Comments for andykemp.org.uk http://www.andykemp.org.uk Teaching, Technology and Tablet PCs... Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:37:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on T3 Atlanta 2010 by T3 Atlanta | andykemp.org.uk http://www.andykemp.org.uk/t3atlanta/comment-page-1/#comment-554 T3 Atlanta | andykemp.org.uk Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:37:12 +0000 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/?page_id=229#comment-554 [...] T3 Atlanta 2010 Teaching, Technology and Tablet PCs… [...] [...] T3 Atlanta 2010 Teaching, Technology and Tablet PCs… [...]

]]> Comment on Comparison of VLE Solutions by Terry http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2009/04/comparison-of-vle-solutions/comment-page-1/#comment-547 Terry Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:49:30 +0000 http://andykemp.org.uk/?p=24#comment-547 Excellent objective assessment, a very useful document for anyone, like me, starting out researching VLE's. A great follow-up would be if you could update this document with your evaluation of Frog from your experience of implementing it together with some feedback on any new features which address the shortcoming you found in your original evaluation. Thanks again for a very useful document. Regards, Terry Excellent objective assessment, a very useful document for anyone, like me, starting out researching VLE’s. A great follow-up would be if you could update this document with your evaluation of Frog from your experience of implementing it together with some feedback on any new features which address the shortcoming you found in your original evaluation. Thanks again for a very useful document.
Regards,
Terry

]]> Comment on BETT: OPENHIVE – A new contender in the VLE Market? by chris briscoe http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/openhive/comment-page-1/#comment-536 chris briscoe Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:45:53 +0000 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/?p=168#comment-536 Dear Andy, I would be interested in your comments on umgumbo which is a very lite vle or project building space which we are developing. Regards Chris Dear Andy,

I would be interested in your comments on umgumbo which is a very lite vle or project building space which we are developing.

Regards

Chris

]]> Comment on Managing Media in Schools? by Andy Kemp http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/managing-media-in-schools/comment-page-1/#comment-533 Andy Kemp Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:06:52 +0000 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/?p=191#comment-533 Thanks - We looked at ClickView and trialled it for a few months but couldn't get it to work nicely with our Citrix based network... We sadly are in a similar position with a mixture of VHS, DVDs and a variety of digital formats... Wondering if there is a better way... Thanks – We looked at ClickView and trialled it for a few months but couldn’t get it to work nicely with our Citrix based network…

We sadly are in a similar position with a mixture of VHS, DVDs and a variety of digital formats… Wondering if there is a better way…

]]> Comment on Managing Media in Schools? by daibarnes http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/managing-media-in-schools/comment-page-1/#comment-532 daibarnes Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:50:48 +0000 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/?p=191#comment-532 Assume you know about ClickView. Not cheap but a solution for school media others have chosen. Not done it ourselves. Ours is restricted because there is still an unrealistic expectation that teachers will digitise the resources. Therefore, we are truly multi-media in the worst sense of the word. Assume you know about ClickView. Not cheap but a solution for school media others have chosen. Not done it ourselves. Ours is restricted because there is still an unrealistic expectation that teachers will digitise the resources. Therefore, we are truly multi-media in the worst sense of the word.

]]> Comment on Comparison of VLE Solutions by Mr James http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2009/04/comparison-of-vle-solutions/comment-page-1/#comment-526 Mr James Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:50:00 +0000 http://andykemp.org.uk/?p=24#comment-526 I'm very impressed by your informative comparison. Thank you for sharing this on the web. I’m very impressed by your informative comparison. Thank you for sharing this on the web.

]]> Comment on BETT: OPENHIVE – A new contender in the VLE Market? by uberVU - social comments http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/openhive/comment-page-1/#comment-523 uberVU - social comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:54:09 +0000 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/?p=168#comment-523 <strong>Social comments and analytics for this post...</strong> This post was mentioned on Twitter by OPENHIVE_Net: Thanks @andykemp for the great blog post about #OPENHIVE at #BETT2010 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/openhive/... Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by OPENHIVE_Net: Thanks @andykemp for the great blog post about #OPENHIVE at #BETT2010 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/openhive/...

]]> Comment on BETT: OPENHIVE – A new contender in the VLE Market? by Tim Bateson http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/openhive/comment-page-1/#comment-522 Tim Bateson Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:10:52 +0000 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/?p=168#comment-522 Thanks for you reply Andy. I agree there is a place for both. I wish more schools would work together on projects such as moodle to offset the risk of too much development being in the hands of one person. We are working under a soft federation with several schools sharing code and idea accross moodle modules. It has also been my experience that some staff are just not willing to look at VLE/Learning Platform regardless of ease of use. Teachers that have an interest in using technology to enhance lesson delivery are more likely to use a learning platform, than those that need to be told to do so by the Management team. As a none teacher it is more relevant to my job to work on projects like Moodle as part of my day to day to duties. Most of the other schools we work with also have technical non teaching staff working on moodle as part of their job role. Have to admitt that I agree with most of your comments. For our school the balance of costs and freedom to innovate came down on the side of moodle. There should be more of open debate around the relative costs of implementing IT solutions in the public sector, but that is probably getting off topic :) Thanks for you reply Andy.

I agree there is a place for both. I wish more schools would work together on projects such as moodle to offset the risk of too much development being in the hands of one person. We are working under a soft federation with several schools sharing code and idea accross moodle modules.

