MoodleMootUK 2010: A View from the Trenches

Date: 2010.04.20 | Category: moodlemoot | Tags: Moodle,moodlemoot,mootuk10,presenters,report,summary,Workshops

Philip Butler, ULCC

From Philip Butler ULCC, Chair of MMUK10 Programme Committee

Running on adrenalin during MoodleMoot UK 2010 (#mootuk10) meant that the following days have been returning to earth with a bump!  I imagine it’s similar to what astronauts must have felt when returning to earth; the world is familiar but strangely different.  The annual UK Moot took place 13 & 14 April 2010 with the impressive University of London’s Senate House as its backdrop.  Over 250 excited delegates arrived from all over the UK, along with a good proportion coming from as far away as Adelaide, New York, Beirut, Trinidad, Finland, The Hague, Austria and Russia.

I’ve successfully navigated ‘re-entry’ although I’m still suffering remnants of MoodleMoot cold turkey!  I can now look back over an extraordinary experience and pen a very personal report in an attempt to capture all the good things that happened. Martin & David wrote about their experience in the breakout session, feel free to comment or get in touch with to have your guest blog post featured on the blog.

Ross Mackensie, the Open University

First I can’t write this report before thanking everyone involved in making it one of the best I’ve attended in many years.  Clearly #mootuk10 couldn’t have happened without an awful lot of planning and preparation by the ULCC team, especially Mick Kahn and Frank Steiner, supported by Sean Keogh and a great Moot Programme Committee who put together the raw ingredients.  But a special mention has to go to everyone attended, along with a few bloggers and tweeple who were there in spirit if not in person!  The delegates bring the whole thing together and produce an experience comparable, I should imagine, like attending one of Heston Blumenthal’s feasts (could we explore this for next year?).

Day 1 – Tuesday 13th April

The Beveridge Hall, Senate House

Anyway, it was a huge honour to have the Vice Chancellor (Elect), University of London and Warden of Goldsmiths College, Professor Geoffrey Crossick to officially launch the conference.  By all accounts it was an excellent speech, although I sadly missed it due to me trying to locate our first keynote speaker, Professor Sugata Mitra.  We managed to avoid catastrophe by one of Sugata’s whiskers as I was shoving him through the door and onto the stage literally as he was being introduced… Phew!

Panic over, it really couldn’t have got off to a better start.  I’ve been privileged to have met and heard Sugata several times, and his ideas and delivery are just as fresh and inspiring as if you’re coming to him for the first time.  He is a remarkable character who has been responsible for some incredible work in his native India, entitled the ‘Hole in the Wall’ project.  I have visited one of these projects and seen first-hand the impact that Sugata’s work has had on village communities and the ‘street kids’ who were given opportunities to ‘play’ with computers.  Indeed, this was reportedly the inspiration that led to the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

Mootuk10 - Impressive Workshops

I can’t say that inviting Sugata wasn’t without its risks; he’s never been associated with Moodle, or even the Open Source community, so the question was how a hugely discerning Moot audience would receive him?  But when considering a programme, I was keen to introduce delegates to a range of perspectives; including the impact of technology on teaching and learning, the organisational impact, along with practitioners and administrators.  My faith in both the Professor and the Moodlers were vindicated completely by the number of positive real-time comments appearing on Twitter:

“listening to sugata mitra talk about the hole in the wall project – pretty amazing stuff #mootuk10” by markdrechsler

“signing off 4 a bit, work 2 do, will catch up with #mootuk10 later, lots of thoughtful stuff, particularly Sugata Mitra on Hole In The Wall!” by jamesmichie

“Getting ready for day 2 @ MootUK10 Prof Sugata was awe inspiring Looking 4ward to meeting MD Mr Moodle #mootuk10” by mikallaane

Whilst Sugata certainly covered the former, Ross Mackenzie, the Open University, gave a really interesting insight into how one of the leading organisations in the use of Moodle approached the strategic issues when considering how to plan ahead.

Philip Badman, Vice Principal, Newham College

“@rossmackenzie In 24h period OU Moodle has 35-50,000 unique users with 2-3,000 users on at any one time! Incredible stats #mootuk10” by digitalmaverick

Vice Principal Philip Badman on the other hand showed clearly what a large FEC can achieve (Outstanding Ofsted Inspection) when driven by a supportive and engaged Senior Management Team.

Day 2 – Wednesday 14th April

Martin D - Live from #mootnz10

We began Day 2 at the same level of excitement as we left Day 1.  Even the sore heads from the evening social didn’t dampen expectations.  A live video link with Martin Dougiamas didn’t disappoint, with Martin introducing a live broadcast from the New Zealand Moot.  This was an historical moment as it was a first ever in Moot history.  Perhaps this is how Moots will be in the future; despite Martin being on the other side of the world he gave a very stimulating and engaging presentation (it was he who asked delegates for a show of hands to answer questions, and we realised that many attendees were at their first Moot!) which just goes to show that we don’t have to be physically sharing the same space anymore.  #mootuk10 exemplified how technology enables interactive presentations from people anywhere in the world.

