Hi everyone! Just wondering if anyone has thought about or know from experience: is it possible to preload content (page and quiz activities) wholly contained within an Android .apk? Or can the app refer to local content on disk? Imagining a scenario of completely offline curriculum sideloaded onto Android phones. A long shot, but love to know more!
Hi Tim,
right now the app isn't prepared to have preloaded content. The app uses the device file storage to store files, but in order to find those files they need to be referenced in the app's database (SQLite in Android/iOS, WebSQL in desktop apps). This database also has the rest of the info (like the quiz data, attempt summary, etc.).
So right now to have preloaded content you'd need to fill the database from the app's code using a custom app.
Cheers,
Dani
Hi,
We have a similar requirement as Tim’s and Sandra’s (https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=357985) with some added queries/featuresin the wish list.
We are using Moodle and the mobile app for a financial literacy program in India for the village-level ‘Bank Sakhi’ (roughly translated as Bank Lady-Friend) Certification. The Bank Sakhi is a village lady who will facilitate spread of banking and financial services in her village and get her fellow-villagers to subscribe to various government, bank and other fin services. Module 1 of this purely-online certification is now live in Indian local languages (Assamese and Hindi) in India’s remote eastern state of Assam. Go-live in North and Western India shall follow shortly. The Sakhis complete the certification purely on the android-based smartphone.
However, as cellular coverage in remote regions is not uniform and of high quality, we encourage them to download the SCORMs and other courseware when they are in range of a good Wi-fi. As part of the Certification, they take up exercises which requires them to upload photos and videos as proofs of having completed the tasks.
We would want to pre-load the complete Certification on a micro-SD card and distribute these SD cards to them so that they don’t need to download the whole courseware. We anticipate that the total Certification package size will be upto 1 GB. An additional requirement is - Would pre-loaded SCORMs and other material downloaded under one login be accessible under another login?
We noted that Sandra’s interaction was almost a year old and MOBILE-2218 is marked priority Minor. Is there any timeline assigned when this will be included in the app? Do share update.
Thanx in advance, Manoj
Hi Dani Palou ,
This specific app functionality (with different naming like preloading/ side-loading/ Offline install) is very crucial to be supported via Moodle app. Is there any progresses made recently? We have also such related needs where there is limited internet connectivity making almost impossible for a first time download of large course resources for our Community Health Workers in remote rural. Can you please update us recent developments by Moodle in this regard?
Thanks,
Developments in Moodle are tracked at https://tracker.moodle.org
And I am not aware of any such work, but Dani is the person who would really know.
And I am not aware of any such work, but Dani is the person who would really know.
Hi,
unfortunately, this is not part of the short or long-term roadmap.
It is a very complex functionality to support and implement and we do not have the resources to be able to work on it. As Dani mentioned before, is just not about adding content within the app, is downloading into the database the complex data structure that is needed to be able to use the content offline (especially activities).
Regards, Juan
unfortunately, this is not part of the short or long-term roadmap.
It is a very complex functionality to support and implement and we do not have the resources to be able to work on it. As Dani mentioned before, is just not about adding content within the app, is downloading into the database the complex data structure that is needed to be able to use the content offline (especially activities).
Regards, Juan
Thanks for the clarification @ Juan. I have seen such request from other users too. We are an international NGO providing app based digital training for over 40K Community Health Workers (CHWs) in remote rural. This feature is a must to have for our program implementation and want to put the maximum effort for resources required if there could still be possible to develop this feature/ functionality. Can you please re-consider as it would greatly help implementers like us who want to reach a very remote rural community where internet access is very limited?
Thanks,
Thanks,
Have you investigated the use of the Moodle mobile app for connect/sync and offline use?
Thanks for the info Marcus,
I have actually seen the offline features. However, my request is not about the offline features but means of offline install without needing internet connection on users devices. This is usually called Pre-loading/ side-loading/ offline install. What you usually do is you download course zip files once and replicate it on the rest of devices (thousands) without needing a first time download of courses direct from internet on each device. We have used this feature in other similar apps before. This is really helpful as we can't download 2GB files on each user's device where there is internet limitation. We needed the internet connection only for the first time login for account authentication and data sync which don't need much bandwidth.
I have actually seen the offline features. However, my request is not about the offline features but means of offline install without needing internet connection on users devices. This is usually called Pre-loading/ side-loading/ offline install. What you usually do is you download course zip files once and replicate it on the rest of devices (thousands) without needing a first time download of courses direct from internet on each device. We have used this feature in other similar apps before. This is really helpful as we can't download 2GB files on each user's device where there is internet limitation. We needed the internet connection only for the first time login for account authentication and data sync which don't need much bandwidth.
I entirely agree with you that this would be an excellent useful feature. I should add that I am very interested in Moodle in low/no bandwidth situations, which covers huge numbers of people who could get massive benefits from this. As a result I am engaged with the Moodlebox project, (which doesn't do what you want).
However adding/creating a pre-load/sideload a feature would be a very time consuming, and thus expensive undertaking. At a wild guess I would think it would take two developers a large part of a year to add such functionality, but I emphasise that is a wild and uninformed guess.
However adding/creating a pre-load/sideload a feature would be a very time consuming, and thus expensive undertaking. At a wild guess I would think it would take two developers a large part of a year to add such functionality, but I emphasise that is a wild and uninformed guess.
Dear Marcus,
You understood exactly why we needed this feature very much. The feasibility of developing this feature and considering it as a potential project for me is unquestionable whaever resources it might consume. In any case, if there is willingness from the Moodle app developers team to consider this as one possible project to consider, there is a possibility of funding it.
I would love if we can talk more on the resource aspect with the designated party from Moodle. Can you suggest how we can arrange for a call or any means of communication?
Hi, Tamene
Have you considered using a MoodleBox? It's possible to add a lot of resources and then deliver the device which is preloaded with a complete Moodle instance to a remote area where it can be accessed by as many 30 WIFI devices at a time. It does require electrical power of some kind. All of the resources are on an SD card which can be updated when it's possible to connect it to the internet or a laptop. Here's an example of where we're using it in an elementary school in the Northern Region of Ghana that does not have internet access. https://sabier.org/
We're also working with Marcus and others to add more functionality to the MoodleBox for select purposes.
Have you considered using a MoodleBox? It's possible to add a lot of resources and then deliver the device which is preloaded with a complete Moodle instance to a remote area where it can be accessed by as many 30 WIFI devices at a time. It does require electrical power of some kind. All of the resources are on an SD card which can be updated when it's possible to connect it to the internet or a laptop. Here's an example of where we're using it in an elementary school in the Northern Region of Ghana that does not have internet access. https://sabier.org/
We're also working with Marcus and others to add more functionality to the MoodleBox for select purposes.
I have been thinking more about this and I am not entirely sure how it would work. Most (all?) activities in Moodle require a connection to a Moodle server at some point so I am not sure how any pre-loaded content would work. Perhaps static content could be displayed, e.g. pdf's but then you are losing the most significant benefit of Moodle.
The underlying philosophy behind Moodle is social constructivism see
https://docs.moodle.org/401/en/Philosophy
So something that never/very rarely contacted a server goes against many of the deeply embedded ideas in Moodle.
I had been thinking it would be nice to have an entirely offline/pre-loaded quiz capability. I decided that it would be as useful to have an entirely separate app/mobile app that was compatible with the Moodle question types. Then I remembered it would probably take the rest of my life to build such a thing and reverted to thinking about more achievable goals
I am really not trying to be negative about the concept, just working out what it would actually be..