Can Moodle Do A Good Job In Importing PowerPoint

Discussions from Moodle

Jean-Marc Leblond said:
I need some help, I am trying to import a Power Point into my lesson and I keep on getting the following error code:"PCLZIP_ERR_BAD_FORMAT (-10): Unable to find End of Central Dir Record signature". Can any one give me any direction?

James Chan said:

I have installed Moodle 1.7 on my test server. I placed the SQL outside the public directory. Today, when I tried to import a PowerPoint into a lesson, it just gave me an error message "could not get data".

The two questions are only the tip of the iceberg about importing PowerPoint to Moodle. You can hear such and such discussions every day on Moolde.org. Can Moodle do a good job in importing PowerPoint courses? Maybe not.

There are many limitations about importing PowerPoint to Moodle

• Complicated presentations with animations, transitions and graphic effects can not be imported
  
• This feature does not work with PowerPoint 2003 and onward
  
• Multimedia presentation with audios, videos and Flash movies cannot be imported normally
  

That is to say, you should keep your PowePoint course as simple as possible, and text only is the best. No image, no bullet, no audio, no animation and no...?However, such courses are none other than fatal points for effective course to catch the learners to performance.

Here is the way: Convert PowerPoint to SCORM compliant Flash courses

Why Flash?

• Seamless conversion. You multimedia PowerPoint course could be converted to Flash
  seamlessly, then the Flash course could be shown in Moodle as it is supposed to be.
  
• Smaller file size. Flash files are highly compressed and therefore, the preferred streaming media for the internet, or for quick files distribution. Presentations, when converted to Flash will become very portable and can be easily shared on Moodle, and also do not take up much space.
  
• Streaming technology. This enables you to play a movie file without waiting for the whole file to download. As the preferred streaming media, Flash can enhance your reach when you need to do big or lengthy presentations.
  
• Playback control. Flash offers more flexible playback controls like stop, pause, replay and etc.

Why SCORM compliant?

Once your PowerPoint is converted to SCORM 2004 or compliant Flash SCORM 1.2 compliant Flash, your course becomes "track-able", meaning, you can track the presentation in your Moodle. Progress tracking features like, accessed time, number of viewed slides, presentation time and whether or not the presentation was completed by the user - are all available to you. It is ideal for instructional designers to focus on creating better e-learning content, in effect creating a force multiplier for e-learning effectiveness.

In summary, PowerPoint to Flash converter that allows you to "boost" your PowerPoint course presentations into and interactive and engaging, multimedia experience for your learners. The SCORM compliant feature will let your presentation be track-able.

Which tool to create Flash compliant course from PowerPoint?

There are several tools that can export Powerpoints or other presentations as SCORM compliant Flash movies, you could go to http://docs.moodle.org/en/Tools_for_creating_SCORM_content to get more. Take Wondershare PPT2Flash Professional for example, this tool can help you convert PowerPoint course to SCORM compliant Flash for high-impact Web presentations and eLearning Courses with rich media, quizzes and simulations.You could view the details about how to convert PowerPoint course to Flash and upload to Moodle at:
http://www.sameshow.com/powerpoint-to-flash/howto3.html#110

How to Make a Quiz and Upload to Moodle with SCORM Compliance

As I wrote Exam 2.0: how to make exam and track exam results online several days ago, now I write a step-by-step tutorial of how to make a quiz and upload to Moodle with SCORM compliance. By this way teachers can easily to track the exam results online immediately.

There are two ways to make quizzes and track results in Moodle, one way is create quizzes by third-party quizzes like QuizCreator, and another way is use the Moodle Quiz Module. As I wrote the article of how to make online quizzes in Moodle, today I write a tutorial of how to make a quiz through Flash quiz tool and upload to Moodle with SCORM compliance.

The following is a step-by-step tutorial of how to make a quiz and upload to Moodle with SCORM compliance.

Step 1: Download QuizCreator and Install it.
Download QuizCreator and install it with all of the default settings.

Step 2: Build quizzes with up to 9 question types.
Run QuizCreator, add questions with up to 9 question types, such as True/False, Multiple Choice (Single Answer), Multiple Choice (Multiple Answers), Fill in blank, Matching, Sequence, Word Bank, Click Map and Short Essay.

Step 3: Add images, audio, media files, math symbols to quizzes.
You could add images, backgrounds, Flash video, sound (Record narration/Import music) and math symbols to make the quizzes interactive. By this way teachers could easily to engage the students.

• Images (*.jpg, *.bmp, *.emf, *.wmf, *gif)


• Audio Files (*.wav, *.mp3)


• Media Files(*.swf)


• Math Symbols
  

Step 4: Set quizzes with time limit and randomization.
QuizCreator provides many customization features for teaches. Teachers could easily set up the randomization, time limit, domain limit, attempt times, login name and password for quizzes to keep up the examination security and accurately. Evenmore, QuizCreator provides quiz bank and quiz merger function for teachers to manage and reuse quizzes conveniently.

Step 5: Publish quizzes to Moodle as SCORM/AICC compliant package.
QuizCreator enables users publish quizzes as Flash, Word, CD/EXE for sharing anytime and anywhere. Evenmore, it enables teachers publish quizzes as SCORM/AICC-Compliant quizzes for Moodle.

