Smart Penguin » eLearning

WIRIS Wizardry

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 04:15:31 +0000

Clark’s online math courses have upgraded to the WIRIS Equation Editor for your use in forums in our Moodle joule. You’ll notice a yellow button in the forums text editor toolbar with a square root symbol on it. Clicking that button will bring up the WIRIS editor window where you can use the symbol and operator palettes to automatically create nice looking math expressions in your forum discussions. This makes taking an online math course at Clark much easier and more enjoyable. In fact, WIRIS is pretty fun to use, so play around with it if you like, and check out our online math offerings and sign up for one of these popular courses… It’s as easy as Pi!

Note: Safari and Chrome browsers are not recommended for use with Clark’s Moodle and will cause issues with WIRIS and other editing tools in your online forums.

If you’re prepping for an online math course and want to become a WIRIS wiz, here’s a link to the user manual.

Fine Feathered Friends

admin — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 06:37:53 +0000

Our returning visitors will notice that Smart Penguin has undergone a molt!

Take a look around and feel free to use our Ask eLearning page to let us know if there are any problems or more changes that you would like to see, as we continue to preen and tweak our new look…

Welcome, Smart Penguins, to Fall quarter at Clark College!

MoodleMorphosis

admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 04:51:10 +0000

On June 22, all student Moodle usernames were changed to match your username for the computer labs and student Gmail name (the part before @students.clark.edu). For example, if your student Gmail address is o.oswald2@students.clark.edu then your username would be o.oswald2 … To determine your username, use the Student Self Service utility on the Current Students page and enter the requested information.

On the same date, all student Moodle passwords were changed to the last 6 digits of your Student ID number (everything after 940). Once you login, you will immediately be prompted to change your password.

NOTE: Changing your password on Clark’s Current Students page will NOT change your Moodle password!

To get acquainted with Moodle before your classes start, check out the Moodle Tutorials page. There you will find videos, an online orientation, and a link to our schedule for on-campus orientations. Also, be sure you’re aware of the other changes to student Moodle accounts in First Class Email.

As always, if you’re registered for the current quarter and have trouble logging in after the dates posted here or in our sidebar, file a Tech Ticket to get some help.

First Class Email

admin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:54:21 +0000

As you probably know, most online services at Clark now require an activated student Gmail account. Beginning Summer quarter 2011, all student Moodle accounts automatically have your student Gmail address entered by default and the email address field will no longer be changeable. This means you must activate your student email account in order to receive forgotten password reset notices and email messages from your instructors, an important mode of communication in an online class. If you prefer to use another email account to read your mail, you can set up forwarding in your student Gmail account… Step-by-step instructions to set up forwarding are found on page 7 of Student Email How-To (pdf).

To make sure you’re ready for the first day of class, check out your student Gmail account and get it set up and ready to go…

Activate Your Free Student Gmail Account

Download Detailed Step-by-step Instructions

For help, contact student Gmail support:
Phone: 360-992-2010
Email: gmailhelp@students.clark.edu
Visit: Cannell Library computer lab technicians (upstairs)

Another change to Moodle over the summer was the adoption of the new student usernames to match your computer lab logins and Gmail accounts… For more information about that change read MoodleMorphosis.

Is “E” for Me?

admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:49:48 +0000

Today’s learning is different from traditional face-to-face learning in many respects. Some individuals feel more comfortable learning in an online or web-enhanced environment than others. Are you a good fit for online or web-enhanced learning? Find out by completing the SmarterMeasure assessment. It will take you about 35 minutes from start to finish, but you can log out and complete it later if necessary. After you login, you will receive an email from SmarterMeasure with a PIN number that will allow you to log back in later or review your results.

SmarterMeasure is meant to be an interesting experience by which you may learn more about yourself and how to succeed in an online or web-enhanced environment. Take your time to answer the questions about yourself honestly.

The 6 categories of questions are:

Life Factors
Individual Attributes – procrastination, time management, willingness to ask for help, academic attributes
Learning Styles – what is your predominant learning style?
Technical Competency, Skills, and Knowledge
Reading Rate and Recall
Typing Speed and Accuracy

You will receive a full report immediately following the completion of all areas of SmarterMeasure. You may email this report, print it, or download it to save for future reference if you like. It also provides links to some web tools designed to improve your tech readiness in specific areas.

