[Moodle] Fwd: NetSpot Open Source Newsletter for July 2010

Roland Gesthuizen rgesthuizen at gmail.com
Fri Jul 30 17:37:01 EST 2010 

An interesting newsletter, esp for Moodle or Mahara users. hope you don't mind the cross post. Subscription link below.

Regards Roland 

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

> 

> 
> 
> Hello Roland,
> 
> Welcome to the July edition of Moodle, Sakai & Mahara News for Higher and Enterprise-Level Education. We have a lot of news to share with you!
> 
> In this edition you will find:
> 
> NetSpot Announcements
> 
> The University of New England moves to Moodle and Mahara
> Monash University moves to Moodle and Mahara
> NetSpot partners with Remote-Learner
> The Grapevine
> 
> Moodlemoot AU 2010 a success - Read our report
> Moodle 2.0 update
> Diary Notes
> 
> Moodleposium - Canberra, 7-8 October 2010
> ePortfolios Australia Conference 2010 - Melbourne, 3-4 November 2010
> ascilite 2010 conference - Sydney, 5-8 December 2010
> Did you know?
> 
> "Move to Moodle" online resource for Australian institutions evaluating Moodle
> NetSpot Job Opportunities
> 
> Client Relationship Manager 
> 
> NetSpot Announcements:
> 
> The University of New England moves to Moodle and Mahara
> 
> 
> The contract signing at Moodlemoot AU 2010.
> From left: Sam Austrin-Miner (UNE), James Strong (NetSpot), Myles Carrick (UNE),
> Allan Christie (NetSpot) and Belinda Tynan (UNE).
> We are pleased to announce that NetSpot has recently signed a contract with the University of New England to provide enterprise-level services to support a new implementation of open source systems Moodle and Mahara at the university.
> 
> For more information, read the joint press release here.
> 
> Monash University moves to Moodle and Mahara
> 
> 
> 
> During 2009-2010, the Monash University working group completed an assessment which identified Moodle 2.0 as best aligning with the University’s strategic educational objectives. Primarily considerations included but were not limited to alignment with educational strengths and priorities, usability, accessibility, interoperability with other key systems, flexibility, performance, disaster recovery, security and privacy.
> 
> NetSpot is hosting and supporting Monash University's Moodle Pilot for up to 10,000 FTE and the decision to move to Moodle across the entire university is a very strong vote of confidence in the ability of Moodle to scale to support a large enterprise roll-out of a LMS (over 50,000 FTE). It is also interesting to note that Monash is adopting the Mahara ePortfolio system along with Moodle.
> 
> More information is available at:
> http://sites.google.com/site/monashvle/announcements/monash virtuallearningenvironmentproject
> 
> 
> NetSpot partners with Remote-Learner
> 
> We are pleased to announce that after listening to our clients requests for comprehensive reporting and improved outcome management within Moodle, NetSpot has recently reached an agreement with Remote-Learner (North American Moodle Partner) to be the exclusive Asia-Pacific provider of ELIS; the Enterprise Learning Intelligence Suite for Moodle. Two of the many valuable tools that ELIS provides are an intuitive dashboard for reporting and analytics and comprehensive outcome management which includes improved outcome measurement and reporting capabilities. For more information please contact Rebecca Andary, Professional Services Manager, NetSpot or visit http://www.remote-learner.net/elis 
> 
> 
> The Grapevine:
> 
> Moodlemoot AU 2010 a success - A report by Mark Drechsler
> 
> 
> 
> July saw the running of Moodlemoot Australia 2010, the largest Moodle conference ever held in the Southern Hemisphere, and possibly in the world, with delegates meeting in Melbourne for four days of keynotes, workshops and presentations. The conference commenced with a Moodle Masterclass, the first of its kind attempted in the world (that we know of), that brought together Curtis Bonk and Julian  ‘Moodleman’ Ridden with 65 participants to look at current best practice in online learning and Moodle.
> 
> Bringing together close to 470 delegates from 11 different countries, including Brazil, Japan, USA, UK and Mozambique, Moodlemoot AU 2010 took off at full speed on the Monday with an official opening by Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, Pro-Vice Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) at Monash University.
> 
> The conference itself ran for two and a half days, with over 70 presentations from the K-12, VET, Corporate, Not-for-profit and Higher Education sectors, as well as keynotes by Curtis Bonk, Martin Dougiamas (founder and lead developer of Moodle), Helen Carter and David Parkin. The conference closed on the Wednesday with half day workshops on a range of Moodle topics ranging from Moodle theme development to the new features available in Moodle 2.0.
> 
> 
> 
> The response from delegates was overwhelmingly positive, with the consensus being that the organisation, quality of speakers, variety of program and sheer size of the conference were all outstanding, and yet without losing the relaxed feeling of previous Moodlemoots, with delegates given plenty of opportunities to relax, meet other Moodlers and share ideas. 
> 
> With fantastic social functions, informal gatherings, competitions and a caricature artist thrown in for a laugh, Moodlemoot was also a great deal of fun for everyone involved.
> 
> The conference was also well sponsored, with thanks going to Silver Sponsors The Learning Edge, Wimba, Pukunui, Echo 360 and Webqem, and Bronze Sponsors eWorks and Elluminate for backing Diamond Sponsor NetSpot to deliver such a successful conference.
> 
> 
> 
> Coming Soon - Daily Moodlemoot videos which were shown during the conference plenary sessions. To view, simply visit the Moodlemoot AU 2010 website over the next week: http://moodlemoot.org.au
> 
> 
> 
> Moodle 2.0 Update
> 
> 
> 