“Live link up with #mootnz10 conference dinner from #mootuk10 before Martin’s presentation” by thestubbs

“we are live via NZ MoodleMoot, this is gr8 #mootuk10 it’s going to be a fab session this morning with Martin Dougiamas” by mikallaane

“@moodler live on-screen. I love technology! #mootuk10 #mootnz10” by vaughany

Mootuk10 - Day 2 Workshops

After lunch, I was lucky to be able to pass over to my colleague James Ballard from ULCC to deliver a plenary setting out where Moodle is moving to.  Entitled Learning spaces: bridging the gap between personal and professional discourses, it explored the theme of ‘Personalisation’ from a learner’s perspective.  The challenge that education providers face is to meet the new requirements of extending what was a Virtual Learning Environment into a Personal Learning Environment.  Certainly the proclamations of the death of VLEs are not only premature but faintly a little ridiculous.  However, we are seeing a significant change in the emphasis and role that they play as we see other tools, such as e-ILPs and e-Portfolios, take over  the functionality.  VLEs, which may currently play 80-90% role in e-Learning provision, will probably contract to something more like 30-40%  as Mahara and other tools become more embedded.

“mapping competences to awarding body/national frameworks with Moodle, Mahara + ULCC’s ILP extension #mootuk10 … interesting for #jisccdd” by thestubbs

Mootuk10 - Day 2 Workshops

To round off the conference I wanted to pitch something to practitioners, as without them Moodle is simply technological tool.  Who better to represent them than the winner of last year’s STAR Award from Becta.  Geoff, who I’m privileged to have known for many years now, always delivers a ‘call to arms’!  He didn’t disappoint:

“Geoff Rebbeck remarks that Moodle has brought teachers and techies together. I suspect you get this with open source generally. #mootuk10” by mberry

“final keynote … teachers and techies partners in providing inspiring learning. awwwwww group hug (()) #mootuk10” by alisonpope

“@geoffrebbeck “teachers must not be passive” #mootuk10” by jamesmichie

“I agree – never use Moodle as a way of saving money. Quality will suffer and students will notice #mootuk10” by mickelous

I could go on, but then you’d have no excuse to go listen to Geoff next Moot.

Workshops

Mootuk10 - Day 2 Workshops

No event report could be complete without mentioning the fantastic efforts of all the presenters who made the breakout sessions one of the features of this year’s MoodleMoot.  We had a considerable task sifting through 70+ submissions, not only from the UK but Europe, USA, Russia, Middle East, Caribbean, and Australia!  The programme committee worked hard to get them to fit within a limited amount of space and time, and I was really impressed with how accommodating presenters were when asked to cut down, or shift their focus in order to ‘fit’ within a session – they were brilliant.

“my 4^th Moot and definitely the best one I’ve been too by some way. Well done to all of you for an excellent job” by Peter Kilcoyne, Director of ILT, Worcester College of Technology

Mootuk10 - Day 2 Workshops

Sadly I only managed to sit in on a couple of workshops, but was hugely impressed with the quality of presentations.  Most notable for me were listening to Lewisham College and their Student Portal developments, the almost ‘Sugataesque’ inspired work of the Foyer Federation, and many more fascinating case studies and project reports.  I didn’t see a bad presentation and I learnt something, which is a great thing to take away.  Thanks.

Endnote

At ULCC we set out to achieve an event that would be memorable for delegates attending, which would induce a feeling that they’d attended something a little special.  Indeed, there were many things I would or could have done if we’d had more time and resources, but 2010 seems to have set a new benchmark somehow.  When told that ULCC was hosting #mootuk10, I was struck that this was a perfect time for the Moodle community to, like the Roman god Janus, looking

MMUK10 Workshops

back from whence we had come as well as looking forward to whence we go.  I feel these aims were achieved and it seems so did most of you:

“Enjoyed #mootuk10 a lot, solved some problems, added a lot to my task list, but mostly inspiration for battles with dinosaurs.” by maryjames54

“Finally heading home from #mootuk10. Nice screens on the backs of train seats. Awesome conference! http://twitpic.com/1flprc” by nrparmar

“#mootuk10 – a good Moot & looking fwd to #mootuk11 already! But #mahara conf first – 16 July, London! Is that a hui?? http://bit.ly/cRz0Gv” by jonbolton

Sean Keogh, Mr MoodleMoot!

“Goodbye, London! Thanks ULCC and all who worked to make #mootuk10 excellent. Thanks to everyone for sharing your insight and experience.” by ghymel

Philip Butler, Senior e-Learning Adviser ULCC.

Useful Links

MootUK10 Blogs:

http://jamesmichie.blogspot.com/2010/04/mootuk10-holes-in-walls-cyberspace.html

http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/kristianstill-and-hamblecollege-mootuk10-1st-day-recap/

http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/kristianstill-and-cragman69-provide-a-recap-of-day-2-at-mootuk10/

MootUK10 Tweet Archive:

http://twapperkeeper.com/hashtag/mootuk10