The Fastest Way to Create a Course Review in Moodle

Students who read a passage, then took  a test asking them to recall what they read, retain about 50 percent more of the information a week later than students who used two other methods to study the material. That research was published in the journal Science.

Fortunately, Moodle makes it easy to create a quiz that you can use for review purposes. A Review Quiz in Moodle will enable you to re-use a log of the work that you do while creating the course, and, increase your students’ retention of the material. The keys to successfully creating a Review Quiz in Moodle are:

• using feedback in your quiz questions.


• creating a separate category of questions for each topic in your course.


• creating one-page review for each topic in your course.

First, let’s look at the feedback for Moodle questions.

Feedback in Moodle Quiz Questions

In a previous post, I wrote about the various kinds of feedback that you can create in a Moodle quiz. I wrote about how to use feedback that is display when:

• the student selects a specific answer.


• the question is completed, no matter what the student’s answer.


• the student achieves a specific score on the quiz.


• the quiz is completed, no matter what the student’s score.

These four types of feedback give you the ability to make a Moodle quiz into a teaching tool. Instead of using a quiz to just test the student, you can use it to teach.

If you create quiz questions for every topic in your course then you can use a fast, easy method to create a course review. This method assumes that each question in your course includes feedback to teach the student why (s)he is right or wrong, and to help the student remember the correct answer.

Creating a Review Quiz in Moodle

With this method, you will use four phases to create a review quiz:

• Create a category of quiz questions for each topic.


• Create a quiz for each topic.


• Create a one-page review for each topic.


• Assemble the one-page reviews and questions into a review quiz.

Let’s step through each phase below.

First: Create a category of quiz questions for each topic

Here’s how to prepare your questions for a review quiz:

• For each topic, create a category of quiz questions.


• For each of the categories that you just created, create several quiz questions. Now, you have several quiz questions for each topic.


• For every answer in each question, create feedback that teaches them why that answer is right or wrong. Now, every answer of every question is a teaching tool.


• For every question, create general feedback that explains why that question is relevant. Now, no matter which answer the student selected, (s)he will learn where that question fits into the bug picture.


• Make sure that each quiz question can stand alone. Do not refer to or depend upon any other questions.

Now your question bank for the course looks like this:

Topic 1 Questions

Question 1

Question 2

General Question Feedback: “This question relates to the concept of…”

Answer A

Answer Feedback: “This answer is correct because…”

Answer B

Answer Feedback: “This answer is incorrect because... The correct answer is…”

Answer C

Answer Feedback: “This answer is incorrect because... The correct answer is…

Question 3

Topic 2 Questions

Topic 3 Questions

Now every answer, and every question, is a teaching tool. And, every question can stand on its own. You are ready to create a quiz for each topic.

Second: Create a quiz for each topic

For each topic, create a quiz. You can make the quiz appear in the gradebook, or, make a practice quiz that doesn’t affect the student’s final grade.

Third: Create a one-page review for each topic

For each topic in the course, create a one-page review. This can be a simple bulleted list of key points, an infogram, a video, or any other technique. Keep the review short enough so that it can be read, viewed, or listened to in a few minutes.

Fourth: Assemble the one-page reviews and questions into a review quiz

Finally, you are ready to create the review quiz. In the review quiz, you will assemble the one-page reviews and teaching questions.        Â

• Create a quiz, and add instructions that look like this:

This quiz is practice for the final quiz. Your grade for this quiz will not be used to calculate your final grade.

This quiz will present one page of bullet points for each topic that we covered. These bullet points are reminders of what you studied in the topic.

Then, the quiz will present some random questions from that topic's quiz. Do your best on these questions. Feel free to refer back to the topic's presentation while attempting the questions. As before, the questions will give you feedback if you answer incorrectly.

The reminders before the questions, and feedback after the questions, are designed to help you learn the material.

You can attempt this practice quiz as many times as you like. When you're ready, proceed to the final quiz.

There are two things that make creating a review quiz in Moodle easy. Moodle enables you to add Descriptions to a quiz, and to add manual page breaks.

In a Moodle quiz, a Description is just a question that consists of nothing but a Web page. You can put anything into a Description that you can put on a normal Web page. The student doesn’t need to answer anything, and the Description doesn’t get scored. Usually, you use a Description to explain a section of the quiz. In this case, you will use the Description to display the one-page summary of the topic.

• Add a Description to the quiz, and name it something like “Topic 1 Review Page.” Then add the one-page review for the topic to the Description.


