Packt Publishing Celebrates Its 1,000th IT Titles!

 

I am very happy to repost an announcement from Packt Publishing which is delighted to be celebrating its 1,000th IT titles!  Many congratulations to all the team for reaching this amazing amount of titles.

In the past I have had the great pleasure of  writing a number of Packtpub Moodle Book Reviews.

Below the message in full,  as posted on the Packtpub site:

Birmingham-based IT publisher Packt Publishing is about to publish its 1000^th title. Packt books are renowned among developers for being uniquely practical and focused.  Packt books cover highly specific tools and technologies which IT professionals might not expect to see a high quality book on.

Packt would like you to join them in celebrating this milestone with a surprise gift – to get involved you just need to have already registered, or sign up for a free Packt account before 30^th September 2012. 

Packt published their first book in April 2004. One of the most prolific and fastest growing tech book publishers in the world, they now have books on everything from web development to web graphics, e-learning to e-commerce, IT architecture to games, and app development.

Packt supports many of the Open Source projects covered by its books through a project royalty donation, which has contributed over £300,000 to Open Source projects up to now. As part of the celebration Packt is allocating $30,000 to share between projects and authors in a genuinely unique way, soon to be disclosed on their website.

Dave Maclean, founder of Packt Publishing explains, “At Packt we set out 8 years ago to bring practical, up to date and easy to use technical books to the specialist tools and technologies that had been largely overlooked by IT publishers. Today, I am really proud that with our authors and partners we have been able to make useful books available on over 1000 topics and make our contribution to the development community.”

For more information about Packt, the kind of books they publish, and to sign-up for a free account before the 30th of September, 2012, please visit their website: www.PacktPub.com.

The link to sign up is here.

Packtpub:Moodle 2.0 Book Reviews

I have the great pleasure of reviewing two books on Moodle published very recently by Packtpub. I will outline my thoughts briefly on each book individually as set out below. I would like to stress that I term myself as a lay person with regards dealing with Moodle, and therefore my opinions are purely personal and based on ease of understanding of the content within each book reviewed. With an ever increasing demand by "Moodlers" for more information about this versatile Virtual Learning Platform / Environment, Packtpub offers an array of books specifically geared to enlighten would be users / seasoned Moodlers alike.

Book Review One:Moodle 2.0 Course Conversion Beginners' Guide

Written by Ian Wild and published by Packtpub as a second edition in November 2011, Moodle 2.0 Course Conversion Beginners' Guide provides a valuable and insightful guide to converting your teaching materials to the latest edition of Moodle 2.0. At 368 pages long, with nine clearly defined chapters, divided in two parts, the information showcased is comprehensive and easily managed.

Moodle 2.0 Course Conversion Beginners' Guide is primarily aimed, but not exclusively, at teachers / educators who are beginners in dealing with Moodle. The e book demonstrates in a very comprehensible manner how easy it is to create a course entirely online using the teacher's own worksheets and materials. My opinion is that this is a very practical and useful guide to have for any teacher contemplating shifting their work from a paper based / non digital format to a highly sophisticated and modern online medium.

The introduction quotes the notion of a "fast" learning curve for readers of this book, and this caught my eye. Although the book is packed full with useful information, it is indeed condensed in a very efficient way and therefore easy to read in manageable chunks with clearly defined headings to lead the way. My feeling is that objectives can be achieved in a short space of time by following the considerable amount of tutorials, screenshots and clear explanations included in the book..

What I liked...
The step by step approach with ample screenshots was greatly appreciated, and made the information much more easily accessible.

I particularly liked the Pop Quiz to recycle information digested, and there were many examples of this feature in each of the chapters. I found myself keen to see if I could answer the questions quickly to prove to myself that I had taken in the information.


In addition, the "Have a go hero" feature is a great touch, which sets practical challenges. It also gives you ideas for further experimentation of materials covered, as viewed in the screenshot below.

I also liked the practical "Word of caution" sections, and I learned some useful tips for things to avoid doing, such as not logging on to Moodle as two different users.

The frequent "What just happened?" question was useful in breaking up chunks of information, and served as a useful review of the content. The "Time for action" heading also served a useful purpose for running through procedures.

