Moodle in English: Enhanced forum features for CSCL

Related to the relation showed at Mini-Maxi MoodleMot in Rome on 13/6, we here make available a paper (to be published in Je-LKS - Journal of e-Learning and Knowledge Society, www.Je-lks.it)

Our work, under the research project "New technologies for lifelong learning and networks in the italian socio-economic system" with a number of italian universities, is directed to obtain a greater integration between the CSCL (Computer Supported Collaborative Learning) world and Moodle.

We first tried to detect the most important features required and now we are working for implementing those not already available in Moodle as additional modules (the first pieces of code are to be released very soon).

As you can read, the most significant proposals of new features are related to the forum module, so we choose to post our work in this thematic forum.

The full paper is downloadable from http://guendalin.itd.ge.cnr.it/documenti/moodle_CSCL.pdf

Of course, we very well welcome any comments or queries you may have!

Antonio Fini
LTE - Educational Technology Laboratory - Università di Firenze - Italy

Full Project site: http://guendalin.itd.ge.cnr.it

評比平均分數：Useful (1)

Re: Enhanced forum features for CSCL

由Mike Churchward發表於2005年 06月 21日(週二) 22:00

Hi Antonio -

This sounds exciting. You mention that you will release code soon. Where are you in the development process? Can you share your design documents?

mike

評比平均分數： -

Re: Enhanced forum features for CSCL

由Antonio Fini發表於2005年 06月 23日(週四) 18:30

Mike, thank you for your interest.

Just little patience

In few days we are going to release a beta of the first module, including the "forum plus" features (thinking types, collapse-expand, readings trackings, advanced search..) and related docs.

Stay tuned..

anto

評比平均分數： -

Re: Enhanced forum features for CSCL

由Don Hinkelman發表於2005年 06月 21日(週二) 23:46

Dear Antonio,

Great to see you have been so busy working on the future of Moodle. I briefly scanned your paper and really like the directions you propose. As you know, in the LD Book Study, we recently completed a group document, and let me tell you, it was soooo hard. dead

All seven of us are exasperated.

The forum is a great tool, and Moodle has the best kind of forums that I have worked with, but they are so clumsy for making summaries of book chapters and doing corporate writing. The wiki was just as difficult for various reasons (hopefully the new wiki will improve this?)

Here are some ideas we came up with. Maybe you have covered these already in your paper, or maybe some can add to it.

wiki-forums: a group editable document on half the screen, and a forum commenting on it, on the other half
poll-forums: combined poll and forum, like in phpBB. Answer the poll, then give your reasons or comments
moderater-edited forums: where a moderator can build and re-edit the initial posting, as input comes in through comments
summarisable forums: a way to summarise the various postings in forum
sticky-forums: an important topic can be designated "sticky", so it sticks to the beginning of the topic list.
group document building tool: something that can handle longer documents (more than 2000 words)
color highlighter mode for editing: simple like in MS Word

In general, I imagine the development strategy would be to create a variety of forum types. I don't know if these would be separate activity modules or just configuration options on the current forum module.

評比平均分數：Useful (1)

Re: Enhanced forum features for CSCL

由Antonio Fini發表於2005年 06月 23日(週四) 20:40

Hi Don,

I know very well your excellent work on LD Book Study course, that I attended mostly as a..lurker I regret for not being able to much more collaborate.

Really, collaboratively writing a text is a hard task. However, in our courses and in our work, we are trying to focus more on a methodology than on tools. For example, we found that thinking types can help to create a structure in the discussion and also to assign a "role" to single posts. So, messages can be seen as "oriented to ...something". Users are fostered to reflect in advance on the "sense" of their contributions. Moreover, using explicit roles for users can help to assign responsabilities, for example in the synthesis phase the coordinator is in charge of summarize and head to the final goal.
Of course, we need also effective TOOLS!
Our work is a first step and your suggestions are very impressive, specially considering that they are coming from a person with strong field experience on these issues!!
I'm afraid there is still a lot of work ..TO BE DONE!

