• Topic 6 - Exercise 2c

    Posted on September 15th, 2009, 11:38 am by admin

    Wiki and Moodle design

    Using your CSU Interact wiki or other wiki experience and your
    short experience as a Moodle member, answer the following:

    c. Is the presence of likeable features also a combination of the design tips for
    usability, sociability and sustainability, as advocated by Preece and Kim in earlier topics?

    c. The presence of likeable features in Moodle and Wiki software are inextricably combined with the design tips for usability, sociability and sustainability  outlined by Preece and Kim.
    If a user is faced with complications or problems accessing a social network, if the navigation is cumbersome or information hidden under layers they will more than likely not use it or certainly be deterred from doing so.  It is not unusual to hear from users that they don’t “like” a particular piece of software or a social networking site because their experiences have been difficult either with installation or attempts at use. Personally, I am a user who needs to see a purpose in something before I begin to use it or investigate it further.  For example, I am new to Facebook and Second Life (amongst a lot of other social networking sites) since beginning this course. I am able to see a purpose for using Facebook to connect with others in my selective personal, community. I can see a purpose for it professionally - as an easily accessed and navigated discussion site or repository for ideas. Read the rest of this entry »

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  • Topic 6 - Exercise 2b

    Posted on September 15th, 2009, 10:47 am by admin

    Wiki and Moodle design

    Using your CSU Interact wiki or other wiki experience and
    your short experience as a Moodle member, answer the following:

    b. What features do wiki and Moodle have in common and what are the differences (eg a Wiki, Forum and blogtool is also groupware design feature inside a Moodle site) ?

    b. Both Moodles and Wikis are examples of Web 2.0 technology used for learning. Moodle is a CMS - Course Management System - and is designed to encompass many tools and features catering for differing learning needs and styles of users along with flexibility in course delivery and structure. For education, Moodles are probably geared toward secondary and post secondary learners as they offer real-time communication such as chat - a difficult tool to monitor in younger students. Moodle is an open-source project, so the source code can be changed by any programmer to create new features, resulting in many ways to customize its desktop and resulting in constant evolution.
    Wiki is a tool designed to provide opportunity for students to collaboratively learn in an asynchronous environment. A document (i.e., Article) in a wiki can be created or edited at anytime by anyone, they are editable through a web browser, and a user needs no other web application, database skills, or authoring expertise. This makes it suitable for a wider range of learning ages. The editing tool in a Wiki is a familiar WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get - editing system, turning a webpage easily into an editable document. Often used as “standalone” software, Wikis are also offered as a tool within the Moodle CMS.  Read the rest of this entry »

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  • Topic 6 - Exercise 2a

    Posted on September 15th, 2009, 10:36 am by admin

    Wiki and Moodle design

    Using your CSU Interact wiki or other wiki experience and your short
    experience as a Moodle member, answer the following:

    a. What is it about the design of the wiki and Moodle that you liked or disliked?

    a. I have often seen my daughter access homework documents or class notes from the school Moodle site, however, I haven’t had any previous experience using Moodle myself.
    Logging in was new to me.  I spent about an hour touring the site after creating an account, verifying  my email address and signing in to the Moodle for 510/213. The account was easy to set up and along with the password from Ken I got into the site without a problem    .

    I liked what I saw and was impressed with the uncluttered layout of the Moodle interface - to me, that reflects the professional purpose of the site. I have to admit, I like some colour and personality, but I can make up for that on other sites that I visit. The interface reminded me of Blog sites I use or have used - central area and different tools around it with highlighted links to connect to other pages/areas of Moodle. Read the rest of this entry »

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  • Topic 4 - Exercise 1b

    Posted on September 6th, 2009, 1:52 pm by admin

    Blog or Wiki Design.

    Select ONE blogging or wiki product, such as the one you use in this subject- eg Blogger.
    Write a 100-word summary of how it has supportive tools that are similar to the design advice in this topic.
    In your summary, consider how it satisfies the nine design requirements and the 3 underlying principles, suggested by Kim (2000a; 2000b)?

    I have used Wordpress as my blogging tool for this subject.  Designed specifically for online reflection and responsive interaction, it comes with supportive tools, which may vary across templates, and a huge number of optional “plug-ins” that can add to security, interactivity and usability. Flexibility, ease of installation and variety of tools allows a community blog to be created and customized to suit particular needs at any particular time.  This includes posts and comments being added, replied to, tracked and moderated as the community requires, either by visitors to the blog or those assigned user status through their blog profile.

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  • Topic 4 - Exercise 1a

    Posted on September 6th, 2009, 1:34 pm by admin

    Blog or Wiki Design

    How would you design and manage content in a blog? Use your blog experiences so far?

    After spending a few weeks blogging for this subject, I must say I have enjoyed the experience.
    I find blogging an efficient and satisfying way to respond to tasks, organise ideas and link to others within the subject group.

    The first thing I did was plot out the structure of my blog site. I have only included 2 separate pages in my blog - About and Home. About contains a short piece of information about myself and the Home page is where my recent postings appear. I have relied on categories for the major method of organisation of my posts, and find that works well for me. I have major categories organised with sub-categories as follows - Read the rest of this entry »

    54 comments Topic 4