Would I recommend it?
Moodle 2.0 Course Conversion Beginners' Guide seems to do what it says on the blurb and cover and as a result, I would recommend this book to any teacher / administrator / tutor embarking on adding files and materials to Moodle.

I would love to own a hard copy of this book as well, and that for me is a very high recommendation!!

You can download Chapter 5, a free bonus chapter for you to view the contents. Have fun!

Book Review Two:Moodle 2 for Teaching 4-9 Year Olds Beginner's Guide

My second Packtpub book for review is Moodle 2 for Teaching 4-9 Year Olds Beginner's Guide. It is written by Nicholas Freear and it was published in October 2011. It consists of 332 pages divided into ten main chapters.

The title Moodle 2 for Teaching 4-9 Year Olds Beginner's Guide intrigued me straightaway, as the idea of using Moodle with such young learners seems to be very 21st century indeed. This reflects a sign of the times, which is increasingly geared towards blended learning.

Who is this book for?
According to the official blurb, "This book is aimed at teachers of children aged 4 to 9 who wish to integrate the Moodle open source virtual learning environment into their teaching. It assumes a basic knowledge of the Web but no prior knowledge of Moodle, although it is expected that you will either have Moodle already set up in your school, or a friendly IT technician who can do it for you."

My Opinion
This book contains a comprehensive and useful amount of information, which is geared for teachers of this particular age group. It was a little bit technical in some parts for me, but I am sure this would be appreciated by most teachers dealing with Moodle. The author mentions throughout the book to ask for in-house technical support if a teacher doesn't feel confident enough to download relevant plug-ins and so on.

Moodle 2 for Teaching 4-9 Year Olds Beginner's Guide contains insightful sections on creating games and quizzes and these activities are what most children find enjoyable. The step by step instructions and references are very clear, and can be followed easily with the ample amount of excellent screenshots provided.

I particularly liked Chapter 3, Telling Stories, which outlines various creative writing projects, which young learners would find entertaining. Specific chapters are devoted to Fun Games, Spot the Difference and Interactive Puzzles, thereby resulting in a huge bank of diverse activities for the keen teacher to develop and enhance any Moodle course for young to very young learners.

Would I recommend it?
I feel that Moodle 2 for Teaching 4-9 Year Olds Beginner's Guide does what it sets out to do very well. If I were teaching this age group, I would certainly want to read through it in order to take advantage of all the exciting features Moodle 2.o offers as a learning platform.

You can find out more information about it on Nicholas Freear's unique Facebook page.


You can also listen to the author outlining what his book is about on the video on his Facebook page.
You can download a free sample chapter - Chapter 4, Spot The Difference, from the Packtpub page link here.

Moodle 2 Administration
Packt has recently published another Moodle book as well, titled "Moodle 2 Administration". You can read more about it on their website.

Please note:I have received a free e-copy of each of the two books reviewed in exchange for writing the reviews in my own time. The reviews are based purely on my honest and personal perspective. I hope the reviews will give you some insight into the essence of the books.

Moodle - Packtpub March offers!

Are you in the Mood-le for some fabulous offers via Packtpub? Packt is currently running a Moodle March campaign this month on its website. As part of the campaign, Packt is offering an exclusive discount on all its Moodle books to celebrate the forthcoming publication of the Science Teaching with Moodle 2.0 book. Here is the link which explains it in detail: Moodle March. A percentage of all sales go towards the Moodle Trust. You can read more about this here.

Update on Latest Packtpub Moodle Books
Packtpub has just published 2 new books on Moodle. Have a look at the links below.

• Moodle as a Curriculum and Information Management System by Jason Holowell

• Moodle Security by Darko Miletic.

Moodle 2.0 First Look - Book review
Soon I will hopefully be posting a review of the latest book by Mary Cooch called "Moodle 2.0 First Look". Watch this space!

2 New Moodle Books from Packt Publishing!

Packt Publishing has just published 2 new books on Moodle and I have great pleasure in introducing them hot off the press on my blog! The first one is by Michael de Raadt and it is called Moodle 1.9 Top Extensions Cookbook.

