Are there any future plans for a Moodle integration with Sharepoint? My school is looking at sharepoint and I was asked to look into this possibility.
Any input is appreciated!
Thanks, Diane
In reply to Diane Salamone
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Julian Whitehead -
I am interested as to what kind of integration you mean. We have just started exploring the power of sharepoint, and the fact that its actually a pretty good way of doing what it does.
At the Bett Show in London last January I saw a very good presentation (sadly the Powerpoint never made it to the web as promised), that showed Share Point Services/Portal as a device for plugging into all sorts of other (and this was the key for me as I had never heard this before from Microsoft), non-Microsoft products! This must mean VLE's like Moodle, Uniservity etc, as well as Microsoft's own offering - Class Server (which is actualyl pretty good).
The advantage that M$ has is not that we all run it, but rather that once you are in and using their stuff it all runs seemlessly together. We started using Exchange this year - its great, when our NM opens up the full Global Folders we will see its true power. Once some bright spark in M$ realises that our timetables could be part of calendars - companies like SIMS should be worried.
Bring on the future!
Sorry not sure that answers your question....
In reply to Julian Whitehead
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Colin McQueen -
I suspect a lot of schools and LAs will end up using Sharepoint as a portal to their Learning Platform parts including more specific VLE/CMS functionality like Moodle.
However clarification on how the doubled up functionality like forums, file locations, web page creation, blogs and wikis (the latter 2 are in Sharepoint 2007) and database lists will be difficult and could lead to confusing communities.
Put that alongside the Sharepoint Learning Kit SLK which is a freely available set of tools to create SCORM content and Moodle may end up being replaced in some schools or LAs, perish the thought.
The problem is that many schools using Moodle don't do much more than use the forums, web pages and file storage. I support many schools in my authority and getting them to try out the more moodle specific tools like glossaries, quizzes and assignments isn't easy. By the time a lot of teachers get to this stage Sharepoint may have tools that could replace some of these. But I suspect not be as user friendly.
Sharepoint is a great product for lots of reasons and better than moodle is some areas. Some companies are looking to improve on it's interface which is not user friendly for schools particularly primary (4-11 yr olds) in my view. That said primary school teachers are superb at making do.
Moodle's great strength is the pace of development and specialised educational tools that are being adapted to fit the teacher rather than the other way round.
What teachers in 11-16 or primary schools in the UK could do with IMHO are some tools that are localised enough to really knock their socks off and streamline data handling as well as "pull" them into more personalised constructivist ways of working. Or perhaps some better examples of how combinations of tools can do this. The real trick is to make these:-
- simple to use
- flexible enough to be adapted
In reply to Colin McQueen
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Michael Tudor -
Hi,
We are looking at purchasing sharepoint at some stage this year (hopefully), part of this process is finding out just how usefull for us it can really be. If we can add a link into a course and direct it straight to sharepoint this would be great. The advantage as I see it is that our teachers can save a file from MS office directly into sharepoint and as long as the file name stays the same then I guessing that any links in moodle will open the new file.
I get a lot of questions from our teachers asking why they have to update the file twic, by once saving it to a network drive and then re-uploading it to moodle (its not really a hard thing to do but not all of our teachers are that computer savy...)
Anyway, I figure if they can update a file in office, then save it and their course will open the updated file then it will make things a little easier.
Of course if there was a moodle add-inn for MR office that let you save directly into the moodle database it would probably have the same result.
Any other ideas what I could use sharepoint for in moodle?
Hi Michael
This may not directly answer your question re sharepoint but... one the way to overcome the saving onto the network and then uploading into Moodle is to make the moodledata directory accessible by a network drive. There needs to be some background work done in terms of permissions and allowing the right staff to access the right folders and creating the shortcuts. Teachers can access their work directly from the drive and update in situ with changes reflected in their Moodle files as long as they are working inside your LAN. Any work done from outside the LAN will need to use the usual moodle file upload mechanism.
Purists may squawk, but teachers will find placing materials painless.
Hope all goes well with Sharepoint!
Ken
Thats a good idea thanks, I never thought of that. I'll bring it up at our next planning meeting.
In reply to Diane Salamone
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Alastair Hole -
We have some level of integration between Moodle and Sharepoint.
The main areas are the WebParts we have developed, one example being a WebPart that shows students all their due assignments; another part listing links to all the courses they are enroled on. Also we have used the auth/ntlm module to allow single sign-on / auto-login.
This is achieved by contacting the Moodle (MySQL) database directly with the MySqlDataAdapter for .NET
I would be happy to share code snippets and discuss further the techniques we have used and the features we have implemented, just let me know.
The main areas are the WebParts we have developed, one example being a WebPart that shows students all their due assignments; another part listing links to all the courses they are enroled on. Also we have used the auth/ntlm module to allow single sign-on / auto-login.
