MoodleMootDACH coming to Vienna in September

April 18, 2019 By Júlia Verdaguer

In 2019, we at Moodle HQ welcome a new edtech event in our global network of Moodle events: MoodleMoot DACH. Registrations are now open!

Even though the event is joining the official Moots this year, MoodleMoot DACH has 3 years of history behind. This community DevCamp and BarCamp, that has no planned program in advanced, brings together Moodle users, administrators, teachers, developers and pedagogues working in the university environment from Germany, Switzerland and Austria to work hands-on with Moodle, share ideas and create working code, which they later share with the Moodle Community as a contribution to the open source LMS.

In 2019, MoodleMoot DACH will be taking place in Vienna, and today we speak with Katarzyna Potocka, from the Vienna University of Technology and Eva Karall, from the University of Vienna, who are the main organisers of the event.

Moodle HQ: Hello Katarzyna and Eva; thank you for talking to us today. We are very happy to welcome MoodleMoot DACH into the MoodleMoot event network. Why did you decide to make your event an official MoodleMoot?

Eva: Honestly I think it was well overdue that MoodleDACH became an official MoodleMoot DACH. One of the main reasons though was an internal restructuring of the organizational team and the wish to be even more connected to Moodle HQ and the Moodle community.

Moodle HQ: MoodleMoot DACH has a very different format from traditional Moots, starting from the fact that it is, actually, two different events in one! Can you tell us more about it?

Katarzyna: I am a real fan of BarCamps and un-conferences, which are not as strict as normal conferences. That is why we decided since the first Moodle DACH that we would like to have an open format event. And in order to give developers as well as non-developers the opportunity to shine, we created a Moodle DACH consisting of two events: a BarCamp and a DevCamp.

A BarCamp itself is born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. To provide the attendees of the MoodleMoot DACH with the best possible outcome, we decided a long time ago that the people who know what they would like to hear or discuss at our events are the participants themselves. They are responsible for contributing to an amazing event. If they don’t like the program, they at least have to blame themselves ;)

As for the DevCamp we have noticed that especially at our Moodle DACH events there have been attending a lot of developers and people who have been interested in not only listening and discussing but also in producing something – like real results. Don’t get me wrong, it is absolutely necessary to discuss and exchange knowledge, but the mear fact that people wanted to go home and have some kind of “product increment” they can work on even after the Moodle DACH, was one of the reasons why I suggested to combine a BarCamp with a DevCamp. I honestly think that combining those two events is a great way to connect developers with not-so-technical Moodle users – and we all know that this connection can sometimes be really challenging!

Moodle HQ: So how are the Devcamp and BarCamp organised? How are the projects and subjects to be discussed chosen?

Katarzyna & Eva: The program for both events is proposed and chosen by the attendees themselves. For the BarCamp all attendees who are interested in a specific topic – no matter if they have something to contribute or are just interested in someone else’s visions – pitch their topics at the beginning of the BarCamp in front of everyone. We, the organizers, collect all ideas and fill the schedule board with the proposed topics. And that’s basically it – the schedule is published for everyone to see and the sessions can begin.

As for the DevCamp, the process is very similar to the topic finding process for the BarCamp but with a small add-on. After all attendees, who have an idea they want to work on during the DevCamp have pitched, they need to find other attendees who want to join them for the next 2 days. And all people who haven’t pitched have probably the even harder part: they have to choose from all the great pitches the one that they are most interested in and want to contribute to. After the teams of up to four people have been created, the fun starts. All in the spirit of “get your hands dirty”.

Moodle HQ: What are the gains you would like delegates to go home with after participating in the Moot?

Katarzyna: I think we have to make a distinction between the two events.

For the DevCamp the participants will have the opportunity to work with other developers, designers, and contributors on things that may interest the Moodle community. They will hopefully leave Vienna with working code based on an idea that maybe has been living and thriving in their heads for some time now. Or they will leave the event with something they can keep working on even after the doors of MoodleMoot DACH close.

As for the BarCamp we hope that we can give the attendees an opportunity to not only share their know-how but also to expand their own knowledge in different aspects concerning Moodle in an open environment. Discussing with like-minded people is always an amazing way to widen your perspective.

At the end, we hope to see for both events a lot of exhausted faces with big smiles and a lot of newly formed friendships within the Moodle community.

Moodle HQ: When do registrations for MoodleMoot DACH begin and what is the best way for Moodlers to keep up with registration updates and other news before and during the event?

Eva: The registration for MoodleMoot DACH has just begun this week, on the 15th of April. The registration and all detailed information is available on our website: https://tinyurl.com/mootDACH19

For further information, Moodlers can join our facebook group to get all news about our MoodleMoot DACH.

Before and especially during the event you should also keep in mind to check out our Twitter account @MoodlemootDACH  and also feel free to post with the hashtag #mootDACH19:

Moodle HQ: Thank you again, Katarzyna and Eva. We are really looking forward to MoodleMoot DACH 2019!

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MoodleMoot DACH 2019