The second new book just published is Moodle 1.9, Testing and Assessment by Jason Myrick.

Both books look very good, so why don't you treat yourself in the new year? Just click here for more information and to see what festive offers are available at present.

I am currently reading Moodle 2.0 First Look by Mary Couch. I hope to have a book review up on my blog in the New Year.

Til my next post coming up soon, enjoy the holidays!!

Book Review of Moodle 1.9: The English Teacher's Cookbook

I am very pleased to post this book review of Moodle 1.9: The English Teacher's Cookbook by Silvina P. Hillar, published in July 2010 by Packtpub. It consists of 80 fantastic and ready-to-use recipes to achieve some great results.

According to the blurb contained in the packtpub site "This cookbook provides a practical, step-by-step guide to building a complete reading comprehension, writing, and composition course in Moodle 1.9 starting with simple activities and ending with complex ones. It covers many features and techniques in order to allow you to organize your ideas to improve writing using Moodle as a virtual learning platform".

The big question is ...
does Moodle 1.9:The English Teacher's Cookbook actually do what it sets out to achieve? I believe it does, and in the process, I certainly learned a lot more about Moodle features and in addition, new Web 2.0 tools, which particularly interested me. I believe the blurb gives you a lot more practical information about the content of the book, so I will base my review on a few of the features that I particularly liked.

The book provides very clear and thorough step by step instructions on how to accomplish the many and various tasks that it demonstrates. I had a lot of fun trying out the different techniques. In particular I liked the "Let's Moodle it!" refrain that came before getting down to doing each task for yourself.
Below, I couldn't resist creating a Tagxedo cloud of key words in the shape of a cockerel.


The book starts off with easy to use activities, which will enhance your students' reading and writing skills and leads to more complex ones. The use of images plays a big role in creating the activities in Moodle 1.9:The English Teacher's Cookbook and there are many excellent practical examples.
I found out how to create a comic strip using MS word and adding silhuettes and speech bubbles like my basic example below. With more practice, I hope to create some more comic strips which I will add to this post in the future.


I really enjoyed creating this comic strip from Superherosquad. I learned how to do this in Chapter 8, "Creating New Sceneries", which showed fun and versatile ways to enhance writing skills.


You can print the strips straight from the web site and you can download the comic as a pdf. I created a screenshot and then saved the image to my computer, so it's fairly straightforward to use. I really like it!!

In chapter 9 I learned more about the design and upload of different mind maps, Venn diagrams or tree diagrams, which can be uploaded into the Moodle course. This prompted me to start experimenting more with the Smart Art feature on the Microsoft Word programme and led me to do a few digrams for my Powerpoint presentations as demonstrated in my Language in Motion:teaching with the flow ppt, for example.

Below you can see some of the mind mapping tools mentioned and demonstrated in The English Teacher's Cookbook.


You can have a look at the sample copy Chapter 5 -Creating Stories using Twitter and Facebook.
This is a topical chapter, which shows you how to use and embed these 2 popular social networking sites into your Moodle course. Again, the thorough and detailed step by step instructions help you to create and design interactive activities, which are bound to engage your learners! This chapter will give you a very good idea of how the rest of the book is written.

Conclusion
I would highly recommend Moodle 1.9:The English Teacher's Cookbook, because it contains a lot of lovely practical lesson ideas which can easily be incorporated into a Moodle course. I found some of the ideas a bit complex, but on the whole, as demonstrated above, I was able to follow the instructions and create some very nice visuals.

Please note:I have received a free e-copy of the book in exchange for writing this book review in my own time. I really enjoyed reading it and I am very happy to own a copy as a really useful reference guide to dip into for inspiration.

Coming soon!
I look forward to reading and reviewing "Moodle 2.0 First Look" by Mary Cooch. This will happen hopefully in the next few weeks, so watch this space!!

Book Review: Moodle 1.9 Theme Design: Beginner's Guide

I am delighted to have the opportunity to review the recently published Moodle 1.9 Theme Design:Beginner's Guide. The book is written by Paul James Gadston and it is published by Packt Publishing.