評比平均分數： -

Re: Enhanced forum features for CSCL

由Silvana Pirruccello發表於2005年 07月 2日(週六) 03:27

I'm happy to know that we are going to have some good methodological tools to enhance the forum.

I've been using it with the attept to mix some suggestions from Morin and Bono, something between the thinking hats and the thought labels.

It worked in my blended courses...

Silvana

評比平均分數： -

Re: Enhanced forum features for CSCL

由Gustav W Delius發表於2005年 07月 2日(週六) 17:20

Enhancements to the forum module would be very welcome, see for example the discussion of enhancements that would allow classification of forum discussions which would not only be interesting in an educational environment but also for collaboration, e.g., for use as an issue tracker.

評比平均分數： -

Add-on module "Forum Plus"

由Antonio Fini發表於2005年 09月 3日(週六) 22:06

Better late than ever!

At last, we are ready: in attachment you can find the first add-on module, named "Forum Plus". It provides enhancements to the Moodle standard Forum to improve collaborative working and learning.

It can be installed over 1.4.x or 1.5 versions of Moodle and comes with English and Italian language pack.
Please read the enclosed "Technical Notes" for details and installation hints.

We are waiting for comments and suggestions!

Cheers!!

Antonio Fini
LTE - Educational Technology Laboratory - Università di Firenze - Italy

Full Project site: http://guendalin.itd.ge.cnr.it

forumplus.zip

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus"

由Antonio Fini發表於2006年 05月 29日(週一) 16:24

A new release of Forum Plus module, including Planner and Reflection Board additional features, is available from Modules and plugins in the main moodle.org site.

Antonio Fini
LTE - Educational Technology Laboratory - Università di Firenze - Italy

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus"

由Stefania Spina發表於2006年 06月 21日(週三) 15:46

Has anybody already tried Forum plus with Moodle 1.6? The installation seems to fail...
Thank you for your help

Stefania Spina
Università per Stranieri - Perugia

評比平均分數： -

Me, too.

由Mark Penny發表於2006年 06月 22日(週四) 13:15

I've been having trouble, too. I've managed to install, and I can even insert a Forum Plus forum, but when I go to add a discussion, I get an error. When I check the error log, I see problems with a number of files, all php, and all because they are writable by others.

There are also some missing files: 500.shtml and 404.shtml.

It's all Italian to me.

Speaking of which, I haven't been able to find any technical notes in English, have you?

評比平均分數： -

Re: Me, too.

由Antonio Fini發表於2006年 06月 22日(週四) 18:17

Here some technical notes in English, even if not very up to date...only an introduction.
About your problems, in which Moodle version are you trying to install?
anto

Forum_Plus_1.0_technical_reference.pdf

評比平均分數： -

Once more into the breach

由Mark Penny發表於2006年 08月 20日(週日) 19:11

Long time, no see, Antonio.

I'm using 1.5.4. A PHP 5.0.5 issue keeps me from upgrading to 1.6.

I've just tried installing Forum Plus again today. Still won't let me do anything but stick a forum into a course.

Here are the errors from the server error log. The Moodle installation reported no errors.

[2006-08-20 06:04:43]: error: file is writable by others: (/home/targetei/public_html/courseportal/mod/forumtt/view.php)
[2006-08-20 06:04:27]: error: file is writable by others: (/home/targetei/public_html/courseportal/mod/forumtt/view.php)
[2006-08-20 06:04:12]: error: file is writable by others: (/home/targetei/public_html/courseportal/mod/forumtt/index.php)
[2006-08-20 06:03:06]: error: file is writable by others: (/home/targetei/public_html/courseportal/mod/forumtt/ttset.php)
[2006-08-20 06:02:38]: error: file is writable by others: (/home/targetei/public_html/courseportal/mod/forumtt/view.php)

[Sun Aug 20 06:04:43 2006] [error] Premature end of script headers: /home/targetei/public_html/courseportal/mod/forumtt/view.php

Permissions for all files in the forumtt root are set at 0666. Permissions for all folders in the forumtt root are set at 777.

