Hello,
I have been working with The Linux Box
and Luther College and we have made (in our opinion) good progress on a converter to turn
Blackboard 5.5 IMS 1.1 course exports into Moodle 1.4 exports. This
was announced and made available in a Blackboard related thread:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=6851&parent=66734
I would like to probe people's interests regarding integrating the conversion of Blackboard exports with the Moodle restore interface.
Should they be integrated?
Should it be transparent or should there be conversion related controls?
Should it be a separate module?
Do people only care about Blackboard 6?
Etc.
Thanks,
Ziba
You would be a popular guy if you did this. I'm interested.
Should they be integrated? How so?
Should it be transparent or should there be conversion related controls? I would vote simplicity, so as transparent as possible.
Should it be a separate module? What are the options? Would a simple restore place activities into a course using existing Moodle modules, or would this be something like a Scorm restore?
Do people only care about Blackboard 6? Lots of v5.5 stuff out there I imagine, with people wanting to migrate to Moodle.
Should they be integrated? How so?
Should it be transparent or should there be conversion related controls? I would vote simplicity, so as transparent as possible.
Should it be a separate module? What are the options? Would a simple restore place activities into a course using existing Moodle modules, or would this be something like a Scorm restore?
Do people only care about Blackboard 6? Lots of v5.5 stuff out there I imagine, with people wanting to migrate to Moodle.
I've always dreamed of popularity!
Currently, the project maps many Blackboard sections such as Course Documents, Assignments, and Books to Moodle topics. It also creates a topic for each subfolder, but only for the first subfolder. For other Blackboard folders it places the content in the topic of its parent folder and uses indention. So far it creates files resources, text resources, labels, and forums.
Here are two examples of "integration" ideas so far:
1) Include a new interface like the ones I've made available on the Luther and Linux Box web pages. They are simple browse/upload forms that take a Bb zip file and immediately return a moodle zip file. (Please try them! They work! I'm eager for feedback!) This could perhaps be a separate module.
2) Upload a blackboard backup like any other restore file. When a restore is requested run a detection on the zip file to discover if it is a Bb file, convert it, and proceed with the restore.
Currently, the project maps many Blackboard sections such as Course Documents, Assignments, and Books to Moodle topics. It also creates a topic for each subfolder, but only for the first subfolder. For other Blackboard folders it places the content in the topic of its parent folder and uses indention. So far it creates files resources, text resources, labels, and forums.
Here are two examples of "integration" ideas so far:
1) Include a new interface like the ones I've made available on the Luther and Linux Box web pages. They are simple browse/upload forms that take a Bb zip file and immediately return a moodle zip file. (Please try them! They work! I'm eager for feedback!) This could perhaps be a separate module.
2) Upload a blackboard backup like any other restore file. When a restore is requested run a detection on the zip file to discover if it is a Bb file, convert it, and proceed with the restore.
Ziba,
I have a few files a client sent me but I think they are BB6. Can you look at them? They didn't seem to convert properly at LinuxBox.
I have a few files a client sent me but I think they are BB6. Can you look at them? They didn't seem to convert properly at LinuxBox.
Bryan,
I know that BB6 won't work right now. I'd be happy to look at your files and see if I can't improve that. Go ahead and email the address in my profile.
I know that BB6 won't work right now. I'd be happy to look at your files and see if I can't improve that. Go ahead and email the address in my profile.
Ok! After a day spent poking at your Blackboard 6 files I have some interesting results. The converter will successfully create topics and copy most of the text entries into moodle. It will also import file for SOME Bb6 export files. It is not as complete as the 5.5 conversion, but certainly worth checking out for anyone interested in converting courses. You can use or download (it's GPL) the newest version at The Linux Box now.
One of the more interesting things I found working with your Bb6 files, Bryan, was that they treated course files (jpgs, docs, etc.) very differently than my Bb6 files. Unfortunately, neither file set contains information about what version of IMS they are using. Do you know the complete version number of your client's Bb6 system?
While I would like to put more time into Bb 6 compatibility, it will have to take a back burner to 5.5 for the time being. The Linux Box is interested in finding sponsor(s) for further Bb 6 to Moodle conversion work.
One of the more interesting things I found working with your Bb6 files, Bryan, was that they treated course files (jpgs, docs, etc.) very differently than my Bb6 files. Unfortunately, neither file set contains information about what version of IMS they are using. Do you know the complete version number of your client's Bb6 system?
While I would like to put more time into Bb 6 compatibility, it will have to take a back burner to 5.5 for the time being. The Linux Box is interested in finding sponsor(s) for further Bb 6 to Moodle conversion work.
Tried the ArchieveFile_Composition zip and got this message:
Warning: Sablotron error on line 1: XML parser error 2: syntax error in /home/www.linuxbox.com/bb2moodle/index.php on line 146
Warning: Sablotron error on line 1: XML parser error 2: syntax error in /home/www.linuxbox.com/bb2moodle/index.php on line 146
Failed writing xml file
Sorry, I should have warned you. You will want to use a course export for now, not the archive. Your archive file has a fantastically silly thing in it (courtesy of Blackboard): All files are either xml or clearly course documents, like in an export archive. Except for one file, which has only one line of text "This resource intentionally left blank".
