Moodle 2.0 First Look [Paperback]

The new title, Moodle 2.0: First Look, out from Packt Publishing and written by Mary Cooch (@Moodlefairy) is an in depth look at the soon-to-be-released Moodle 2.0 core code and the various changes in usability and function as compared to Moodle 1.9. The book is well organized, chockablock full of information and screenshots, and highlights (I gather) the vast majority of new features and changes found in Moodle 2.0. The writing is conversational and easy to follow, but at points I was left a little confused by the interaction between screenshots and descriptions (but this was my own problem as I was not following a long with a fresh install of Moodle 2.0 to see the various shots on my own computer screen -- which I highly recommend doing if you plan to go through the book cover to cover).

Highlights
By far, my favorite parts of First Look were when Mary was exposing the new features of Moodle 2.0 and utilizing her well explained example users (in each of the various role levels) to illustrate the interactions of real users to new/improved features. Her explanation of Conditional Activities and Completion (in Chapter 6: Managing the Learning Path) was both interesting and insightful and is sure to be a highly utilized tool. Even despite the disclaimer that urged teachers to "leave students in control of their own learning and just use labels and layout, rather than locks and keys to suggest the best path" which concluded the chapter.

Mary's suggestions for alternate ways to revive the legacy-style file system was also a breath of fresh air for anyone worried about the lack of a specific file directory attached to a course. In addition, any teacher interested in the Workshop activity should definitely be interested in Chapter 5: What's new in Add an Activity which spends over a dozen pages on the creation, setup, work in progress and grading/evaluation phases of the improved activity (definitely a highlight of the book).

While each subsequent chapter had me noting "awesome," "cool," and "neat" in the margins, the final highlight for me was getting a brief look at the changes to Site Administration in Chapter 8: Admin Issues. With such an array of changed features and added capabilities, one would imagine that the added administration load for Moodle managers and staff would be significant, however Mary clearly highlights the efficiencies and simplification apparent in the changes to Site Administration. The best tidbit, in my opinion, is definitely the ability for users to manage Filters at the course level. This is truly a step in the right direction for providing teachers a more differentiated learning management environment for their students; providing them both the tools and the means to engage their students as they see fit. Kudos to the development team for including this change!

Wishlist
While reading the book I often found myself jotting notes of the URLs to Moodle docs where more in depth explanations of certain features can be found. I was (and am) eager for more explanation about the personal and aesthetic customization options within Moodle (and reflected in contemporary social networks), especially Theme Customization and myMoodle but found the book lacking. In my opinion, myMoodle is one of the most important aspects of Moodle 2.0 and will become a central focus of development in the future. This stepping off point for Moodlers is akin to a Facebook profile and will be the starting point for 100s and 1000s of Moodlers worldwide.

Conclusion
First Look is a quick and quality read which will be a great reference until the first official Moodle 2.0 user guides are released. If you don't have a concept of new Moodle features in context of learners, this book can certainly fill that niche and provide a bit of real world scenario to put new features in perspective. It's organization and handy index will make this a great reference book and I hope that First Look is given a chance to become Moodle 2.0: A Complete Guide in the coming months. Overall I give Mary's new book 3 out of 5 stars.

"Discover what's new in Moodle 2.0, how the new features work, and how it will impact you".

That's the books subtitle and it really does deliver on its promise.

What's great about this book is that it dives straight into what's new in Moodle 2.0, the book assumes the reader is already familiar with Moodle and therefore doesn't get bogged down with explaining the core concepts and functionality that is already native to Moodle. Instead the reader gets an early digest of what's to come.
Of course a lot has changed with Moodle 2.0 and this book does a fantastic job of holding your hand as it guides you through the changes. The new file system is explained very delicately with supporting screenshots and the whole writing process appears very natural. Mary's teaching background plays a very important role here and she manages to illustrate the technical changes without becoming too technical.

The book not only explains the changes in Moodle 2.0 but also provides short tutorials which show you how to manage the new features and how to implement them. This for me extends the value of the book as it has enough content to come back to and re-use once your Moodle 2.0 setup is underway.
Later chapters include conditional learning and managing learning paths and this chapter is invaluable for anyone who is new to this practice. Blackboard has had conditional learning for a long time and this approach is new to Moodle. Mary explains the whole process very well and the accompanying screenshots are brilliant. What is most interesting here is that the book stays very balanced on the use of learning paths, as anyone involved in e-Learning will know, is it always the best option to limit students learning and lock things down conditionally? The book manages to voice both sides of the debate.

The workshop has changed dramatically in Moodle 2.0 and this book dedicates a lengthy section to it. As the online documentation has always been sketchy when it comes to the workshop module this book breathes new life into it and does a fantastic job of selling the benefits of using the module.
The last chapter of the book is written for administrators and covers some of the fundamental changes. Although there are no tutorials here, this chapter is more of a run down of what things Moodle administrators can expect to see. And as Mary quite clearly points out, this isn't an Administrators book and those seeking a more technical guide should refer to Alex Buchner's book also from Pact Publishing.

So who is the book for? And why should you consider buying it?

It's perhaps the most comprehensive guide as to what is new in Moodle 2.0. The subject has been researched thoroughly and the features have been quite clearly test driven by Mary herself. And this is what sets the book apart from a simple feature list you will read on the Internet. Mary has spent an awfully long time working with Moodle 2.0 and not only highlights the changes but explains how they work and how to work with them.
This book is a must for any person thinking about an upgrade to Moodle 2.0, and let's face it, anyone running a functional Moodle installation will have to make this decision sooner or later.

If you are trying to convince your organisation to move towards Moodle 2.0 then this book would be more than enough to highlight the benefits and would serve as a basis for a fantastic presentation.

Currently, there is no better resource on Moodle 2.0, and it's written by one of the most keen and experienced Moodlers in the community.

This is the right book for the right people at the right time. It describes for Moodle course developers, teachers and administrators, the main differences between the current Moodle 1.9 version and the heavily changed upcoming Moodle 2.0 version. At the same day, Moodle published its release candidate no. 1, Packt Publishing released the book (based on preview mode - beta). Of course, you can download this free and open source "course management system" yourself, convert your laptop into a server and find it all out yourself. However, if trial-and-error is not your preferent learning style, this book is a big time saver. At the same time it is of limited value. As soon as the production version of Moodle 2.0 has been released, a stream of user experiences will fill the forums on moodle.org, newer and more focussed books will be published and as new teachers enter the Moodle scene every day, they start with Moodle 2.0 and are no longer interested in what was before.

The book has its rough parts. Some chapters seem to have been written in a hurry. The treatment of the great variety of topics is not always balanced. Forgivable. Better to have it today "as is" than a polished version tomorrow, which simply is too late.

Most valuable for me were the texts on the new interface, the new way of managing learning resources and as absolute top the extended explanation of "managing the learning path". Clear and convincing explanation, even while the author is questioning whether this is the way to go. I think she is right if she envisages a machine driven learning experience like the old branched stories. IMHO, however, the managed learning path paves the way to implement more complex forms of collaborative work, group exercises and gaming. Although, I still have some wishes... You may consider it as the first bottom-up steps of what IMS LD tried to achieve in a top-down way.

Enough for a comment, enjoy the book!

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