According to the installation report, everything installed successfully, even though I uploaded to and unzipped in the mod folder rather than the root directory. I moved all files to their assigned locations.

評比平均分數： -

And yet again once more into the breach

由Mark Penny發表於2006年 08月 20日(週日) 19:47

Tried uploading into the root. Accidentally moved the unzipped folder to blocks, but moved it back to the root and then to mod. Same results.

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus"

由Antonio Fini發表於2006年 06月 22日(週四) 18:14

Sorry, but at present Forum Plus is not yet compatible with 1.6. It works well with 1.4 thru 1.5.x.
Antonio

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus"

由Don Hinkelman發表於2006年 06月 23日(週五) 05:21

Eagerly awaiting the next edition of "Forum Plus". big grin

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus"

由marco farfan發表於2006年 08月 24日(週四) 15:37

Hi Antonio, i just like to ask you if you can tell me how can I print your interesting paper

Introductory paper on Forum Plus (English) on http://62.149.230.165/moodle/course/view.php?id=9&username=guest.
It seems that this file is procted.
Also i like to know if when do you expect to get ready the new version of Forum Plus for Moodle 1.6
thanks in advance
Marco

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus"

由Antonio Fini發表於2006年 08月 25日(週五) 17:49

Dear Marco, I checked the PDF but it appears to be good..Anyhow I attach a fresh copy to this post...
About the 1.6 version, I hope we have soon news on further development..you know, it was into a public research project ...

FIRB_project_for_Moodle.pdf

評比平均分數： -

Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Antonio Fini發表於2006年 09月 29日(週五) 20:46

A new version of Forum Plus for Moodle 1.6.x is now available! Additional info (mostly in Italian) here.

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Jim McGregor發表於2006年 10月 11日(週三) 04:07

Thanks for this Antonio, we have some users keen to make use of this.

However the [planner] section has been left out of the English version of lang/en/forumtt.php. We have been enterprising and done our best to produce the attached (with some help from Babel Fish), but some of it is still pretty clunky-looking. Is there someone there who could improve on it?
Grazie molto!

forumtt_php.txt

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Alain Lasserre發表於2006年 10月 20日(週五) 22:28

Hi Antonio,

i just installed the Forum Plus packacke on my 1.63 moodle.
Installation finished with no error.

Under activities i found modulname but no "Forum Plus".

I copied also the language files to ../lang/en_utf8, but no result.

Can someone tell me what i am doing wrong ?

Best reagrds
Alain

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Jim McGregor發表於2006年 11月 2日(週四) 07:38

Hi Alain,

Entries in double brackets have a language translation problem. See my post above about a missing section in the php files, I think this is likely the problem

Ciao

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Luke MacKinney發表於2006年 11月 3日(週五) 03:13

I'm having the exact same problem, anyone have a clue when a fix will be released? Or are we supposed to replace the file with the one you created Jim?

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Jim McGregor發表於2006年 11月 3日(週五) 04:20

What I've posted is only our best attempt at a translation. My Italian knowledge extends to music terms and 'cappuccino'. It's not the whole file, just paste the contents into the appropriate php files. Otherwise we're waiting for anybody who can to improve them...

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Luke MacKinney發表於2006年 11月 3日(週五) 08:48

But does it work to replace it with your file?

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Jim McGregor發表於2006年 11月 6日(週一) 06:48

Absolutely not.

My txt file is just a convenient way of posting our attempted translation here - it is additional translations to the original php file.

You have to open lang/en-utf8/forumtt-rule_forum.php and replace the line beginning "$string['info'] = " with the first bit from the txt file.

Then open lang/en-utf8/forumtt.php and paste in the rest into the [PLANNER] section.

評比平均分數： -

Re: Add-on module "Forum Plus" now available for Moodle 1.6.x

由Juvenal Sahiri發表於2007年 01月 3日(週三) 04:48

Hi Antonio,
Installed Forum Plus on Moodle 1.7 after inserting the additional text (planner etc) in the relevant forumtt files for the english file with no problem.