Run QuizCreator, go to “Publish” menu, click “LMS” and select “SCORM 1.2/2004/AICC” protocol to publish. QuizCreator generates a .zip SCORM package for teachers upload it to Moodle.

Step 6: Upload quiz to Moodle.
Go to Moodle and select a course, go to “Add an activity” and select “SCORM/AICC”, type the course name and summary, go to the “Package File” and click on “Browse” to select the SCORM compliant quiz package and upload it. Set up the “Attempt times” and the stage width and height, click “Save changes” to save the settings. Then you could view the quiz in Moodle.

Related links:
Samples created by QuizCreator >>

QuizCreator Homepage >>

28 Web Conference Training Tips

28 Web Conference Training Tips

Syberworks, an LMS and web conferencing solution provider, has posted an article listing 28 tips for web conference training. Most of them are well-known and obvious, but there are still some good thoughts worth reviewing, even for seasoned veterans.

Here are some highlights:

2. When developing PowerPoint slides to use in web conference training, follow these guidelines:
· Simplify content.
· Use a large, bold, simple font like Arial.
· Have no more than 6 to 8 lines of text per page (fewer are better).
· Make no more than 4 to 5 training points per page (fewer are better).
· Use plain backgrounds that contrast well with the text without clashing.
· If possible, avoid complex animations (i.e. no spinning text, etc.)

5. Test all aspects of your presentation ahead of time. (Enlist the help
of an online facilitator or a student for these tests.)

12. Limit each session to 60 - 90 minutes. Longer sessions are not productive.

13. Limit your audience. When possible, keep the number of people attending small. (No more than six people are best.)

14. You might want to ask your technical people to set up a dual monitor configuration on your PC (or laptops) for you, so that your presentation appears on one display (as others are seeing it), while your delivery screens and notes appear on the other.

19. Have more than one Web Conference option ready to use. Then, if some participants can’t connect, you can create a new conference on the spot, with different conference tools.

27. Follow up with your learners after their web-conference training. This could be by email or perhaps even through a test to gauge their understanding of the material.

28. Keep a log of all training and notes. It can help improve your future training.

From: http://learningonlineblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/28-web-conference-training-tips.html

DemoCreator - Screen Recorder for Learning

Screen recorder is the software for recording screen activity and mouse movement to create movies and interactive demos. It is useful for creating training materials, software tutorials, presentations, and product demonstrations. As a powerful presentation tool, nowadays screen recorder is widely used in teaching and learning.

The research about screen recording suggests that screen recordings increase teaching presence and thus improve students' learning experiences.- For teachers, they can perform demos in an online learning environment; the tutorials can be edited with multiple interactive elements before delivery, the demos support reuse...- For students, the presentations created by screen recorder is clearer and more engaging than written instructions or static screen shots; the demos can be played as many times as needed; the tutorial videos is for "anytime/anywhere" learning...

Using screen recorder to create presentations for online teaching becomes more and more popular in edu 2.0. DemoCreator - is widely used in universities and institutions, DemoCreator is a nice screen recorder for creating electronic learning presentations. It provides friendly interfaces and powerful editing features. No need of multimedia and programming skills to make interactive tutorials. We will take a look at this screen recorder in details.

Record the onscreen activity as slides
DemoCreator record video tutorials with audio by screen capture, and show exactly how the application (such as PowerPoint, Photoshop and website) or system runs. The screen recording is saved as slides. The slide format makes it easy to edit. For example, the mouse curse is recorded as an editable object in the timeline of a slide, users can change its clicking area, clicking effect, movement route and time. A mass of slides for a lengthy presentation could be a disadvantage for some users, but this enables users to save the desired slides and discard the unwanted slides for their presentation.

Edit the recording tutorial with interactive objects
Because tutorials and simulations are shown as a slide format in DemoCreator, users can readily modify the pace and control the timing of objects such as visual components on the timeline editor for each slide. There is a library of available objects to decorate the recording, such as Flash animation, mouse movements, text box, edit entry, highlight boxes for spotlighting areas in a slide, and clickable buttons for directing users to a different slide or URL page. Users can enhance the presentation by adding the objects to make the illustration explicit. Users can rerecord the narrations for the tutorials, or they can import the music files to their tutorials. Furthermore, the existed project can be imported to the current presentation project. It means that DemoCreator supports tutorial reuse, and the multiple tutorials can be integrated as one.

Publish the presentation for online learning
To make interactive presentations, the predominately used publishing output media type in DemoCreator is Flash movie. The main drawback is that lengthy presentations can result in a large number of slides that can be time consuming to publish and result in a larger file size. And DemoCreator enables teachers to provide students with record results through Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) or Aviation Industry Computer-based Training Committee (AICC). SCORM and AICC courseware are available through both commercial and open source learning management systems for school education and enterprise training.
"Teaching is a performing art."— Bob Ross, professional speaker and humoristEasy to make your presentation with screen recorder. But remember, to make a good presentation, instructor enthusiasm and creativity are the key.

Related Links: DemoCreator Homepage

Samples created by DemoCreator