Some Random Moodle Stuff

Some Random Moodle Stuff
Recent Developments at South Devon College

Kevin Hughes
khughes@southdevon.ac.uk

South Devon College

22 October 2008

Kevin Hughes South Devon College

SDC Webteam

Lead Web Developer New Media Ofﬁcer

Web Developer Assistant Web Developer


We have a vacancy

Web Developer

To design and develop web systems closely
integrated with the college network, with
particular responsibility for the Virtual
Learning Environment (Moodle) for
E-Learning. Is this someone you
know?
Salary: £21,275 — £22,940

http://www.southdevon.ac.uk/jobs


Upgrade 1.7 → 1.9


Upgrade 1.7 → 1.9

Mostly trouble free...
Odd problem with SCORM (that no-one else has!)
A little trouble with slideshow, scheduler and feedback
modules


Moodle and Git


Moodle and Git

Problem
We’re making changes to the Moodle code (even if this is just
installing new modules)


Moodle and Git

Problem
installing new modules) but we also want to track the changes from
upstream...


Moodle and Git

Problem
installing new modules) but we also want to track the changes from
upstream...

Solution
Git lets us track our changes, and those upstream, at the same
time in our own repository


Moodle and Git

Catalyst have done the hard work for us
git clone git://git.catalyst.net.nz/moodle-r2.git


Torbay Moodle Network



A VLE is needed to support bay-wide diploma courses
South Devon College chosen as the best place to host it
There are issues with authentication and enrolment



A VLE is needed to support bay-wide diploma courses
South Devon College chosen as the best place to host it
There are issues with authentication and enrolment
I don’t want to do it!
Not a big problem now – only one diploma running – but more
diplomas will start next year



Thanks to Gavin Pidgley at SchoolCare


Lessons learnt:
The Moodle network is picky!
It cannot connect out through a proxy [MDL-14624]

A connection directly to the moodle’s IP address must work
A reverse-lookup of the IP must resolve to the correct address
(not a local one)



Lessons learnt:
The Moodle network is picky!
It cannot connect out through a proxy [MDL-14624]
But there is a patch... [MDL-15125]
A connection directly to the moodle’s IP address must work
A reverse-lookup of the IP must resolve to the correct address
(not a local one)


By the way...

The Graph Stats
block is cool


By the way...

But it doesn’t
The Graph Stats
count networked
block is cool
logins


By the way...

But it doesn’t
The Graph Stats
count networked So lets ﬁx it
block is cool
logins


By the way...

Now you can select to count unique logged-in visitors instead.


Deploying Moodle with Capistrano

Problem
Now I’ve got two moodles and two databases across four servers
to look after with all the associated duplication of work



Problem
to look after with all the associated duplication of work, and I’m
much too lazy for that.



Problem
to look after with all the associated duplication of work, and I’m
much too lazy for that.

Solution
Capistrano (and a bit of cleverness) will let us administer all of
them at the same time.



Capistrano:
Rolls code out cleanly straight from a (git) repository to many
servers at once with one command1
Keep old versions handy and rollback to them instantly
Can run any job on parallel across all servers

1
Told you I’d get back to this


Capistrano:
Rolls code out cleanly straight from a (git) repository to many
servers at once with one command1
Keep old versions handy and rollback to them instantly
Can run any job on parallel across all servers
Possible problems:
You need a UNIX-like server
Moodle gets confused by symlinks in its path

1
Told you I’d get back to this


A recipe


RESTian XML auto-enrolment

Problem
None of Moodle’s automatic enrolment plugins are of any use to
me.



Problem
None of Moodle’s automatic enrolment plugins are of any use to
me.

Solution
Our new in-house eilp can supply enrolment data in simple XML in
a RESTful way. Lets write a new plugin which pulls enrolment data
from that.



The plugin has some issues:
It doesn’t currently unenrol anyone
It ﬁnds courses on their shortname for historical reasons



The plugin has some issues:
It doesn’t currently unenrol anyone
It ﬁnds courses on their shortname for historical reasons
A new version coming soon, which...
Fixes both those problems
Can link more than one real course to one moodle course


Any questions?

”It is impossible to speak in such a way that you
cannot be misunderstood.”
Karl Popper

http://www.slideshare.net/kevtufc/some-random-moodle-stuff-presentation


Some Random Moodle Stuff

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