If your instructor requires you to use Internet Explorer for your class, you could use Internet Explorer 8 after clicking the “Compatibility View” button.  By placing the IE 8 browser in compatibility mode you will force the browser to behave as an IE 7 version while working in Moodle.  This is important so you can view all content, assignments, forum text boxes, etc.  Moodle users have been reporting multiple incompatibility issues with Internet Explorer 9, so we are advising that users switch to Firefox instead.

You should also be aware that two other popular browsers, Safari and Chrome, are not recommended for use with our current version of Moodle.  Users have reported multiple issues with forum editor tools, Wiris equation editor, display errors, and quizzes.  Once again, Firefox for Windows or Mac should be the browser of choice.  Click the Firefox logo above to download and install.

To avoid this possibility, when you are in the process of typing a long forum reply or essay and believe you may be close to three hours with no server activity, it’s a really good idea to highlight and copy your text before you request Moodle to save your work.  Either that or type any long responses in another program like Notepad or TextEdit first, and then copy and paste that text into the Moodle text editor.  To prepare for a big essay test, you could also take the extra step of first logging out and back into Moodle, so you’re sure that you have a fresh session to work with.

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. 

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:

1. Life Factors
2. Individual Attributes – procrastination, time management, willingness to ask for help, academic attributes
3. Learning Styles – what is your predominant learning style?
4. Technical Competency, Skills, and Knowledge
5. Reading Rate and Recall
6. 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

If you’ve had a course in Moodle before, then you should still have an account and be able to login.  If you’re a returning student from quarters previous to Summer 2010, click here to learn more.

Be sure you’re entering your username and password carefully (usernames are not case sensitive, but passwords are).  If you have forgotten your password, you can use the password reset utility on the Moodle login page.  Just be sure to enter either your username or your student email address (password resets will only be sent to your student email address).

The date below shows when we will be creating new accounts for students who are registered for courses that will be using Moodle.  Also displayed is the latest date and time when you should expect your fully online courses to be available.

New Moodle accounts for Winter are available on:  Jan. 3rd

(For prompt notification when new accounts are ready,

follow Smartpenguin twitter alerts)

Winter online classes in Moodle should be available by noon on:  Jan. 9th

Even after you login, your new classes may not appear.  If you don’t currently have any courses in Moodle, you will see this message, “No course information to show.”  Some instructors will make their online courses available to students a few days early, but many follow the college schedule.  So the latest you should see your online course appear is noon on the first day of classes.  If not, file a Tech Ticket right away so we can get you going.  Telecourses, hybrid, web enhanced, and face-to-face courses may be turned on later, after you have met with your instructor.  It is also possible that your course may not be using Moodle, so check with your instructor.  Note: Telecourses will require face-to-face orientations on their first day, so be sure to check the schedule of classes for the time and place to meet.

While you’re waiting for the new quarter to start, take the opportunity to make sure your student Gmail account has been activated and is functioning, go to an eLearning orientation or check the online Moodle tutorials.  Many instructors will send out email announcements to their class using the college provided student Gmail addresses… So checking to make sure that your Clark student Gmail account is working is a vital first step to your success in a class using Moodle.

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:

2011

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.

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.

Be forewarned that we will never send you such a request and you should not click on any links in emails such as this, even if it specifies Blackboard or Moodle.  If you are in any doubt, file a Tech Ticket right away.  For those of you with student email accounts, you may also wish to read this information from Gmail Support:

Messages Asking for Personal Information

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:

• 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:

1. Open the Tools menu
2. Click Add-ons
3. Click the Plugins tab
4. 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

1. From the Tools menu, select Options
2. Select the Content tab
3. Check the Enable JavaScript box
4. Check the Load images automatically box
5. Click OK

Mac version of Firefox

1. Click Firefox to drop down the menu, select Preferences
2. Select the Content tab
3. Check the Enable JavaScript box
4. Check the Load images automatically box
5. 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.

While Dropbox functions as a cross-platform cloud storage service that works with Windows, Mac, Linux, and many mobile devices with a browser, its real strength is in file synchronization, history, and sharing.  As each computer or device onto which you’ve installed Dropbox is used to access your cloud folders, your latest saved revisions to any files will be there, automatically synchronized for you.  If you’re on a public computer, you can still use your Dropbox by logging in on the web interface.  The revision history support also allows for file recovery, so any files you may have deleted or mistakenly altered can be brought back.  This makes it handy for students on the go, because you can’t lose your assignment no matter where you are.  As long as you have access to a device with the program to open, edit, and save the file, you can do your homework.

