Hey all,
I've been asked if it was possible to integrate Moodle with outlook, so that a person would be able to have certain assignments scheduled in their outlook calendar.
Alternatly, is there any way to emphasize to students that a particular assignment in a course that they're in is DUE or WILL BE DUE soon?
We're currently doing up an RFP for various LMSes while using Moodle as a temporary fix. What would be the cost for developing somthing like this, if it comes down to it.
While my company isn't very free with its purse strings, I'd like to offer them 2 options Moodle, or Moodle, modified to meet their needs. The second option would let us keep Moodle and also let me contribute to the community since I can't code.
Would I submit an RFP to Moodle.com once we have our requirements or what?
Thanks,
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
Sorry, I don't think it's possible to integrate Outlook in the way that you describe. Microsoft doesn't seem to design their software to integrate easily with other software.
However, Moodle itself will easily emphasise to students when assignments are due, as the assignments appear in the upcoming events block (complete with a link to the page!)
Another option in Moodle that you may consider is adding an "assignment due in 3 days" posting in the course news forum. This will automatically send an email containing the posting to all students enrolled on the course.
Sorry, I don't think it's possible to integrate Outlook in the way that you describe. Microsoft doesn't seem to design their software to integrate easily with other software.
However, Moodle itself will easily emphasise to students when assignments are due, as the assignments appear in the upcoming events block (complete with a link to the page!)
Another option in Moodle that you may consider is adding an "assignment due in 3 days" posting in the course news forum. This will automatically send an email containing the posting to all students enrolled on the course.
Ryan,
When you create an Assignment, Chat, Quiz etc. activity where there are dates applied in the activities property setup screen, these dates will automatically populate the calendar in Moodle. The Upcoming Events block displays all events on the calendar in a quick glance, so students are always appraised of significant events related to course activities when they visit their courses.
It should be possible to create a custom link within the Moodle calendar that passes information through the MS Office API to populate an Outlook calendar, though this would be a costly project. Someone familiar with MS Office Developer Solutions and an understanding of Moodle could propably do this trick for your organization. Consider contacting a Moodle Partner for help with your RFP and custom programming needs.
When you create an Assignment, Chat, Quiz etc. activity where there are dates applied in the activities property setup screen, these dates will automatically populate the calendar in Moodle. The Upcoming Events block displays all events on the calendar in a quick glance, so students are always appraised of significant events related to course activities when they visit their courses.
It should be possible to create a custom link within the Moodle calendar that passes information through the MS Office API to populate an Outlook calendar, though this would be a costly project. Someone familiar with MS Office Developer Solutions and an understanding of Moodle could propably do this trick for your organization. Consider contacting a Moodle Partner for help with your RFP and custom programming needs.
Thanks for the info! I doubt I can talk the company into a 'costly project' but I'll certainly submit the RFP for modifications to various moodle partners if it becomes a critical issue.
Hi Ryan!
Are your "folks" willing to change to an OpenSource program that is similar to MS Office?
I somehow remember someone posting some OpenSource solutions for EMail/Tasking/Schedule type programs somewhere in these forums. Now if I can just locate.......
WP1
Are your "folks" willing to change to an OpenSource program that is similar to MS Office?
I somehow remember someone posting some OpenSource solutions for EMail/Tasking/Schedule type programs somewhere in these forums. Now if I can just locate.......
WP1
Wish they were but I doubt it. Moodle is still under threat and Im still trying to make a case for it. My manager actually is considering Macromedia Breeze as an option *shudders.*
Using google I found some information on Outlook's handling of iCal and vCal files. I believe it is also possible to import a list of events in Outlook using a normal comma separated values textfile.
Looking at the other end there are already some php scripts which parse iCal or vCal files. Look at this (unfinished) Mambo patch
I suggest looking at different open source calendar or project scripts and reusing that part of the code which exports the events to iCal / vCal. That way one could export Moodle calendar's events to a whole range of applications, including Outlook. I'm sure many more users would benefit from this.
I thought http://phpicalendar.net/ had this kind of functionality but unfortunately the site is down at this time.
Looking at the other end there are already some php scripts which parse iCal or vCal files. Look at this (unfinished) Mambo patch
I suggest looking at different open source calendar or project scripts and reusing that part of the code which exports the events to iCal / vCal. That way one could export Moodle calendar's events to a whole range of applications, including Outlook. I'm sure many more users would benefit from this.
I thought http://phpicalendar.net/ had this kind of functionality but unfortunately the site is down at this time.
Interesting. Thanks!
Good catch Jan! Takes me back to the bad old days of developing applications for the Emperor's platform (before turning away from the dark side). I think it would be a nice touch to have a link in Moodle's calendar that exports iCal (.vcs) info. Thanks Ryan for raising this issue.
Hey,
It seems Andreas Calvo is already working on a 'Moodle calendar to iCal' export.
Only thing to investigate is : how good is Outlook at importing these iCal files?
It seems there remain some problems with recurring events. I don't use Outlook (plain paper, thank you) so I can't answer that one.
I would be happy to test this out with Outlook!
You could try integrating PSync/Outlook , an outlook synchronisation tool written for phprojekt. There it synchronizes contact, calendar, todo and note data in both directions. Making this work for Moodle would probably need some effort, but that should be doable (it seems to need just a SOAP interface on the server side).
If you find some money I'd love to help!
If you find some money I'd love to help!
Hannes,
How much development time would you think this might require? Do you have the skills to lead this project?
How much development time would you think this might require? Do you have the skills to lead this project?
* Skills wouldn't be the problem (having written a conference paper and a book chapter on SOAP..).
* Time: Hard to say, but a full week of work might well be necessary.
But investing some time into checking the feasability of iCal for Outlook first would be reasonable. Could anybody using outlook go try to import one of Apple's calendars?
* Time: Hard to say, but a full week of work might well be necessary.
But investing some time into checking the feasability of iCal for Outlook first would be reasonable. Could anybody using outlook go try to import one of Apple's calendars?
One of things I have on my wishlist with our current pilot/(deployment plan) - is integration with Exchange - I would like to see the calendar integrated with moodle's but also a new block for the mymoodle page that lists details about a users exchange inbox - eg you have 2 new messages etc etc.....
Dan
QUOTE
"- eg you have 2 new messages etc etc....." Dan Marsden
Oh! That would be sooooooooo cool!!
I wonder
if anybody is thinking of creating some kind of "sync" between the Moodle calendar and the calander (AddOn) in Thunderbird??? 
WP1
"- eg you have 2 new messages etc etc....." Dan Marsden
Oh! That would be sooooooooo cool!!
I wonder
if anybody is thinking of creating some kind of "sync" between the Moodle calendar and the calander (AddOn) in Thunderbird??? WP1
iCal export would mean just this (read-only first).
Dan,
