Moodle in English: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Thursday, 14 July 2005, 5:14 PM

For those of you in Further and Adult Education in the UK:

My college is developing a solution for including the NLN materials in Moodle, which involves teachers being able to browse/preview the materials and easily add them to their courses as resources. It's also easy for the admin to manage! wink

Prior to making our solution available for everyone, you're welcome to view some NLN materials in Moodle and try adding one to the course.

Link removed as test site no longer available

Any comments or suggestions for improvement would be appreciated!

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Rico Dredd - Thursday, 14 July 2005, 5:27 PM

Very impressive the NLN materials really are a pain to incorporate as provided by them. On most NLN stuff there is a 'copy shortcut' option is that what you read the link from?

How have you structured the NLN repository using their 'software' tools or your own version?

Overall well done especially for all those with access to the NLN stuff. Been holding off access for a straightforward solution like this from NLN and the Moodle crew score another point for usability.

Rico

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Thursday, 14 July 2005, 6:23 PM

Hi Rico,

Thanks for your comments.

The NLN materials repository is created simply by unzipping materials to a particular folder then a php script does the rest, including creating navigation for materials that require it (using information contained in each material's imsmanifest file).

The NLN materials repository accessed from within our demo course was created by unzipping a sample of materials downloaded from the NLN materials Content Access Tool. The folder structure is automatically preserved. However, you may organise the NLN materials differently, to suit your college, if you wish e.g. I included a folder called PE (repurposed materials). The php script reads the folder structure on the fly. If changed materials are released by the National Learning Network, then these may simply be copied to the folder, over-writing any exisiting materials.

(Did I mention that it's easy for the admin to manage? wink )

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Rico Dredd - Thursday, 14 July 2005, 6:38 PM

Easy for admin I am glad it makes a change for those managing the college Moodle site. Let us know the specs later on when you are happy with it maybe I can integrate the system for the poor lecturers wink in September. Have the materials downloaded already so kudos for this application.

Thanks a bunch (insert virtual flowers here) saves me coding big grin instead have to set-up 220 new PCs now thoughtful , unpacking imaging oh what fun. Like to keep us techies occupied while they enjoy their holidays all summer long...

Rico

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Friday, 15 July 2005, 6:07 AM

Thanks Rico (for the flowers blush ), we'll hopefully make our solution available mid-August, so you'll have time to set it up ready for September. You'll then be able to leave the lecturers adding NLN materials to their courses and go on holiday yourself! wink

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Rico Dredd - Friday, 15 July 2005, 4:05 PM

Sounds like a good idea September weather is pretty good these days but new accounts and enrolments means busiest time of year sad .

Look forward to finished product,

thanks

Rico

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Martin Dougiamas - Friday, 15 July 2005, 4:54 PM

Yes, yes, and yes. Very nice!

This is almost identical in interface to the new "Repository" resource type that we checked in today

This new Resource type will eventually support a variety of submodules for various repositories (currently we just have one) ... anyhow I'm sure it will be trivial to integrate all your NLN work into Moodle 1.6 if that's what you would like.

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Andy Diament - Friday, 15 July 2005, 5:34 PM

Interesting, Martin, I had a look at this new version and thought, should be able to handle any digital content, not just NLN.....

Dear Helen, thanks very much for this. Really impressive.

Actually, I am also incredibly impressed - I had a dream once about having a repository for NLN and a single button that would put the package into moodle, but it was way beyond me. I got as far as a couple of scripts to allow people to choose nln files from categories, to download to disk, to upload to moodle.

Observation - I tried quantum phenomena and there is a little part of it which worked in moodle 1.4 in a popup, but doesn't work in 1.5 (popup not an option, though I understand it returns in 1.6). Passed with flying colours here!

Questions:
1) Does it effectively use your own player?
2) Does it create an index page like the nln indexing tool?
3) I won't ask about tracking, but I got an error about api implementation when I tried a quiz question - are you aware of this?
4) Does the repository have to be on the same server as the moodle installation?
5) Do you have a script for unzipping and creating folders for a large number of packages? We've got pretty much the whole set here.
6) Have you shown this to the NLN team?

And finally, obviously, can I try it? Please.

All the best, Andy D

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Friday, 15 July 2005, 7:51 PM

Hi Andy,

Thanks for your kind words. However, please note that all the credit for our solution should go to Tom, a former student (who's working here during his long Cambridge Uni holidays wink ).

