Aawaz do

Saturday, April 13, 2013

A small help full app for Hyderabad tourists

Hi,

Its been a very long time for me to blog something, recently i was working with some mobile applications and some of the video/audio conferencing systems. Its a bit outward from my domain, but wanna get some knowledge about whats happening outside of my domain.

Recently i developed a small but useful application for Android phones. Most of the people who are visiting hyderabad dont know how to travel in buses, now a days APSRTC is running a really good bus services to point to point way. These people should know the bus routes and which one goes where, for them this application maybe useful.


App configures:

  1. As i am not used case sensitives in the search box, please use Title case of the text (instead of secundrabad use Secundrabad).
  2. Data i got from one website, i hope complete data is not available, once i got complete i will re upload the same again. But maximum is covered.
  3. Major starting and ending points are covered.

Download the app from here

if you find it helpful just comment.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Flash is about to done in Elearning?



Flash, its been a long journey over the decade where flash ruled in elearning.  Flash has enabled richest content creation tool and deployed on the web by reaching beyond what browsers could do.

No matter what the content is and no matter about the complex application it would be, only the one tool which develops and deploys the end swf in all the browsers.
Now the end is near for Flash. In terms of mobile development. In February of 2011, Mobile Learning and the Continuing Death of Flash , I pointed to the smart moves by Rapid Intake  to work around this problem.  And said, The death of Flash is continuing.
Well, I believe we've seen continuing signs of this with Adobe moving its tools towards HTML 5.  And now, Adobe Admits: Apple Won, Flash For Mobile is Done, HTML5 is the Future. What does all of this mean?  No More Fence Sitting!
When Adobe announced its suspension of Flash Player development, it became clear that there would be a shift to development using HTML5. In a short time, this triggered a wave of change to Web site (from big business to personal) and mobile app and gaming development. Now HTML5 has found another niche to fill and another industry to invigorate: eLearning.
eLearning is currently at the cusp of innovation in America. The inclusion of media – video, audio, graphics, and animation – in eLearning has turned the online learning environment, once tightly bound by books and the limits of online capabilities, into an interactive and personalized realm for students. And, with tech giant Apple’s recently launched plan to publish interactive textbooks and other digital educational content, the ebook has begun moving to phase out the traditional textbook and allow for more up-to-date and flexible content.
Adobe Unveils Captivate 6 with HTML5 Support
Captivate 6 enhancements improve mobile access and boost learner’s engagement – top features include:

HTML5 Publishing with Pause and Resume Capabilities: Publish interactive HTML5 eLearning content that is accessible from both iOS and Android devices and leverage mobile presets to help ensure seamless mobile distribution. By publishing eLearning content as both SWF and HTML5, learners can begin a course on their desktop, pause and later resume on a different device.
HD Screencast: Quickly create HD-quality demos within the new “capture-as-a-video” workflow. Edit video and add transitions, smart shapes, audio and captions. Insert another video in a picture-in-picture format and publish it to YouTube – all within the same UI.
Attractive Out-of-the-Box Assets: Select from a wide range of preloaded actors and set them against customizable backdrops to give content a more personal touch. Include additional interactivity by inserting smart learning interactions, such as widgets, animated rollovers and more, with just a few clicks.
Enhanced PowerPoint Roundtripping: Import PowerPoint 2010 slides along with objects, animations and multimedia into eLearning projects with better fidelity conversation workflow. Easily update pre-existing PowerPoint content, which will be automatically synced via the dynamically linked import feature.
Enhanced Quizzing: Utilize pre-tests to assess the knowledge, skill level or training needs of individual learners. Based on results, direct learners to the appropriate section and use post-tests to gauge what resonates. Allow learners to revisit a relevant section after answering a quiz question incorrectly and, if necessary, discourage guesswork by penalizing for wrong answers.
With Captivate 6, trainers and educators can individualize eLearning modules by recording voiceovers and other sounds that automatically play back when a learner clicks on a specified object. Course designers can also ensure that eLearning content maintains a consistent look and feel using customizable, professionally designed themes. Improved LMS integration helps eLearning developers effortlessly publish content to leading learning management systems, including Moodle, Blackboard, Plateau, Saba and SumTotal.
So slowly we need to get away from flash and need to adopt new tools which will support HTML5 as a end product.


