6 Apr
2012
I first decided I liked Ireland about two minutes after arrival when the customs officer greeted me with a smile and a “welcome to Dublin”. And my opinion was confirmed a couple of hours later when I didn’t have the exact change for the city centre bus and the driver let me go for free. Irish people are definitely one of the nicest set of people I have encountered! I was fortunate to arrive on Sunday so I took the opportunity to do some sight seeing following my free bus journey. I walked from Trinity College at one end to the Guinness Storehouse at the other, enjoying the tour and especially the complementary Guinness on the top floor “Gravity Bar” with panoramic views of Dublin.
The evening was spent with some other early birds in an Irish pub in Temple Bar, where I had Irish Stew and � er -Guinness. It was lovely to meet again for more time Michelle Moore who forever in my mind is associated with compression socks (long story!) but who is as enthusiastic about sharing Moodle’s strengths with educators as I am. Indeed her job title is Chief Evangelist and I like that. Last year I met Paul Vaughan from SDC; this year I met bubbly Becky Barrington and another colleague Shirley Crawford with whom I breakfasted the following morning before the start of Day 1
Day 1 for me was actually the pre-conference workshops on Monday where I ran the Introduction to Moodle session and was interested to see some Norwegian language activities being posted on our training course. I did Norwegian as part of my degree and was tempted to respond, but time and timidity failed me, but the following day, the start of the conference proper, I was approached by a Norwegian lady who told me she and her colleague were setting up Moodle in a school in Oslo and had been very inspired by the session. So that was nice!
Tuesday’s keynote was delivered via Skype by Martin Dougiamas, the original Moodler and we then chose different rooms for different sessions. I had been confused and then impressed by the fact that the room I had been in the day before had vanished and the room we were in today was three times its size � until I realised there were hidden sections in the ceiling that enabled the hotel to divide or combine areas of the vast ballroom � serious magic!
Over the two days I saw a variety of presentations, too many to describe in detail. Along with Becky’s and Michelle’s I also attended a session by another Sunday night diner, Dominic Lukes from whom I learned an awful lot about usability issues which I will pass on in my training. Often I don’t actually learn much in Moodle Moots, although I am always inspired by ideas, so this was a definite reward for me. I did a presentation about my school’s Mahoodle “Using Mahoodle as a Community Website” which will no doubt be available along with the others -although without commentary, it probably won’t mean much. I was introduced to Pecha Kucha (and its prounucation) in the final hour of Tuesday’s events, although it went on in two rooms (well OK, the one divided) and I’d have liked to have seen them all in one room. Am I tempted? Yes.
The Gala dinner on Tuesday night was superb, complete with candles and wine-a-plenty. I met Andrea Bicciolo, an Italian Moodle partner whom I have frequently encountered on the Moodle forums. It was also good to catch up with Synergy Learning’s Alex Büchner and the newly designated “Moodle Superhero” Davo Smith, although I do think they should situate their stand slightly further away from the Ladies’ toilets next time:)
Wednesday morning brought us a “moving to Moodle 2″ panel with the Main Man himself, Gavin Henrick, Remote Learner’s Mike Churchward, Becky Barrington and Koen Roggemans, Moodle’s translation co-ordinator, High School Network administrator, partner to Helen Foster but above all, Brilliant Cook! I found it very informative as I have no personal experience of migrating, apart from playing with my own Moodle sites which are only populated by celebrities and historical characters. My school district for political (and possibly technical reasons ) is still on Moodle 1.9, but I have got the teachers enthused for the move, so we hope it will come soon! Check out their opinions here
Helen Foster bravely did her keynote using the live Moodle sites -and, with some patience, succeeded! Called “Who’s afraid of Moodle.org?” the presentation highlighted the different ways in which people could get involved with the Moodle community and the different sites available. The best verdict from Mark Greenwood: “She’s obviously a very accomplished and relaxed speaker” Relaxed? How do you learn to do “relaxed”? Someone please tell me!
Thanks to James Clay for taking hundreds of photos including the only ones I have of me to prove I went! Big thanks to Gavin for all of this � he left us with a teaser about the next Irish Moot in Dublin and possible arrangements for a UK Moot on the mainland ( I presume) And thanks also to Mark Glynn whom I met on the first day and who instantly added to my initial impression of how lovely Irish people are. He facilited, time policed and generally helped out all over and along with Gavin and the team ensured the smooth running of the event. Probably my favourite Moot so far.
