Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
Number of replies: 33
I went a head and fixed some of the bugs reported in Simple Blog. I also found some others to fix (the archives links actually didn't work). I have also added two more access levels to Simple Blog. Now there are three levels of Blogging:
  1. Teacher's Only
  2. Community Access - everyone enrolled in the class can post entries. Only the teacher can edit posts.
  3. Students and Teachers with individual blogs.
Anyone who upgrades from the older version will need to make some changes to the databases. I tried to make sure that I made the db files work right, but if you run into problems, here are the two changes needed:
  1. ALTER TABLE `simpleblog` ADD `bloglevel` INT(2) NOT NULL DEFAULT '1' AFTER `commentforum`;
  2. ALTER TABLE `simpleblog_archives` ADD `user` INT(10) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0' AFTER `cmid`;
I also added a few things here and there (like user pictures) to try and organize this more.

I know this is coming in v1.6, and it will probably be a lot better in that version, but I couldn't wait.  I have tested this out some what, but if anyone finds any bugs, please let me know.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Julian Ridden -
I have just installed your modification and they work like a charm. Thanks for posting.

Had an idea I was wondering if you could help facilitate. Blogging would be great for personal reflection journals. However I would like these to only be created by students but only viewable by their teachers. Could you make this possible?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Julian Ridden

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
That could probably be the fourth level for the blog. That would probably be doable. What are your thoughts on the commenting? I used forums for comments because, well, it was easier that way, but also to facilitate discussion on a post (which most blogs don't really do that well). But, obviously, you don't want a private blog to be commented on in a public forum. Would this level need commenting? If so, would it maybe just need an area where the teacher could add a comment at the end of the entry (and not in a forum)?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Julian Ridden -

I thought your commenting system was a good solution to the problems that people had commented on re: commenting in multiple areas. I hope Martin has seen this.

Reflection journals won't need commenting, so I would see a teacher just setting comments to "none". If comments are needed a teacher could just edit the students post and comment inline. So I do not see this as an issue.

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Julian Ridden

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
Thanks!  I was starting to think the same thing about the reflection part, so that shouldn't be too hard to do.  Having the teacher comment inline is probably the best option anyway - direct comments.  I'll get to work on that.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Paul Preibisch -
Hi there,

Great work btw!

After installing the simple blog module,
I am running into an error:

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/moodle/mod/simpleblog/view.php on line 142

and also, how do I moderate the students posts?

Can you help me?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Paul Preibisch -
I have come accross a small error after installing the simple blog module

I get the following error:
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /var/www/html/moodle/mod/simpleblog/view.php on line 142

Then in my blog list, the student blogs dont show up... any ideas?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Paul Preibisch

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Paul Preibisch -
aha!

I figured it out!
This error happened cuz I added the simple blog on my homepage, not on a course page, therefore, it couldnt find any students to put in the blog list...

it would be nice however, to change this so that it would just show the teachers blogs...

also, I am wondering, how is the simple blog module different from the moodleblog module...

I am guessing that they are infact different, as I can not see any moderation abilities in the simple blog module...

is it possible to install the alpha version of the moodleblog into an exisiting 1.5.3 installation? Or do I have to do a fresh install?

anyone have luck in doing this?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Paul Preibisch

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
That's still a good bug to know and fix - thanks!

For teachers blogs, you could always use the first level of access - but then that would have all teachers using the same blog.  Once I get the above bug fixed, the third level will work on the home page, though.  I know that some teachers can be territorial and want their own blog, so I may see about what I can figure out on that one.

As far as moderation goes, teachers always have the ability to edit any post at any time.  Now, that's probably not the highest level of moderation that most people want, but if you can give me an idea of what you like, I can look at adding that.  Our main students here are going to be college level students, so moderation is looked on as us being the "Big Brother," so I didn't include very much.

Basically the difference between this one and the moodleblog is that I needed something that could be used to hold us over until 1.6 is officially released.  Or probably more like 1.6.1 or 1.6.2, because most of our users would freak if they ran into any bugs!  There are a lot of things that could easily be added - file uploads would allow for audio blogs and video blogs.  There could even be an option that allows the file be played from the post with built-in players.  Add RSS and you have podcasts/vodcasts.  But, a lot of this is covered in the really excellent ipodcast module.  Maybe the two could be combined someday.  But also, Moodle wants to have the next level of Moodleblog be community-driven, so hopefully a lot of the stuff we have worked on can be included in future versions of that (if not already there).  Also, I could give users the ability to have lists of favorite sites, music they listen to, etc.  But at some point, all of this would make the name "Simple" Blog pretty pointless.  smile

But, if 1.6. should tarrieth longer, who knows what I may get the itch to do...
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Philippe Vignoles -

Hello Matt,

I downloaded your simpleblog to test on moodle 1.6. It's great but I made some modifications because I used Postgresql database and the installation failed due to non-conversion sql code and problems with name of field user.