Source: http://eon.businesswire.comhttp://elearningtech.blogspot.inhttp://www.sessions.edu

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Creating a custom theme in Moodle



A theme is what defines the way the Moodle engine displays all of your Moodle powered pages. Themes are easy to create and allow you to personalize Moodle for your class, school, or school district. Themes consist of a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file and a few images. The simplest way to create a custom theme for your school is to modify the CSS and images of an existing theme. This tutorial will walk you through creating a custom theme based on the default Moodle theme which comes with version 1.9 of Moodle. Note that some additional color schemes are already included, and one of those may already fit your needs; be sure to check.

Requirements
In order to edit your theme, you'll need to have all of the following:
§  An installation of Moodle 1.9 or greater
§  Access to the server where Moodle is hosted (talk to your network administrator)
§  (If your access is over FTP or SSH) A transfer program, such as the free program FileZilla
§  A text editor (Windows comes with one by default, but others like Notepad++ or TextWrangler (Mac) make editing much easier)
Get your new Theme setup
First, login to your Moodle server, and navigate to the "/theme" directory inside the main Moodle directory. Copy the folder named "/standard" to an appropriate name for your new theme (avoid spaces or capital letters, e.g. "schoolname"). This will appear as the name of your theme inside the Moodle configuration.
If you do not have direct access to the server (e.g. you are working from your own computer) use your file transfer program to download a copy of this folder to your desktop and rename it there.
Start from scratch or use a parent theme?
You can now start to alter the features of the theme you have just copied, or choose to set it to use another theme as the parent, in which case your theme will use the parent theme's styles as a base, plus any changes you make. This is better than copying the entire folder of that theme and changing it, as sometimes the developers will make changes to the original theme to keep up with new Moodle features. These changes will not be included if you take the whole folder and alter it, but using another theme as a parent means that that original theme will be unchanged and will be updated when you update the rest of Moodle, avoiding messy surprises.
Use code like this in /theme/yourtheme/config.php
$THEME->sheets = array('user_styles');
$THEME->standardsheets = array('styles_layout');
$THEME->parent = 'custom_corners';  // put the name of the theme folder you want to use as parent here.
$THEME->parentsheets = array('user_styles');
you then lose all .css files except user_styles.css, which should be empty, where you start to add CSS as described below.

Style the new theme

Now that you have copied the default theme, and chosen the colors for your new theme, it's time to start styling the new page. Open up the 'styles_color.css' file inside the folder you created in the first step inside your text editor. If you wish to use the editor built into Windows, you may access this program by visiting Start > All Programs > Accessories > Notepad.
The following will need to be updated inside of the opened file.

The Regular Link color

Near the top of the file you will see a line which says a:visited {. On the next line you should find the text color:#0000FF;. Erase everything after the colon, but before the semi-colon and replace it with the name of your new link color. The line should now appear as color:YourNewColor;

The Hovered Link color

Eight lines down from where you made your last change you will see a line which reads a:hover {. You'll also see color:#FF0000; on the next line. Like in the last step, change everything after the colon and before the semi-colon to your new color.

The Page Background color

Scroll to where you see a line which says body {. On the next line you should find the text background-color:#FAFAFA;. Erase everything after the colon, but before the semi-colon and replace it with the name of your new background color. The line should now appear as background-color:red;
Now look for the line which reads .sideblock .content { about 1/3 of the way down the page. Two lines below it is a line which reads background-color:#ff0000;. Change everything after the colon and before the semi-colon to the same background color. If you want the sidebar boxes to stand out more, you may wish to change this color to something of the same color, but lighter.

The Text color

On the line below where you changed your last value you will find the regular font color. As with the previous step, replace the #000 with your new color. The line should now readcolor:YourNewColor;
Remember that while it may be appealing to you to use one of your school colors as the text color, it will probably make it hard for students to read. If you're going to change this from the default black you should chose a very dark shade to replace it with.
At this point you should save this file and close it.

Advanced theming

The hardest part is knowing what CSS to change in order to alter the appearance of a particular element.
Install Firefox, with the Web Developer Toolbar. You can now press Shift + CTRL-Y and click something on the page to see what CSS rules apply to it. By putting the same rules into you user_styles.css file with new values, you can change the appearance of that element. CTRL-F will give you information about an elements other properties like ancestors and children.
An even more powerful Firefox add-on is Firebug. Please see Firebug for more information.

