Multimedia Inventory
May 16th, 2009 by Ed Leung
I strongly recommend that you download the .pdf version of my Multimedia Inventory, as the formatting works much better than what can be shown here on WordPress. Sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause.
Ed Leung’s LMS Multimedia Inventory – Biology 11 Class
File Name / Activity Name |
Type of Media |
Purpose |
Source |
Copyright Information |
Technologies Required |
Estimated Time to Create |
Associated Cost |
Notes for the Instructor |
Resources outside of Moodle |
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* Graphical Navigation Links | Images (.jpg and .png format) with a hyperlink | To allow easy navigation to a specific category of materials within the Moodle course (i.e. chat, forum, resources, quizzes/tests) | Found in Moodle’s “Compose a webpage” function | None: images found using Yahoo! Creative Commons search | Internet browser; must understand how to create a hyperlink to an image | About 5 minutes per link – an additional 2 minutes per link is used for testing | None | Instructor can choose to place hyperlink on the image and/or the text. In this LMS, only the image was given an associated link, and instruction was given to students to “click on the image” only |
* Pictures from Yahoo! Creative Commons Search | Image files (under the format of .gif, .jpg, .png) | Images are used frequently in most resources to create a visually appealing look for students, especially visual learners | http://search.yahoo.com/cc | Permission to use as long as the files are not used for commercial purposes, and are not modified in any way | Internet browser to find the images; Nero PhotoSnap Essentials to re-size the image to the proper size to be used for LMS | Most image requires about 1 minute to download and posted. Search time for an appropriate image varies – I would give up searching usually often 5 minutes | None | Because these images are free to use as long as they are not modified, I archive them for use on tests and other printed materials in the f2f course. |
Educational Videos from National Geographic | YouTube videos found online – in the LMS course, I embedded the link to allow students to view the YouTube video while signed into the course’s LMS | Videos can be used as an enticing introduction to a lesson, or can stimulate and prepare for a discussion activity to come | National Geographic’s channel on YouTube | None required, as the videos were posted onto YouTube by National Geographic Society | Following Moodle’s Tutorial by Tomaz Lasic on Vimeo http://vimeo.com/user1375117 No video player required as Vimeo has its video player built-in | Preview time for each video varies. Once a video is chosen, the embedding process takes about 1 minute per video | None | Most videos that can be found on YouTube are free; educators need to be careful, however, of people who are uploading recorded, copyrighted materials. |
Resources within the Moodle Course Shell |
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Moodle HTML Block | From the “HTML” block function | To provide additional information away from the main central course panel | Found in Moodle; image taken from Yahoo! Creative Commons | None | Internet browser | 2 minutes | None | It’s important to remind students to contact you only through the method(s) and/or channel(s) that you prefer |
Online User | From the “Online User” block function | To allow students to see who else is signed onto the course at the time | Found in Moodle | None | Internet browser | 1 minute to choose it and to place it at the desired place; 1 minute to add and check link | None | N/A |
File Name / Activity Name |
Type of Media |
Purpose |
Source |
Copyright Information |
Technologies Required |
Estimated Time to Create |
Associated Cost |
Notes for the Instructor |
Moodle Web Pages | From the “add a resource” menu in Moodle | To post a text + image document for students. Can be used as announcement, instructions, etc. | Found in Moodle; information on individual document generated by instructor | None | Internet browser; word processor from educator’s computer; Nero PhotoSnap Essentials to change the size of images | Preparation varies greatly from webpage to webpage. Original document may be re-used from f2f course, or created anew for LMS. Original documents may take several hours to be created. | None | Course assignments and many other printed documents are not posted on my LMS because the LMS is used primarily to complement the f2f course, and to provide more exposure to students to course materials. |