• After the Review Page, add a page break.


• After the page break, add several random questions from the topic. To do this, you will select the topic’s question category, and then instruct Moodle to add a certain number of random questions from that category.


• After the random questions, add a page break.


• Repeat steps 2 through 5 until you have a Review Page and random questions for each topic in your course.

Congratulations! You’ve created a review test for your course. Because you re-used questions from your previous quizzes, you made efficient use of your work. Because you alternated a brief review of a topic with questions about that topic, you used the learning principle of Immediate Feedback to improve retention.

Guest Post: Free Online Classes to help Freelance Tech Writers become Effective Bosses and Business Owners

While some technical writers are employed by large corporations, some on the other hand choose to freelance and start their own tech writing businesses. Going the entrepreneurial route is more or less ideal for those who like to make their own working hours and for those who wish to create a versatile portfolio by working for a variety of clients and projects. Unfortunately however, most technical writing degree programs don't adequately teach students how to be their own bosses or how to even oversee a team of subordinates.
While formal education in business applications can in fact teach students how to tackle the complications that arise with establishing a start-up business, this option is expensive and time consuming. Thankfully there are free online classes provide by distinguished brick-and-mortar institutions that can provide freelance tech writers with the knowledge they seek to become effective leaders when owning and operating their own business. While these classes are in fact free and typically include free old class materials such as course readings, syllabi and lecture notes and slides, note that some may require the purchase of specific textbooks or software. With that said, to learn the best classes that can help you become a more effective leader in the tech writing industry, continue reading below.
Finance and Accounting Online Classes. Because most tech entrepreneurs are strapped for cash and struggle coming up with enough capital for operating costs of their small business, all too often tech freelancers cannot afford to pay a professional to take care of the bookkeeping and other finances. So they opt to do it themselves. But handling your own finances is extremely risky, especially if you do not know anything about cash flows, how to acquire monetary income, or how to meet budgets—you don't want to over spend (or skimp) on buying necessary equipment such as authoring and editing software, style guide books, reference manuals, insurance, or proper licenses. In fact, any small mistake can result in your business quickly plummeting to the ground. So to make sure that your business doesn't fail due to your lack of knowledge in finance or accounting, check out a few of these classes that can teach you how to properly evaluate your blooming business' financial needs:

• Introduction to Economics [Utah State]
• Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning [UC Irvine]
• Business Skills for Success [Kutztown University of Pennsylvania]

Content Management and Software Documentation Online Courses. In this new day and age most freelance teach writers are required to do far more than just write—they have to be editors, content modelers and even graphic designer at some moments. With that said freelancers who deal with a high volume of clientele needs to diligently work to stay organized and keep proper documentation of all of their various works—no telling when you may be able to reuse particular information. An easy way to do this is to use programs such as XML and SGML. These programs will not only keep all of the content consistent throughout your business, but will also aid in easy retrieval of those important documents from databases.

• Software Engineering For Web Applications [MIT]
• Learn and Apply HTML [Utah State]

Business Negotiations Online Courses. Typically a freelance tech writer is given the option to bid on projects individually or delve into a long-term contract with a publisher. Either way, freelance tech writers need to know how to market their business to find clients as well as how to make contract negotiations once they find a client. Not only will these classes do just that, but they will also teach students how to make deadlines, create a project plan, stay within budgets, and ensure client satisfaction.

• Introduction to Project Management [UC Irvine]
• The Art and Science of Negotiation [MIT]

• Entrepreneruial Marketing [MIT]

• E-Marketing [UC Irvine]

Leadership Online Classes. Lastly, if you work individually and do not have subordinates or business partners, the following classes may not necessarily pertain to you. However if you choose to hire help, these classes will teach you how to listen to your employees' complaints (happy employees equal a happy workplace environment) and how and why it's important to take the lead during writer's meetings etc.

• Listening to Employees [Stanford]

• The Influence of Leadership on a Company [Stanford]
• The Difference Between Management and Leadership [Stanford]

By-line:
This guest contribution was submitted by Lenore Holditch, who specializes in writing about top online colleges. Questions and comments can be sent to: holditch.lenore @ gmail.com.

Moodle 2.0 E-Learning Book Just Published!

Packt Publishing has just released my latest book, Moodle 2.0 E-Learning Development. I hope you find it as much fun to use as I did to write.

How to develop training when the subject is a moving target?