> Without a doubt, the biggest buzz at Moodlemoot AU 2010 was the imminent release of Moodle 2.0. Several presentations (including a keynote by Martin Dougiamas) were given on the new features of Moodle 2.0, with two workshops on the final day letting over 100 delegates get hands-on experience in a Moodle 2.0 preview release. The beta release of 2.0 is scheduled for late July, and already the interest in piloting the environment in its beta form has been significant throughout the Moodle community. Activity in the Moodle community around Moodle 2.0 has also been increasing, with many community members testing the preview release (the latest version of which can be tried at http://qa.moodle.net), discussions at moodle.org around fine tuning some of the new features increasing, and Moodle Partner Newschool Learning running a competition to get community members to design new themes to be included in the initial distribution of Moodle 2.0 (http://newschoollearning.com/theme/contest/)
> 
> Along with the well known changes to Moodle 2.0, we are also now starting to see a number of smaller enhancements surfacing, such as a simplified enrolments interface, improved messaging features and the availability of the portfolio integration with Mahara, which now allows content being submitted to Moodle to be sent automatically to a user’s e-portfolio.
> 
> NetSpot are eagerly awaiting the beta release of Moodle 2.0, and in preparation are already running several 1.9 upgrade tests and load testing of large migrated sites, with the outcomes of the testing being shared back to Moodle HQ and the community whenever possible.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Diary Notes:
> Moodleposium - Canberra, 7-8 October 2010
> 
> The second of its kind to be held in the ACT, Moodleposium 2010 will be jointly hosted by the Australian National University and the University of Canberra. With a higher-education focus, this conference will showcase examples of best practice in Moodle-enhanced pedagogy and design, and offer networking opportunities for academics, educational designers, technologists and developers as well as those in educational management roles. By demonstrating a range of current practices, and with a view moving forward to Moodle 2, this event aims to foster communication opportunities for the local and regional higher education Moodle community.
> 
> More information to come soon.
> 
> 
> ePortfolios Australia Conference 2010 - Melbourne, 3-4 November 2010
> 
> This major national event will highlight the ways e-portfolios are serving as a catalyst to support and engage adult learning from the:
> 
>     * vocational education and training (VET) sector
>     * higher education (HE) sector, and
>     * adult and community education (ACE) sector
> 
> Visit the website:
> 
> http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/content/e-portfolios-australia
> 
> 
> 
> ascilite 2010 conference - Sydney, 5-8 December 2010
> 
> 
> 
> The 27th annual ascilite conference is being held at the Novotel Sydney Brighton Beach, New South Wales and is being jointly hosted by The University of Technology Sydney, The University of Queensland and Charles Sturt University.
> 
> Visit the website:
> 
> http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/sydney10/
> 
> 
> 
> Did you know?:
> 
> 
> "Move to Moodle" online resource for institutions evaluating Moodle
> 
> 
> In response to the large number of Australian Higher Educational institutions evaluating Moodle as a potential enterprise learning management system, NetSpot has launched an online resource which provides access to links, documents and videos on topics such as:
> 
>       LMS Reviews and Comparisons
>       Total Cost of Ownership Studies
>       Pilot Resources/Evaluation Framework
>       Product Strategic Roadmap
>       Feature Analysis and Comparisons
> If your institution would benefit from access to materials like this then simply go to: http://www.movetomoodle.com.au and click on the Request Access button. You will then be asked to fill in a few of your details, and using those details we will register you onto the website. This will give you the ability to upload or share resources with other institutions who are using or evaluating Moodle.
> 
> 
> NetSpot Job Opportunities
> 
> NetSpot has a new position opening for a "Client Relationship Manager" to join our team. This would be an excellent opportunity to move from a role in Higher Education in Academic Development or eLearning Systems Management to a rewarding commercial environment where your consultative skills and initiative will be highly valued. The role essentially involves understanding client problems and positioning NetSpot solutions and services for mutual success.
> 
> Client Relationship Manager Employment Opportunity
> 
> 
> 
> Warm Regards,
> Allan Christie.
> 
> Newsletter Contributions:
> 
> This email has been sent to key Higher Education, TAFE, Polytechnic, k-12 and Corporate Academic Development / Teaching and Learning (eLearning) Managers throughout the AsiaPac region and IT Services or eLearning Systems Managers. 
> 
> If you've got news to share, we welcome submissions of Moodle, Sakai or Mahara news for publication - simply reply to this email.
> 
> 
> You can view past editions of this newsletter:
> 
> June 2010
> http://login.alumni.net.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=681407&u=8192
> March 2010
> http://login.alumni.net.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=606654&u=8192
> 
> November 2009
> http://login.alumni.net.au/em/message/email/view.php?id=588488&u=8192
> 
> 
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> If you're been forwarded this Moodle, Sakai & Mahara News, you can subscribe yourself to this newsletter here: http://login.alumni.net.au/em/forms/subscribe.php?db=42618&s=8101&u=8994&k=1d9553b  
> 
> 
>  
> This email was sent by Allan Christie, allan.christie at netspot.com.au to rgesthuizen at gmail.com.
> 
>  
> 
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