This is achieved by contacting the Moodle (MySQL) database directly with the MySqlDataAdapter for .NET
I would be happy to share code snippets and discuss further the techniques we have used and the features we have implemented, just let me know.
Alastair
I would be interested to see what you have done. We are not using Sharepoint here at the moment but we are considering it as part of a replacement for our Intranet now that Moodle is taking the non administrative stuff away. Any way to integrate waht we have or will have is worth knowing about IMHO.
Regards
Steve
The quickest way is probably a screenshot of my sharepoint demo site
Here we can see the following parts:
Here we can see the following parts:
- Course Create
Allows staff to create a skeleton topic course with one click. - Course Enrol
Allows staff to enrol students on Moodle courses by searching the college MIS enrolment database - Assignments
Shows students all assignments due for the courses they are enroled on (with links back to Moodle) - Moodle Courses
Simply displays a link for every course the user is enroled on (or teaches on in the case of staff/lecturers) This webpart also displays the users Moodle avatar, which is a nice link into their profile page.
Alastair
Thank you for this. I will keep this to hand and if it is OK with you I might get back should we take SharePoint further.
Steve
Sure thing, just let me know
How do i get moodle to look like this?
In reply to Alastair Hole
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Marcel Verberkt -
Hi Alastair,
I seem to be almost there, but how did you achieve the AD/Sharepoint user to be recognized by the Webservice and therefore get personal Moodle info in the Webpart.
We run W2k3 with MSSQL2005 and SPS2007
Moodle 1.8 on MySQL
With that the MSOffice integration will work also..?
Thanks and regards,
Marcel
I seem to be almost there, but how did you achieve the AD/Sharepoint user to be recognized by the Webservice and therefore get personal Moodle info in the Webpart.
We run W2k3 with MSSQL2005 and SPS2007
Moodle 1.8 on MySQL
With that the MSOffice integration will work also..?
Thanks and regards,
Marcel
Dear Alastair
I am about to inherit a situation where staff have been using sharepoint extensively and there is quite a large history of its useage in the establishment. However, I have been using Moodle and am very happy with it. I would love to see and feel some live material where the 2 are integrated. I dont know if you are still able to help me (or anyone else) but if you could contact me at emailaddress:clareardmayle@gmail.com that would be much appreciated
Many thanks
Clare
In reply to Alastair Hole
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Matt Campbell -
I'm also very interested in what you've done and looking at your code snippets. We use Sharepoint as a CMS for our employees and Moodle as an LMS for our students and for Professional Development. I don't know if we'll want to introduce Sharepoint to our students, but a Sharepoint-Moodle hook on the professional development side might be a good project to look into.
Thanks,
Matt
Thanks,
Matt
Another vote of interest here. What we are looking at doing is letting SharePoint handle the intranet and act as a file store/share, and let Moodle do what Moodle does. The integration we'd like to see is getting Moodle to change it's document upload to put the documents in to the SharePoint database and provide a link back for linking. A document manually put into SharePoint and linked to from Moodle seems to work fine on first investigation, but stream-lining that process so it can be done just from Moodle is the aim.
Hi All,
Just to update you on the situation with the webparts, I have learnt that Microsoft had arranged for some to be developed but they are yet to be realeased. I believe they are to be GPL, which is great news.
I don't think they've been officially released, I received copies from Mark A'Bear <mark.abear@microsoft.com>
http://communities.becta.org.uk/WebX?128@683.JdU9aiIZI6M.6@.3c3faae9
So I will have a more thorough look at these, as it may be that I switch development to use these if they are more complete than what we already have.
Just to update you on the situation with the webparts, I have learnt that Microsoft had arranged for some to be developed but they are yet to be realeased. I believe they are to be GPL, which is great news.
I don't think they've been officially released, I received copies from Mark A'Bear <mark.abear@microsoft.com>
http://communities.becta.org.uk/WebX?128@683.JdU9aiIZI6M.6@.3c3faae9
So I will have a more thorough look at these, as it may be that I switch development to use these if they are more complete than what we already have.
Hello Alastair,
We are already using Moodle, while our Network Services/MIS manager is investigating SharePoint for use as a Portal. Have you tried the Microsoft-developed web parts and if so how have you found them?
It would be very interesting to know how it works from an end-user point of view.
Clare Smith
Salford College
We are already using Moodle, while our Network Services/MIS manager is investigating SharePoint for use as a Portal. Have you tried the Microsoft-developed web parts and if so how have you found them?
It would be very interesting to know how it works from an end-user point of view.
Clare Smith
Salford College
Done!
SharePoint 2003 web parts for Moodle 1.7 are now available. 
Go to http://www.codeplex.com/Moodle2003WP to get them.
SharePoint 2007 web parts may be available in Q1 2007.
Thanks,
--Mike [MSFT]
In reply to Mike Hines
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Martin Dougiamas -
Excellent, Mike, thanks!