Bryan,
Did you ever get results with your bb6 files?
Did you ever get results with your bb6 files?
Ziba,
Yes and no. The converted file did not choke when I restored it, however the resources were not present with the file I had to work with so I'm still in the dark. I'm hoping I can lay my hands on a BB6 course complete with activity resources to try this out.
Yes and no. The converted file did not choke when I restored it, however the resources were not present with the file I had to work with so I'm still in the dark. I'm hoping I can lay my hands on a BB6 course complete with activity resources to try this out.
When I uploaded the export file you sent me (ExportFile_Composition.zip) to the converter at the Linux Box and then imported the course into Moodle it made a course with hundreds of text resources, most of which had html text inside of them.
Did you get different results? Or are you trying to test something very different than the text exports?
Did you get different results? Or are you trying to test something very different than the text exports?
If this is a BB6 archive, can you e-mail this to me so I can try the converter.
Thanks,
Bryan
Thanks,
Bryan
whats about BB 5.5?
power on moodle
The focus of development so far has been on BB 5.5. What version of Blackboard are you testing with?
Hi Ziba,
your work is creating a lot of expectation (at least for me!!). I really think that your "2nd example of integration" is really good. Any moodler will press, simply, the restore button and, if the file is supported (Moodle Backup (MB) format or BB format) it will start. Very transparent, usable and expandable in the future...
The restore process include a pre_check step, where the file is unzipped, copied to the temp directory and it's checked to be a valid "MB" file. There, is where you can include your checks too and to launch your conversion instead...
Ciao
your work is creating a lot of expectation (at least for me!!). I really think that your "2nd example of integration" is really good. Any moodler will press, simply, the restore button and, if the file is supported (Moodle Backup (MB) format or BB format) it will start. Very transparent, usable and expandable in the future...
The restore process include a pre_check step, where the file is unzipped, copied to the temp directory and it's checked to be a valid "MB" file. There, is where you can include your checks too and to launch your conversion instead...
Ciao
There was a design for subsections in Moodle but it did not make it in the mainstream.. but I prefer your intend solution, it is more elegant and keeps the view for the user more simple, complements.
(And I use subfolder in another way: The section contains the current topic and I paste a subsection in this section if the content of that section is a set of - a little off topic - support tasks.)
Thanks for the feedback and enthusiasm!
I have a test implementation of transparent blackboard course conversion which allows you to treat a Blackboard export as if it were a Moodle export. It is NOT complete, especially Blackboard 6, but it can produce quite usable results.
I inserted one clause in restore_precheck.html just before it checks for a valid moodle export. This clause detects and converts blackboard exports so that when the next clause in restore_precheck is triggered, it finds a valid moodle export.
I've tested with Moodle 1.4.1 and CVS. You can grab it from here.
It is a tar file that should be extracted in your moodle's main directory (always backup your files!). It will overwrite files in the backup directory and create a backup/blackboard directory.
I welcome feedback and better/other implementation ideas. And code too!
Thanks.
I have a test implementation of transparent blackboard course conversion which allows you to treat a Blackboard export as if it were a Moodle export. It is NOT complete, especially Blackboard 6, but it can produce quite usable results.
I inserted one clause in restore_precheck.html just before it checks for a valid moodle export. This clause detects and converts blackboard exports so that when the next clause in restore_precheck is triggered, it finds a valid moodle export.
I've tested with Moodle 1.4.1 and CVS. You can grab it from here.
It is a tar file that should be extracted in your moodle's main directory (always backup your files!). It will overwrite files in the backup directory and create a backup/blackboard directory.
I welcome feedback and better/other implementation ideas. And code too!
Thanks.
Hi,
i tried, but i have got following error
Running on W3K, IIS, php 5.02 XSL uncommented |
power on moodle
Is xslt enabled in your php? It looks like there are some tricks to getting it work in windows. http://us2.php.net/manual/en/ref.xslt.php
There may also be complications with php 5.02 that I'm unaware of.
There may also be complications with php 5.02 that I'm unaware of.
Hi,
restoring a online converted bb.zip works. But no forums are restored.
I also have a Problem with files which where uploaded as Zip-files with option - unzip file - while uploading on Blackboard. ex. Zip files with Hot-Potatoes HTML files. Some of them are not working. I did not try exames.
But perspective is great.
power on moodle and moodle becomes the BEST
I converted a Blackboard 5.5 export from one of my textbooks from Course Technology at the Luther College site, got the .zip file back. Went into Moodle and restored the file. As it was restoring I saw it creating everything, then said it was done.
Went into the course it had created, nothing was there except the course title, no content, etc.. Did I do something wrong???
Thanks
Tom
Went into the course it had created, nothing was there except the course title, no content, etc.. Did I do something wrong???
Thanks
Tom
Curious. It sounds like you took the right steps. If you are comfortable doing so, you may email me the Blackboard course export for me to debug. Otherwise you might look at the database with an application such as phpmyadmin and see if any data did actually make it into the database.