Using a moodle course on my own PC

Using a moodle course on my own PC

by Emmanuel Dubois -
Number of replies: 3

Hi there,

I am a Professor in a university and I am using Moodle for almost all my courses.

I made a backup (got a mbz file) of one of my huge moodle course, containing hundreds of ressources: PDF, video, bank of questions, etc.

I would like to be able to open it and exploit it on my PC (because my account to the moodle server of my university will be removed as I am moving to another university).

I unzipped the MBZ file and I have got a set of xml files. I discovered some information about how to rename the xml file into the appropriate filename ... but in my case (more than 500 files) it just looks like a very bad joke ... (https://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Backup_and_restore_FAQ#How_can_I_extract_original_files_from_a_Moodle_backup_file.3F)


Could you please tell me how I could access all the ressoruces of a backup moodle courses on my own PC, i.E. without access to a moodle server. Is there a local moodle that can be installed easily ? a binding with another applicatin ? 

I am especially interrested in being able to read the banl of questions and list of answers ... but also find and use the video, PPTX, PDF, etc. 

Thanks for your help.

MAnu

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In reply to Emmanuel Dubois

Re: Using a moodle course on my own PC

by Emma Richardson -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers

There are installers for both Windows and Mac that will allow you to set up a moodle server on your desktop pc.  There are also applications like MAMP that do the same thing. 

You will need to know what version of Moodle your university was running if possible so that you make sure that you can restore everything.  If you want student data to be imported, this is especially important.  If they are running a current version, you should have no trouble.

Of course, you might check that you are not violating the terms of your agreement with your current employer!!

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In reply to Emma Richardson

Re: Using a moodle course on my own PC

by Ken Task -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers

Those 'bad joke' xml files contain information the prof might find useful.

There is a moodle_backup.xml that contains information concerning the Moodle version from which the course comes and other useful? technical info.

Example:
    <moodle_version>2012062504.06</moodle_version>
    <moodle_release>2.3.4+ (Build: 20130214)</moodle_release>
    <backup_version>2012062500</backup_version>
    <backup_release>2.3</backup_release>

That info could be a factor in Prof's endeavors to install the local Moodle app on "PC" which am assuming means Windows.

https://download.moodle.org/windows/

Advice ... don't pick the dev version ... might select from the listing of available downloads the one closest to the information seen in moodle_bacup.xml.

If one is successful in installing, operator will then have full access to all the content of the course ... files, question banks, etc. *IF* those resoures used 'stock' Moodle mods/blocks/etc.
Any 'special' - 3rd party - addon, such as TurnItIn, will not function on the local host.

There's an alternative to locally installed on PC ... depending upon size of the backup course .. one might be able to acquire an account on Moodle Cloud ...
https://moodle.com/cloud/
and restore the course there.
There might be limitations as to size of file that can be uploaded upon restoring, however.

'spirit of sharing', Ken


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In reply to Ken Task

Re: Using a moodle course on my own PC

by ben reynolds -

If the course is as huge as you say, once you have installed the localhost Moodle, you will need information here https://docs.moodle.org/22/en/File_upload_size to change the upload file size. It is not difficult, but you need to be precise about making *all* the changes.

The next step is Site administration > Courses > Restore course > drop the .mbz and follow directions. Be very careful to choose a category (Miscellaneous exists by default) or you'll restore the course to the site's front page (I've done this), which causes lots of trouble.

Note that your localhost Moodle will run much slower than the production server you are used to. Be patient.


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