Message-ID: <13851265.1182488892587.JavaMail.joeescobar@joe-escobars-computer.local> Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2006 03:14:12 -0700 (PDT) From: sharonphillips Subject: Re: The challenges of Moodle Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_Part_1283_10516156.1182488892586" GWItemID: 45217314.LCC-Mail.MC_PO3.100.1346735.1.1AE3.1 ------=_Part_1283_10516156.1182488892586 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am a student who is on this email list, and i've been reading the updates about Moodle and the debate about its effectiveness. As a student, i thought i'd throw my two cents out there. I've taken quite a number of online courses or had courses that used moodle, and i can say that the three online classes i'm taking this term that use Moodle are much more Student Friendly--much easier to log in, and i'm able to see both summer courses and fall courses, which I really like. The instructors i have this term seem to have had no problem at formatting their websites: they are all beautiful and i dont see any glitches. I am sure this takes a lot of hard work,but it has paid off! One word about putting documents into Word format: some students dont have Word, and the LCC library doesnt have Word, which makes it harder to view and do homework at the LCC library. So being able to view and upload documents straight from Moodle is much easier, for both me, and several other students i've talked to. I personally dont like the extra step it takes to download a Word document--I'd rather just click on a link and have the page appear! Its easier to read and i have less windows open on my computer. I have two AA degrees from Lane in computers (Networking and User Support), and so computers are easy for me and i have some computer background to work from, so i know that having stray HTML characters appear can be a problem, but its also something that can be worked around/fixed. Just some student feedback... -- Live life for all it is worth! -------------- Original message ---------------------- From: "Jennifer Love" > Tamara, and all, > > Like you, I have been having trouble getting adjusted to Moodle after > several terms of using (and liking) WebCT. The problems you encountered > with the formatting of your documents sound like ones I've been > troubleshooting for the past week or so. > > I have been trying to resign myself to these issues, since they stem > from the college's need to save money. But like you, I have been > channeling hours each day into trying to get my documents in a > reasonably readable form on my Moodle course site. Since I already spend > a great deal of time on my online teaching, responding to students, > sprucing up the site, and familiarizing myself with its features, the > "online course time commitment" I am making is currently huge. > > That said, I do have a few thoughts/ideas/suggestions about some of the > issues you raised: > > Unhappy student issues . . . > > - I think that keeping students informed about the fact that Moodle is > new to a lot of us, and that we are working (with the strong support of > Joe Escobar and David Walton) on getting adjusted to its whims and ways, > is the best we can do to curb students' complaints about the formatting > problems they're seeing. We can't fix these problems instantly, and > students can learn patience, and perhaps be asked to "read around" (when > feasible) some of the more minor formatting glitches as we get > accustomed to this quirky new learning management system. > > Technical issues . . . > > - I agree that saving Word documents as web pages works pretty well for > Moodle. Like you, though, Tamara, I have been having the problem with > the HTML coding "slipping into" my web-saved documents here and there. I > assumed that this was primarily a Mac/PC conversion problem (I use a Mac > at home), but now I am thinking it probably has more to do with the > variety of Word programs out there, and the fact that some of them have > bugs and so forth, and are basically not all compatible. I also notice > that Moodle has a variety of bugs of its own and functions more poorly > (failing to show incoming email, for example--a huge glitch, as far as > I'm concerned) from my home Mac than from my office PC. But that's > another story. > > A technician from Rent-a-Nerd, Doug Hoss, came over to my house the > other day to try to fix the problems I was having, including quotes and > apostrophes in my Word documents turning up as odd characters and/or > html in my uploaded web docs, when viewed on a PC. Doug showed me that, > at least on a Mac (and maybe PCs have a similar feature), you can open > the "Tools" menu in Word, go to "AutoCorrect," and then to "AutoFormat > as you type." In these "AutoCorrect" and "AutoFormat" areas, you can > un-check the boxes to "replace straight quotes with smart quotes" and > other features that tend to be difficult to convert and to result in > unwanted characters in web documents. > > Basically, from what I've learned, if you have any slightly > unconventional formatting elements in your documents--quotes, bolding, > italics, ellipses not separated by spaces, and perhaps others--you may > want to get into "AutoCorrect" and adjust some of these features. > > - I did need to change my home computer's browser to be able to use > Moodle without my browser crashing while I was on the site. The > Firefox-Mozilla browser is free and doesn't take too long to download. > (On my office PC, I use Explorer, which seems to work fine with Moodle.) > > I'm definitely not a Moodle expert, so a lot of what I've written here > is based on a couple weeks' worth of experience, some help from tech > folks, and hunches. But I hope it may be helpful to you. > > Meanwhile, I like the idea of setting up some sort of Moodle support > group on campus. I don't love Moodle, but I think I can learn to live > with it equably if we can keep up the campus-wide communication about > how to work around its problems. > > Thanks, > Jennifer Love > > > 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 > >>> Tamara Maahs 10/02/06 5:06 PM >>> > First of all, let me apologize for the group reply for those of you who > do not like group e-mails or those of you who are getting along with > Moodle just fine. > > I am speaking on behalf of several former Web CT users/designers who are > having trouble adapting and not getting any answers or solutions to the > problems we are encountering with Moodle. I understand and accept that > the college is saving money by using Moodle, but if I continue to have > problems, and have to start sending all my materials to the print shop > again instead of posting on the web, then I guess the college will have > to absorb that cost. > > After the upgrade, all the html documents I had uploaded started > appearing with a ton of question marks???????????????in all the blank > spaces (tabs, centered text, etc.) So, I started uploading my documents > as word documents. > They download fine and look dandy here at home where I have a nice > computer, but the computer in my office at school won't even open them > (I have Windows XP with Service Pack one instead of 2, so updating > Internet Explorer to IE 7 is impossible, and I hear using Mozilla as a > browser might help, so I guess I will get to that in my SPARE time...). > > > So, I tried copying and pasting my documents into a web page option > under resources, and initially it looked great, I was so happy I finally > figured out the best way to make my documents look good...that is until > I got to school today and opened them up and they have all the html > encoding mixed in with the documents. Students are complaining to other > instructors in our department that the html encoding is showing up in > their documents. One instructor looked at hers (on her computer in her > office) and at one moment it looked fine, then on a second check, voila, > all the html encoding showed up. The students are going to have a > variety of computers they are using and I am sorry, but this is just not > acceptable! Not only that, my computer in my office at school freezes > up regularly when I am attempting to open some documents in Moodle (I > have never encountered problems with this before at Lane, and this only > happens when I am in Moodle) and I found out today from another > instructor (I was in her office to witness it) she has encounterd the > same problem several times. Finally gave up, shut 'er down and went > home! In fact she just called from home (as we speak) and now this is > happening at home (the html encoding showing up, AND her computer froze > up). > > I used Web CT for four years and did not encounter these types of > problems, and it was easy for the students to navigate the site. I feel > like I am spending much too much time trying to troubleshoot the > problems, and we have been told that we are supposed to use the web > based programs for our course materials, but I personally do not have > enough time spending hours on something that looks fine one day, then > open it up the next day and have it look like crud and have to re-do it > all. > > I guess I just wonder if I am the only one having trouble adapting to > Moodle, and would like some support with this! > > Tammy Maahs, F & HC ------=_Part_1283_10516156.1182488892586--