To add a logo to your page, you'll need to get your current logo in a GIF format with a height of no larger than 100 px. If someone from your organization is able to provide this, skip the next section. If not, the following will help you to resize your logo.

Your logo needs to be in a GIF format with a height of no more than 100 pixels. The simplest way to create this file is to use the web service located at [2]. Upload your original logo using the upload field and choose Continue. Scroll to Step 2. In the field labelled Height (Optional) input 100 and chose Pixels from the drop-down box to the right of it. Scroll to the bottom of the page and change the select box labelled Save As to read GIF. Choose Resize Pic!. Save the result to your hard drive.

Copy the 100px logo into the "pix" folder inside your theme folder. Rename it to logo.gif.

Back in the main folder for your theme open the file named "header.html" inside of your text editor. You will now need to look for the first ocurrance of the following: 

Immediately after this code, add the following (assuming you followed the exact instructions for copying and renaming your logo): 
This will place a logo on the front school page. If you want a logo on all pages, including teacher pages, repeat this step for the second ocurrance of

 as well.

Theme Display Information

Your theme needs a unique name, otherwise it may not appear in the theme selector. Inside your theme's directory, go into lang/ and then into the directory for your language (for English, go into en/). In each of those directories is a file that should be called theme_THEMENAME.php (for example, if your theme is called "squiddles," the file would be theme_squiddles.php). If THEMENAME isn't your theme's name, rename the file so it is.
Next, open the file. You'll see that it sets several variables related to naming and displaying your theme. The most important is $string['pluginname']. Set this to the name you want your theme to display when a moodle user is selecting themes. It doesn't have to be the same as the theme name in the name of the file (for example, you might call your theme "squiddles" internally, but you could set $string['pluginname'] to "A Squiddles Oceanparty Jamboree"). You can also set the preview image your theme will use in the theme selector.

Finished

If you used a file transfer program to copy the entire folder as detailed in Step One, you should copy the entire folder back into the "theme" folder of your Moodle server. Additionally, change Read and Write permissions (CHMOD) for the files and folder to 755 - Owner read/write/execute, Group read/execute, Everyone read/execute. (In most file transfer programs you can right-click on the folder and choose Properties to do this. In some cases you may need to ask your server administrator to do this for you.)
You can now use your Administrator panel to change your site to the new theme. Choose your new theme from within Moodle via Administration > Appearance > Themes > Theme selector.
Because of the thousands of HTML elements in Moodle it's impossible to account for every possible change you may want to make to your theme. If you are interested in making more advanced changes, it's recommended you download the Firefox web browser and install the Firebug addon to see the HTML structure of Moodle pages. If you do not know CSS, the CSS Page on W3Schools may be a good starting point.

                                                                                                                                                                                          source moodle.org

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Moodle Front Page Customization


The front page is the initial page seen by someone reaching a Moodle site after or before a login. Typically a student will see courses, some blocks of information, displayed in a theme. In the Navigation bar and Navigation block it is called "Home".

A combination of site policies, user authentication and front page settings determine who can get to the front page. And once they get there what they can see and what they can do.
In many ways, a Front Page has similar features and functions to those in a Course. For example, Activities, Resources and Blocks can be added to the Front Page to give it different looks.
The site's Front page is similar to a course page. The front page settings, roles, filters, backup, restore and questions are currently duplicated in Settings > Front page settings AND Settings > Site administration > Front page.

Front page and front page items when logged in

The centre of the front page can display any combination of the following: news items, a list of courses, a list of course categories, a list of categories and courses or none. The order is determined by a combination box.
It is possible to create one setting for anyone who gets to the front page without logging in to the Moodle site, and another look for only those who have logged into the Moodle site. There are two combination boxes.

Include a topic section

This adds a topic section to the centre-top of the front page. When editing is turned on, resources and/or activities can be added to the topic section using the dropdown menus, in the same way as on a course page.
Note: The label resource can be used to add text and/or an image to the centre-top of the front page.

Default front page role

The default frontpage role enables logged-in users to participate in front page activities. It is recommended that it is set to frontpage role. It should never be set to Guest.
For sites which do not have a default frontpage role (because they upgraded from 1.9), it is recommended that the administrator creates a new role with frontpage archetype, resets it to default and then sets it as the default frontpage role.

