Resource types

I don't have a problem with the object being a resource type rather than an activity. However, by its nature, it could be either, which rather mucks up the (in my view rather arbitrary) division between activities and resources.

This set me thinking. The LMS interface that was dummied out in the object activity module (is it still?), but is implemented in Bobo's should really be at a much higher level in Moodle so that any module, wherever it is run in Moodle, can interact with bookmarking and student progress recording. We'd then a have a consistent system for Workshops, Hot  potatoes, SCORM format units like those in the object repository and so on.

The next step on this jounrey would be to have a Moodle standard (much like the datalib interface for example) that could be a wrapper for any type of activity or resource that would allow it to be packaged as an object that could communicate throught the same LMS calls.

Hi
I have just picked up on Moodle and I am having my first go at developing some functionality.  I am trying to pick up on the design philosophies in Moodle, so feel free to jump on me if I get things wrong.

Maybe its all a bit like cooking, a resource is essentially something like a cake tin, a knife, an oven, a cookbook, whereas an activity is more like a recipe, a dish.  These latter things are also resources, but in a different sense.  If there is a suggestion of cooking, baking stirring, etc. then it belongs on the activities side.  These "activities" are resources in a different sense, in that they can be reused in the creation of meals.  I would be interested in any reasons why it was decided not to implement Learning objects as activities.

OK now here's my problem. Basically the people round here want to do a bit more with resources, like rate them, something like Amazon really.  I mean a book review for example, with a rating by a philanthropically-minded teacher, that could be read by other teachers.  The review of resources is a teacher centered activity which is where Moodle looks weak to me. 

The question was raised above, what is the distinction between activities and resource types in Moodle?  Well it sees to me that activities are just that, things to be done by students in a student-centered view, whereas resource types essentially have been conceived of as physical rather than logical.  They appear to be the online classes of thing that teachers and students might grapple with.  A file to upload, an HTML page to read, a passage of text.  A directory/folder of files even.  The existence of files and directories on the server allows for a measure of generality, and thats enough to get started, because you can get to your files from elsewhere.

I found the moodle source quite easy to follow and modify, kudos to the author.  Resources as implemented in Moodle seem to suffer from a lack of generality, for example a completed student assignment should be able to be also a resource for future students, and also resources are effectively "nailed" to the course structure, which makes the reuse etc. difficult.

In order to extend the information available about resources it seems logical to me to create a block called "Resource review".  The alternative would be to modify the core moodle too much.  A few database tables/fields can be added easily enough to support the additional information.

Extending the resource view like this still does not solve the problem of
reviewing books when the book itself if not physically online.  Moodle allows for the creation of a "freeform" webpage or text passage which could represent an offline resource, but is lacking a means of creating a structured resource record.
In the moodle scheme this record would be a physical database record, but from the user perspective the internal representation is actually irrelevant.  It could be an XML or a relational storage format, so it seems to make sense to me to extend Moodle with a resource type to represent offline resources  (and I could easily get Moodle to generate a webpage from a database record anyway).  I just called it "registry" to keep it open, because I want to represent an offline resource in an internal registry system and the physical basis now actually doesn't matter.

It was surprisingly easy to add this resource type and to modify the dropdown resource menu to read "Reference an offline resource".   The idea is that you can then enter a book review of your own, or some offline resource, and at the same time get more information about the quality of resources, in a more reusable framework.

As a Moodle newbie I would appreciate feedback.

1. Minor - if there is no repository in modledata/1 then it fails ungracefully.

2. I can't find cache.ser - I think I have another use for this and would like to see it.

3. Language strings. A plea to central developers to make it possible for the needed strings to be addedwithout overwriting resource.php in lang/en. O BTW, the instructions say expand en.zip in moodle/lang, but you need to do it in moodle/lang/en.

4. Is putting the repository in moodledata going to cause problems? Internal relative URLs inside courses are not going to know to use file.php to resolve their references, and if as recommended moodledata is outside the web root (mine isn't) then won't those references fail?

5. Where do you configure resource types?

6. I'll try to add the search functionality I wrote for the object activity module to this new resource type.

I've taken this version and added in the search facility.

HOWEVER, the search facility needs to be able to build an index, and I can't find a place where I can put the button allow the administrator (but not a teacher) to do this. It takes much to long to be triggered when someone does a search, it really must be done when someone intends to do it.

Any ideas?

Also, I have some database tables starting with object_ any suggestions how/whether these should be renamed so they can be used with the resource type.

Hi Julian,

Thanks, as always, for your ideas and encouragement.

A fourth option for managing teacher additions to the repository would be to use data from the imsmanifest file to put the package in an appropriate place in the central repository.

