Moodle
Definition
Moodle is a popular LMS that is based on socio-constructivist concepts.
The reasons for its popularity relies in DSchneider's opinion on the facts that:
- The underlying teaching model comes very close to the way "it is done" in a typical anglo-saxon graduate presential course, i.e. students are active participants, have to do a variety of sometimes open ended assignments, group work, have to use teacher-preparred resources, do quizzes, etc.
- The system is quite stable and not too difficult to use.
- It has a nice user community that increasingly contributes to extensions.
See also: LAMS (Lams can be integrated with Moodle)
Discussion
- DSchneider doubts that a typical course found on a randomly chosen Moodle installation is truly socio-constructivist. They are most definitly not very constructionist, e.g. on-line student activity is often reduced to forum activities and uploads.
- The system is a bit slow, though version 1.9 is faster than 1.7. Version 2.2 didn't bring great performance gains. On a a many user system one should install a PHP caching system - Daniel K. Schneider April 2008 / Dec 2011.
Links
- Moodle
- Help with Moodle
- Other
- Sloodle, a Second Life skin :)
Useful extensions
- LAMS (to implement CSCL scripts and other guided learning designs)
Installation tips
Moodle should install without any problem on all kinds of LAMP installations. Make sure that your PhP meets all the requirements.
Updating and installing
At TECFA, we frequently upgrade. To keep up with minor upgrades, it is best to work with their Revision control system. See Upgrading Moodle.
Using CVS (older Moodle installations)
(outdated, see GIT below)
To update a same version, type:
cvs update -dP
or to get a new specific version
cvs -Q update -dP -r The_Moodle_Version_you_need
E.g.
cvs -Q update -DP -r MOODLE_22_STABLE
Using GIT
Newer installations are encouraged to use Git
In short for a first time upgrade with GIT, save the old files
$ mv moodle moodle_old
Then clone into a directory called moodle
$ git clone git://git.moodle.org/moodle.git $ cd moodle $ mv ../moodle_old/config.php . $ git branch -a $ git branch --track MOODLE_23_STABLE origin/MOODLE_23_STABLE $ git checkout MOODLE_23_STABLE
To update within a stable branch (minor revisions):
$ cd /path/to/your/moodle/ $ git pull
To update to a new stable branch without backing up:
// check branches git branch -a // example for tracking new version and then updating git branch --track MOODLE_26_STABLE origin/MOODLE_26_STABLE git checkout MOODLE_26_STABLE git pull
PHP parameters
- Memory and execution time
Make sure to allocate enough memory and execution time in php.ini, i.e. at least 128MB.
Type in a console:
php --info | grep php.ini
Then edit the configuration file shown. E.g. high values would be:
max_execution_time = 600 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in seconds max_input_time = 600 ; Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing request data memory_limit = 256M ; Maximum memory
The make sure that there is no other php.ini override (e.g. in httpd.conf), type
php --info | grep mem
- File upload
Also in php.ini
upload_max_filesize = 30M ; or whatever you find reasonable.
- cron_php5
You also may have to hand edit file moodle/search/cron_php5.php and manually change the "ini_get" lines (for what strange reason I don't know)
- If your Moodle is hosted with a provider
If you don't have console access, then deposit a file called test.php with contents:
phpinfo();
and look at the page. It does the same as php --info. DELETE after usage or protect it.
Themes
Default themes, are incredibly bad. E.g. "Formal white" can't display the width of a serious grading rubric, links are difficult to see. One option is to redesign and that can take time that is better spent on something else (IMHO).
To make small fixes, create a user style sheet (Menu: Site Administration -> Appearance -> Themes -> [Selected Theme])
- Scroll down and add something, e.g.
div.title {background-color:#E3DFD4;}
a:link {color:#00008B ;}
a:visited {color:#191970;}
.gradingform_rubric{max-width:1200px};
Make sure to turn the CSS caching off while you test:
- Menu: Site Administration -> Appearance -> Themes -> Theme Settings
LTI support in MOODLE
Starting Moodle 2.2 there is IMS LTI support in two ways.
- The core activity plugin called either
LTI>
orExternal tool
in older versions, allows to integrate LTI services. In other words, Moodle can connect to another system and let the user access services and contents transparently. This will require some setup. - The LTI provider plugin can turn Moodle into a LTI provide, e.g. you could provide access to full courses or activities from a remote system that has LTI support. Read Review: LTI Provider for Moodle 2.2 (needs to be installed)
LTI consumption with external tool
As explained in Moodle's external tool and external tools settings documentation, a teacher can add an external tool from their course page and an administrator can make an external tool available to all teachers on the site.
Adding a tool sitewide
Administrators should go to either
- Settings > Site administration > Plugins Overview, then click on LTI Settings (In older versions, select "External tool" instead of LTI)
- Click on
Add external tool configuration
You then configure new external tools. In order to do so, you should read the documentation of the external tool provider. You need to define a least
- A local name for the tool
- The URL of the tool
In addition you may have to define
- A consumer key, i.e. a kind of username used to authenticate access to the tool.
- A shared secret, i.e. password.
Under privacy, you can define if the launcher (i.e. Moodle student's ID and email) are forwarded to the tool and whether the tool can send grades back.
Added (active, pending or rejected) LTI modules then also can be seen here:
- Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > LTI
Adding a tool as teacher
- Turn editing on
- Add an activity or resource
- Select External Tool
List of external tools
- LTI Tools to try out yourself (Moodle News, Feb. 2013)
- LTI Store: share your demo connections (Moodle News).
- Edu Apps. Generic list of "educational apps" that are based on LTI.
Plugins
(documentation for some plugins ....)
Google drive
URLS at Google
- Login to Google first (you need a Google account)
- https://console.developers.google.com/project
- Create a project, e.g. call it Google drive for Moodle
- Google: In API's: Drive API must be enabled (all the others can be off)
URLs in your Moodle
- admin/repository.php
... scroll down/search for Google Drive in the page
- admin/plugins.php
References
- Dougiamas, M. & Taylor, P.C., Interpretive analysis of an internet-based course constructed using a new courseware tool called Moodle, Curtin University of Technology, [1]
- Philosophy (retrieved 16:40, 20 April 2006 (MEST))
- Brendan Moloney,Timothy Gutierrez. (2006) An Enquiry into Moodle Usage and Knowledge in a Japanese ESP program. PacCALL Journal Volume 2 No. 1 Summer 2006, Pp. 48-60. pdf