Front Page roles

As in a course, you can assign users roles just in the context of this page. Note this is different than the default Authenticated User on Front Page role found in front page settings. As a security issue, usually only admins can modify the front page, other users do not.

Front Page backup

You can backup the front page, similar to a Course backup.

Front Page restore

As in a course, you can Restore a backed up version of the front page. However, there are currently issues with front page restore, as outlined in MDL-31500 and MDL-30808

Front Page questions

The Question bank is accessible from the Front Page. For example, if "topic" is checked in the front page settings, you can add a Quiz module activity.

Tips and Tricks

A Moodle site's front page can be reconfigured from the default standard to give it a different look and or change how it functions. Depending upon the changes, this can be a simple or a more complex process. Of course a custom theme may have its own unique front page format.


Source by Moodle.org

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Moodle Customization --> just a glimpse


Most schools and colleges or corporate training departments prefer to customize the Moodle LMS so that it meets their precise needs and also helps reinforce their branding. Many also prefer to conduct training and administration in-house. Here I will provide as much (or as little) customization as you require.
We can customize a Moodle theme to match your identity. We integrate Moodle in you Drupal, Joomla, WordPress as part of our customization service. Lambda Solutions offers you a choice of popular Moodle modules and plugins such as grade books, certificates to add functionality on top of the Moodle core functions.
Moodle customization includes with the theme to match your identity. Moodle can be integrated with Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress. Customized modules and plugins like gradebooks, certificates and report functionalities can be added to the developed moodle LMS.
Language customization:
Moodle is translated into many languages - see Moodle.org: Language packs for their list and the translation completion status. The translations are distributed in so called language packages (or just lang packs) that are maintained by kind volunteers, community contributors and Moodle partners. Please read the page Translation first to understand how the whole localization machinery works.
Moodle site administrators can customize any language pack to fit their individual needs (for example to use the term "Unit" instead of "Course"). You are discouraged from direct editing the files coming as a part official language pack. Such changes would be silently overwritten during the next upgrade. Instead, you should create a local language pack that holds all your changes from the official pack.
Local language packs have the same structure as the official ones. They are saved in your Moodle data directory in moodledata/lang/xx_local/ folder where 'xx' is the code of the language. You have to have the official language pack installed before you can customize it. Local language pack should contain just strings you have customized - you should not copy whole official language packs.
When displaying a string, Moodle first looks if a local customization of it exists in moodledata/lang/xx_local/component_file.php. If so, it is used. If not, the string from the official language pack is used (eventually, if the string has not been translated yet, the original English version is displayed). Please note that the strings are cached for better performance so you have to purge Moodle caches after you modify a file in your xx_local pack (caches are purged automatically if you use the tool described below).
Moodle comes with a tool that allows you to edit your local language pack via web interface. This tool is available for the site administrators in Settings > Site administration > Language > Language customization.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Content Providers.....


Hi There,

Every established system in the country always attracts severe criticism. The Indian Education system especially has been the target of many allegations from students, parents and teachers. Students think they are overburdened, teachers think they are not paid enough and parents want their children to get 99.99%. Where does the buck stop?

Recently i have sawn so many institutions empowered with new digitalized versions of their content, so many changes in the education system. So many new technologies came into the market, all the technologies main intention is to provide the rich quality, enhanced graphics and a lot options to read, write and modify the given content. That’s really a great growth in the educational system.

But how many are really trying to understand what exactly a student need? Will the developed content has really that much worthy to reach the student; was it really understandable by the student? Are we really going down to student level and trying to develop the content in that way?

All are went into a race, to commercialise their products and want to sale their content and be wanna number one in content providers list…. Unfortunate thing is some of the companies are paying money to earn the awards as a best content provider. Is that award is really that much worthy if they pay the money for awards…….

Nelson Mandela says, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”, so as we do believe in.

A change in the educational system presentation is inevitable at the same time need to look into the quality, quantity and transparency in the teaching methodology has to be taken care. Drastic changes in the system are really appreciable.

Using the  latest technology like lappies, tablets, new smartphones are rocking in the market with variety of apps which are smarter and informative. Even I am also developing some of the apps witch will be runs over all these devices and more informative for the users. Hope will come back with some other information on the same.