Moodle stands for Modular Object-Orientated Dynamic Learning Environment and it is a free open-source e-learning software platform, also known as a Virtual Learning Platform or Learning Management System (LMS). Moodle is the fastest growing VLE in the world and it is used successfully by educators and universities around the globe. It is a platform to be reckoned with and hence there is a growing need for books such as Moodle 1.9 Theme Design:Beginner's Guide, which is designed specifically to educate teachers, ICT technical personnel and Moodle administrators about the many features involved in creating a theme design effectively and with ease.

As I still consider myself a relatively inexperienced Moodle user, I was intrigued to find out if this book actually delivers what it says ie "This is a Beginner's Guide, with plenty of worked examples, step-by-step visual guides, and explanations". Namely, at the end of reading Moodle 1.9 Theme Design: Beginner's Guide, would I be confident enough to create, design and then install a Moodle theme to my own particular specifications?

The book is divided into 2 main parts, with the first five chapters giving a very clear outline of the Moodle VLE and its features, including the software that is necessary for effective use. There are 4 Multiple Choice Pop Quizzes in the first 5 chapters of the book. These are effective for reviewing what you have learned. The second part, chapters 6 to 10, deals with showing you how to create a moodle theme from scratch, how to customise it and then implement it successfully.

Does Moodle 1.9 Theme Design: Beginner's Guide deliver its promise?

I believe it does so in a very thorough and practical, no-nonsense manner. The whole process of theme design is in fact quite detailed and rather technical, with a lot of HTML code involved. I personally tend to struggle with such code. However, the constant reinforcement of the whole process is something I appreciate in this book, and I personally found the numerous examples of screenshots to be particularly helpful and an essential feature to help my understanding. There is a brief outline of the contents at the beginning of each chapter, which serves as a practical checklist. The "What just happened?" heading consists of a quick review after each chunk of information is explained. This is a nice feature and is good for highlighting the material the reader has to take in. The "Have a go hero" heading challenges the reader to try out the lesson tips. The summary at the end of each chapter allows for consolidation of information taught.

The frequent bold "Time for action" headings in each chapter give excellent instructions for tasks to be completed by the reader. This heading is used very frequently and makes it very clear that specific "Hands on" practice is necessary. The tasks are based on getting to grips with manageable chunks of information at a time.

The Glossary of useful terms, and the section on acronyms included at the back of the book are very good to facilitate the understanding of a lot of terminology, which maybe is not commonly known. For example, I had never heard of the term "skinning" before, and I found out it is interchangeable with "theming", which refers to the look and feel of a web application. I also learned about CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheets. Most key words are written in bold in the main text to make them stand out more, and I liked this particular style.


Would I recommend you go out and buy this book? If theme design is of paramount importance to you, and I believe this undoubtedly is a vital element of any Moodle course, then I would honestly say yes. Moodle 1.9 Theme Design:Beginner's Guide gives you a whole array of practical and very thorough sound advice and guidance to help you create your special and unique theme. As a general book to read on this particular aspect of Moodle, it is also well worth reading to gain a more in-depth analysis.

If you want to create your own Moodle theme design from scratch in the future, this book would definitely be well worth buying as it covers all you need to know in a very clearly explained, in-depth and easily understood format. Have a look at a free sample of the book, Chapter 3 "Customizing the Header and Footer".

Happy reading!

I have received a free e-copy of the book for me to write a review, which is based purely from my personal and honest perspective. I hope the review will give you some insight into the essence of the book.

Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques: Book Review

It is my pleasure to review another e-book from Packt Publishing called Moodle 1.9, Teaching Techniques by William Rice and Susan Smith Nash. This review is based entirely on my personal point of view. I am not an expert in Moodle. I undertook this project in order to learn more and improve my knowledge of the subject, both from an active learning perspective and from a future teaching perspective.

Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques was first published in January 2010. There are 11 chapters and at 216 pages, it makes for fairly compact reading. Who is the book aimed at? Well, the overview states that it is suitable for university and professional teachers. There is an assumption that you have knowledge of the Moodle platform's basic features, and that you have "some proficiency" with Moodle. This book is not intended to be used as a guide on how to use Moodle per se, but as the title suggests, it is a comprehensive guide on how to adapt the many and varied features of Moodle to customise and personalise your course design. One of the facets I liked about the book is that it guides you from the teacher's point of view and also gives you an insight into how the modules are viewed from a learner's point of view. Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques aims to show you how to get the best from Moodle and at the same time, shows you how to construct high-quality, durable and relevant courses, which will perfectly suit your students' needs.

The building blocks which permit you to shape and form your highly individualised courses are outlined clearly within the introductory chapter. The authors use excellent screenshots and diagrams to guide the reader through the process of the key tools within Moodle and provide an abundance of useful tips and advice. In particular, Chapter 2's focus on using the Forum as a key tool for organising all the instructional content, was very useful reading for me. Click on the link and you can download a free preview of Chapter 2, called "Instructional Material".

Chapter 4 on Assessment was enlightening. Students might be fearful of the terminology, but in Moodle, Assessment is much more than simply checking up on how you are getting on. This feature can boost a student's self confidence and can create independent learners. For example, Moodle provides ample opportunities for creating quizzes, which can be taken by students in short spells or specific timed slots in order to assess how they are doing. Good screenshots provide a useful guide to how to utilise Asessment to its maximum potential.

I enjoyed reading about the Wiki feature in Chapter 6. The authors outline the reasons why the Wiki is useful to achieve learning objectives. The ability to create individual student wikis is a welcome capability within the Moodle platform. I got a bit lost in some of the sections, however, and this is where some Moodle proficiency is assumed by the authors.

Useful tips and guidelines were given in Chapter 7 Glossary Solutions. I was particularly interested in the "schema" building involved in the Glossary function. Each course can only have a main glossary, but with many secondary glossaries. When a Glossary is created, a Database of individual entries is automatically created. Clear screenshots are provided to facilitate understanding and tips about including memory aids for the Glossary proved to be of a very helpful nature. One of the main advantages of including the Glossary in a course design is its constant presence on the sidebar. It can be made into an interactive activity and the "Random Glossary Block" feature is also useful. New information is updated every time students log on. As a student of Moodle learning myself, I find this constant update to be particularly beneficial as a means to keeping an eye on the "flow" of new information.

Great tips are given for how to maximise the Choice activity function. Polls and debates can be easily created to make a lively teaching aid. This function also makes choosing teams for activities much easier and also allows for feedback polls to ascertain whether the pace of a course is good for students.

The final chapter of Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques highlights the Portfolio Gallery solution. I really liked the notion of "dialogical imagination", which can ensue from "reaction videos" found in Youtube and often posted on FaceBook. Moodle now has an inbuilt facility to integrate social networking sites such as FaceBook and Twitter. RSS feeds can also be easily implemented as well. This all makes for a very powerful, engaging and highly interactive teaching and learning platform. Indeed, the terminology used is "ubiquitous learning"This chapter contains some excellent tips on how to engage students in creating exciting writing projects for an e-portfolio. A sample assignment on "My Hometown" is highlighted by the authors. I found the notion of a "capstone" experience or final project to be of great interest. The theme of collaboration plays a big role in motivating students to do their best.

At 216 pages, Moodle 1.9 Teaching Techniques makes for an easily managed read and offers some invaluable tips and insights into how to design a unique and personalised Moodle course to maximum effect. As a platform for teaching and learning, Moodle certainly satisfies the growing need for "ubiquitous learning", which comprises of e-learning, mobile learning and hybrid delivery, both synchronous and asynchronous. I certainly learned a lot from a fairly inexperienced Moodler's perspective, but I found some of the explanations were a bit too complex for my limited knowledge. This book should satisfy the more experienced Moodle user's quest for how to implement a successful and dynamic course design and indeed provides invaluable tips that can be applied immediately.

I have been given a free e-copy of the book for reviewing purposes. I do not receive any other compensation apart from this free e-copy of the book. I also view this as an excellent opportunity for me to gain more experience in writing book reviews, which I enjoy doing very much.

