Revision as of 15:08, 5 May 2009

Overview

Context-based, collaborative note taking in Moodle

Using Mediabird Study Notes allows for taking notes related to any page in your Moodle course. With the collaborative Mediabird notepad, you can note down anything that comes up in your mind, drag and drop content onto the note sheet or search notes shared by your study mates.

All notes taken using Mediabird Study Notes can be annotated, tagged and shared. This way, problems in understanding course material can be solved quickly and collaboratively.

Setup

The basic setup is very simple.

Download the Mediabird Study Notes packages
Extract the archive into the moodle folder of your installation
Log in to Moodle as admin and go to the admin page
Add the Mediabird Study Notes activity to a course

Setting up in-place note taking (recommended)

If you want to take notes while studying, you can enable the in-place note taking function that displays an icon on all pages of a course. Clicking on that icon displays the Mediabird notepad and allows for taking notes in-place. These can be reviewed in the activity later on.

Using our theme

If you don't mind about the theme you use, you may easily

go to Appearance in the admin panel
select Theme Selector and choose standardmediabird

Using a custom theme

If you are using your own theme, all you need to add is the following line in the file header.html from your theme folder <?php

 include_once($CFG->dirroot.'/mod/studynotes/ext/overlay_snippet.php');

?> after the line

which is located near the middle of the file.

Setting up the equation editor

Install a LaTeX distribution (see below for more specific instructions)
Make sure the dvipng helper application is installed
Make sure you have installed the LaTeX packages AMSFonts, AMSMath, xypic
Locate dvipng and latex executables and specify their paths in the activity settings in the admin panel

Windows

Install MikTeX and check for xypic, everything else should be included in the default setup
Both dvipng.exe and latex.exe usually are located in C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7\miktex\bin or similar

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

Install packages texlive, texlive-pictures and dvipng
The paths will usually be /usr/bin/dvipng and /usr/bin/latex

Prerequisites

Moodle 1.9.4+ and PHP 5.2+

Workflow

Using Mediabird Study Notes is divided into two steps: Taking notes and reviewing them later on.

Taking notes on any page

While you're on a page such as a resource, forum post or quiz, you can note down anything that comes up in your mind by clicking on the note taking icon.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The [http://www.mediabird.net/ Mediabird] Study Notes activity allows students
+=Overview=
-* to take notes on the content of a course,
-* to share and discuss their notes and
-* to prepare exams and presentations on the base of their notes
+[[Image:MediabirdStudyNotesOverlay.png|200px|thumb|right|In-place note taking using Mediabird Study Notes.]]
+==Context-based, collaborative note taking in Moodle==
+Using [http://www.mediabird.net/ Mediabird Study Notes] allows for taking notes related to any page in your Moodle course. With the collaborative Mediabird notepad, you can note down anything that comes up in your mind, drag and drop content onto the note sheet or search notes shared by your study mates.
-== Step-by-Step Tutorial: Mediabird is a digital, collaborative notepad. ==
+All notes taken using Mediabird Study Notes can be annotated, tagged and shared. This way, problems in understanding course material can be solved quickly and collaboratively.
+=Setup=
+The basic setup is very simple.
+* Download the [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/packages/studynotes_package.zip Mediabird Study Notes packages]
+* Extract the archive into the moodle folder of your installation
+* Log in to Moodle as admin and go to the admin page
+* Add the Mediabird Study Notes activity to a course
-'''Basic Steps'''
+==Setting up in-place note taking (recommended)==
+If you want to take notes while studying, you can enable the in-place note taking function that displays an icon on all pages of a course. Clicking on that icon displays the Mediabird notepad and allows for taking notes in-place. These can be reviewed in the activity later on.
-* collect and insert notes
+===Using our theme===
-* highlight parts of the text, that are important or about which you have questions
+If you don't mind about the theme you use, you may easily
-* find your friends in the Community and share your content with them
+* go to ''Appearance'' in the admin panel
-* get answers to your questions and save time while preparing exams and presentations
+* select ''Theme Selector'' and choose ''standardmediabird''
-* arrange and tage your note sheets using the note folder view to keep an overview
+===Using a custom theme===
+If you are using your own theme, all you need to add is the following line in the file header.html from your theme folder
+<code php>
+<?php
+  include_once($CFG->dirroot.'/mod/studynotes/ext/overlay_snippet.php');
+?>
+</code>
+after the line
+<code html4strict><div class="navbar clearfix"></code>
+which is located near the middle of the file.
-'''Import existing content'''
+==Setting up the equation editor==
+* Install a LaTeX distribution (see below for more specific instructions)
+* Make sure the dvipng helper application is installed
+* Make sure you have installed the LaTeX packages ''AMSFonts'', ''AMSMath'', ''xypic''
+* Locate ''dvipng'' and ''latex'' executables and specify their paths in the activity settings in '''the admin panel'''
+===Windows===
+* Install MikTeX and check for xypic, everything else should be included in the default setup
+* Both dvipng.exe and latex.exe usually are located in ''C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7\miktex\bin'' or similar
+===Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)===
+* Install packages texlive, texlive-pictures and dvipng
+* The paths will usually be /usr/bin/dvipng and /usr/bin/latex
-* from wikipedia
+==Prerequisites==
-* from external applications such as Microsoft Word
-* from note sheets of your friends that you can find using the search
-* or type in your notes straight away.
+Moodle 1.9.4+ and PHP 5.2+
-'''Tagging notes'''
+=Workflow=
-''Using the hightlighter you can highlight and tag text. Tags may be annotations and questions.''
+Using Mediabird Study Notes is divided into two steps: Taking notes and reviewing them later on.
-Linking questions to the text enables you to
+==Taking notes on any page==
+While you're on a page such as a resource, forum post or quiz, you can note down anything that comes up in your mind by clicking on the note taking icon[[Image:MediabirdTakeNotes.png]].
-* get help from the community
+==Reviewing existing notes==
-* memorize the note folder using the the card box
+[[Image:MediabirdReview.png]]
+==Sharing notes and collaboratively working with them==
-'''Join groups of your friends'''
+[[Image:MediabirdCommunity.png]]
-''Use the community area to''
-* find your friends to discuss questions and study together.
-* create your own groups
-* see questions of others and help solving them
-As member of a group you are able to
-* access all the content that is shared with the group
-* share note folders with the group
-'''Keeping track of your content'''
-''Organize note sheets that are related to each other and it will be easier to follow the thread.''
-* drag down note sheets containing examples or pictures
-* and drag up those containing advanced info
-* switch between the levels using the tab on the left of the notepad
-* keep track of your content more easily and decide what you want to study
-The module is currently only available from [http://www.mediabird.net/about/moodle_plugin our site].
-'''There is also a [http://www.mediabird.net/about/tutorial tutorial on Mediabird].'''

Documentation

mod/studynotes/view: Difference between revisions