Moodle E-Learning Course Development

I found this book very useful, it allowed me to set up a full Moodle site and course for my training company within less than a week. Clear, easy to read, with good structure, and exhaustive - in terms that it allows one to install and setup moodle, shows multiple possibilities of creating courses and lessons, as well as good examples. Everything is written in a language just one level above a layman - which means that even a computer semi-troglodyte like me can understand even the setup part easily, and everyone can make a good course out of it. It's an example of a very well written manual. I recommend it highly. One star less - because it is already slightly out of date. Moodle is updated monthly, and many of minor options are not described in the book - however, nothing that could not be understood and learnt by an average user. Good resource.

Just the fact that there is one place away from the online medium where one can access information on moodle is good enough to give this book kudos - to be able to read it when not in front of the computer. On first glance through (and in that, this may not be termed a review), the books seems quite expansive. Complimented by the online documentation, the prospect of working on moodle looks exciting - now there are two sources against just one online documentation source. As mentioned, this is just a first impression. Hope to add more to this as I get deeper into the book.

As a long-time Moodle user and trainer, I read Moodle E-Learning Course Development with a critical eye. I work with many Moodle users who are looking for manuals or printed resources and it is important to me that the options I offer are well-written and accurate. On a personal level, I also wondered if, as an experienced Moodler, the book could hold my interest. Overall, I found that William Rice's Moodle book is a good addition to my collection of Moodle resources. The book held my attention and I found myself highlighting various passages as I picked up new ideas and information. Since reading the book, I have started offering it as a potential resource to my training participants. Moodle E-Learning Course Development has a number of strengths that make it a worthwhile investment. It is generally easy to read and follow. Most of its sections had information and screenshots that allowed the reader to follow along, step-by-step. While there are some sections dedicated to the more technical aspects of Moodle, they are not overwhelming, rather their inclusion simply makes this book a more well-rounded resource for Moodle users. The sections on the Lesson module and the Workshop module, two of the most complex Moodle modules are especially well-written. Each setting in these two modules is described in detail. Furthermore, the screenshots throughout the text to accompany instructions are an important component of any well-written technical resource. The final positive I will highlight is that the examples used throughout the book are applicable to a wide range of Moodle implementations; K-12 schools, businesses, universities, and individuals will all find the examples are general enough to apply to their own situations. I especially liked some of the suggestions geared toward developing your site to promote and drive business; such as in those situations when a person is using Moodle to offer classes for a fee to the Internet community. While the book has many strengths, there are several weaknesses as well. The first is one that challenges all print materials, especially in regard to technology, and that is the book is slightly out-of-date. Fortunately, many of the components of the book will still hold true despite the version changes. The second weakness is that the screenshots, while useful, lacked any graphics (arrows, etc.) to help the reader identify the parts of the screen being referenced. I also thought that a few of the transitions in the book were difficult to follow; I found myself wondering where the author was headed. Finally, there are a few places in the book where I disagreed with the author about the function of a particular setting or feature. Some of these disagreements may be the result of differences in the version of Moodle, but there are one or two places where the author didn't quite seem to completely grasp the feature being described. User documentation is a generally acknowledged trouble spot for many open source

A Complete Introduction on Using and Managing Moodle. Moodle: E-Learning Course Development is a complete guide to using and managing Moodle. It introduces all aspects of Moodle from technical issues on how to install, backup, restore, where to edit PHP codes, to pedagogic issues on how to put in contents - resources and activities. Each chapter is independent for your reference, but is also developed from simple to advanced control of Moodle system. The book is well-organized with no difficult technical terms or complicated explanation for any teacher who want to use Moodle. Although some teachers are afraid of the technical issues, such as MySQL database, installation, backup/restore, it is worthwhile to have the necessary technical ideas that will help you to design and manage your course. The book offers the minimal knowledge of server, Php, database for teachers to understand the Moodle system, and then to know how and when to use different tools provided by Moodle. The book also gives its readers detailed instruction of how to create and mange a course. While there are many options in the Moodle system, the book tell you when and how to use different options. The book categorizes course materials into 3 categories: Static Course Material (text pages, web pages, links to web, file directories, label), Interactive Course Material (assignment, choice, journal, lesson, quiz, SCORM, survey), and Social Course Material (chat, forum, glossary, wiki, workshop). All these are tools to add Resource and Activity in Moodle system. Besides explaining how to add these materials, the book tells you in what occasion to apply the material. For some complicated materials, such as Lesson, Workshop and Wiki, the author gives a very good instruction on how to set up and when to use them. A fly in the ointment is without demonstrative examples. Thus, the readers should not just read, but have to experiment each adding tools by themselves. The last three chapters are useful for teachers to manage a more inviting course in Moodle including 1) changing or editing theme, logo, header and footer; 2) analyzing students' logs and grades; 3) installing other modules and different ways of backuping Moodle system. These are powerful tools and safety of a Moodle system that teachers should know if they want to have complete control of Moodle. Moodle is a free course management system which is especially good at social interaction. This system is even better than the commercial WebCT and Blackboard. Teachers should not wait for their institute to install a course management system for them, but begin to follow the instruction of this book to persuade your institute to set up a Moodle or even install a Moodle by yourself. It is a time of open source. Join open source club, and open your mind.

Whether you are a teacher or a site administrator, you will find this book to be an indispensible companion during your first school year using Moodle -- and probably long afterward. I was fortunate to start teaching with Moodle around the time this book came out. When I scanned the table of contents, I was dismayed to discover that approximately half of the book seemed to have nothing to do with me. After all, teachers don't install, configure, or extend Moodle, and teachers (at least at my school) can't create new courses or course categories. As it turned out, I couldn't have been more wrong. As teachers, we are profoundly affected by the decisions made by our Moodle administrators during Moodle setup, as well as the procedures they use to administer the system. Inevitably, we come to realize that we cannot avoid knowing the information in chapters 2, 3, 7, and 9. Fortunately, the author's explanations are clear and do not require a technical background. He illustrates everything using an example site called "Wilderness Skills" which carries through the book. The author devotes the middle section of the book to chapters covering static, interactive, and social course material. Here, teachers will find excellent introductions to each of Moodle's standard resource and activity types. Readers should not expect more than just enough information to whet their appetites and get them started. For example, the author devotes only ten pages to the single most complex activity in Moodle, the Workshop. While the material in those ten pages is valuable (I referred to it frequently when setting up my first Workshop), a full treatment of Workshops could easily fill fifty pages. In all fairness, the Workshop module is facing revision and any author who devotes too much space to it (or any other feature of open source software) risks obsolescence. Mr. Rice seems to have struck just the right balance here. The book is remarkably free of error, has a good index, and has been extremely well edited. If you are looking for a book on Moodle, this is definitely the one to buy.