Martin Dougiamas on Moodle 4.x

 Martin Dougiamas, & Tom Worthington
at EduTech Asia 2018

Martin Dougiamas, creator of the Moodle, is talking at EdTechPosium on the future of the learning management system. Moodle 4 is getting a makeover with a new user interface. The problem, as Martin explains it, that Moodle looks old fashioned, compared to Apps. For me this is not a problem, as I like the basic interface. The problem is how to freshen the design without making it too complicated. The preview shown looked a good clean approach for thsients who want "Just show me what I need to do next".

Next Martin talked on the Moodle Academy, which has free courses for educators, administrators and developers. This is based on a European standard, but implemented specifically for Moodle. Each course has an introductory quiz, to help potential students decide if the course is for them. 

MoodleNet provides a curated collection of educational content which can be used in courses. This is a challenging area. When a student of open education I had to find content to use. It was very difficult to find quality, complete, educational content. What I instead found were outlines of courses, but not the full, usable content. I will see if it is possible to donate my ICT Sustainability course and reflective learning module. 

Lastly Martin speculated about the use of wearable devices for education. One example was being able to provide healthy eating information when in the supermarket. I worry that instead the consumer will be bombarded with 3D advertisements. Martin touched on this by arguing that this should not be left to companies such as Meta.

ps: I bumped into Martin at EduTech Asia 2018

Melbourne EdTech Summit, 17 to 20 August

 The Melbourne EdTech Summit is 17 to 20 August. COVID-19 has forced the event online, which not all bad news: it is free and you don;t have to be in Melbourne (Australia) to attend. Here is what caught my attention in the program (if you do nothing else, you must, at least, hear the keynote from Martin Dougiamas, founder of Moodle, 11:45am Wednesday):

Tuesday K-12

9.45am	Keynote | Future of Student Assessment Speaker | Geoff Masters, CEO for Australian Council for Educational Research Moderator | David Linke, Managing Director of EduGrowth What if the primary outcome of assessment was not a grade, but an estimate of the point an individual has reached in their learning? Assessment is a diagnostic tool, but too often it is treated as the end-point. This session will discuss how we need to rethink and redesign assessment to measure progression and inform teaching.
3.40pm	Using data to support whole-school wellbeing Speakers | Richard Clark, Head of Secondary School of the Springfield Anglican College; and Nicole Archard, Principal of Loreto College Moderator | Joe Thurbon, Co-Founder & CTO of Educator Impact Supporting the wellbeing of a whole-child takes a whole school approach. The wellbeing of staff and students is interconnected. Hear from two innovative school leaders about how data helps them drive whole-school wellbeing improvements for their staff and students, both strategically and every day in the classroom.
4.20pm	New Tools – New Possibilities: Classrooms enhanced with technology Speakers | Zoe Milne, Co-Founder and Director of LoopLearn; and Lauren Sayer, Executive Director Research and Innovation at Melbourne Girls Grammar Moderators | Joe Thurbon, Co-Founder & CTO of Educator Impact High tech, leading edge, bleeding edge! Can these things coexist in a K12 classroom whilst navigating student privacy, data sovereignty and data protection? Let’s explore cutting edge technology to support the modern classroom achieve all that’s possible.

Wednesday Entrepreneurship:

9:15 Listening to the Student Voice

Speakers | Michelle Demirel, Deputy Principal-Instructional Leader & Accredited Lead Teacher at Leichhardt Public School; and Kerry Weston, Principal of Guildford West Public School
Moderator | Nikki Bonus, Founder & CEO of Life Skills Go

Learner agency is important to ensuring engagement. The first step to empowering students is to listen. How do we ensure the voice of the student is central to learning and what role does technology and design have in supporting this pedagogy.

11:45 am Keynote | Hear from the founder of Moodle, an Australian EdTech success story

Speaker | Martin Dougiamas, CEO of Moodle
Moderator | Jack Goodman, Founder & Executive Chair of Studiosity

Moodle is the most popular open source LMS in the world and has got more than 110+ million users globally. Hear from Martin Dougiamas the founder who built Moodle into the renowned EdTech solution it is today. We’ll find out about the future of Moodle in this new phase of EdTech opportunity.

Thursday Higher Education:

4.20pm

Innovation in the institution

Speaker | Chris Campbell, Senior Lecturer Learning Innovation at Griffith University & President of ASCILITE

Moderator | TBC

As leading research institutions many of the greatest innovations in Australia come out of our higher education sector. But our TAFEs and Universities are also an incubator for technology to support teaching and learning informed by their deep understanding of the needs of students. This session will examine new ways that innovation can be leveraged beyond the walls of the institution.

Friday Skills and Workforce:

9:45am Keynote | The War for Talent: EdTech enabling industry growth

Speaker | Belinda Tynan, Provost of Australian Catholic University

Moderator | Claire Field, Principal at Claire Field & Associates

Job ready graduates is the goal. But what jobs are we preparing these graduates for? The jobs that exist today, the jobs we think might be there tomorrow, the jobs that we hope will be there. What is the intersection between education and industry in a rapidly evolving labour market.