iLearn

We have completed an update of iLearn. This was an extensive update. However, it is now complete. Here are some of the features that the update brings:

Improved grading features

• Easily review and provide in-line feedback by annotating on PDF files directly within browser.
• Conveniently allocate student assignments to different markers, and control when marks are released to individual students.
• Certainty-based marking in Quizzes now provides improved feedback for learners.

Dynamic and streamlined course management

• Quickly edit course activities and resources across all devices.
• Easily add a Single activity course format.

Annotate uploaded PDF files in browser

Provide feedback directly within PDF file submissions by using a variety of annotating tools available, including stamps and phrases from a comment bank. (Requires ghostscript on server.)

 

Enhanced marking workflow and allocation

Control when marks are released for viewing, for example, when they have been reviewed and moderated. Individual markers can also be allocated assignments and these allocations will show up clearly in the gradebook.

 

Enhanced feedback in Certainty-based marking

Quizzes using Certainty-based marking now provide better feedback for learners.

 

Easily edit course activities and resources

Editing tools have been grouped together to in a simple drop down menu for easy accessibility across desktop and mobile devices.

 

Add a Single activity course format

Simply select and add any one activity as a standard course format which is displayed directed on the course page (This feature supersedes the old SCORM course format).

 

Experience a better learning platform

• A more user-friendly TinyMCE editor
• Easily access files from Microsoft Skydrive.
• Improved calendar handling with multiple calendar support
• Simplified username and password recovery
• Improved file management in TinyMCE editor
• Better responsive design across devices

 

A more user-friendly TinyMCE editor

The improved TinyMCE editor can be resized to suit various browser widths, and features user-friendly icons and a collapsible toolbar menu.

 

Improved calendar handling with multiple calendar support

Moodle 2.6 supports and displays the same date in multiple calendar system, including Gregorian, Hebrew, Islamic and more, so you can select a preferred calendar system.

 

Improve file management in TinyMCE editor

Add and manage files previously embedded in a text area with the new TinyMCE Manage Embedded files plugin and Embedded files repository.

 

Better responsive design

Moodle works and looks better across all devices, including desktops, tablets and phones.

Have you ever wanted to do a school-wide or classroom book review?  Moodle is a powerful tool that allows a teacher to do many types of projects with students.  A good example of how you can use Moodle for a project is doing Book Reviews.  With Moodle you can have a central location for book reviews written by your students.  Ratings, genres, comments and many other features can be added to create the ultimate book review.  You can totally customize the forms and look of the book review too!

Dearborn High School has been working on a book review project in the library.  Lets take a look at what they have done.  Click on the images below to enlarge.

Students must first find and enter the DHS Book Review course.  This is a simple course with only the Book Review Activity.

 

When they click on the Book Review activity they are shown a list of book reviews written by classmates.

 

When a student clicks on title of a book they are taken to the review .

 

They can also search for titles of interest using the search feature.

 

And finally, the student can add to the Book Review by using a simple form.   They upload cover art and their review in one easy-to-use form.

 

Guess what?  If you are reading this from another school district and would like to be able to start your own book review you can download our template and customize it to your liking.  This is a preset for the Database Activity in Moodle.

Here is the download: Book Review-preset

If you are a teacher in Dearborn Public Schools and would like to have a book review for your classroom please contact Chris Kenniburg for help.  kennibc@dearbornschools.org

This has truly been a busy, busy summer for us. Not only have we instituted the Gmail transition, updated iBlog, updated the HelpDesk system, but we have also updated iLearn. This update will include a new “look and feel” along with some additional functionality and security.

The new iLearn follows the latest in web design and is Responsive in nature. This means that it will look and work on mobile devices as well as traditional desktop environments. We’ve changed the color to a nice blue to help with the visual change. We’ve also simplified the environment just a bit and cleaned up some of the cob webs from the corners.

More information will follow about some of the new features. In the meantime, we hope that you enjoy the new streamlined experience.

Did you know that your classes can now do collaborative editing within iLearn 2.0? This is a powerful feature. Students can work collaboratively (in groups) with each student actually typing. This means that if you have a group of 3 students working on a report, for instance, all three of them can be responsible for actually entering information.

This is also useful for teachers to work together. Teachers could set up an iLearn course to collaborate with other teachers.

The collaborative editing is called EtherPad. Here is how to set up your own EtherPad.

• Simply sign in to your iLearn 2.0 course
• Turn Editing on
• Click on “Add an activity”.
• Then select EtherPad.
• Give it a title.
• Add an Introduction: (Whatever you enter in the Introduction will be the beginning document. You might want to keep this short).
• You can set Module Settings – Restriction access or leave the defaults.
• Click Save and display
• Once the document has been started, it will Save automatically. There will be no Save button.

You document will now be available. There are several features that you may find useful:

• Timeline – shows who typed what when. This gives you a history of the document. This can be very useful to “see student thinking”.
• Import/Export – (Double Arrows) Allows you to import documents (including pdf’s and word documents) and export documents.

Dearborn has been a leader in getting EtherPad implemented into iLearn. We will continue working to improve the experience even more.

Please note:

• Formatting is rather simple – Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Automatic numbering & bulleting.
• Tables are not supported at this time.

As always, if you would like some inservicing on this tool, please contact the HelpDesk.