Recently, I received this question from someone who had read my book on Writing Successful Software Classes. My answer appears after his question:

Problem: They keep changing the software spec's, as I'm developing training!

> The company is
> currently in the process of creating and implementing a new core business operating system.
> Our legacy system is antiquated to say the least (it is DOS based).
> The new system is being built from scratch, so this is no out of the
> box ERP that we are talking about.
>
> My team and I are competent instructional designers and trainers but
> our experience is limited to training on processes or systems that are
> already complete. What I am struggling with is building training for a
> system that is being built as we are expected to develop training. If
> the system were complete and then we had 6 months to develop the
> training before it was implemented, we would be okay, but that is not
> the case...we are expected to develop training from
> Functional Design Documents which by the way are not necessarily
> well-written. The system is being given to us in milestones, but they keep changing things and changing the milestones.
>
> I have found resources on major software rollouts, and systems
> implementations, but they are very technical in nature and gloss over
> end user training. Other resources that do concentrate on technical
> training make the assumption that a system or concept is complete when
> you develop the training.
>
> Do you have any advice or ideas of how we can tackle this? Let me know
> if you want any more details. I really appreciate your thoughts and your time.

Solution: Focus on documenting business processes first, then write keystrokes-and-clicks second

Training and user documentation almost always comes at the end of a software rollout. By the time the trainers and technical writers have the information we need, almost everyone else has finished their part of the project. And when people at the beginning of the project take more time than planned, and the deadline stays the same, that extra time they get must be taken from someone else. Usually, that's the trainers and technical writers. "We allocated three weeks for you to develop training, but testing and bug fixing took an extra week, so we had to shorten your time to two weeks."

At most companies, this is just the nature of the job. There are ways we can adapt.

First, focus on writing good instructions for your users. Unless your users must perform their work without referring to a manual, the instructions will be the user's safety net when they need to begin using the software.

Research I've done among the users that I serve showed that they prefer printed instructions. They don't like switching between two windows on their computer screen: one with instructions and one with the software. Among my users who have dual monitors, that is not a problem. But most of my users have a single, 17- or 19-inch monitor. I suspect that is why they prefer printed instructions.

Notice that I've been using the term "instructions" and not "user manual." A user manual is more than a collection of instructions. It gives background and context to the instructions. That is, a user manual doesn't just tell how to perform tasks, but also when and why. Think of instructions as a series of cheat sheets, or quick reference guides.

As you're writing those instructions, you will be simultaneously developing the demonstration that you use for training. More on that later. (At this point, you were probably wondering when I'd get around to answering your question about developing training. Hang in there).

Our biggest challenge is that as we are writing user instructions and developing training, the software is changing. We need to document and develop training for a moving target. How to do this? Here's something that has been key for me: start first with the information that will not change.

Forget about beginning your writing and course development with the introduction, or the clicks and keystrokes. Instead, begin with the information this is most unlikely to change.

In my experience, the specific list of business tasks that users need to perform with the software is unlikely to change. So I start with that. For example, suppose the business tasks I must teach are:

1. Create a new customer.


2. Enter customer demographics.


3. Attach a mortgage record to the customer.

Each of those tasks will have a quick reference guide, and a demonstration in your training class.

Now, I understand that you do not yet have the keystrokes for performing those tasks. The software is changing, so you can't write the keystrokes and clicks yet. But there are some things you can write about each of these tasks, such as:

• When to perform this task (where does if fit into your workflow?)


• Why to perform this task (what deliverable is produced; what result?)


• Next steps (what do you usually do next?)

So on each of your quick reference guides, you can add that information. For example, for the task "Create a new customer" your quick reference document might look like this:

Section: Creating a new customer

Subsection: When must you create a new customer? [This is business process information. You should be able to write this even if they don't have the software finished]
Subsection: When How to create a new customer [This subsection isblank, you don't have the keystrokes and clicks yet because they keep changing them on you]
Subsection: Results [This is business process information. You should be able to write this even if they don't have the software finished]
Subsection: Next steps [This is business process information. You should be able to write this even if they don't have the software finished]

Notice in that example above, you can write three out of four subsections even while the software is still being changed.

Remember I said that you can simultaneously develop the training demo? So at the same time that you start writing these instructions, you can start writing the slideshow for class. Your slides might read something like this:

Slide 1: Creating a new customer
When must you create a new customer?
Create new customer only when...
Slide 2: Demo
...blank slide, here you begin your demonstration...
Slide 3: Results
A new customer record in....
Slide 4: Next steps
At this point, you can now do this....