So, I modified the SQL scripts to adapt to postgresql and I changed also the field named user to userid (like in the other modules of moodle).

The file attached to this message contains the modified files.

I hope the modifications will be correct and usefull.

Sincerely

Philippe Vignoles

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Philippe Vignoles

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
Yes, this is very helpful, mainly because I do not know Postgresql. I will add this to the update I am working on. Thank you, thank you.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
Here is the next version of Simple Blog. This version adds the "student only" level. Each student has an individual blog that only the teacher(s) can read. I also fixed the bugs that were reported above, and integrated the postgresql fixes.

As noted above, the sql tables will need to have the name of one field changed so that it matches better with the Moodle scheme. I think I designed the db files to do this, but if it doesn't work - here is what you need:

ALTER TABLE `simpleblog_archives` CHANGE `user` `userid` INT( 10 ) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0'"
ALTER TABLE `simpleblog_entries` CHANGE `user` `userid` INT( 10 ) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0'

Bascially, change the "user" field in "simpleblog_archives" and "simpleblog_entries" to "userid".  If you used the simpleblog_0.2-2.zip above, this may have already been changed.

Also note that most of the files in this have been changed to some degree, and one new one (viewStudent.php) has been added.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Julian Ridden -
Am really loving this code Matt. Thought I would share what we are doing with it here at Monte.

I have actually "bastardised" your code (my appologies..it is great work) and turned it into a "journal" module.

Reason?
Essentialy, teachers were afraid of Blogs and yet wanted that kind of functionality. So by doing this it was a term and function they were familiar with. It aslo means I am not worrying of overlap of Moodles new blog code.

What did I do?
I removed all blog publishing options except for the "student level", renamed the module "Journal 2.0" and changed its icon.

What happens now?
Students now have a journal that I belive was far better than that offered by the original (now discontinued) journal mod as it is both timestamped and archived.

Teachers can edit any student post and add inline comments if needed.

What next?
All I have left to do to make this perfect is add the option for emailing teacher alerts and the implementation of groups.

I have added a screencap of hw it looks for thos who have not used this module yet.

Thoughts? Feedback? Critisism? Let me have it smile
Attachment Picture-2.jpg
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Julian Ridden

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
Thanks!  That looks like a good idea.  That always seemed to be the problem most teachers have with blogs - the name.  But students seem to like the name "blog" over "personal journal."  Hmmm....  Maybe the name should change based on who is looking at it? smile

I've thought about changing the link that says "Edit this post" to something like "Comment on / edit this post" just so that teachers know everything they can do with that link.  I also found that the student level blog would let guests keep their own blog, if the course allows guests.  Not that big of a glitch, but something that probably needs to be fixed.

I wonder if maybe we need to change this module so that the teacher can just pick the name for it - Reflection Journal, Blog, Audioblog, etc.  Maybe leave all of the levels in it, but give teachers the option to call it what they want?  Then give them the option to upload files to a post, and it can be a vlog, podcast, whatever?  Maybe when the teacher chooses the name  "blog", they get other options that traditional blogs also use - like lists of favorite sites, etc?  I'm just throwing out some ideas.  None of this has to happen, but this is the great part of open-source: brainstorming.  What could something like this be called, anyway?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
I would avoid the word blog altogether simply because we already have a central blog in 1.6 and it can only cause more confusion.  In my opinion this module would be better cast as an assignment type of some kind.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
That's true - no need to confuse.  I really just thought that anything good that comes from this could just be rolled into the central blog.  But, Jullian's post really got me thinking about how some people really get thrown by names.  Not to mention the fact that there really is only a small difference between a personal journal and a blog, or a blog and an audioblog/podcast, or a podcast and a vodcast.  I wonder if we will see seperate mods/activities arise that you will have to pick out of the drop down list in a class, or a central mod/activity that you pick the general shell and then customize it to become a blod/podcast/vodcast/etc.  Hmmm....

But, I can also see this module becoming something of an assigment type thing, because it really is course-specific.  From what I understand, the central blog system will be more of a site-wide deal that allows users to publish to specific classes/areas from a central area (kind of like the profile operates or something like that, but with more features).  Maybe I should look into that more.  Because, if that is that case, the two could be made to work together.