I still have to play around with the concepts of collaboration that make forum plus unique.

I ran into one problem though: when I attach a file (using the browse button at the bottom of the html editor or using the html editor add image or file functions, I don't see the file attached or the image.

These Browse button work for the moodle regular forum. How is one supposed to attach a file to a forum posting?
Thanks
Juvenal

評比平均分數： -

"Forum Plus" Stats, Reflection Board and Search problem

由David Banach發表於2007年 01月 28日(週日) 03:52

I've installed this module for 1.6 and it seems to work fine.

I love the extra capabilities it has.

The show history function does not work nor do any of the search functions or the user histories onthe Reflection board.

WhenI turn on Php errors I get the following error:

Notice: Undefined variable: etre in /home/moodle/mod/forumtt/lib.php on line 1901
Seminar 2: F 1/19

David Banach

Notice: Undefined variable: etre in /home/moodle/mod/forumtt/lib.php on line 1918

Has anyone run into these types of problems.

I love this module and it would be gret to be able to use all the features!

David

評比平均分數： -

Re: "Forum Plus" Stats, Reflection Board and Search problem

由Antonio Fini發表於2007年 02月 10日(週六) 02:44

David, in attachment to this post you can find the fixes for this error, for both 1.6 and 1.7 versions.
Sorry for the delay ..
Antonio

fixes16_17.zip

評比平均分數： -

Re: "Forum Plus" Stats, Reflection Board and Search problem

由David Banach發表於2007年 02月 10日(週六) 06:56

Hi Antonio

Thanks for the reply!

The individual messages now load without error when viewing the new discuss.php file, but, unfortunately after uploading the new discuss.php file. I still get the undefined variable error for etre

Notice: Undefined variable: etre in /moodle/course/mod/forumtt/lib.php on line 1901
Seminar 4: F 2/9

David Banach

Notice: Undefined variable: etre in /home/dbanach/public_html/course/mod/forumtt/lib.php on line 1918

when viewing the
moodle/course/mod/forumtt/view.php file

I also get a undefined variable error on the search.php page

Notice: Undefined variable: th in /home/dbanach/public_html/course/mod/forumtt/search.php on line 93

And I also get the following MYSQL error

SELECT * FROM mdl_forumtt_discussions WHERE forum = '2' LIMIT 100

Found more than one record in get_record_sql !

When I view/moodle/course/mod/forumtt/index.php

I get a series of errors like this one:

Unknown column 'forumtt' in 'where clause'

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM mdl_forumtt_discussions WHERE forumtt = '1'

Thank you for your help.

Again, this module is working very well in my classes and I hope to be able to use all its features!

David

評比平均分數： -

Re: "Forum Plus" Stats, Reflection Board and Search problem

由Antonio Fini發表於2007年 02月 12日(週一) 22:50

David, here you find a postfix that I hope can correct your problem.
It has been tested only on Moodle 1.7 but it should work on 1.6 too..
On 1.6 and 1.7 there are still problems with search... we are trying to fix them.
This patch should fix the download problem reported by Juvenal Sahiri too.
All the best!
Antonio

postfix_17.zip

評比平均分數： -

Re: "Forum Plus" Stats, Reflection Board and Search problem

由Jay Sherman發表於2007年 07月 3日(週二) 21:44

I've had a lot of problems with forums plus. One of the big bugs is that it will not show me the amount of discussions in each forum. It shows the number under discussions (next to "Subscribe") yet their are postings in the forums. How do I fix this?

評比平均分數： -

Re: "Forum Plus" Stats, Reflection Board and Search problem

由Roland vanOostveen發表於2009年 04月 12日(週日) 01:54

Is your group continuing the development of this module? I am currently running Knowledge Forum v. 4.7 as a separate platform for my courses but I'd love to include it's type of functionality as a module into Moodle v. 1.8/1.9 that we are also currently running. As far as I can tell, Forum Plus was the closest to this type of implementation.

評比平均分數： -