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WeBWorK with Moodle
What is WeBWorK ?
WeBWorK is an open-source web based homework system for math and sciences courses. WeBWorK is supported by the MAA (Mathematical association of America) and the NSA (National Science Foundation) and comes with a NPL (National Problem Library) of over 20,000 homework problems. Webwork can be used for college algebra, discrete mathematics, probability and statistics, single and multivariable calculus, differential equations, linear algebra and complex analysis.
Brief history of WeBWorK
Webwork is being used in many colleges and universities. This application has been developed and maintained by mathematicians since 1994 with the goal of providing a robust, flexible mathematically capable online homework system for science and math educators.
Webwork being open source, allow users and organizations to deploy and work with it for free on their own servers.
Moodle Demo site on Moodle 2.4
http://demo.xeois.com/moodle is setup to demonstrate a sample Moodle Course. The goal is to provide end user experience of Moodle in the role of student.
This demonstration includes, video, quiz, lesson, wiki, assignment, choice, survey, html content, Moodle book and more.
This site is also accepting course from from teachers who would like to showcase their courses for free.
For your demo experience at http://demo.xeois.com/moodle you may use one of these Demo Login password
| Demo login: moodledemo01 Password: Moodledemo*1 |
Demo login: moodledemo02 Password: Moodledemo*2 |
Demo login: moodledemo03 Password: Moodledemo*3 |
you may also create your own account in that site.
for teachers access, to contribute a course you may email to info@xeois.com
Hope you find this sample Moodle course useful, your feedback is appreciated.
Moodle changes across 2.3 to 2.4
As a follow up to my earlier blog, i wanted to publish new features of Moodle from 2.3 to 2.4, was released on December 2012. Many of the bugs from previous Moodle release has been fixed. Check the list of bugs fixed in Moodle 2.4.
Requirements for Moodle 2.4 installation
- Recommended browsers for moodle 2.4: Firefox 4, Internet Explorer 8 (IE 10 required for drag and drop of files from outside the browser into Moodle), Safari 5, Google Chrome 11
- Moodle upgrade: If you want to upgrade to Moodle 2.4, you must be running Moodle 2.2 or above. If you have a Moodle version lower than Moodle 2.2, you must upgrade to 2.2 first
- Minimum DB versions: Postgres 8.3, MySQL 5.1.33, MSSQL 2005 or Oracle 10.2
- Minimum PHP version: PHP 5.3.2
Performance improvement
Moodle 2.4 was introduced some major performance improvement which includes better indexing in PostgreSQL, improved statistics performance, data base meta caching, question related caching and more. All these resulted in over all performance improvement.
Plugin updating from within Moodle
New Moodle plugin interface now support update check as well as updates from the web interface as well as update the plugins from the web interface.
Course format plugins
Course formats can now provide their own settings for courses and sections, and developers can also have a lot more control of all the pages in a course.
Themes
- Support for HTML5 themes
- Improved compatibility with Internet Explorer 8-10.
- The default icons used for activities and editing actions have been updated for the first time since Moodle 1.0. This is a major look and feel improvement. Now they a little bigger and more colourful. These icons are SVG format and support full scaling on all devices.
- SimpleYUI enables similar coding style to JQuery, it is intended especially for theme designers.
Other improvements:
- Improved TinyMCE editor integration, Support for fully configurable add-on plugins extending standard, customizable toolbar, and built in browser spell check.
- Improved enrollment plugin, cohort synchronization with course group also fixes on the plugin.
- Integration with external calendar: You can now stream your external calendars (such as Google Calendar, or a calendar from another Moodle site) into Moodle’s calendar via the iCal standard.
- Assignment enhancements
- Workshop module enhancements
Security issues
All security issues that were fixed in 2.3.x and 2.2.x were also fixed in 2.4.
to read the full list of changes in Moodle 2.3 to 2.4 follow this link
Reference:
docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_2.4_release_notes
10 alternatives to Moodle for e-Learning software, LMS Platform using open source/GPL
A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs, classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training content. An LMS, based on the focus can also be called as e-Learning software, Virtual learning environment (VLE), Course management system (CMS), learning delivery platform, course delivery systems etc.
A virtual learning environment (VLE) is also a prominent term which stands out. It is an education system based on the Web, that models conventional real-world education by integrating a set of equivalent virtual concepts for tests, homework, classes, classrooms and perhaps even museums and other external academic resources. It normally uses Web 2.0 tools for 2-way interaction, and includes a content management system.
LMS is a software for planning, delivering, and managing learning events within an organization, including online, virtual classroom, and instructor-led courses. For example, an LMS can simplify global certification efforts, enable entities to align learning initiatives with strategic goals, and provide a means of enterprise-level skills management. The focus of an LMS is to manage students, keeping track of their progress and performance across all types of training activities. It performs administrative tasks, such as reporting to instructors, HR and other ERP systems but it is not used to create course content.
In this article we shall be reviewing the following open source LMS/e-Learning software.
eFront, Dokeos, Claroline, ATutor, ILIAS, OLAT, Sakai, .LRN, openelms, Fedena
and the bonus one WeBWorK
Moodle overview and feature lists 2.2 and 2.3
About Moodle
Moodle (abbreviation for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a free source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). As of December 2011 it had a user base of 72,177 registered and verified sites, serving 57,112,669 users in 5.8 million courses
Moodle is used to host online/offline classes. It can also be used in various other aspects of business, besides classroom delivery platform
Example
- Hiring and Interviewing
- Roll-out Products and Services
- Managing Compliance Training
- Competency Tracking
- Create and maintain collaborated knowledge base
- Inter organization discussion forum,
- Web Conferencing
- Running workshop
- Getting employee feedback
Moodles modular design allows hosting various different types of activities and resources.
Moodle supports various different learning delivery formats and can be integrated with platform both in software and application layer.
In this article we shall try to give an overview of the feature and capability list of Moodle. This article can also be used as a reference/list of modules for activities, resources, block design and reports supported by Moodle right out of the box, with a brief description of that module.
Moodle changes across major upgrade 1.9 to 2.0 to 2.1 to 2.2 to 2.3
Moodle development has always been active. In recent years the changes has resulted in improved end users and teachers experience. Administration process and interface has also improved a lot.
We see most of the major upgrade from version 1.9 to 2.0. Most of these changes has been improved and refined over time up to 2.2. We continue to observer the same improvement process to continue for the upcoming release of 2.3 with few new features.
New Moodle promises for easier management for teachers, better user experience for student and many performance enhancements and additional integration for administrators. The product looks more promising and stable for large deployment in education and business use.
