New SERIOUS staff

Since I have arrived at Moodle HQ there has been a push to increase the number of developers. As Moodle popularity grows, so does the need for maintenance and new feature development. When I arrived in April there were nine employed developers, six more have been added and two more are arriving in coming months. My hope for the near future is to have two teams working on stable development and a third on new features development.

But Moodle is not just about development and in recognition of this, two new roles have been added to the HQ complement.

As a sign of the determination to get things right, we now have a Test Manager. Tim will oversee testing during development and release processes. He brings a great deal of experience as a tester and developer, and will improve testing processes so that the result is serious testing and a more solid Moodle codebase.

Tim the Test Manager

Barbara brings experience working as a graphic designer in universities, including work with Moodle. She also has teaching experience (in design), so she is highly qualified. But beyond that, she brings a level of style that Moodle has been lacking for some time. A quick look at moodle.org will demonstrate that developers are not very artistic. Undoubtedly the benefit of Barbara joining us will be Moodle – with more serious style.

Barbara the Designer

New SERIOUS release schedule

It took a long time for Moodle 2.0 to come to fruition. This was a significant step forward (one that many Moodle users are still taking). Afterwards it was decided that it is not necessary to wait for the a complete release roadmap to be fulfilled for each version. Instead, a timed release schedule is now used to create a greater sense of certainty. Part of my role is to “bulldog” developers, to ensure that major releases (such as 2.1 and 2.2) happen on time. We now have major releases every six months in June and December, and since 2.0 releases have happened on time.

Moodle also has minor releases (AKA point releases), such as 2.2.1, that occur between major releases. The main reason for minor releases is to send fixes to security issues out as soon as possible. This might sound like a bit of a ‘number’s game’, but for Moodle Partners and the Moodle community, keeping their Moodle sites up-to-date is a ‘big deal’, and we want to do what we can to help them.

Up to now, minor releases have been completed irregularly when a number of security fixes have come about. But now, we’re getting even more serious. In order to assist in planning upgrades now and into the future, minor upgrades are scheduled to take place every two months, offset by one month to major releases (January, March, May, July, September and November).

For more details, see the General release calendar.

New SERIOUS documentation

Moodle documentation has, in the past, been fragmented and inconsistent. For new developers, the task of discovering how to work in Moodle as a coding framework has been a daunting one. So to remedy this, HQ developers have put down their development tools to focus on documentation. Starting with core APIs, descriptions are being added and updated to create consistent codebase documentation. This is being linked to Dev Docs wiki pages, again in a consistent manner, to provide developers outside Moodle HQ with the information they need. A planned future addition is consistent ‘getting started’ documentation for each plugin type (currently there are 32 to choose from).

Staying SERIOUS

One of the main focus areas leading up to the release of Moodle 2.3 will be accessibility. With the help of staff from North Carolina State University in the United States, including Greg Kraus and Glenn Ansley, a solid list of accessibility issues has been compiled. Together we will work through these issues to create a release of Moodle that will be accessible to more people. If you would like to be involved in this effort, please help where you can.

As well as this, you can anticipate improvements in usability, specifically file handling, coming soon. (I bet you’re holding your breath.)

I gave a presentation at the Australian Moodle Moot (MootAu11) and I’ve had a few requests to share that presentation since, so I thought I would flesh out my presentation into a more digestible form.

Book information: ISBN : 1849512167 Publishers Book Page Moodle Books page Moodle receives a 5% royalty on all Moodle books published by Packt. To receive 20% off when you buy this book or eBook direct from the publisher, enter the discount code MoodleTopEx20.

I’ll start at my number ten and work my way to number one.

10: Course Contents block

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The Course Content block creates an automatic table of contents for a Moodle course. I’ve often seen instructors doing this manually.This is a handy tool when course pages grow long.There is only a version for 1.9 available. In Moodle 2.x there is the Sections block, but it does not show section titles like the Course Contents block.

Author	David Mudrák
Type	Block
Compatibility	1.9
Links	M&P Entry Documentation Download

9: Translation block

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The Translation block allows you to translate strings into multiple languages, right in Moodle.Application ideas: Language classes Common words in multiple languages (Sudoku, café) Crazy re-translations Translating Moodle strings There are numerous similar alternatives, but this block works nicely.

Author	Paul Holden
Type	Block
Compatibility	1.7 to 1.9
Links	M&P Entry Documentation Download

8: Hidden Text filter

The Hidden Text filter allows you to reveal hidden snippets of content, as students read it.

Application ideas:

• Micro-formative assessment
• Annotations
• Avoiding over-complicating content
• Hiding “Easter eggs”

Author	Dmitry Pupinin
Type	Filter
Compatibility	1.8, 1.9, ?2.0
Links	M&P Entry Documentation Download

7: Map module

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The Map module allows you to embed dynamic maps into your course. It allows you and your students to add markers on the map.Application ideas: Allowing students to show holiday destinations Geographically, historically or politically significant locations War zones … The potential of this module is really huge.