It has also been my experience that some staff are just not willing to look at VLE/Learning Platform regardless of ease of use. Teachers that have an interest in using technology to enhance lesson delivery are more likely to use a learning platform, than those that need to be told to do so by the Management team.

As a none teacher it is more relevant to my job to work on projects like Moodle as part of my day to day to duties. Most of the other schools we work with also have technical non teaching staff working on moodle as part of their job role.

Have to admitt that I agree with most of your comments. For our school the balance of costs and freedom to innovate came down on the side of moodle.

There should be more of open debate around the relative costs of implementing IT solutions in the public sector, but that is probably getting off topic :)

]]> Comment on BETT: OPENHIVE – A new contender in the VLE Market? by Andy Kemp http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/openhive/comment-page-1/#comment-521 Andy Kemp Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:49:12 +0000 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/?p=168#comment-521 Thanks Tim, I'm not really new to Moodle (this is my third Moodle install), and it has a lot going for it... It is very flexible and extensible and enables you to do a lot that still can't be done in most VLE (including most if not all the comercial offerings) where Moodle falls down is the ease of use. In the 4-5 years I have been using moodle in 2 different schools I have always found it difficult to explain properly to other teachers how to use it... There are just too many options and settings which end up confusing people, most teachers are sadly not as techy as I would like them to be and if something isn't plain simple and obvious then it probably won't get used... Moodle fundamentally 'feels' the same now as it did when I first started using it (I freely admit a lot has changed under the hood!) This is where products like OPENHIVE and Frog can really make a difference they have the time and money to spend developing a better UI which is more appropriate for the average teacher... Also with Moodle, all the integration has to be bolted on - often in my case it involves changing bits of code... Which is fine and something I enjoy but I worry about what will happen when I move on and someone else has to look after it... Likewise to get the most out of moodle you need to use 3rd party modules, but these cause problems as some of the modules I used when I first started using moodle are no longer supported and activities have to be rewritten... And someone has to be responsible to testing all the code changes and replicating any hacks at every upgrade etc... I think there are cases for both - I love Moodle and have and do really enjoy using it... But I am not sure it is the best solution for everyone and I doubt you will see the level of integration of systems that is demonstrated here with OPENHIVE in moodle for quite a while to come as it is not within it's core agenda. At the end of the day all these solutions cost something - some cost schools money others cost schools time (I have spent at least 150+ hours building and themeing and writing modules for this current moodle install) Those costs always need balancing... Cheers Andy Thanks Tim,
I’m not really new to Moodle (this is my third Moodle install), and it has a lot going for it… It is very flexible and extensible and enables you to do a lot that still can’t be done in most VLE (including most if not all the comercial offerings) where Moodle falls down is the ease of use. In the 4-5 years I have been using moodle in 2 different schools I have always found it difficult to explain properly to other teachers how to use it…

There are just too many options and settings which end up confusing people, most teachers are sadly not as techy as I would like them to be and if something isn’t plain simple and obvious then it probably won’t get used… Moodle fundamentally ‘feels’ the same now as it did when I first started using it (I freely admit a lot has changed under the hood!) This is where products like OPENHIVE and Frog can really make a difference they have the time and money to spend developing a better UI which is more appropriate for the average teacher…

Also with Moodle, all the integration has to be bolted on – often in my case it involves changing bits of code… Which is fine and something I enjoy but I worry about what will happen when I move on and someone else has to look after it…

Likewise to get the most out of moodle you need to use 3rd party modules, but these cause problems as some of the modules I used when I first started using moodle are no longer supported and activities have to be rewritten…

And someone has to be responsible to testing all the code changes and replicating any hacks at every upgrade etc…

I think there are cases for both – I love Moodle and have and do really enjoy using it… But I am not sure it is the best solution for everyone and I doubt you will see the level of integration of systems that is demonstrated here with OPENHIVE in moodle for quite a while to come as it is not within it’s core agenda.

At the end of the day all these solutions cost something – some cost schools money others cost schools time (I have spent at least 150+ hours building and themeing and writing modules for this current moodle install) Those costs always need balancing…

Cheers
Andy

]]> Comment on BETT: OPENHIVE – A new contender in the VLE Market? by Tim Bateson http://www.andykemp.org.uk/2010/01/openhive/comment-page-1/#comment-520 Tim Bateson Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:43:59 +0000 http://www.andykemp.org.uk/?p=168#comment-520 Andy, Could I persuade you to taker another look at Moodle? See our case study at:- http://opensourceschools.org.uk/houghton-kepier-learning-platform.html and http://moodle.houghtonkepier.org.uk/ Granted is not as slick as OpenHive(I share your concerns regarding costs, as commercial Sharepoint VLE implementations were expensive when I was looking), but there are several schools working to make the MIS integration slicker :) I read your article on VLEs and we do not see Moodle as a temporary solution :) Tim Andy,

Could I persuade you to taker another look at Moodle?
See our case study at:-
http://opensourceschools.org.uk/houghton-kepier-learning-platform.html
and
http://moodle.houghtonkepier.org.uk/

Granted is not as slick as OpenHive(I share your concerns regarding costs, as commercial Sharepoint VLE implementations were expensive when I was looking), but there are several schools working to make the MIS integration slicker :)

I read your article on VLEs and we do not see Moodle as a temporary solution :)

Tim

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