Monday, September 17, 2012

ID Role in E Learn

Hi, Welcome me back after a long time, as i got too busy with other works, i coudln' done any posts.


As you people are observed all these days many of the company's started E Learning. Because they get more money from e learning. It is a goldmine for the company's who are developing the e learning content.
Do you think how much money will come from a e learning module. let us compare:


If a software company started a Software applicaion depending upon the critical functionality the amount will be increase, so the vender will charge will be approximatly 15 L for one project. If it gonna worse maximum he can charge to the client about 20 L. The time will take approximatley 1.5 years to 2 years it will take to develop that application. The amount vender got from the client will be served to the project team members may be the profit will be about 5L.

Where as in a e learning, the amount will be calculated in terms of hours and the interactivity used. Suppose with 20% of the interactivity with 1 hour time period module will costs approximatley 2.5 L . This will depends on the quality also. The time will take to develop such module will be approximatley 250 work hours .

So comparing with the Software Application development and Elearning will differ like a earth to sky ratio.


In e learning

- Company will be getting more profit.
- Time for development will be less comparing with Application development.
- Manpower will be less.

The E learning will be based on the Content Development side frstly.

The ID (Instructional Design) will start the work like a team the team consists various depaertments like Content Writers, Graphic Designers, Programmers, Testers etc.,


The Structure goes like




The Instructional Design Team


Personnel involved in creating e-learning include instructional designers, graphic artists,
programming or authoring specialists, project managers, subject matter experts, quality
assurance personnel, a Webmaster or database specialist, and content/instructional writers.
Depending on the size and budget of an organization, a team could include one person or an
entire team of people. Often, this plays into an organization’s decision to use a custom content
developer, to build their own content, or to purchase commercial, off-the-shelf content. Below is a sampling of some of the main players on an instructional design team.

Instructional Designer
The instructional designer works either alone or with a team to design training that is based on
sound instructional design principles. The instructional designer determines objectives, activities, sequencing, and evaluation methods needed to meet the goal of the instruction – and for elearning – all within the capabilities of the online environment. He or she should have knowledge of media techniques, Web design, and authoring skills.

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

The subject matter expert is an expert in the subject that is being taught – where the content will come from. The SME provides and validates content and helps other team members identify training needs.



Graphic Artist/Designer
The graphic artist collaborates with instructional designers to provide interface design and good
Web usability. He or she creates page layouts, graphics, colors, and media to support the
instructional objectives.

Writer/Editor

This person writes and edits e-learning for Web delivery. He or she must understand Web page
layout, usability, and style guidelines.

Course Developer/Designer

This person works to develop e-learning using a variety of authoring tools. He or she makes the
conceptual link between course and Web design.

Project Manager

The project manager oversees all aspects of an e-learning project. He or she serves as the
primary contact point between all parties and is often responsible for developing timelines,
identifying risks, and keeping projects within scope and budget. The project manager must lead a diverse team through all stages of a project, keeping track of resources, documentation, and
deliverables. As you can imagine, the project manager must be organized, be flexible, and be a
good communicator.



How Long Does it Take to Create E-Learning?


There are no set measurements on how long it takes to create e-learning. It depends on the
content, resources available, level of interactivity, and capabilities of the developer. One source
says creating a one-hour e-learning course averages about 250 hours of development time.
Acceptable production times are approximately 8-12 weeks for one hour of training, 12-16 weeks for two hours of training, and 16-20 weeks for three hours of training (Codone, p.14). This is consistent with this author’s experience on an interactive course utilizing a team of people.
Bryan Chapman, chief learning strategist and consultant/researcher through alliance with
Brandon Hall Research, provides the following benchmarks:

Ratio Type of learning
34:1 Instructor-led training (ILT), including design, lesson plans, handouts, PowerPoint
slides, etc.
33:1 PowerPoint to e-learning conversion. Not sure why it takes less time then creating
ILT, but that’s what we discovered when surveying 200 companies about this
practice.

220:1 Standard e-learning, which includes presentation, audio, some video, test questions,
and 20 percent interactivity.

345:1 Time it takes for online learning publishers to design, create, test, and package thirdparty
courseware.

750:1 Simulations from scratch. Creating highly interactive content.



Source by : © Brandon Hall Research