't think of any reason why this would be happening, since, to my knowledge, I am going about the email procedure correctly. I also have not had success emailing all of my students within Moodle. When I tried this the other day and asked for feedback from students on whether they'd gotten the email, most of them said no--and one said yes. Email is my primary mode of communicating privately with students in my online classes. If this feature is unreliable, the quality of my class will suffer. Add to these problems strange issues in the "forums" function (for example, lately, when I go to reply to a student's forum/discussion message, the message I'm responding to "disappears" off to the far right-hand side of the screen); and various other quirks, I'm distressed and feel that I am spending more time troubleshooting than giving quality attention to my students' work. Could you tell me if these problems are simply part of the bag? Have others experienced these problems? My sincere thanks, in advance, for any help you can offer. Sincerely, Jennifer Jennifer M. Love, Ph.D. Instructor of Writing Division of Language, Literature, and Communication Lane Community College 4000 E. 30th Ave. Eugene, OR 97405 Email: lovejm@lanecc.edu Office phone/msg.: 541.463.3393 Homepage: http://teach.lanecc.edu/kenz/llc/staffpage.html?userid=48 ------=_Part_1224_496482.1182488883145--