Translation of MOOC

Translation of MOOC

by Karl Randau -
Number of replies: 8

Hi, we're developing a MOOC in Moodle that will be translated into 6 other languages apart from english.

We have found three options for how to do this:

1. Create separate moodle sites for each language.

2. Create separate courses for each language on the same moodle site.

3. Somehow incorporate all languages in the same course, through some multi-language functionality. 


Number 3 has more or less been discarded unless nobody knows a good way for how to do this. Number 2 seems at the moment to be the most attractive. The problem is that it seems to me that we takes away the possibility for students using different languages to communicate with one another. For instance we were thinking about using the map plugin where all students could mark their location etc, but that would be much better if the map would incorporate all the distinct courses using different languages, instead of students only seeing students using the same language. 

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In reply to Karl Randau

Re: Translation of MOOC

by Just H -

Personally I'd go for3 using either the multi-language filter or the language restriction plugin (see bottom of the link). Most likely I'd use the latter as it looks less complicated.

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In reply to Karl Randau

Re: Translation of MOOC

by Séverin Terrier -
Documentation writers को तस्बिर Particularly helpful Moodlers को तस्बिर Testers को तस्बिर Translators को तस्बिर

Hi,

I'd go for 2!

And perhaps add a common course for all users (in all languages), but be carefull to well explain how things there should be used ; and perhaps make this course multi-language.

Séverin

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In reply to Karl Randau

Re: Translation of MOOC

by Richard Oelmann -
Core developers को तस्बिर Plugin developers को तस्बिर Testers को तस्बिर

Number 3 is exactly what we did when creating an English/Welsh MOOC

I made a minor adaptation of the multilang filter which you can find at https://github.com/roelmann/moodle-filter_multilang

and then each language can be wrapped in its own div class so that all the content can be wrapped in one go, rather than as individual span tags in the existing multilang filter. (I presented about this at this year's UK/IE Moodle Moot and also at OER15 and a related presentation at the recent ALT-C conference in Manchester - click the conference links to see the slideshare)

There is also the conditional access filter based on language that is available from the plugins database.

We rejected #2 for exactly the same reason you are thinking its not a great solution, but also because of the perception of increased maintenance over multiple courses as they may develop. #1 was never considered as an option as its an extension of #2 with all the additional maintenance of multiple sites and really isn't necessary for any reason i can think of.


Richard

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In reply to Richard Oelmann

Re: Translation of MOOC

by Karl Randau -

Ok thanks! I will look into these plugins. As I understand it I should install the filter "Multi-lingual content" and the availability condition "restriction by language". How are your changes improving the filter? 

I'll check this option out, but I'm still a bit concerned that it will be hard to manage a course with 7 languages, but since I haven't used the plugins I can't tell smile



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In reply to Karl Randau

Re: Translation of MOOC

by Richard Oelmann -
Core developers को तस्बिर Plugin developers को तस्बिर Testers को तस्बिर

My 'hack' to the standard multi-lang filter simply allows the filter to look at divs as well as spans making it a bit more flexible in terms of wrapping around content - its a simple change to just a couple of lines in the filter that add div to the search string.

You only need to install the additional plugins if you are going to use them, but it may be worth installing them on a test site and experimenting to find which method works best for you and your content developers.

We had a play around with and discussions about  a few different ways of working with our bilingual content and what we wanted to achieve with it, as well as putting our existing learning technology experience into the mix, to decide on our workflow using the multilang filter. That trying out time, I think, paid dividends in the long run by making sure we were all happy with the way we decided to work.

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In reply to Richard Oelmann

Re: Translation of MOOC

by Nikola Steriov -

Do you think the multilang filter will be able to take (technically) 7 or more languages at once? I am asking because we have no previous experience with it, and I hope someone who has (perhaps yourself) will be able to answer. I am pretty sure option number 2 (having different courses for each language) won't be hard on the system, but I suspect the multilang option might prove to be.

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In reply to Nikola Steriov

Re: Translation of MOOC

by Richard Oelmann -
Core developers को तस्बिर Plugin developers को तस्बिर Testers को तस्बिर

There is no reason why it should be technically hard on the system

It looks for anything wrapped in a language class and if that language doesn't match the current one, then it simply doesn't display it and skips to the end of that div/span

I haven't put it through any system stress testing but I suspect it wouldn't be an issue, but it would be very simple to test if you already have those language packs installed.

Turn on the developer information in the footer, add some content of the kind you are thinking of using (either just text, text and images or text, videos and images if you are using my 'hack' of the multilang filter) onto a page - it really doesn't matter what language you use for the testing text, it could all be lorem ipsum type so long as you can tell which language is being displayed by putting a one word identifier in the top of the dummy text for example. Then try it - look at the page load speeds in the bottom of the page and see how much, if any difference there is as you add more languages.

I really suspect that a far bigger issue is not the system load for page speeds but the development time and maintenance time for the content. ie the people hours that are required, rather than the system micro seconds.

We decided that for us, the multilang filter was the way to go because of that (it also made packaging our resource up as an OER far easier than multiple courses would have). But that is a people/development issue not a system/technical one and could come down to the specific circumstances of your team.

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In reply to Richard Oelmann

Re: Translation of MOOC

by Richard Oelmann -
Core developers को तस्बिर Plugin developers को तस्बिर Testers को तस्बिर

Just done that testing on my localhost

Created a small course with a single topic, included an image with no language wrapper, some lorem ipsum dummy text and an image, with the dummy text and second image wrapped in a multilang div (using my multilang hack that allows divs as well as spans - see teh github link previously in this thread) and I installed a random selection of 11 additional languages.

Just English content

Average screen load time for this test content 0.06s

Content in 2 languages (filter shows one)
Average when changing language to a new language approx 0.11s, Average when changing to a language previously viewed 0.07s
5 languages (filter shows one)
Average when changing language to a new language approx 0.11s, Average when changing to a language previously viewed 0.07s
12 languages (filter shows one)
Average when changing language to a new language approx 0.11s, Average when changing to a language previously viewed 0.07s

So to me and in that limited quick testing on a localhost system there would appear to be no increase in system stress from the number of language used - there may be a minor impact of using the filter at all, but it does not appear to be determined by the number of languages being used.

My conclusion would be that the multilang filter option is certainly scalable to the extent you want it without undue impact on system resources.


The decision, then, should be based not on system performance but on development and maintenance time for the content itself and what suits your particular needs - for us that was definitely not setting up and maintaining separate courses for each language, for others that may be the best option. As a personal view, I can't see the benefits of maintaining separate courses at all - but I'm sure there may be a set of circumstances where it is preferable.


Hope that's helpful

Richard

PS. I've attached (as a txt file) the html I put in to a topic section to do this testing - you may notice that as I was rushing I was a bit careless with my copy and paste and the images being used are actually external links to another site rather than installed on my localhost - that may have some impact on page speed.

Also - my test involved having the filter on for both headings and content, which also may have an impact on speed over no filter or filtering just on content. I didn't run a page speed test without the filter enabled at all for comparison, but you may want to do that as well in your own tests.

R

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