I was recently sent to the Ohio State Reformatory to do hard-time attending the Ohio Moodlemoot in Mansfield, Ohio. Once in custody, we were all held prisoners for the two day conference in hopes that we would learn something new. The conference focused on how technology can hold you prisoner, but Moodle can be the key to set you free.  

It was a great opportunity and awesome experience to meet with others in this field. The inmate population traveled from seven different states and even from Canada.

Are you held prisoner?  Here are some improvements coming soon to Moodle:

• Grade notifications to students will now be able to be turned off course wide and no longer per assignment.
• Online text assignments will have word count limits available.
• Event Logs will show more detail, allowing you to see more of what is happening in Moodle.
• The conditional restriction platform has been improved. You will now have the ability to combine multiple If/Then statements with And/or statements together.
  

During my stint in prison there were quite a few break out attempts. The suspects used tools and techniques to escape.  I plan on investigating these tools further to determine if they would be useful at our campus. These are  some of the tools the suspects were using:

• Checklist.
• Sharing Cart.
• Audio Assignment Activity.
• Mahara.

To help us get better acquainted with our accommodations we were invited to a reception held in the Ohio State Reformatory. So when I said I was held prisoner I wasn’t kidding!

This was also the site where movies like “Shawshank Redemption” and “Air Force One” were filmed.

Here is a slideshow of  evidence taken during my stay at the Ohio State Reformatory (Slide show created using Ensemble).