To login, click here: SmarterMeasure or go to: www.clark.smartermeasure.com
Then use the following credentials to start your self-assessment…

username: eClark
password: Penguin

A Touch of Moodle

admin — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:02:08 +0000

We’ve had some Smart Penguins with tablets and smartphones asking us about mobile apps for their courses in Moodle. There are a variety to choose from, but for our campus, a few seem to stand out from the others… So here’s your chance to try some out and of course, be sure to let us know what you think!

Note: Mobile devices will not provide full feature functionality in Moodle and should NOT be solely relied upon when taking an online or hybrid course.

FYI, our current version of Moodle is 1.9… The apps shown in the videos below can be found here:

Moodle Touch (Moodle on mobiles)

mTouch for iPhone and iPod Touch part 1:

mTouch for iPhone and iPod Touch part 2:

mTouch+ for iPad:

mTouch-U for all platforms:

Moovin’ on to Moodle!

admin — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 00:39:20 +0000

2011 is a year of transition for many students, faculty, and staff as we move our online courses from Blackboard to Moodle Joule. There are some questions about what effect these changes will have and what the future looks like for the online student. As you can imagine, we are extremely busy with the migration, but we wanted to answer some quick questions…

Q: When will we finally be in just one Learning Management System, instead of having some courses in Blackboard and some in Moodle?

A: Our contract with Blackboard ends at the end of spring quarter. So beginning this summer, all online coursework will be done in Moodle.

Q: How can I find out what courses will be held in which LMS during this migration?

A: At the beginning of each quarter, eLearning updates a special Moodle Migration webpage that includes a list showing what courses are to be held in Moodle.

Q: Why is my Blackboard and Moodle username staying the same as it was and doesn’t match my new Gmail and computer lab username?

A: Usernames in Blackboard cannot easily be changed and to force it would require us to purge all existing accounts and student records. This is not feasible, so the decision was made to end the current usernames when we leave Blackboard. Usernames in Moodle will then be changed to match the Gmail and lab accounts at the beginning of summer quarter.

Q: How can I learn about Moodle and what it’s like?

A: eLearning has been developing online Moodle tutorials and providing on-campus orientations that students may attend at the beginning of each quarter. In addition, there will be an Intro to eLearning Workshop every Friday at 11:00 AM throughout winter quarter. Contact the eLearning office for the exact locations or to make arrangements if you require special accommodations. Online video Moodle tutorials are also on the way, so stay tuned to Smart Penguin and you’ll be the first to know.

Got Gmail?

admin — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 21:54:26 +0000

IMPORTANT NOTICE!!

Clark College has changed the student email accounts so they will all have improved usernames effective December 15th. Google apps are included too, which can be quite useful and free as well. If you already have a personal email account, it’s still a very good idea to activate your student email and simply set up Gmail forwarding so you don’t miss any important notices, requests, or reminders from your instructors in Moodle.

To get your Clark student email and Google apps account set up with your new username, first download these instructions:

Student Email How-To (pdf)

Then enter your Student ID number and Global PIN on the new “Current Student” site, which is a tab accessible on nearly every Clark College webpage (or use the link below). Note, if you have already been using a student Gmail account with a username that includes part of your SID, you will need to enter your SID and global PIN on the Current Student site to discover your new username and email address, which will then allow you to login to your student Gmail account:

Current Students

If you have any trouble, check the Student Email webpage for more information and details about how to contact Gmail Support.

NOTE: You’ll discover that your Moodle accounts will automatically have your student email address built into new profiles by default. This could present a problem if you haven’t activated it! As many students have reported, missed emails can have a big effect on grades in a course and they have urged us to make that point more clear.

Picture This!

admin — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 06:13:39 +0000

One of the more challenging things to deal with in online learning is the occasional technical issue. Having to describe the problem to those of us in tech support can be frustrating or time consuming. Knowing the particular details of your computer system, such as PC or Mac, which operating system, etc. plus reporting any error messages, can be very important for us to know, but sometimes the actual details of a complex problem can be more quickly and easily shown than described.

A favorite tool here in eLearning is Jing, which is free screenshot and screencasting software for PC and Mac. You can use Jing to take a quick picture of your screen, or part of it, or make a video of the issue you’re having to show us the steps you’re taking and what is happening with your computer. Creating a Jing account gives you 2GB of free storage space, making it easy to share your screenshots and screencasts by just pasting a link directly into Tech Ticket. Although our use is mainly for tech support (we might send you a link to show you how to fix a problem, for instance) you could also use this program for special class projects. Watch this video from the creators of Jing, to see if it might be useful to you.