All comments and suggestions are appreciated!

Here is the version hacked for search functionality. PLEASE don't try to use this unless you are prepared to hack some code - it WON'T WORK unless you carefully follow the stuff in readme_cj.txt

Hi Garry,

Apologies for the delay in replying.

The most likely cause of the problem you describe is having a folder called "ims" within mod/resource/type/ims. Please check you have only one folder called "ims".

Hi fire,

Thanks for your feedback.

If you wish to share the same repository between multiple Moodle sites then the repository should be located outside moodledata. Please check ims/config.php for further details.

After a little research, I have found an answer to my origional question... so for those of you who want to know how to create a learning object read on:

basically, you need to create assests, format your material, and package it...
... er what???? 
Well fortunetally found all of this information packaged nicely into a learning object itself which you can follow as a tutorial... so if you have installed the object resource in this forum, you can unzip the accompaning file attached (which came from the ilearn website) and unzip it into your repository folder.
And then add it as an object to your course.

There is also a  dreamweaver extension that you can use to make learning objects: found here

I have also copy and pasted some of the content of the learning module below in case the above links become invalid over time.

What is a Learning Object?

A Learning Object can be anything from a single piece of digital content to an entire course.

For this discussion, we'll consider a Learning Object as a number of assets covering a particular topic, which are assembled or compiled to form a unit of learning.

The page you are reading now will itself serve as an example of a Learning Object. This whole website, Making Learning Objects will be packaged as a course, a collection of Learning Objects.

What is an Asset?

If a Learning Object is a collection of assets, then what is an asset?

An asset is a defined fragment within a Learning Object. It is the smallest piece of instruction or information that makes sense on its own.

The graphic to the right is an asset within the current Learning Object of this website, as is the banner graphic above, and the text of this page.

Compiling Assets

The first step in making a Learning Object is to bring together all the digital assets that will be required.

This may first mean designing and creating graphics, digitizing video sources, or editing copy text, before collecting (compiling) these assets into one location.

For the purposes of this websiteour example of Learning Objectswe prepared our graphics (in Photoshop) and body text (in Notepad), and collected the resulting digital files into a single folder, in preparation for formatting into web pages.

Format the Learning Object

Once the assets required by our Learning Object have been compiled (identified or created, and collected), the next step is to format them into the actual object.

This process will depend on the types of assets used, and on the authoring tool appropriate for the task of formatting assets of those types.

For the purposes of this example website, we used Macromedia Dreamweaver (an Web Authoring Tool) to format our text and graphic assets into HTML pages.

Making Learning Objects

What are Metatags?

Metatags are where metadata are stored. Metadatadata-about-dataare a codified way of describing an object and its assets.

Metadata allows an organization to systematically describe and classify its learning objects and assets, to be better able to archive, search for, share, and reuse them.

Metadata is stored in a separate file, called a "Manifest". The manifest file is included with the other files in the Learning Object when the files are gathered together, or "packaged". The metadata is stored using a specific coding language called XML.

Metadata may be entered manually, though the chosen Learning Object authoring or packaging tool will likely provide a mechanism for entering this information.

Making Learning Objects

Packaging a Learning Object

To package a Learning Object is to document in one place the description of the object and its assets, and list these in a manifest file called imsmanifest.xml.

If multiple Learning Objects are packaged, information about sequencing them into a course would also be included in the SCORM manifest file.

SCORM stands for Shareable Content Object Reference Model. SCORM 1.2 is one specification for packaging learning content, and is derived from the larger IMS Content Packaging specification, version 1.1.2.

For this Making Learning Objects website example, our use of Manifest Maker not only recorded our few simple metatags, but also created the SCORM wrapper (another term for the package) that will facilitate our ability to transport or deploy this course.

Transportability of our Learning Objects is further achieved by finally archiving all components together into one placea "zip" fileusing the file compression tool WinZip.

Here is the zip file of the final packaged version of this example course.

You may download this zip file (right-click the link above and choose the Save As... option) if you would like to examine the elements of our Learning Objects package more closely. (You will require WinZip or a similar tool to unzip the archive.)

I've got the Object Module working okay, with over a dozen different Moodles accessing it, so yes, it does work!

You say that "The strange thing is, on my local machine, everything works, but when uploaded to a live webserve, it dies."   When this happens it's a dead giveaway that it's a path problem.  In Moodle generally the paths are defined in config.php, but the Object Module has its own path definitions as well.

Have a look in Administration » Configuration » Modules » Object, and check object_dirroot and object_webroot.  That might solve your problem.

HTH

Chris