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Adding a little something to Mahara

Posted on September 16, 2011 by Rosalie Wodecki

A little while ago Mahara released an Embed.ly block for use in Views.

It’s lovely to use and will be a great help for all the e-Portfolios supporters out there.

You’ll need to download the new Embedly blocktype from Mahara.org and install it on your Mahara. You’ll need admin level access for this (or if you are one of our existing clients, you can instead contact the Brightcookie team for assistance).

Once installed, it’s as easy as A…, B…, C….

A. Log in and go to one of your existing views (or create a new one). Click on edit.

B. Drag in the Embed.ly block to your view.

C. Configure the block to suit your needs. Change the title and almost certainly change the size.

And you’re done!

Of course, anyone interested in trying this out for themselves is more than welcome to ask to join the Brightcookie Mahara sandpit and try it out first-hand.

Happy embedding.

Posted in corporate learners, e-learning, e-portfolio, Mahara, social learning | Tagged embedding media, embedly, mahara 1.4, mahara how-to, mahara views | Leave a comment

Saying hello to Mahara and e-Portfolios

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Rosalie Wodecki

If you’re new to all of this…

If you’re new to e-portfolios, it can be difficult to know where to start.

A good introduction is the set of Mahara Instructional videos, made available by the Hunter Institute, TAFE NSW.

If you’d rather dive straight in, Brightcookie have their own Mahara play area. You can always ask to join our Mahara sandpit.

Remember though, that our sandpit is currently on the latest version of Mahara (1.4) and so the videos by the Hunter Institute won’t match up – these appear to be for version 1.3 or earlier.

If you’ve been here before…

If you’re already on Mahara and thinking of upgrading, the differences between 1.3 and 1.4 are quite logical, but you might like to see them for yourself. You can read about the changes on the Mahara forum, or you can ask to join the Brightcookie Mahara sandpit to try it out firsthand.

Posted in e-learning, e-portfolio, Mahara, open source, social learning | Tagged eportfolios, lifelong learning, mahara 1.3, mahara 1.4, mahara how-to, recognition of prior learning, rpl, sandpit | Leave a comment

Converting IMS to native Moodle content

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Rosalie Wodecki and Kien Vu

In between our other projects, Kien, Katherine and the team have been working on a new conversion tool. The Brightcookie IMS to Moodle backup converter for Moodle 1.9+. We hope this is a useful tool for lecturers that need an easy way to customise IMS packaged content inside of the Moodle LMS using the Moodle Content Editor.

For the ‘how-to’, read about the IMS to Moodle backup converter.
To jump straight in, go right to the IMS to Moodle backup converter.

For files under 4mb, the service is provided for free. If you have large files or need any assistance, please get in contact with us.

For Moodle 2 users, the Moodle Team have developed a backup and restore function from 1.9 to 2.1. Just make sure your Moodle 2 site is on 2.1 and you’re all set. We will make the IMS2Moodle converter available for Moodle 2 files in the near future.

Enjoy !

Posted in lms, Moodle | Tagged conversions, IMS, IMS converter, moodle, moodle 1.9, moodle tools, scorm, upgrading Moodle | Leave a comment

Moodle 2 – a chance to clear the decks

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Leo Gaggl, Kien Vu, and Rosalie Wodecki

a broom in a sweeping motion Moodle 2 is beginning to mature nicely. The latest version is Moodle 2.1. One of the key features of this release is the ability to backup/restore courses from 1.9 to 2.1.

While the restore facility doesn’t mean just a copy Moodle 1 / paste Moodle 2 approach, it does give you a good opportunity to clear the decks.

Many Moodle users have been using Moodle 1 for a long time and a clean-up is likely to be due. Even the best kept homes need the occasional spring clean. With Moodle 2.1 comes a great opportunity to clean your Moodle house and take some time to re-think how you Moodle. When you restore, restore only what you need.

It’s important to note that user data is not restored as yet. Also, the users restore function isn’t due until 2.3 later this year.

If you are going to try out the back up and restore function for yourself, we’d recommend first taking a look at which plugins and modules are supported. Moodle Bugtracker has some info on what is supported in the restore from 1.9 to 2.1. Essentially no user data (like forum posts, grades, submissions, …) are supported yet. And Blocks are not restored yet. So, while much of your core data will be restored, it might not bring across the module specific data. That will depend on who has created the module and whether they have yet included support for backup/restore.

Posted in e-learning, lms, Moodle | Tagged moodle, Moodle 2.0, Moodle news, upgrading Moodle | Leave a comment

Openly creative

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Rosalie Wodecki

Hands up who likes clip-art! If you do, I’m sure, like the rest of us, you like it easy to access and easy to use.

For those looking for a little free clipart, you’ll definitely enjoy openclipart.org – especially as it’s free from both cost and copyright.

The Open Clipart Library is an archive of clip art that can be used for free for any use, under a CC0 Public Domain Dedication.

But, wait. I hear what you’re saying, What if you don’t have Photoshop to edit the images to suit your needs? Ah, yes. Then there’s The Gimp. The Gimp is both free and open source. I’ve been using The Gimp for longer than I can remember and it’s one of my first downloads whenever I ‘set up home’ on a new computer (whether that’s been on Linux, a PC or a Mac).

Also, Leo tells me there’s a free and open alternative to Illustrator as well – meet Inkscape: “An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X.” This is a new one for me, but it’s there and it’s free and it’s just waiting for you to try it out.

On a final note, there also the burgeoning Open Font Library, launched only a couple of months ago.

So, with all these free tools and resources in front of you, it’s time to get a little bit creative, don’t you think?

Posted in graphics | Tagged clipart, creativity, design, image editing, inkscape, online resources, the gimp | Leave a comment