You can also start writing the in-class exercise, if there is one. For example, "Create a new customer using the following information..." During the exercise, you would have the students try to perform the task, using the quick reference guide that you wrote.

At this point, you send the instructions back to the subject matter experts for their sign-off. Since you don't have the keystrokes and clicks yet, you probably won't be sending the material to the software guys for sign-off.
But what you do have is the business process information, that is, what the user will do and where that fits into their workflow. So you will send this to the business owner of the software.

As the software team finalizes the screens, you'll be able to fill in your instructions with the keystrokes and clicks. You'll also be able to plan your training demos. When all those instructions and demos are filled in, you have most of a user manual and a nearly complete training course.

When you train, you'll make it clear that you don't expect the people in class to come out with the keystrokes and clicks memorized. That is what user documentation is for. Instead, your purpose in class is to:

• Show the students where each task fits into their workflow.


• Emphasize the critical steps in each task: things you must do.


• Stear them around the mistakes that you cannot recover from.


• Show them where to get further help with the software (if your company offers this kind of support).

In your email, you mentioned Functional Specification documents. You might be able to pull much of this information from those documents. But don't get bogged down in trying to write detailed instructions from those functional specs. It just isn't realistic to document clicks and keystrokes until you have a working product in front of you, and an authority figure who says, "freeze this interface here." Until then, you are writing the framework, or outline, into which you will drop these keystrokes and clicks.

This is the process that has worked for me. I hope that you will find it useful. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help.

8 Tips for Improving Your Technical Writing (guest post)

Good technical writing is always clear, practical and tailored to a specific audience, be it a technical or non-technical audience. What separates good technical writing from average technical writing, however, is taking the time to make the written material as user-friendly as possible. Here we will explore 8 tips for improving your technical writing.

1.) Break up text under clear headlines and subheads.

Technical writers are familiar with using headlines to transition from topic to topic when writing material. What often gets forgotten is effectively using subheads to further break down the material. Most technical readers strongly prefer to cherry-pick the specific information they're looking for, and the frequent use of headlines and subheads allows them to do this with ease. For non-technical readers, there's nothing more intimidating than large blocks of text with no place to rest the eye. You'll find that breaking each topic down into small, manageable chunks will also aid you in the writing process. Writer's Digest recommended revisiting your headlines to make sure they accurately summarize the content of that particular section.

2.) When possible, break up text into brief lists.

Not everything technical can be broken down into a short, snappy list some individual steps involve numerous vital details. However, if you can lay out a list of steps before plowing through those details, you'll let your readers know early on that there's an end in sight and logical steps to get them there. Lists also create a break for the eyes.

3.) Keep your tone professional.

Technical writing is not prose or creative nonfiction. It is written only to teach a reader how to do something or how to use something. While the For Dummies books exemplify a move toward technical writers creating more folksy and conversational how-to material, most technical readers aren't looking for clever wording or side stories while they read. They want stripped-down, straightforward writing that will help them learn how to accomplish a task. This doesn't mean you can never include clever and related anecdotal elements; it only means that technical writers should use them sparingly, particularly for a technical audience.

4.) Use present tense and imperative sentences.

Readers want to be told implicitly what to do. Writing imperatively and in the present tense is not only helpful to the reader, but it also eliminates unnecessary wordiness. For example, "Select Menu, and choose from the available options" works better than the more conversational "Once you've found the menu, you can choose from the available options."

5.) Keep it simple.

When you're proofreading your writing, keep an eye out for big words that take away from the simplicity of the material. While some jargon is unavoidable, you can certainly substitute "use" for "utilize" and "end" for "terminate." You're not trying to impress anyone and simple words are often just as effective as more elaborate words. Also, try to break up compound sentences whenever possible into two simpler sentences.

6.) Use specific words.

Part of using specific words involves avoiding the word "it," even on the third and fourth reference. Readers need to know what "it" is throughout a specific section to avoid confusion. You will also need to use consistent terminology. Do not alternate the terms you use to add variety to your writing.

7.) Write in active voice.

Using imperative sentences whenever possible will help you avoid the passive voice most of the time in instructional material, but for other technical writing you will need to actively avoid the passive voice, which will not only make your material more wordy, but will also weaken your sentences.

8.) Ask for feedback.

Some supervisors are better at giving feedback on your technical writing than others. You may need to ask specifically for them to look over your work and point out any consistent weaknesses in your writing and areas where you can improve.

