Moodlemoot 2011

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Call for sponsors

Nov 12

Posted by Frank in MootUK11 | No Comments

Be part of MoodleMoot UK 2011

We just launched the sponsorship campaign for next year’s MoodleMoot (MootUK11). MoodleMoots are a way of getting members of the Moodle community together to share experience, learn new things about Moodle, and meet up face to face with their peers, as an extension of the virtual Moodle community on www.moodle.org.

In line with the growing popularity Moodle as the Open Source Virtual Learning Environment of choice around the globe, the UK MoodleMoot has grown six fold to around 300 delegates in 2010.

MoodleMootUK 2011 will be the perfect place to reach out and engage with this growing community, with over 300 people expected to attend.

If you are interested please take a look at the sponsorship opportunities available around MoodleMootUK 2011. We are offering variety of opportunities for your organisation to get involved, ranging from sponsorship of the pre-Moot Unconference, evening entertainment and exhibition opportunities to delegate hand-outs and inserts.

Moodle partners will have first refusal on all sponsorship opportunities listed and will receive a 10% discount on the prices quoted.

We hope that you will be able to be a part of MoodleMoot UK 2011, joining the ever growing Moodle community and engage first-hand with users and decision makers alike in what has been referred to as ‘most marvellous Moodle Moot in memory’.

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Pre-Moot developer Unconference

Oct 12

Posted by dhumpherson in MootUK11, pre-Moot | 1 Comment

Since the announcement of MoodleMoot 2011 a couple of weeks ago I’ve been thinking about the pre-moot developer day. Based on the feedback from MoodleMoot 2010 delegates asked for a more tech/developer focused strand and as a result here we are – a 1 day developer focused Unconference on the Monday before the actual MoodleMoot 2011 conference!

So, what is an Unconference?

Wikipedia describes it “a facilitated, participant-driven conference centred on a theme or purpose”. We’re pretty happy with that description but I’d like to add a little more detail specific to the context of the day based on small discussions I’ve had over the past week.

We’re hoping to bring together about 100 developers who share a passion for development and specifically Moodle development. The day will be driven by the people who attend, the ideas they bring, the topics they wish to discuss – hopefully we will create a truly spontaneous conference.

Audience?

Participants will ask questions, prompt discussion, solve problems, learn something, be experts, present and lark about at the bar at the end of the day. We’re hoping to attract a wide spectrum of Moodlers with a broad range of knowledge and varying levels of experience.

Format?

The Grid

It’s a tricky one, there will be 100 of us, so here is an initial suggestion ‘The Grid’. Sessions are not booked or organised ahead of schedule like an ordinary conference instead we will open up ‘The Grid’. One column for each room or area, one row for each time slot. When ‘The Grid’ opens you will be able to claim your slot on the grid by sticking up an index card with your session title and your name on. Everything will be provided for you in the morning so you will be ready when the grid opens.

We’re also hoping to run an ice breaker session, which could possibly occur before the event, details are yet to be finalised.

Its just the beginning…

Unconferences provide a dynamic way of enabling participants to engage in the discussions which matter most to them. You can explore new topics, open up partnerships and engage in collaborative problem solving on the day – leaving you ready to get the most out of the conference itself and ask some probing questions.

We welcome any suggestions, feedback or comments you have regarding the pre-moot!

Numbers will be limited so in the meantime follow us on Twitter and make sure you use the #mootuk11 hashtag when you tweet about the conference. Pre-registration is open so make sure you sign up so we can keep you informed.

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MOOTUK11 – back to the future

Oct 12

Posted by Frank in MootUK11 | 2 Comments

I thought it be nice to look back at this year’s Moot and share our experience of running it and show where we are trying to improve for MootUK11.

All in all, I think it’s fair to say that this year’s conference was a great success and the feedback from delegates (at the event, on social networks and in the formal questionnaire) supports this.

Delegate Feedback

How would you rate MoodleMoot UK 2010 overall?

In an effort to get feedback on this year’s Moot and delegates to provide input for next year’s conference we invited all 285 attendees to fill in our online survey. At closing of the polls on 7 May 2010 we had received 81 responses, giving us a 28% response rate.

There was an equal split of Moot first-timers (49.4%) and more seasoned Moot attendees (50.6%).

Most (81%) respondents gave this year’s Moot the thumbs up with either an Excellent (37%) or Good (44.4%) rating of the conference.

This trend continues with 87.7% rating the conference venue and facilities at Senate House as Excellent (45.7%) or Good (42%).

However the catering didn’t fare so well with over a tenth of attendees rating it either Very Poor (3.7%) or Poor (8.6%).

The majority (78.4%) of delegates felt this year’s Moot provided value for money, with a fifth (21.6%) feeling it did not.

What went well?

Prof. Sugata’s keynote on Whole in The Wall project was named most as an inspirational opening-keynote. Networking, meeting like-minded people to share experience and expertise and the good quality of workshops & presentations were named by many as key advantages of this year’s Moot.

‘I liked the sense of enthusiasm and drive of those there and it was great to see teachers and technicians with a common purpose. Good to see relative absence of commerciality.’ MootUK10 delegate

Which ticket options would you prefer for MOOTUK11?

What could be improved?

Many felt that the 1h workshop sessions were packed with too many small presentations allowing less time for Q&A and felt rushed at times, as one delegate said ‘quality instead of quantity on workshops’. More detailed information on workshops upon sign-up and facilitation of all sessions for time-keeping purpose have been mentioned as areas for improvements, as well as considering to live stream all keynotes and workshops as they happen.

There was also a general trend for delegates asking for more technical presentations, even suggestions of a technical strand running throughout the 2-days conference.

What’s in store for MoodleMoot UK 2011

pre-Moot Unconference

One of the key issues last year was the shear lack of time. Meaning we had our hands full in pulling of the 2-day Moot and had less time to offer (or even look into) additional conference features. I’m happy to say this isn’t the case this year and you might have heard already that planning for a developer pre-Moot is well and truly underway.

Sponsorship

In an effort to keep prices at an affordable level we are also looking to expand on the sponsorship and support we received at MOOTUK10. We are currently working on the sponsorship brochure and hope to release it in early November.

Tickets

Pre-registration is now open and as mentioned on the ticket page signing up won’t guarantee your ticket. We are still working out which ticket options to offer and if to include the evening entertainment rather than having it as a separate option. There are pros and cons for either and from an organiser point of view it comes down what is manageable on the scale of MoodleMoot. Another factor is the previously mentioned sponsorship as this is likely to help with additional costs for the pre-Moot and evening entertainment.

We will release tickets in batches and announce the date in advance, which hopefully allows people to make the necessary arrangements to get approval to attend. Please note that payment will be by credit/debit card only.

Tags: delegate feedback, mootuk10,