To answer your questions:

I'm not quite sure what you mean, however if you're referring to the navigation created for materials that require it, then yes, this is done on the fly by a php script.
No, it doesn't create a static index page - again, this is done on the fly. As NLN materials are added to the repository, they are immediately available for adding to Moodle courses.
Yes, I've found occasional errors in the materials too. With such a large number of materials designed to work in different environments, I guess it's inevitable that a few materials contain errors. If you've not done so already, please complete an NLN materials error report form. (Please don't ask about tracking... )
I don't know whether the repository has to be on the same server or not. Perhaps you can check things out and answer this question yourself...
I use WinRAR to unzip multiple files.
I've had an email from Andy Dudfield.

Finally, you're welcome to trial our solution, thanks! big grin (I've emailed you.)

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Andy Diament - Friday, 15 July 2005, 9:31 PM

Thanks for the answers and the email.

I think the error I mentioned in 3 is because they are not talking to a VLE; doesn't occur in other players, like Moodle's.

Cheers then

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Sunday, 17 July 2005, 5:32 AM

Martin, thanks for your interest and for your comments.

We'll definitely check out the new Repository resource type, as we'd really like our solution to be better integrated into Moodle. (The config is currently quite complicated! thoughtful )

"I had a look at this new version and thought, should be able to handle any digital content, not just NLN....."

Andy, you're right - the repository could handle non-NLN packages which contain imsmanifest files e.g. packages created using Reload.

Re. the error you mentioned, yes it's most likely due to the materials not actually running from within the VLE, although they appear to do so! wink However, NLN materials should work whether they're included in an intranet or in a VLE (see NLN materials FAQ Category: Intranet).

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Chris Lamb - Wednesday, 21 September 2005, 11:26 PM

I'm trying to package some files using Reload, and view them using the Object module, but it's not working. This is either because 1. there's a problem with Reload, 2. there's a problem with the Object module, or 3. I'm doing something wrong. 3 is by far the most likely, but here goes...

I'm adding some assorted test files (a .doc, a .jpg and a .pdf) in Reload, and it seems to accept them, in fact it creates the zip file containing the imsmanifest.xml and all the files. I then unzip the file and put the files in our repository folder, which I know works because we've got NLN materials in there working perfectly happily. When i then go to browse using the Object module I get two error messages:

Warning: reset(): Passed variable is not an array or object in d:\program files\easyphp1-7\www\sandpit\mod\object\ims_nav_builder.php on line 46

and

Warning: Variable passed to each() is not an array or object in d:\program files\easyphp1-7\www\sandpit\mod\object\ims_nav_builder.php on line 47

I then get the other folders in the repository listed correctly, but the last one (the one created by Reload) shows the icon but no text.

Anyone any ideas what's going wrong, please?

Chris

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Thursday, 22 September 2005, 4:28 AM

Hi Chris,

Please could you email me a sample Reload package to check out.

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Chris Lamb - Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 11:18 PM

Hi Helen,

Thanks for the corrected file you sent back - it works perfectly, so it was something I was doing wrong in Reload (I thought it would be!)

I need to experiment more with Reload to see how to work it - if all else fails I'll read the instructions... wink

Many thanks for your help.

Chris

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Andy Diament - Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 9:18 PM

Hiya Helen,

Got the config right to run everything on localhost on my laptop.
Working really nicely. In principle, I'd be happy adding it to our production server, I think I'd rather wait to see how the repository works.

Answering my own question - can it run on a different server? Not currently,
from moodle. The scripts in the nln directory (index.php, viewer.php)
have to be in a directory within the same webserver as moodle, (changing the
reference on line 38 of index.html to ../../nln/index.html) because of
the way the moodle functions invoke them and add the moodle documentroot to
them (e.g. index.php uses button_to_popup_window from weblib.php). It does
mean that different moodles on the same server could currently access the
same repository, if needed.

However, the index and viewer can work independently on a different
server, separate from moodle, if that has any use. This does mean that the
viewer is accessible by anyone stumbling across the url - do you know if that is
ok within the NLN licence? I hope I'm not suggesting too much, but it may
be worth putting the materials folder within the moodledata directory to
avoid this.

Thanks again for the chance to try it.

Andy D

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Tuesday, 2 August 2005, 11:26 PM

Hi Andy,

Many thanks for trying things out and for your feedback.

We've checked out the new repository resource type and found it to be very similar to our solution. It will be interesting to see how the repository resource type is developed, though for now it seems easiest just to use our solution. No doubt you're right Martin, in saying that it will be trivial to integrate our NLN work into Moodle 1.6.

We've also worked out how to include the materials folder within the moodle folder so that users must be logged in to access the NLN materials index and viewer.

Just working on a good installation solution now...

