I wanted to get a glimpse into the future of Moodle so I just listened to Martin's keynote from the very recent UK Moot, which contained a fascinating description (as he put it) about what's 'in his brain' for the future of Moodle.
This is particularly good for things I have wished for as a teacher, such as a way to write teaching programs using local educational standards (metadata will allow this it seems).
I thought I would add my (paraphrased) transcript/notes, hope it is useful for some:
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Notes from Martin's Keynote
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Moodle Roadmap:
- Moodle 1.6
- unicode - useful for languages used in Moodle, table for every known language in the world, 2.5 days to convert moodle.org, cut and paste text between languages will be supported by converting to unicode
- database module - storing structured information, eg. reading club in a library can use database module to collect data from students on books they read, very general purpose module that can be used in so many applications, every field can be automatically linked instead of just the concept in the glossary module
- blogs - basic at moment because no consensus on how to have comment
- hive - integration with repository software
- mymoodle - dashboard overview of all your courses, one page to see what's happening in all your courses, users can control their own blocks on the side
- LAMS integration - designed for people using LAMS already and want to add moodle, single sign-in, LAMS embedded in the moodle interface
- Groups - user can be in multiple groups in a course
- Stats - custom reports for statistics, can be written as plugins and dropped in
- Documentation - documentation.moodle.org uses mediawiki to improve documentation, run by Helen Foster, anybody can contribute, integrated with moodle at bottom of every page to the documentation site
- unicode - useful for languages used in Moodle, table for every known language in the world, 2.5 days to convert moodle.org, cut and paste text between languages will be supported by converting to unicode
- Moodle 1.7 and beyond
- Roles & Commissions - 7 roles system (primary admin, admin, course creator, editing teacher, non-ed teacher, student) is going, can change the roles, and add new roles, eg. "parent", "supervisor", Open University is funding this development
- create a role and decide exactly what that person can and can't do by checking boxes
- eg. "can post to forums"
- couple hundred different permissions
- permissions can allow or deny them to do something in a particular context
- permissions can allow prohibit them to do something
- permissions can exist in context of the whole site, category of courses, a course, activity, a block or a group
- people can have more than one role in a particular context, eg. student for a particular course and a teacher for another
- site wide role for assigning defaults, eg. turn off forum posting site wide while you maintain the site
- focus is to make user interface as simple as possible
- will be in 1.7 by September 2006
- create a role and decide exactly what that person can and can't do by checking boxes
- XML Database Schema - funded by Microsoft, they want it to run on MS-SQL server
- current system of coding for each syntax used by different databases (postgres, mysql) can be buggy
- this will solve a big problem to support databases better
- only known instance of microsoft supporting an open source project
- a lot of institutions are microsoft only shops and they want moodle
- will be ready in 1.7
- Gradebook
- moving from a pull model to a push model
- when a user looks at gradebook then it goes out and asks each module for a grade
- it is a slow process, not scalable
- when a grade changes in a module it will be pushed into a central gradebook
- export grades automatically
- system to regularly push grades out to other systems, like a student administration system
- easy to add arbitrary columns in gradebook
- be easier to set a flag for when a course is finished
- Metadata (course outcomes)
- we call outcomes statements in Australia
- also called competencies
- an admin imports a big long list of these statements
- stored centrally
- become like tags
- teacher can choose a subset of these tags for their course
- they can also assign a subset for each activity
- the teacher can have a quick report where they see every statement and see which ones are being addressed
- reporting is a lot easier with this system
- Accessibility
- important for everyone
- pass tests common on Internet
- Moodle forms
- tables is main structure of forms in moodle
- not ideal, so will specify a form as a data structure and pump out to an automated process
- bring a consistent appearance
- code will be better written
- good server and client side validation, eg. javascript to check forms before it is being sent (client side)
- Global Search
- searching a whole course
- won't be 1.7
- depends on roles and permissions
- Database presets
- save presets for fields, layout & graphics etc as a zip file
- can include images and stylesheets
- can be loaded in another moodle
- eg. photo gallery
- saves teachers having to hack the code - alot will be in the moodle distribution, there will be a menu of choices (book catalog, photo gallery, etc)