Book Review:Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching

It is my pleasure to review Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching by Jeff Stanford, which has recently been published by www.packtpub.com. This review is based purely from my personal perspective. I hope it will give you some insight into the essence of the book, which is constructed on sound pedagogical principles.


Who is Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching for?
It is aimed at "teachers, trainers and course planners with little or no experience of Moodle who would like to create their own language learning activities". Someone exactly like me in fact! I will definitely be implementing some of the wealth of resources within this book on my next Moodle for Teachers course, which begins in January 2010.

How is the book written?
The book is written in an informative, insightful and knowledgeable manner and contains comprehensive step by step instructions for how to approach each of the activities within the 10 chapters of the e-book. Chapters 11 and 12 are currently freely available to be downloaded. Jeff Stanford is an expert and enthusiastic follower of ICT, a teacher trainer, web site designer and avid Moodle practitioner. His skill and expertise is inherently obvious throughout the book. You can go to this site to read more book reviews. Click for a demonstration of Moodle on this site @ www.moodleforlanguages.co.uk

What will you as a teacher learn from reading the book?
If you are a teacher who would like to implement the Moodle platform into your teaching schedule, Moodle 1.9 for Second LanguageTeaching will give you a comprehensive, in-depth guide into how to use Moodle. It covers all the basic ground work for you, all in one extensive tome! No need to search the net for various bits and pieces of information, no need to do investigative research into how to use the various plug-ins that Moodle supports. No need at all, because you will learn all this and much, much more. It is in fact a one-stop resource available at your fingertips. That is the simple, essential beauty of this book. The following mind map shows you some of the functions of Moodle that are fully explained and exploited.


Does Moodle 1.9 for Language Teachers deliver the goods?
Absolutely. Whether you are a newbie Moodler, or seasoned Moodle user, I am certain that you will be satisfied with the content of the book. The aims of the book are clearly outlined by the author from the outset and I feel that all his objectives are fully realised. You will not need to go elsewhere for your research as a lot of questions are already predicted and fully explained by the author in each chapter of the book. Click here for the comprehensive table of contents.

What did I like most about the book?

• As a fairly newbie Moodler, I really, really appreciated Jeff Stanford's invaluable step by step guidance. The reliable and comforting "Here's how to do it" formula works wonders for someone who is maybe inexperienced and unsure about how to work things out in a totally new learning environment. This explanation is introduced after each activity is outlined.
  

• As a newbie, you need something to hold onto for dear life when you venture into uncharted territory. The fear factor of failure to comprehend a totally new concept is huge. This book definitely demystifies the whole process of using Moodle and makes it more easily accessible to the lay person.

• I liked the extensive use of screenshots to demonstrate how activities work. This is a fantastic feature and helped me to understand what was being explained.

• From a learner's point of view, I liked the cyclical recycling of major points. This helps to make the ideas more "sticky" and memorable. In particular, the author constantly refers to Chapter 2, "Getting Started with Moodle", which contains pivotal information and a thorough overview of Moodle. This chapter is at the heart of the book and demonstrates the core functions of Moodle, such as how to manage modules, how to set up activities, how to download videos from YouTube and so on.
  

• I liked the clarity of the language used to teach the various functions of Moodle. The author writes in a very engaging and knowledgeable manner. You feel compelled to read further and learn more.

• I liked the use of a stars * grading system for ease/dificulty of introducing activities. One star (*) = easy, two stars (**) =intermediate level , three stars (***) =difficult. I have to confess, activities with *** I did find difficult to follow and I feel they would be of particular interest to more experienced Moodlers, who would find these more complex activities challenging.

• I liked the fact that it is a true self-help book and it is flexible. You can go at your own speed. You can dip into it in any order that you want. If for example, your main interest is in learning about exploiting the communicative potential within Moodle, then turning to Chapter 4 "Speaking Activities", you will have a host of exciting and interesting projects to try out using the Forum, Quiz, Wiki and Chat modules. If you are keen to learn more about listening, then Chapter 8 has an array of useful and practical lesson ideas. For a free sample of the Listening section, please press here.

• The author systematically goes through the different options offered by Moodle and he provides a practical analysis of the pros and cons of the numerous resources highlighted in each chapter. For example, in Chapter 10, the author mentions the components and the limitations to the Webquest module.
  

