2 papers accepted for MoodleMoot IE & UK 2016!

I am so excited to be presenting not just once, but twice at this year’s MoodleMoot IE & UK 2016. Both Aurélie and I each had an idea for a paper – leading on one, supporting the other with theirs if they were accepted. Therefore we are so happy that both were approved and we get to share two Moodle stories with the delegates this year.

Our abstracts are below:

Presentation 1:  Tuesday @ 15:00 – room B
Enhancing group assessment with Moodle, Mahara and Turnitin

A group portfolio can sometimes appear as a disjointed collection of documents, often lacking a cohesive narrative running through it. At Cranfield Defence and Security (one of four schools at Cranfield University), the decision was made to trial an online collaborative space to compile a digital portfolio to be used as an assessed piece of groupwork.  The Module Manager for the Systems Engineering Workshop module, part of the MSc in Systems Engineering for Defence Capability, had used the Mahara ePortfolio platform in the past to create an online digital poster and wanted to see if it could encourage his students to work together more as a group to compile a richer and more structured reflective online Portfolio.

This presentation will show you how three learning systems, Moodle, Mahara and Turnitin, were collectively used to support and deliver the week-long module:

Moodle – the ‘lynchpin’
to provide pre-reading/activities to complete prior to the start of the module

Mahara – the student space
to give the students the space to compile their group portfolio, discuss ideas, and collect evidence and artefacts

Turnitin – the assessment & feedback tool
to allow students to submit their work and for the assessors to write their feedback

Feedback and reflections from the students, lecturer and learning technologists will be shared throughout this talk, along with a showcase of how Mahara was used to create bespoke learning resources, along with the students’ finished portfolios.

Presentation 2:  Wednesday @ 15:15 – room B
Improving Turnitin Inductions with Moodle and Open Badges

Cranfield Defence and Security is one of four schools at Cranfield University. Based at the UK Defence Academy, our students are all mature learners studying post-graduate qualifications in engineering, science, acquisition, management or leadership. 

All students submit all coursework to Turnitin during their studies. They undertake a face-to-face Turnitin induction in an IT lab at the start of their studies. This allows them to get an overview of the tool and to see how the useful features such as the filters, similarity matches and feedback options work, as well as going through the process of submitting a document.

In our presentation, we will show you how we used a Moodle course with activities to guide the students through their induction. Upon completion of these activities, the students are rewarded with an Open Badge. This badge has been shown to be a great motivator for them to complete the training. All those who fail to obtain the badge are reported to their Course Director and may be prevented from submitting further coursework.

We will also share how we refined our training during the academic year after evaluating the initial launch in September 2015 and the reaction from our staff and students to Open Badges. We will demonstrate how we set up the Moodle course for the automation to work.

This will be my second ever MoodleMoot – last one was over 5 years ago! Looking forward to seeing everyone there,

Sam x

 

#iMOOT15 Presentation proposal accepted

Very excited to announce that my joint presentation proposal with fellow CDS Learning Technologist Aurélie Owens has been accepted for iMOOT15! This is exciting for 3 main reasons:

1. This will be my first ever iMOOT presentation
2. This will be my first official online presentation (via Big Blue Button)
3. This will be the first time Aurélie and I will present together – an ‘exclusive’ so to speak 🙂

So what is iMOOT?

“iMoot is an annual event where the Moodle community, practitioners, administrators and decision makers meet to share the best practice in online learning. iMoot is the largest, fully online Moodle conference – #iMoot15 Everyone Matters”

– you can find out more by visiting the website: http://2015.imoot.org/ 

Our presentation:

Supporting the delivery of Post Graduate Education to the Military

Content Type: Case Study
Language: English – can be translated into French if requested.

You often see case studies from mainstream colleges and universities sharing their experiences of learning technologies, but you rarely see examples from those that support the continued professional development of the world’s Armed Forces. Based at the Defence Academy for the United Kingdom, Learning Technologists Aurélie Owens and Sam Taylor advise and support academics and students studying post graduate degrees from Cranfield University in the use of TEL.

Cranfield Defence and Security uses Moodle and Turnitin to support teaching and learning, and will be soon looking into the use of Mahara ePortfolios. This case study will showcase how Aurelie and Sam approach the many challenges that working on a secure military base offers, as well as how they have overcome issues in the use of physical and online technologies to enhance the students’ learning experience.

Can’t wait to get cracking with it! If you have any suggestions of what you’d like us to include then please leave a comment and we’ll do our best to cover it 🙂