- it will be as if moodle has gained many new modules at once
- Glossary module will be deleted at one stage when the database module can support everything, will be an automatic upgrade, glossaries will have their data stripped into a database table
- AJAX integration
- drag and drop features instead of using the small editing buttons
- old interface will be maintained
- Theme editing
- chameleon is a theme editor that can be changed on the fly in the browser
- will include AJAX
- Admin page will get a cleanup
- simplify and make it all logical
- bookmarking that can allow you to customise the admin block
- Tracker module
- bit like a bug tracker
- can be used as a support desk at school for students
- Moodle.org will move to a new bug tracker
- processes aren't clear at moment
- current bug tracker has a lot of bugs
- new tracker is Giro, very nice system, allow better project management
- same login as moodle.org
- integrated with CVS
- modern
- implemented over next few weeks by Michael Blake at moodle hq
- Public course listing
- can publicise your courses to moodle.org
- people can find a maths course on moodle.org based on this listing
- Blogs
- "blog this" button will be all over moodle
- creates new entry linked to anything, like assignments
- attachments will be added to a blog (eg. post an image and blog about it)
- Messaging
- all mail will be sent via messaging
- can decide to get assignment notifications sent to particular email address
- instead of current adhoc emails coming from lots of places
- Groups
- assign activities to particular groups
- grouping groups, groupsets
- be soon after 1.7
- Learning Design
- XML format for describing course structure
- exporting to it is easy from moodle
- trick is how we store moodle specific features that aren't in specs for learning design
- then import as well
- Calendar
- stream out entries in ical
- already can, code is written but no interface yet
- will be in 1.7
- perhaps support RSS feed, "recently added entries"
- Conditional Activities
- can't do this until you do this
- based on grades, number of reads, etc
- branching may be supported, was part of canary Islands version, very common request
- Martin likes having the all course open all the time because allows people to choose their own path but there are benefits to conditional activities
- can't do this until you do this
- Web Services API
- remotely control moodle site, eg. add course, enrol student, anything admin can do should be able to do from firing a request from another system
- suck things out so that anything that appears in Moodle can appear in another system, eg. a portal
- Student Information API
- about exporting out information, export grades, graduate in another system when finish course
- portfolios, supporting eportfolio standard, publish student work out to other systems
- Email interface
- plan for offline moodle access
- interacting with moodle via email
- support blackberries etc
- email your course and get an email back with course content
- ask for specific resources
- can submit assignments via email
- can reply to forum via email
- Repository API
- opens moodle up to connecting moodle to content repositories
- eportfolios
- recording learning journey in a structured way
- needs to be part of the moodle core
- AV conferencing
- elluminate have approached moodle
- a new open source system called dimdim.com
- we need at least one in moodle, a built in solution would be nice
- Assignment
- Resource
- we need a way to turn editor on and off on fly, will eliminate need for text page and web page resources
- possible multi page resource
- Workshop
- probably most complex module, hard to get into, but great for peer evaluation
- user interface needs work
- will be rewritten from scratch
- integrating workshop and exercise module
- SCORM compliance
- Moodle HQ looking for few more people, need new location as house is full
- Moodle partners joining all time, able to tackle big contracts (eg. whole country)
- Moodle Foundation starting, non-profit charity, to enable education in places that can't afford it, hardware, software, education of teachers, etc
- organise little projects, identified by Moodle community
- Moodle partners can be employed to do projects
- moodlefoundation.org
- community hubs
- place for sharing resources and communicating in communities of practise
- hub is a normal moodle site that is open to interactions from other moodle sites
- may have a repository attached to it
- can log into hub in a peer to peer way
- may allow people to charge for a course, eg. $1 per download
- organisations that are new to moodle can gain from others who are experienced
- place for sharing resources and communicating in communities of practise
- Moodle 1.7 will likely have:
- blog improvements
- roles
- database independence
- upload assignment type
- web services
- AJAX course format
- Improved admin interface
- blog improvements
- Roles & Commissions - 7 roles system (primary admin, admin, course creator, editing teacher, non-ed teacher, student) is going, can change the roles, and add new roles, eg. "parent", "supervisor", Open University is funding this development
- STOP: 01:55:00
. This will save me a lot of work since I have to brief our Moodle teachers about the Moot. All I have to do now is translate what you put together.