Another potentially useful feature for students is the ability to create a shared folder with other students using Dropbox, which would allow you to collaborate on a project.  It’ll keep track of the history of any files you might be working on together, enabling more than one person to edit and save files without losing the previous versions.  A quick notification will appear to other users that a change has been made.

The file history is limited to 30 days in the free version of Dropbox and the space allocation is 2GB to start, with up to 8GB possible.  Those users who want more storage (up to 100GB) and extended features can upgrade to a paid version.  If you’d like to learn more about Dropbox and how it works, click below:

Learn More about Dropbox in the Cloud

Clark College will no longer be communicating with students via paper mail, but will be using free Google Gmail for correspondence instead.  So that you don’t miss out on important registration notices and other information, be sure to activate your pre-assigned Clark student email account using the link below.  If you prefer to get your email at another address, just go ahead and activate your Clark Gmail account (which will look like: yourusername@students.clark.edu) and set it to forward to your preferred address.  eLearning at Clark doesn’t set up email accounts, so if you need help you should contact the people in IT Services who do by either visiting the library computer lab technicians (in the upstairs lab) or emailing Gmail Support. The website linked to below also has a support phone number you may use, plus tutorials and instructions.

GO GREEN WITH GMAIL

Using the right program is the first key to achieving the correct file type… The second key is clicking File and Save As (not Save) and selecting the specified file type before naming your file.

Creating .doc or .docx files

For an English class, your instructor may require you to use MS Word for your assignments.  If you don’t have MS Office (which contains Word), you can either go to any Clark computer lab or purchase a student discounted version of MS Office from the Clark College Bookstore.  MS Office is available for both Windows and Mac.  The default for saved files with Word is currently .docx (or .doc in older versions).  For older versions, Microsoft does offer a Compatibility Pack so users can open, edit and save files in the newer format.

If your instructor doesn’t require that you use MS Word and you want to explore another option, you could download and install OpenOffice, a free open source office productivity suite which includes a text editor much like Word.  Be sure to save your work in the file type that your instructor specifies, like .doc (not the default .opt file type of OpenOffice Writer).  A helpful resource for OpenOffice users is their support forum.  OpenOffice is available for many operating systems, including Windows and Mac.  It also contains a useful spreadsheet program for handling .xls and .xlsx files.

Mac users also have the option of using TextEdit, which comes with Mac OS, to save documents as .doc or .docx.  TextEdit offers only basic formatting, however.  For those Mac users who have purchased iWork, Pages will allow you to save documents in most of the common file types by using the export feature in the file menu.

Creating .pdf files

To save your work in a “Portable Document Format” or PDF, Windows users will need to use MS Word to create the file, click Save As and select pdf, if that option is available in your version of Word.

For Mac users, just hit Command and “P” to bring up your print window, click PDF, select Save as PDF and name your file before saving.  The file viewing program, Preview, will also allow Mac users to save documents in a .pdf format.

A free and commonly used program by students running Windows is Adobe Reader, but it is only for reading pdf documents, not editing or creating them. Actually editing a pdf document requires specialty software such as Adobe Acrobat. There is a free open source alternative to Adobe Acrobat, part of the OpenOffice Suite called OpenOffice Draw.  There is also OpenOffice Writer, which like its counterpart MS Word, will allow users to open, create and save files as a .pdf.

Creating .rtf files

Wordpad comes with Windows and will create a .rtf file by default (when clicking Save).

Mac users can use TextEdit, saving your work in the .rtf file format by default (when clicking Save).

Although both of these programs lack the full formatting ability of MS Word, iWork Pages or OpenOffice Writer, they are simple to use, allow some basic formatting, and they come pre-installed on Windows and Mac (you’ll find them in your Accessories or Applications folder).

Final Note…

If you are one of those students sending wps files, you are using an old program called MS Works which is very limited in the file types it’ll produce.  Your instructor will most likely be unable to read your submitted work, as would any potential employer, so it’s in your best interest to find another solution among those mentioned above.  If you need help getting set up, be sure to contact us via Tech Ticket right away.  We’re here to help you succeed!