Author: adriandobre

Impressions From Moodle Moot Romania 2012

Last weekend I attended Moodle Moot Romania ’12 and, as an overall impression, it was worth it. Hosted in a castle belonging to the Vasile Goldis West University of Arad, the event gathered an unexpected diverse crowd. Here are a few reasons to consider attending a Moodle Moot in your region:

  • you work in a field related to education and want to enhance your knowledge of Moodle Learning Management System (LMS)
  • you are interested in open source and in finding affordable ways to develop an e-learning platform
  • people working in education are not necessarily teachers. We had participants from private Continue reading →

PERT Estimated Time Formula

Whenever you’re in doubt whether that GANTT chart reflects accurately a task’s duration, here’s a formula that takes you one level above guestimation. Enter PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) Estimated Time Formula:

shortest time + 4 x likely time + longest time
——————————————————————
6

If you’re into the theory behind this formula, check Wikipedia or this link.

Collaboration and Competition

Last week I met a friend involved in a local not-for-profit. From outside, this organization grew up to have an impressive notoriety among young leaders and has been awarded several times during the year in in-house competitions. Seen from the inside, the story was a lot different. With prizes in mind, the board members (my friend was one of them) controlled a lot of the activities and when there was no one to move things forward, they would do it by themselves. They won the prizes, they communicated this in newsletters and, from outside, it all seemed perfect. Inside, a gap was created between leaders and members. Continue reading →

“Ah! que l’intervalle est cruel…”

Reading Stendhal‘s The Red and The Black (French & English versions), I came across a passage that fits perfectly with almost any situation where great plans stop right there.

Ah! que l’intervalle est cruel entre un grand projet conçu et son
exécution! Que de vaines terreurs! que d’irrésolutions! Il s’agit de la
vie.

—Il s’agit de bien plus: de l’honneur!

SCHILLER

Oh, how cruel is the interval between the conception and the execution of a great project! What vain fears, what fits of irresolution! It has to do with life or death!

— It has to do with much more than that: it has to do with honor!

SCHILLER

Radio France FIP – adore the diversity

In the beginning just another tool in my ‘learn French’ kit, FIP became the everyday accessory for instant inspiration

The moment I decided to tackle (re)learning French, I knew that listening to radio was going to be one of the best and most effective ways of making progress. Secret weapon #1 has been my Kindle, and that needed a sidekick. Something I could use at work without being invasive. Now, one year and a half into this project, I’m not sure what were my first options in terms of radio stations. But I know where I stopped searching.

France Info is verbose. France Musique is often times pretentious. FIP is rebellious. Against time, lyrics, genre and roots. Continue reading →