About the Author

This guest post is contributed by Angelita Williams, who writes on the topics of online courses. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: angelita.williams7 @gmail.com.

Slashdot Review of Magento 1.3 Sales Tactics

Slashdot reviewed my latest book. Check it out.

Converting a Course from Classroom to Online

I'm working with a client who is converting a classroom-based course to an online course in Moodle. I'd like to share a question that I received from the client, and my response. I've edited our exchange to make the client anonymous:

Question

I hoping you can help me clarify a few issues before [our e-learning team meets].

The plan now is to take the existing ... Curriculum and "translate" it to Moodle. I am finding this to be a very difficult and awkward process. I'm thinking that this is a bit backwards, and that developing an online course requires building from the ground up. Its not that all of the content must be rebuilt from scratch, but that the order of material, the grouping of concepts, and flow of the online course is going to be different than a traditional class room experience.

In your experience, do you think that my instincts are correct here?

My Response

Yes, I think you are realizing one of the key facts about porting a course from classroom to online. Bringing a course on-line often demands that you change the organization and timing of the course.

Breaking down the classroom course into its smallest logical chunks is a good start. It's easier to rearrange small chunks than large chunks. If you find yourself rewriting most of the material, then you've broken it down too far into chunks that are too small. The idea is the break it down without needing to rewrite.

You will also need to allow more time for online learning. In a classroom, because of the force of the instructor's personality and the quick, live interaction with the instructor, a student can usually cover material faster than in an online course. The only time I have found that to be untrue is when the classroom presentation must be slowed down to accommodate slower students. But in a small class like you are accustomed to teaching, when you have everyone "in sync" and focusing hard, students can assimilate an amazing amount of material in a short time. Students won't have that experience on line. So when you bring the course on line, you must allow more time for each topic.

On line, you need to make everything the student learns relevant and useful, as quickly as possible. Again, you don't have the force of the instructor's personality helping the student to wade through preliminary material. There's no one there to say, "Stay with me, pay attention to this next part, because in an hour you're going to need to know how to do this." So to keep the student motivated, before you make the student learn something, show how that piece of knowledge will help the student to perform the task you're teaching. If each topic in the course is a separate competency, for each activity that you make the student perform or each resource that you make the student view, state how it will help the student to develop that competency.

On line, you need to test and apply the student's knowledge as soon as the student gets it. Moodle's quiz feedback is a great tool to combine testing and learning. You can give feedback for each individual answer that a student selects, telling the students why it's correct or incorrect. You can also give feedback for each question, regardless of which answer the student selected. Use this to explain the relevance of the question, or to give hints that will help the student to remember. For more about using Moodle quizzes as a teaching tool instead of a testing tool, see my blog post here: http://williamriceinc.blogspot.com/2008/03/using-different-kinds-of-feedback-in.html.

And after you've confirmed that the student knows the material, you need to have them apply it as soon as possible. Having the student create something and upload it to a Moodle assignment or forum are the standard choices.

As for rearranging concepts, you will often need to do this. If several parts of a course, or if several courses, depend upon a student understanding a concept, you can always link back to where that concept was introduced. When the student needs to remember a concept before learning a topic, at the beginning of that topic, give the student the chance to review the concept. If the student is comfortable that (s)he learned it well enough the first time, the student can skip the review. If not, the review is there.

Also, while teaching conceptual (theoretical) information, relate the concept back to the competency. The student might think, "I just want to learn how [perform this task]. Why am I learning about [this conceptual information]?" If you can't state how a concept relates to the competency, then try this: break the concept down further, into smaller pieces. Can any of those pieces relate back to the competency? If so, teach just that part of the theory and leave the rest out.

So on line: your presentations will be shorter, you will insert more teaching quizzes and short assignments, at the beginning of each presentation you will motivate the student by showing how the material helps build the competency the student desires, and before teaching anything theoretical or conceptual you will state how it helps the student perform the competency they are developing. These are all things that you do naturally in front of a classroom, but now you need to do them explicitly on line. So it's not just a matter of taking the written course material and popping it into an online course. You must also take the pieces of yourself that you give a classroom full of students, and put them on line for your remote students.

Client's Response

Perfect. You confirmed all of my suspicions. We met today, talked about all of these issues, and now finally have a plan for moving forward that makes sense. We have some cool ideas to add our own flavor to all of this. We'll be sure to show you what we have once we have some of our first beta topic together.