Author	Ted Bowman
Type	Activity Module
Compatibility	1.8, 1.9
Links	M&P Entry Documentation Download

6: Twitter Search block

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The Twitter search block allows you to micro-blog with your students.Searches are based on a configurable hashtag and could be used to search for: Institutional notices Teacher tweets Student tweets Topical news Info popular for students This is an easy way to bring social media into the classroom.

Author	Kevin Hughes
Type	Block
Compatibility	1.9, 2.x
Links	M&P Entry Download 1.9 Download 2.x

5: Progress Bar block

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The Progress Bar block shows students their progress in a course. It’s an easy way to help students monitor their progress and to motivate them to complete set tasks in the course.In the Moodle 2.x version there is an overview page that shows teachers the progress bar of each student. This allows teachers to see which students are keeping up and which are falling behind.

Author	Michael de Raadt (yours’ truly)
Type	Block
Compatibility	1.9, 2.x
Links	Plugins Entry Documentation Download

4: Group Selection module

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The Group Selection module allows allow students to sort themselves into groups. Once student choose their groups, the groups work as normal Moodle groups.Application ideas: Project groups Interest clubs Research collaborations This is something I have heard lots of instructors calling out for.

Author	David Mudrák, Petr Škoda, Helen Foster, Anna Vanova
Type	Activity module
Compatibility	1.9, 2.x
Links	M&P Entry Documentation Download

3: Feedback module

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The Feedback module allows you to create custom surveys and analyse the feedback.Application ideas: Attitudinal feedback Student input into future content of a course Express opinions on topical issue Collecting data for statistics lessons The feedback modules is included as a standard module in Moodle 2.x, but is hidden by default

Author	Andreas Grab
Type	Activity module
Compatibility	1.5 onwards
Links	M&P Entry Documentation Download 1.9

2: Collapsed formats

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The Collapsed formats allow you to avoid the dreaded “Scroll of death”.Sections can be toggled open and close. The format sets the current week or topic open automatically and each user’s state is remembered when they return to the course page.There is a topics format and a weekly format.

Author	Gareth Barnard
Type	Course formats
Compatibility	1.9, 2.x
Links	M&P Entry Weeks M&P Entry Topics

1: UploadPDF

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The UploadPDF assignment type allows you to mark and annotate assignments without leaving your browser.The only downside is that students have to upload a PDF document, but that’s not such a big deal any more.

Author	Davo Smith
Type	Assignment type
Compatibility	1.9, 2.x
Links	Plugins entry Download

I struggled to narrow my favourite plugins to a top 10. The following plugins were also great.

• Lightbox
• Book
• Wikipedia filter
• Peer Review AT
• Online Users map
• Mindmap
• Shoutbox

If you’d like to see my original presentation. Here it is…

http://www.slideshare.net/deraadt/best-extensions-updated-after-moot

What is a Flavour?

A Flavour is a packaged collection of settings, languages and contributed plugins that can be shared between instances of Moodle.

You can package up a Flavour on one site, email it to a friend, and they can deploy the Flavour on their site.

Deploying a package

Who’s it useful for?

Flavours will be useful to:

• administrators starting a new site with help from another administrator;
• developers wanting to set up multiple working sites; and
• Moodle Partners and hosting providers want to set up commonly configured sites quickly.

Where do I get it?

The Flavours plugin is a Moodle local module for Moodle 2.x.

David has created an entry for it in the Moodle Modules and Plugins DB. Get it here…

Keep an eye out for it on the new Moodle Plugins repository soon. (For more info about the new Plugins repository, see my last post.)

Credits

Thanks to David for his efforts. It was easy having such a good student.

Thanks to Google for putting up the cash. Both the Moodle Community and David will undoubtedly benefit from this experience.

I should also acknowledge that Google is paying my way to the GSoC Mentor Summit in October, but I’d still say good things about this program, even if they weren’t.

—

The hardy developers at Moodle HQ have been working on a new Plugins repository system that is just about ready for public release on moodle.org.

Up to now, contributed modules have been served up on the Modules and Plugins DB, which is a customised Moodle Database activity module that we have lovingly referred to as M&P for many years.

What’s new?

The new Plugins repository system (or just Plugins for short) adds the following functionality over the previous system.

	Authoritative ratings, reviews and awards Some institutions run with thousands of students, but even the smallest installation is valuable. How do you know that the plugin that you are about to install is trustworthy? The new Plugins system will allow authorised users to provide reviews and rate plugins. There will also be the potential for plugins to earn awards. Reviews and ratings will be locked to specific versions so you will know you are getting the code that was reviewed. Talking about versioning…
	Versioning The new system will allow you to keep up with the latest version of your favourite plugins. It also gives developers more freedom on how they maintain their code, from simply uploading a zip to the potential to support the version control system of their choice. This will hopefully encourage new Moodle developers as well as pleasing the veterans. These changes pave the way for future developments that will hopefully allow you to see if the plugins installed on your system are out of date and if there is a new version.
	Screenshots, logos and other eye-candy The new system will allow you to quickly see what a plugin will look like. Developers can create logos for their contribution so they can be identified quickly.
	Developer information Developers work hard creating plugins and sharing them with the world – they deserve credit for their contribution. You will now see information about developers, maintainers and other contributors with each plugin. Unlike M&P, a team of contributors can now be shown. You will also be able see what other contributions your favourite developers have created; you can even keep track of their contributions by RSS.

