Slow performance Moodle App (sometimes no performance at all)

Slow performance Moodle App (sometimes no performance at all)

by Wilco van den Akker -
Number of replies: 6

Hi,

We are http://www.rangercampus.org and new to Moodle. For us, the offline use within the App is essential because we operate in remote areas of the world. I am testing our first learning module in our custom skinned Moodle app, and here, at my home, it's working ok. But when I have it checked by other people, who also say they have fast internet, it takes forever to download the test SCORM. (Yes, it's a SCORM) The SCORM is 275MB of size because of video content. Video is important because a lot of the wildlife rangers cannot read/write. 

If the App is not working we are not able to give the Rangers the courses they need to do their job. In some cases this even can save lifes. 

Is there something we can do about the performance speed of the app? Who has experience with this and can give us some advice/help us?

Thank you in advance!


Average of ratings: -
In reply to Wilco van den Akker

Re: Slow performance Moodle App (sometimes no performance at all)

by Helen Foster -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hi Wilco,

Looking at the documentation Creating mobile-friendly courses, it recommends that media files to be downloaded for offline usage should be small - "less than 2MB for 3G users or less than 20MB for WiFi users".

Thus, I'd suggest that you break up your SCORM packages into smaller packages, and maybe consider alternative ways of providing course content.

Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Helen Foster

Re: Slow performance Moodle App (sometimes no performance at all)

by Wilco van den Akker -

Hi Helen, 

Thanks for the reply. Yes i do understand but like i said, a lot of rangers do not reed or write. Thats why we work with video.

Ofcourse i try to compres them but when i have a course with ten or more video it quickly adds up. 20MB? That is like living in 1995 again wink

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Wilco van den Akker

Re: Slow performance Moodle App (sometimes no performance at all)

by Dan Marsden -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Peer reviewers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Plugins guardians Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

I think you'll find that living in 1995 comes from your use of SCORM rather than anything else... smile

SCORM was never really designed for Mobile devices and was created before Mobile learning - many SCORM authoring tools "try" to make their tools generate mobile accessible content, and the mobile app does it's best in trying to provide a stable environment to play scorms on a mobile device when you have to, but in the longer-term you really need to replace this content with more modern tools.

I'd really highly recommend you take a look at H5P - it doesn't quite provide full support in the Mobile app, but I believe there is some work going on to improve this. One of the benefits is that the App doesn't have to download the full zip/all videos etc before the user is able to play the package - it feeds the content to the device slowly as required (like a normal Moodle page would)

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Dan Marsden

Re: Slow performance Moodle App (sometimes no performance at all)

by Wilco van den Akker -

Thank you for you reply Dan. Yes i know SCORM is a bit 'old' but i mainly was refering to the small amount of data.

Many thanks for the tip about H5P. I am going to have a look and have some test runs with it.

Greetings from the Netherlands!

Wilco

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Wilco van den Akker

Re: Slow performance Moodle App (sometimes no performance at all)

by Renaat Debleu -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers
The problem is not the App, but the SCORM package. Just add a high quality picture of over 250MB to any website and you will notice bad performance...

We work a lot in low bandwidth Africa, and all our resources are fine-tuned to keep downloads to a minimum. When on site, it strikes me every time that app users see their resources faster than me, a lonely laptop user.
Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Renaat Debleu

Re: Slow performance Moodle App (sometimes no performance at all)

by Wilco van den Akker -
Hi Renaat. Thank you for your reply. Yes i understand. The challenge for us is that many of our rangers can not read so we try to use as much video as we can. I am trying to find the best solution in compression rate of the video's and will give Dans suggestion a try. See above.


Greetings from the Netherlands

Wilco

Average of ratings: -