Google Drive Repository questions - why not just link?

Google Drive Repository questions - why not just link?

by Melissa Benson -
Number of replies: 6

Who all uses the Google Drive repository in their Moodle file picker? I'm thinking of disabling it because I don't know if that is the best practice.

Moodle grabs a copy of the Google Doc and uploads it into Moodle, right? So..if the doc is modified in Google Drive...it's not synced and therefore out of date. Sure, if you know that it will never change it's convenient but our staff (and most users I'd think) use Google Docs collaboratively or change it at least once or twice a year.

It might be more beneficial to train staff to simply link to the doc..takes up less space on the Moodle server, synced to docs, one copy....On that note why hasn't anyone created a repository integration with Google Drive that does just that? Why not be able to simply LINK to the Google Doc instead of grabbing a copy of the google doc? Why can't it work the same way, except it copies the URL and makes a link?

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In reply to Melissa Benson

Re: Google Drive Repository questions - why not just link?

by Rob Johnson -

My teachers use both approaches depending on the intended use.  If a teacher posts a Google Doc as a course resource, they link or embed.  That allows them to edit the doc on Gdrive and the version will always be current in Moodle.  The doc owner needs to change visibility to "Anyone with the link can view."  For embed code, the owner needs to publish the doc to the web.

Most of my teachers use the repository for assignment submissions.  They want a snapshot of the doc as it was at the time of the due date.  The file picker submission gives them that.

My site is still using the 2.4 branch.  I have seen posts here indicating that later versions of the Gdrive repository have a linking option too.  Perhaps another moodler will verify.

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In reply to Rob Johnson

Re: Google Drive Repository questions - why not just link?

by Melissa Benson -

Thanks for your feedback, Rob! I was coming from a teacher view and if teachers use it to post materials and not so much the students handing in things. This is a good point that I should consider.

A linking option too? Wow, I have not heard about this...can anyone else verify? Looks like I need to look into this today with our 2.6 version.

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In reply to Melissa Benson

Re: Google Drive Repository questions - why not just link?

by Bob Puffer -

This isn't as easy as it sounds if the owner of the Google doc doesn't want it shared worldwide. Permissions is the basic barrier in a tight integration. We've created one that handles all the course permissions for Google docs shared to the course behind the scenes. Its a lot of code but its worked for us for the past two+ years.

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In reply to Bob Puffer

Re: Google Drive Repository questions - why not just link?

by Melissa Benson -

Bob, is it a custom module that you're using?

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In reply to Melissa Benson

Re: Google Drive Repository questions - why not just link?

by Bob Puffer -

Yes, I wrote a repo, mod and block to give access to Google Apps for education and only link to the docs, etc. Permissions are maintained in the background using Google's API. http://github.com/bobpuffer

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In reply to Bob Puffer

Re: Google Drive Repository questions - why not just link?

by Rosario Carcò -

Bob ? Good to see that you are still with Moodle... I am too, despite the fact that two years ago our server was outsourced... so actually I work in my spare time. You remember I wanted to use a windows-share where Access-Rights for teachers and students would already have been in place. The only problem was the same discussed here and elsewhere, i.e. how to make Moodle use and respect these same access-rights at its level and a level below that, how make the linux server do the same.

We would have to write code that retrieves the original ACLs on Active Directory Folders and Files and try to map them to Moodle at the moment a Moodle user tries to access the repository. As you probably did to control access to the Google docs.

Rosario

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