Implement Moodle in your business to streamline your interview, training, and internal communication processes
The Repository integration allows admins to set up external content management systems and use them to complement Moodle’s own file management system. Using this integration you can now manage content outside of Moodle and publish it to the system once the document or other content is ready. The Portfolio integration enables users to store their Moodle content in an external e-portfolio system to share with evaluators, peers, and others.
A growing number of organizations are using Google Docs as their primary office suite. Moodle allows you to add Google Docs as a repository so your course authors can link to word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation and form documents on Google Docs.
To use Google Docs as a repository for Moodle, we first need to configure the plugin like we did with Alfresco.
You have now set up the Google Docs repository plugin. Each user will have access to their Google Docs account when they add content to Moodle.
After you have configured the Google Docs plugin, you can add Google Docs to your course.
You have now added a Google Doc to your Moodle course. You can add any of the Google Doc types to your course and share them with Moodle users.
Google Docs File Formats
The Moodle Google Docs plugin makes a copy of the document in a standard office format (rtf, xls, or ppt). When you save the file, any edits to the document after you save it to Moodle will not be displayed.
Try importing the other Google Docs file formats into your Moodle course and test the download.
Using Google Docs effectively requires clear goals, planning, integration with organizational workflows, and training. If you want to link Moodle with an external content repository, how will you ensure the implementation is successful? What business processes could you automate by using one of these content services?
Now that we’ve integrated Moodle with external content repositories it’s time to turn our attention to exporting content from Moodle. The Moodle 2 portfolio system allows users to export Moodle content in standard formats, so they can share their work with other people outside of Moodle, or organize their work into portfolios aimed at a variety of audiences. In a corporate environment, portfolios can be used to demonstrate competency for promotion or performance measurement. They can also be used as a directory of expertise within a company, so others can find people they need for special projects.
One of the more popular open source portfolio systems is called Mahara. Mahara is a dedicated e-portfolio system for creating collections of work and then creating multiple views on those collections for specific audiences. It also includes a blogging platform, resume builder, and social networking tools. In recent versions, Mahara has begun to incorporate social networking features to enable users to find others with similar interests or specific skill sets.
To start, we’ll briefly look at installing Mahara, then work through the integration of Moodle with Mahara. Once we’ve got the two systems talking to each other, we can look at how to export content from Moodle to Mahara and then display it in an e-portfolio.
Mahara is a PHP and MySQL application like Moodle. Mahara and Moodle share a very similar architecture, and are designed to be complementary in many respects.
You can use the same server setup we’ve already created for Moodle in Getting Started with Moodle 2.0 for Business. However, we need to create a new database to house the Mahara data as well as ensure Mahara has its own space to operate.
You have now installed Mahara on your test system. Once you have Mahara up and running on your test server, you can begin to integrate Mahara with Moodle.
To begin the process of configuring Moodle and Mahara to work together, we need to enable Moodle Networking. You will need to make sure you have xmlrpc, curl, and openssl installed and configured in your PHP build. Networking allows Moodle to share users and authentication with another system. In this case, we are configuring Moodle to allow Moodle users to automatically login to Mahara when they login to Moodle. This will create a more seamless experience for the users and enable them to move back and forth between the systems.
The steps to configure the Mahara portfolio plugin are as follows:
Moodle/Mahara Services Descriptions
Remote enrollment service:
Publish: If you Publish the Remote Enrollment Service, Mahara admins will be able to enroll students in Moodle courses. To enable this, you must also publish to the Single Sign On Service Provider service.
Subscribe: Subscribe allows you to remotely enroll students in courses on the remote server. It doesn’t apply in the context of Mahara.
Portfolio Services:
You must enable both Publish and Subscribe to allow users to send content to Mahara.
SSO: (Identity Provider)
If you Publish the SSO service, users can go from Moodle to Mahara without having to login again.
If you Subscribe to this service, users can go from Mahara to Moodle without having to login again.
SSO: (Service Provider)
This is the converse of Identity Provider service. If you enabled Publish previously, you must enable Subscribe here. If you enabled Subscribe previously, you must enable Publish here.
You have just enabled Single Sign-On between Moodle and Mahara. We are now halfway through the setup and now we can configure the Mahara to listen for Moodle users.
Moodle Networking is also used to enable Moodle servers to communicate with each other. The Moodle Hub system is designed on top of Moodle networking to enable teachers to share courses with each other, and enable multiple Moodle servers to share users. How could you use this feature to spread Moodle within your organization? Could you create an internal and an external facing Moodle and have them talk to each other? Could different departments each use a Moodle and share access to courses using Moodle networking?
For your “have a go hero” activity, design a plan to use Moodle networking within your organization.
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