Moodle Class Forum | From the “add an activity” menu in Moodle | Created for every lesson to provide an asynchronous opportunity to reflect and/or exchange ideas over what was taught in class. This provides enrichment opportunities, as topics discussed would go beyond the scope of the curriculum. Instructor can perform formative assessment | Found in Moodle; topics for individual forums created by instructor, or chosen from course’s teacher’s manual | None for topics generated by the instructor. For topics chosen from the teacher’s manual, the educator is allowed to use them as long as the textbook is used by the school | Internet browser | About 3 to 5 minutes to come up with a topic. Each individual forum requires about 3 minutes to set up | None (teacher’s manual was purchased when school purchased the text) | The expected behaviour, as well as format of discussion, need to be told to the students in advance. |
Moodle Group Forum | From the “add an activity” menu in Moodle | A group forum is created on special occasions where a specific group of students require an asynchronous space to discuss and exchange ideas. It leaves a permanent record that the instructor can use for formative assessment | Found in Moodle; topics for individual forums created by instructor | None | Internet browser | About 3 to 5 minutes to come up with a topic. Each individual forum requires about 3 minutes to set up | None | I have only used the group forum in my LMS for a group assignment. Students who have formed a group are given access to a private forum. Their ideas, participation, are recorded, and the instructor can use the information for assessment purposes. |
Moodle Chat | From the “add an activity” menu in Moodle | A chat is incorporated into a LMS to provide students with a synchronous opportunity to exchange ideas | Found in Moodle; chat topics are created by the instructor | None | Internet browser | Around 5 minutes for the topic plus its incorporation into the LMS. An additional 2 minutes per chat is needed to set up parameters | None | Parameters need to be set up properly as to when the chat session will be opened. It is a good idea to offer multiple sessions for the same chat to give every student a chance to participate. |
File Name / Activity Name |
Type of Media |
Purpose |
Source |
Copyright Information |
Technologies Required |
Estimated Time to Create |
Associated Cost |
Notes for the Instructor |
Moodle Quiz | From the “add an activity” menu in Moodle, with embedded images in the format of .jpg, .gif, . png | A quiz can be used as a summative assessment tool; however, in my LMS course created to supplement the f2f course, the quiz is used as a “pre-test” to help students prepare for in-class tests/exams | Found in Moodle; questions created by instructor or compiled from Teacher’s manual; images found from Yahoo! Creative Commons search | None for questions the instructor creates. For questions found in the “test bank” in the teacher’s resources, an instructor can use those materials as long as the school is using the publisher’s textbook | Internet browser, word processor (I use Microsoft Word from Microsoft Office 2003), Nero PhotoSnap Essentials to crop/re-size pictures | On average, each question requires about 5 minutes to create. The compilation process on Moodle takes an additional 10 minutes. The overall time required to create a quiz is dependent on the length of the quiz | None (teacher’s manual has already been paid for) | The instructor needs to inform students that the feedback function in Moodle only works well for multiple choice, true/false, and matching questions. Moodle would almost always be unable to provide proper feedback (in comments and in scores) for open-ended questions. |
* See table below for a complete list of the media files that were used in the LMS
File Name | Location Used | File Name | Location Used |
Darwinian_Evolution.jpg | Embedded into “Quiz” for Unit 2 | Email.jpg | Front page, Contact Information HTML block |
Monkey_Dichotomous_Key.jpg | Embedded into “Quiz” for Unit 2 | Emperor_penguin.jpg | Front page, Unit 5’s thematic picture |
Oak.jpg | Front page, Unit 6’s Thematic picture | Evolutionofman.jpg | Front page, Unit 2’s thematic picture |
Templeton_Logo.jpg | Front page, Course Info’s thematic picture (2 of 2) | Exam.jpg | Front page, Unit 7’s thematic picture |
Welcome_to_biol11.gif | Front page, Course info’s thematic picture (1 of 2) | Labsafety.gif | Front page, Unit 1’s thematic picture |
Chat.png | Front page, graphical navigation link’s picture (1 of 4) | Movie.gif | Front page, “Video Clips Now Available” HTML block |
Discussion.png | Front page, graphical navigation link’s picture (2 of 4) | Quiz.jpg | Front page, graphical navigation link’s picture (4 of 4) |
Dragonfly.jpg | Front page, Unit 4’s thematic picture | Resources.jpg | Front page, graphical navigation link’s picture (3 of 4) |
Ebola.jpg | Front page, Unit 3’s thematic picture |
Regarding the LMS Course: This Moodle course is created to supplement a face-to-face course taught in a regular classroom. As in the case for most science classes, a lot of hands-on experience in the way of laboratory exercises will be conducted, and components of those learning activities cannot be transferred to an online course. The aim for this Moodle course is to supplement some of the shortfall of the f2f course: in particular, in the area of students being challenged to reflect deeper beyond the scope of the regular curriculum.