Invigoration

With this new system in place and ready to go public, it is hoped that developers will be inspired to update their contributions. At first, it is likely that only modules with a Moodle 2.x version (plus earlier versions if applicable) will be accepted into the Plugins repository. This will also mean that CONTRIB-lovers will no longer have to wade through hundreds of unmaintained contributions.

Credits

Special credit is due to Sam Hemelryk and Marina Glancy for their continuing work on the system.

Also worth recognising is the contribution of CONTRIB Coordinator Anthony Borrow.

Here’s how you can make a small contribution that is likely to help out in a big way.

Step 1. Sign up for an account on Tracker

think of it like a dating site for bugs and devs

The tool used by Moodle to keep track of work is a decked out version of Jira. We just refer to it as Tracker. Head to tracker.moodle.org and create an account.

Step 2. Pick a bug

it’s like speed-dating in binary

You can see a list of bugs by clicking the button labelled Issues and find a bug that’s looking for love.

If you’re just playing the field, pick a minor bug with simple replication steps. If you’re keen to go all the way, check out these searches…

• popular bugs
• high priority bugs

Step 3. Solve the bug

don’t forget to backup first

I’m not going to tell you how to do that. Figuring it out is half the fun.

If you’re looking for some advice, check the Developers forum and and Dev docs.

Step 4. Post a solution

bragging rights

Go back to the bug report and share your solution. You can share a Git branch, a diff patch, or just summarise your solution in a comment. Any form of solution is a good solution.

So your solution can be noticed and integrated, add a label “patch”.

Enjoy!

Our beloved tracker

There are 13 Developers at Moodle HQ, including myself (although I do more managing than development), so it’s not the army of workers I believe some people assume we have. Ten of those developers are located in Perth (where I am) and the others are in Spain and the Czech Republic. The developers are all very skillful. After spending years teaching developers, I have a good idea of what constitutes a good developer, and all the guys and gals here at HQ are ‘right up there’ with the best. Add to that an enthusiasm for working on an open source project, and a really friendly atmosphere, and you have a great team, keen to turn out a great system.

Even though Moodle is open source, we’re all well paid and have regular holidays. Working at Moodle is much like working elsewhere based on those sorts of working conditions. The bonus is that we’re giving something useful to the community, so there’s no sales pitch and that makes it easier to sleep at night.

Right now Moodle is growing, and in response to that, Moodle HQ is growing as well. We’re looking for talented developers to join us in Perth. If you love Moodle; if you love cranking out code; if you love fixing problems; if you love the idea of creating something that helps people all over the world… why not send us your CV (details here).

So you might be wondering what’s being targeted for the next major release.

Quick summary: 2.2 will focus on assessment and grading.

Major Targets

• Adding rubrics and work on grading interfaces
  Rubrics allow instructors to define how students will be graded on a piece of assessment. Functionality will be added to core Moodle so all modules that support grading will be able to use rubrics. There will also be other work going on with grading interfaces
• Assignment refactor
  The four core assignment types are about to be combined. Look out in the not-too-distant future for group-based assignments making their way into core (although probably not in 2.2).
• Files interface improvements
  There will be some improvements to files interface and repository links, hopefully making things more consistent and reducing the number of clicks.

Integrations

Some contributions that didn’t make it into 2.1 will find their way instead into 2.2. These include:

• A paged course format that allows each section to be viewed as a separate page
• A new module that allows IMS LTI services to be added
• The MyMobile theme (cool!)

In 2.1 it is now possible to restore course backups created in 1.9, but currently no user data is restored. With more work coming in 2.2 you should be able to restore user data as well.

Keep an eye on the Moodle Roadmap to get a clearer picture of 2.2 as it unfolds.

My Moodle Mugshot

Well, I guess this is my obligatory first blog post here on WordPress. I’ll take this as an opportunity to introduce myself and state my intentions for this blog.

So, apart from begin an ordinary guy, I’m Development Manger at Moodle HQ. I’ve come to Moodle after a career in academia. I have been teaching software development for quite a while, in fact, my PhD dissertation focussed on that. But now I’ve escaped and I am making my way through the real world.

In my role as Development Manager I now, apparently, have information that the world is interested in. If you desperately want to know what Moodle developers are working on, I can tell you. If you want to hear what goes on behind the scenes at HQ, I’m there. As well as managing developers at HQ, I also have the privilege of triaging issues as they are reported, so I also know what’s not with Moodle (and if it’s likely to get fixed).

Usually I’m a man of few words. Enough said.