I'm pretty sure it's the same code, but just in case it isn't I'm uploading a full copy of the Sharepoint stuff that was sent to me on DVD into Moodle CVS (it includes source)
cvs:/contrib/tools/sharepoint/
I've not tried it at all but I hope others may find it useful. I'm happy to delete this copy if there's going to be active development on codeplex instead.
I'm pretty sure it's the same code, but just in case it isn't I'm uploading a full copy of the Sharepoint stuff that was sent to me on DVD into Moodle CVS (it includes source)
cvs:/contrib/tools/sharepoint/
I've not tried it at all but I hope others may find it useful. I'm happy to delete this copy if there's going to be active development on codeplex instead.
In reply to Mike Hines
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Jean-Francois Dube -
Let me known when it is ready ... (SharePoint 2007 web parts for Moodle 1.7) I'm even ready to test it if you whant..
-= JeF =-
In reply to Jean-Francois Dube
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Kaye Taullie -
I work in Denver Public Schools and have setup a server with Moodle 1.9+ for the first time. Now I need to proove proof of concept to administrators to provide feedback and simplisity of use. We train the admin staff in the District (all staff except teachers), 4000 est. We are starting with the training department to pilot 1 class in Moodle 1.9+.
My problem is we are rolling out SharePoint 2007 in June 09 and I need to show the value of using Moodle, after all this hard work from within SharePoint 2007. Admin staff want to see it working from within SharePoint without a 2nd Moodle login. All the group rights will be maintained via SharePoint. So, the user information would be filled in by SharePoint sl we would know who is taking the quizzes for certification. We are also rollin out a Teacher Portal very soon for 5000 teachers to access via SharePoint. I need to know how to get the single login soon.
Does anyone know if I need a web part for Moodle? Is it possible to have a user login into SharePoint once and then link them to the course? so they doen't have to login again?
In reply to Kaye Taullie
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Chris Williams -
Any news on Sharepoint 2007 webparts?
HI there
I have just been given a link to this forum by a colleague. I have been interested in the Moodle/SharePoint possibilities for some time. I read with particular interest Colin's posting from Jan 17 and agree with his assessment of some of the pros and cons.
I am currently in a distance education school and we are bringing Moodle onboard for our online learning platform in conjunction with Centra which is used for "live classes" . My immediate past experience was in providing online services including SharePoint portal server/ wokspaces to all schools (about 200) in our system.
I can share this from my experience:
Teachers find SharePoint very easy to use. We were interested in the question of to what extent an environment like SharePoint could act as a learning platform for students and teachers, and at what point (if any) it did not shape up. Our conclusion was that SharePoint has particular strength in the organising and management of knowledge, but when it comes to actually learning online, its collection of communication and collaboration tools is simply not appropriate - in quantity and quality. So, to simply "make stuff available in an organised way", SharePoint is fantastic. But to "do a learning program online with rich communication and collaboration", it is pretty clunky and just not really designed for the task.
I could go on at some length about the SharePoint discussion forum tool - it is just not friendly. Even things like "save and close" as the prompt for what is really "post message". I am wondering whether blogs and wikis in SP may be similarly vexed.
It is really interesting to see that blogs and wikis are coming on board. We are clearly in a state of convergence to a certain degree.
Just this morning, I was on the receiving end of a demo of the latest version of Scholaris Learning Gateway, by Solutions IT - they have developed Microsoft's learning code in the SharePoint environment and produced a terrific interface for schools to use.
At the moment I can see that we could use something like Scholaris to organise and track a student's program including pastoral care info etc AND Moodle for the actual learning environment.
It will be very interesting to see how things develop.
Janine
On the installation guide on codeplex it says MySQL 5.2.0 is required. But apparently this version has only been released as an aplha test at the moment. Can someone clarify this? Seems very strange to require a version that hasn't been released yet.
http://download.codeplex.com/Project/Download/FileDownload.aspx?ProjectName=Moodle2003WP&DownloadId=11790&FileTime=128230914820730000&Build=16187
http://download.codeplex.com/Project/Download/FileDownload.aspx?ProjectName=Moodle2003WP&DownloadId=11790&FileTime=128230914820730000&Build=16187
In reply to Diane Salamone
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by Richard van Iwaarden -
I got curious about Moodle - Sharepoint integration, but I am a Sharepoint noob. I got this link from Microsoft:
http://moodle2003wp.codeplex.com/
Is there a demo or presentation online somewhere that I can watch? What exactly does the integration, how is it used and waht are the benefits of combining sharepoint and moodle.
To bad the screenshot posted in this topic by Alastair Hole doesn't work anymore...
In reply to Richard van Iwaarden
Re: Windows server: Moodle Intergration with Sharepoint
by disha shah -
Hey All
I found as this site very good.I need some suggestions and advices as soon as poosible.I need to integrate Sharepoint 2007 and Moodle but not with MySQL , with SQL Server 2005. Can any one give me some references or steps that I need to follow to integrate them.
Thanks in advance.