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Heather P - Wednesday, 19 October 2005, 10:30 PM

I'm interested in the idea of several Moodles on the one server accessing the one repository. Did you make it work?
My problem is that using apache I created the equivalent of Web root put 6 or 7 moodles into it. Each Moodle then has an entry in the apache config file for its virtual host directing them to where I installed Moodle below the route. If I put the repository at the same level as the moodles it is above where the virtual host points in the heirachy and thus I can't see how to make the relative url reach it.
I also tried putting the repository in one moodle and accessing it from another, but again ran into an issue with that relative url.
Would I have had to set this up differently in the first place and just had one overaching url to reach all the Moodles in order to get several Moodles to reach one repository or am I just missing something fundamental?
Thanks

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Thursday, 20 October 2005, 6:15 AM

Hi Heather,

Yes, we have the latest version of the Object module working so that two Moodle sites on the same server access one repository, which is at the same level as one of the moodle folders.

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Chris Lamb - Thursday, 20 October 2005, 4:01 PM

There seems to be no limit to the number of Moodles which can access the same repository - we currently have eleven, with no problems! Like Helen, I've got ours set up so they're all on the same server and the repository folder is at the same level as the Moodles, but I can't see that there'd be a problem having them at a different level - as long as the path to the repository folder is valid it should find it okay.

Regards

Chris

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Rob Englebright - Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 6:11 PM

Cracking Stuff, great to see some interesting solutions, as in my mind that was one of the key parts of the nln project... Mark Emerson has created something similar at Chelmsford, though they havn't linked in to Moodle.

(EmersonM@chelmsford-college.ac.uk)

on a usability front the only problem I had was the "browse" window was a fixed size, and thus hid the "add to course" button, from the unfamiliar user.
I wouldn't move the button though as it feels right down on the lower left...

Andy, The Round 1 and 2 materials are currently in a standardisation process, where the costs of amends are juggled against the end user benefits, we've already reviewed and prioritised the logged issues.

Also we've got a revised version of the harness tool we used for testing Round 4 materials in the pipe. It runs through everything creating a static set of indexes.. devlopment version on www.nln.ac.uk/materials/supertool

the revised version should be around in about 6 weeks? The joy of it is you just point it at a bunch of zipped LO's and it gets on with it.

Rob Englebright

Services and Communities Manager for F.E.(Not on the materials team anymore, but can't keep my nose out of it)
Becta
Millburn Hill Road
Science Park
Coventry
CV4 7JJ
07747 458121
rob.englebright@becta.org.uk
http://ferl.becta.org.uk
http://www.nln.ac.uk/materials
www.becta.org.uk

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Andy Diament - Thursday, 21 July 2005, 5:11 PM

Cheers Rob, I'll try it the new tool in the autumn. As we've got pretty much all the NLN packs in 1, I'm keen to process them in any kind of batch method.

I noticed that we were both going to be at the AOC/NILTA conference York last June - are you going to the revised one in October?

Andy D

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Andy Dudfield - Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 7:09 PM

oi! rob!

get *on* message

the supertool is not real, no, not there at all, not even a little bit

(it is great though isn't it)

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Mike Churchward - Monday, 18 July 2005, 10:07 PM

Hi Martin -

Where is the 'repository' resource type?

mike

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Shirley Crawford - Friday, 15 July 2005, 8:26 PM

Wow - wonderful well done, even our developer was impressed. Where did you get the funky icons from, they look really cool

Shirley

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Rico Dredd - Friday, 15 July 2005, 8:49 PM

Icon set available from here;

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=25908

Rico

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Sean Keogh - Monday, 18 July 2005, 10:27 PM

That's awesome Helen!

Sean K Beardie

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Heather P - Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 8:57 PM

I've only had chance to have a brief look but it looks impressive and absolutely the way to go. I'm not sure how you have got them to appear the way that they do but they do look good. Well laid out and very professional. The add a resource feature is very slick and ideal for teachers.

I can't see how I can possibly suggest improvements, it looks fantastic. approve

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 5:41 AM

Hi Heather,

Thanks for your comments. Did I mention that all the credit for our solution should go to Tom? wink Well, actually all the credit for the cool css should go to Andy (although we've still to style the NLN materials navigation according to the Moodle theme).

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Paul Andrews - Thursday, 4 August 2005, 7:01 PM

This look like just what we need too...

Nice one!

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Helen Foster - Thursday, 18 August 2005, 1:57 AM

Thanks Paul, please check the discussion New module: Object (for adding NLN materials).

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Re: NLN materials in Moodle - a solution

by Julian Ridden - Saturday, 20 August 2005, 9:37 AM

Just wanted to post a very public thanyou to Helen.

With her help over the last week we have managed to get this same repository working with Australian TLF learning objects and are now delivering these to our students and teachers in our production environment.

It is because of people like Helen that tools like Moodle move forward. By sharing their own code with the community and helping others trying to achieve the same goal, this product really is a commuity driven.

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing where you go with it.

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