Integrating Moodle and uPortal

1
Integrating Moodle and uPortal

• Presented by Justin Tilton
• at the Open Universiteit Nederland, Heerlen
  (NL)on January 24th 2006

2
Overview

• Introduction to moodle
• The Community
• Integrating moodle uPortal
• Services
• Portlets
• Collaboration
• Community Involvement
• Expert Guidance

3
Introduction to Moodle
MOODLE is an open source, online Learning
Management System designed around the social
constructionist learning paradigm.
4
Introduction to Moodle
M Modular O Object O Oriented D Dynamic L
Learning E Environment

• Written In PHP, With MySQL Database
• Open Source Using the GPL License
• Modular Design is Very Flexible
• Compatible with Many Standards and Formats
• SCORM, AICC, Apache
• Flash, MS Office, WIKI, WebWork, HotSpot
• Simple Import for Existing Blackboard Courses

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Introduction to Moodle

• Developed by Martin Dougiamas, in Perth,
  Australia
• Background in both Computer Science and Education
• Developed Around Social Learning Paradigm Not
  Tools
• Communication and Learning Sequencing are Core
  Principles
• Administrator of WebCT at Curtin University of
  Technology
• Continued Development by Martin and a Small Group
  of Core Developers
• Reduces Forking of Code
• Retains Integrity of Core
• Other Members of the Community Develop Modules
  that are Plugged In
• Many Modules Adopted into the Core
• Modules and Courses will be Available in a
  Repository by Summer 2006

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Moodle Social Constructionism
Social Constructionism is the idea that we learn
through our experiences and interaction.

• Constructionism asserts that learning is
  particularly effective when constructing
  something for others to experience. This can be
  anything from a spoken sentence or an internet
  posting, to more complex artifacts like a
  painting, a house or a software package.
• The concept of social constructivism extends the
  above ideas into a social group constructing
  things for one another, collaboratively creating
  a small culture of shared artifacts with shared
  meanings. When one is immersed within a culture
  like this, one is learning all the time about how
  to be a part of that culture, on many levels.

Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
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Moodle Social Constructionism
Promoting Learner Involvement
A constructivist perspective views learners as
actively engaged in making meaning, and teaching
with that approach looks for what students can
analyze, investigate, collaborate, share, build
and generate based on what they already know,
rather than what facts, skills, and processes
they can parrot. Some of the tenets of
constructivism in pedagogical terms include

• Students come to class with an established
  world-view, formed by years of prior
  experience and learning.
• Even as it evolves, a students world-view
  filters all experiences and affects their
  interpretations of observations.
• For students to change their world-view
  requires work.
• Students learn from each other as well as the
  teacher.
• Students learn better by doing.
• Allowing and creating opportunities for all to
  have a voice promotes the construction of
  new ideas.

Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
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Moodle Overview
MOODLE is designed with social construction in
mind, being built around activities and learning
sequencing.
Course Layouts can be Viewed by Topic, Weekly
or Social format
Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
9
Moodle Overview
Course Management - Modules
Assignment Used to assign online or offline
tasks learners can submit tasks in any file
format (e.g. MS Office, PDF, image, a/v
etc.). Chat Allows real-time synchronous
communication between learners and with
instructors. Choice Instructors create a
question and a numberof choices for learners
results are postedfor learners to view. Use this
module todo quick surveys on subject matter.
Dialogue
Property screens guide instructor through setup
when creating a new Assignment
Assignment activity can require the learner to
upload a completed project.
Allows for one-to-one asynchronous message
exchange between instructor and learner, or
learner to learner.
Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
10
Moodle Overview
Course Management - Modules
Forums Threaded discussion boards for
asynchronous group exchange on shared subject
matter. Participation in forums can be an
integral part of the learning experience, helping
students define and evolve their understanding of
subject matter.
Students can Rate a forum post, based on Scales
set up by the course creator
Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
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Moodle Overview
Course Management - Modules
GlossaryCreate a glossary of terms used in a
course. Has display format options including
entry list, encyclopedia, FAQ, dictionary style
and more. JournalLearners reflect, record and
revise ideas. LabelAdd descriptions with images
in any area of the course homepage. LessonAllows
instructor to create and manage a set of linked
"Pages". Each page can end with a question. The
student chooses one answer from a set of answers
and either goes forward, backward or stays in the
same place in the lesson.
Glossary terms appear in highlight within all
activity resources. Moodle includes its own site
search engine.
Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
12
Moodle Overview
Course Management - Modules
QuizCreate all the familiar forms of assessment
including true-false, multiple choice, short
answer, matching question, random questions,
numerical questions, embedded answer questions
with descriptive text and graphics.
Instructors have granular control in defining
course assessments, and can import quiz questions
from popular formats like Blackboard, IMS QTI and
WebCT. Moodle also supports embedding audio into
a quiz.
Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
13
Moodle Overview
Course Management - Modules
ResourceThe primary tool for bringing content
into a course may be plain text, uploaded files,
links to the web, Wiki or Rich Text (Moodle has
built-in text editors) or a bibliography type
reference. SurveyThis module aids an instructor
in making online classes more effective by
offering a variety of surveys (COLLES, ATTLS),
including critical incident sampling. WorkshopAn
activity for peer assessment of documents (Word,
PP etc.) that students submit online.
Participants can assess each others project.
Teacher makes final student assessment, and can
control opening and closing periods. CustomNew
modules are constantly being created by the vast
Moodle community and contributed back to the
project.
Moodle supports adding math expressions to a
Resource activity, using the built-in HTML editor
Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
14
Moodle Overview
Course Management - Administration
Teachers and Students can be manually enrolled or
removed from a course. Configuration, Backup and
Restore is achieved on a single screen.
Restoring an existing course or Uploading a file
archive from storage is accomplished with a
single mouse click. Moodle makes it easy to
re-use and share courses with other teachers.
Backup can include or exclude student files and
course data.
Some of the content on this slide was taken with
permission from a presentation by Bryan Williams
of remote-Learner.net, a US Moodle partner.
15
Moodle Community

• Extremely Diverse with 8,615 Registered,
  Functioning sites in 142 Countries
• Internationally, Used on all Levels from Single
  Classes to Large Universities, Government and in
  Business
• Still New in the US Used Mostly in K-12 Schools

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Moodle Community

• Over 85,000 Registered Users
• Speaking 70 Different Languages
• Nearly 2.5M Forum Postings
• Over 200,000 Courses
• Roughly 30,000 Downloads Every Month

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Background

• A meeting October 2005

Customers are asking for a portal solution
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Outcome of Meeting

• Open standards based integration of uPortal and
  Moodle
• JISC, DEST, SURF
• Web Services
• XML, XSLT, CSS
• SOAP
• WSRP
• WS-Security with SAML attributes
• Services-oriented architecture (uPortal)
• Authentication
• Authorization (or permissions) using Groups
• Directory

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The Recommended Approach

• Authentication and directory service for Moodle
• Moodle Block to provide data for Portlets
• Portlets using XSLT (role-based, multi-page,
  single SOAP message)
• List of courses, grades, and next assignments
• (Optionally) A WSRP portlet which could render
  Moodle within uPortal
• (Optionally) Extend interoperability
• web services through a SOA
• Interoperability through Java Business
  Integration
• Enterprise Service Bus

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uPortal
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Authentication and Directory Service
uPortal with external Authentication and
Directory Service
Authentication
Directory Service
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Authentication and Directory Service
moodle with internal Authentication and
Directory Service
Authentication
Directory Service
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Authentication and Directory Service
moodle
uPortal
Authentication
Directory Service
?
?
Library etc.
SIS
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Moodle Block - data for Portlets
A new moodle block
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Moodle Block - data for Portlets
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Portlets - List of courses
Student View
Faculty View
Parent View
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Portlets Next Assignment Due
Student View
Faculty View
Parent View
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Collaboration
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Message Specifications
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Expert Guidance
From Jason Cole ltcole.jason_at_gmail.comgt To
Justin Tilton ltjustin_at_tilton.infogt Date Dec 13,
2005 827 AM Subject Re Moodle integration
project  Hi Justin,  I've finally been able to
give the document the time it deserves. I've
included my thoughts and comments below.  See you
in Feb!  The proposal you sent looks very
promising. Integrating Moodle with uPortal would
provide benefits for both communities.  I have a
few suggestions which might make the proposal a
bit more streamlined and more readily adoptable
by the Moodle community.   1) The Moodle
community is wedded to PHP for a number of (in my
opinion very good)
The moodle Community
Technical Experts
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Justin_at_tilton.infowww.immagic.com1 (202)
296 7498