For more details about downloading, installing, and using Jing, be sure to check out “Add Zing with Jing!“, posted by Clark’s techie librarian, Kitty Mackey.

If you decide to download and install Jing, it is available here:

Free Jing from TechSmith

If Jing isn’t for you, a basic screenshot is another way to capture an issue you’re having and that is easily done with the utility programs that come with most operating systems. Since they’re images, they may not paste into some forms such as our current Tech Ticket, but a way around that is to use your “flash drive in the cloud”, as mentioned in our post about Dropbox or use another free image storage service like Flickr. If you have never taken a screenshot, this simple video will show you how:

How To Take a Screenshot on Howcast

Watch It

admin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:00:25 +0000

Many of today’s quality online courses contain a variety of multimedia elements, which can sometimes present a problem if you’re not equipped with the proper tools to view them. By now, most of us know that using Mozilla Firefox browser to access Moodle helps to prevent issues. Still, Firefox needs the correct settings and plug-ins to work properly and allow you access. There are a number of reasons why you could have trouble viewing an instructor provided video learning object, including the following:

Computer doesn’t meet minimum requirements

Check to be sure your computer meets the following specifications:

Windows XP or higher with the latest updates installed or Mac OS X 10.4 or higher

Latest version of Firefox browser

Broadband connection with 500+ Kbps

Plug-ins aren’t installed or are outdated

To view and update your installed Firefox plug-ins, follow these steps:

Open the Tools menu

Click Add-ons

Click the Plugins tab

To check for updates, scroll down to the bottom of the window and click Find Updates.

Here are some links to sites where you can download player/plug-ins:

QuickTime

Windows Media Player

Linux MPlayer

Flip4Mac

VLC Media Player

Adobe Flash

If videos still won’t play, you may need to enable JavaScript. Below are instructions for enabling JavaScript in your Firefox browser:

Windows version of Firefox

From the Tools menu, select Options

Select the Content tab

Check the Enable JavaScript box

Check the Load images automatically box

Click OK

Mac version of Firefox

Click Firefox to drop down the menu, select Preferences

Select the Content tab

Check the Enable JavaScript box

Check the Load images automatically box

Close the Preferences window

Note: These instructions may vary based on your specific computer model and operating system. If you still need help getting instructor provided videos to play, file a Tech Ticket and we’ll get you going.

A Joule For You

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:45:05 +0000

This fall, beginning September 20th, a small number of students will be attending their online course in Moodle instead of Blackboard. Clark College eLearning will be piloting this new version of Moodle with extras, called Joule, which will be hosted by Moodlerooms. For those who are not using Moodle Joule, you will still see it mentioned in our Twitter feed and, of course, here on Smart Penguin. Joule will not seem unfamiliar for many students from the local school district who are used to using Moodle. It may seem completely different for some, however, so we are busy preparing for our first Moodlers, or Joulers as it may be. Stay tuned for updates as things develop and we contemplate the question, is this Joule a gem?!

Update: Once you have an account you can test your Moodle Joule login access, but your classes may not be available until the first day of fall quarter, September 20th, 2010.

Be sure to file a Tech Ticket right away if…

Your instructor has directed you to Moodle, but you don’t have login access.
It’s after noon on the first day of fall classes, Monday September 20th, 2010, and you can’t find your class.

That’s the Ticket!

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:31:11 +0000

Although Smart Penguin provides the solutions to, or the prevention of, most technical issues that Clark College Blackboard users may experience, things may still go awry. To help you get back to your online coursework more quickly, the tech support team in the eLearning Department now provides a new system, called Tech Ticket, which can be used to submit the details of a technical issue. In a series of short questions about your computing environment, you can quickly convey some of the important keys needed for an accurate diagnosis, which helps speed resolution. You can find the link to file a Tech Ticket in the sidebar here on Smart Penguin’s main post page, among our links at the bottom of the page, or just click the underlined link above or the name image below.

Got Math?

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:07:13 +0000

Just a quick shout-out to the Clark College Math Department… If you’ve signed up, or are thinking about signing up, for an online math class at Clark, be sure to check out their website for some information that’s essential for your success, as well as tips for writing math notation in Moodle and much more. You’ll also find their link in our Blogroll below.

Online Mathematics Classes at Clark

Welcome eLearning Adventurers!

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:38:49 +0000

As the Clark College eLearning Systems Administrator, I often come across interesting and useful information, ideas, and resources that may assist you in your elearning endeavors. I will use this site to post my discoveries so check back now and then, feel free to comment or ask questions about Blackboard, and sign up for the rss […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...