• In Chapter 9, the book provides a useful checklist of the evaluation criteria for the Common European Framework.

• I am very keen on grammar in my own teaching environment and so for me Chapter 5 "Grammar Activities" was one that I naturally gravitated towards. Chapter 5 certainly did not disappoint. In fact, the myriad examples of how to make lively grammar activities on Moodle was amazing. The wide range included recording Podcast lectures to present grammar in a fun way, using polls, collaborative dictations, quizzes, gap fills, True or false activities and using chat session transcripts to provide error analysis. The list of exciting ways to transform a dull grammar activity into an interactive and entertaining experience was indeed formidable and certainly would attract and appease the most ardent grammarian amongst us!

• The book provides us with a comprehensive bank of Internet resources, which can be adapted by the reader. For example, I learned about Avatars, Widgets and various video making programmes such as Mashable.

• The clear and informative images really enhanced my learning journey!

Would I recommend Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teachers?
This is a very pertinent question. Had I not had the opportunity to do a book review, would I have been attracted by the blurb on the book cover and inset details? The honest and truthful answer is a resounding yes! The book has provided me with a greater insight and understanding of Moodle. From a language point of view, it has shown me how to incorporate innovative activities within the 4 key skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Moodle 1.9 for Second Language Teaching has taught me how to integrate Audacity, Hot Potatoes, Images, Videos and a host of other external programmes and resources. In fact, a huge wealth of extras, which would satisfy even the most avid techie.

A bit of a coincidence?
Jeff Stanford and I share the same university! I studied at Leicester University for 4 years in the late 1970s and as I understand, Jeff Stanford is currently an associate tutor on the MA TEFL course at the same university. A coincidence indeed. A further coincidence is the fact that Dresden Technical University is a partner institution of the LOLIPOP project as referred to in Chapter 9 on Assessment. I taught at the TUD for a year in the 1980s! It is indeed a very small world, don't you think?

Click on the comic below to read what my final words are.

Moodle:Perfect Timing

To Moodle or not to Moodle, that is the question. To be more precise, Modular, Orientated, Dynamic, Learning Environment. I have been intrigued by this innovative virtual learning platform for quite some time, and I find myself currently right in the middle of it, so to speak, for two reasons.
Watch this short Youtube video which explains what Moodle is.



I like this particular short Youtube presentation which links Moodle with Lego bricks



A bit of a Coincidence?

Firstly, I have begun to follow a 4-week Integrating Technology for Teaching e-course called "Moodle for Teachers". The facilitators are all highly skilled in holding Blended Online Learning Moodle workshops. There are over 120 participants from all over the world. It is incredible to see so many known faces from the blogging world and this is kind of reassuring for someone like me who believe it or not, still has an underlying fear of new technologies. The Moodle WiZiQ webinar on Monday evening was dynamic and involving.

Secondly, it is my great pleasure to announce that I will be reviewing a new (e)-book on Moodle by Jeff Stanford, called Moodle 1.9 For Second Language Teaching. It is literally "hot off the press", published in October 2009 by www.packtpublishing.com. It is pure coincidence that this event and my course have come at the same time and I guess, it was meant to be. My reading through the book from a learner's point of view, and from a prospective teacher's point of view will give me an excellent further insight into this exciting learning platform. Over the coming weeks I will be reading as much as I can through the relevant chapters of interest and I will write up a review based on my experience.

A Review
I will focus on the operability, functionality and practicality of the content of "Moodle 1.9 For Second Language Teaching" from both a newbie Moodler's point of view and from a future practising facilitator's perspective. I am looking forward to this immensely. From my initial brief overview of the book, I can already envisage it is an excellent, comprehensive and rich source of information for teachers, students and educators alike. An invaluable companion on the journey towards Moodle enlightenment!

In the meantime, to whet your appetite, here is a link to an extracted chapter of the book entitled "Listening Activities". If you click on the highlighted link you can download the whole chapter in pdf for you to read at leisure.

Now I must get back to doing all my reading tasks and assignments! See you soon.

Yes, I have! This is my answer to the question above.