Moodle Blogs not really Blogs...

I've just been playing around with the blogging functionality in Moodle and I've got to say, I don't really like it. The blogging function is really Blogging-lite - yes you can post blog entries, but letting other people see those entries is cumbersome, and it's impossible for others to comment on posts, other than by creating their own blog post in response.

One of the advantages of blogs, and one of the reasons we've asked you guys to have a go at it, is to allow multi-way discussions and feedback. The Moodle discussion forums help out here (and is why the Moodle developers didn't implement blog comments), but blogging is a bit different. Once you take comments out of context, such as having to post your own blog entry on your own blog, then you lose the thread of the discussion.

My recommendation to those of you wanting to blog in the unit is to use one of the external tools like Blogger or Wordpress. The disadvantage, of course, is that these blogs will be public by default, so if you're sensitive about that, go with the Moodle blog.

Another design video

Here's a link to another video on design you might like to check out. Just like the Paul Bennett video I showed in the lecture, this is a presentation at the TED conference, but by Chris Bangle who is chief designer at BMW. He designs cars, and as you'll see, he's pretty passionate about it.

First Post

Hello from the lecture!