Maybe it's really obvious by now that I like to brainstorm....
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Jeff Hague -

Looks very cool! I installed 0.3 but something looks amiss... Whan I add a blog to a course, the name simpleblog does not display - it says modulename. When the added module opens for setup, across the top it reads:

Adding a new modulename to topic 1

A number of other names for the various settings on that page also show in the double square brackets .

What am I missing?

Thanks!

Jeff

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Jeff Hague

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
That sounds like the lang file is missing.  You may have already done this, but just to be sure, did you add the lang file "lang/en/simpleblog.php" from the zip file to the lang/en/ directory in your install?
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Jeff Hague

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Jeff Hague -

Thats twice now! Winzip didnt unzip the entire archive which caused the problem! I removed the module, unzipped again, reinstalled and all is well...

Jeff

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Jeff Hague

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Julian Ridden -
Twice now? Judging by your avatar, this qoute jumps to mind "My Brain Hurts!" big grin
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Julian Ridden

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Jeff Hague -
My brain does indeed hurt and "I like the sound of two bricks being bashed together". Maybe I should pick another occupation...
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Jeff Hague

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Julian Ridden -
Perhaps as an architect? ;)
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Julian Ridden

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Fredi Gertsch -

In moodle 1.6 (dev) I find now the blog menu - but how does it function? Where I have to add (edit) my blog? Thanks for your help.

Fredi

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Fredi Gertsch

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Julian Ridden -
Please bare in mind that Blogs is still being worked on. It has only just been added to CVS to allow other developers to add to it.

To activate blogs, go to Administration/Variables to turn blogs on.

Once active, blogs can now be accesed through individuals profile screens.

You can also now add the new "blogs" block which will also add functionailty abd preferences for blogs on any course screen.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Julian Ridden

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Fredi Gertsch -
Thanks - that helps.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Fredi Gertsch

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Stephen Walker -

Hi, I have installed 'Simpleblogs' and it seems ok. The only problem we have is when a teacher may want to modify a student blog message. If you try to do this using  'Edit this entry' then it looks like it will work i.e. it will let you enter text into the 'Post entry' field but when you press 'Save changes' the changes disappear and the same page is displayed! Any body else had this?

Thanks in advance.

Steve Walker

Stockton Sixth Form College

England 

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Stephen Walker

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
What level are you using for the blog?  I just tested it on my moodle install, and the teacher comments were saved.  I found that on the "Teacher and Students with sperate blogs" level that, after you post comments, it takes you back to the list of the blogs, but not the blog you just edited.  But I clicked on the blog that I edited, and the comments were saved there.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Stephen Walker -

1) I go into a test course as an administrator and turn editing on.

2) I choose 'Add and activity' and choose 'Simple blog'.

3) I then add various blogs, i.e. teacher, student, student and teacher and community.

4) I log off and log on as a student. If i choose a teacher blog I can read it but cannot add a blog entry. If i choose a student, community, or student and teacher entry I have the option of choosing 'Add a blog entry'. So I add entries.

5) I log off and log on as an administrator again. If I choose any of the blog types and choose 'Edit this entry' then I can add the text but when I choose 'Save' the text disappears and the blog is not updated.

6) Note: When I first installed the simple blog I had to comment out the following lines in the bottom of the files 'edit.php', 'post.php' and 'blogpost.php' in order to get it to work

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/// FOUR LINES BELOW COMMENTED OUT TO GET SIMPLEBLOGS TO WORK - (SW - 29032006)
///    print_header_simple(format_string($simpleblog->name), "",
///                "<a href=\"index.php?id=$course->id\">$strblogs</a> ->
///                  <a href=\"view.php?id=$cm->id\">".format_string($simpleblog->name,true)."</a> -> $stredit", "",
///                  "", true, "", navmenu($course, $cm));

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If these lines are uncommented the message 'Fatal error: Call to undefined function: format_string() in 'C:\wampp2\htdocs\mod\simpleblogs\post.php on line 167' is displayed for example. 

Could this be why it isn't working? Why is this format_string message displayed anyway. Thanks in advance. Steve Walker.

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Stephen Walker

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
That commented code is what generates the bread crumb at the top of the page.  It's pretty standard in all the modules.  For some reason, your Moodle install is not recognizing the "format_string" function.  But that would be happening in all of your modules, not just this one.  So I really don't know what is causing it only in Simple Blog for you.

Simple Blog was tested using a teacher account, not an admin account.  I don't know what having admin designation will do to the functionality.  You will have to have the Administrator account listed as a teacher for the test course, but if that is already so, then I don't know what else could be causing it.
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Stephen Walker

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Matt Crosslin -
I also found that "format_string" is defined in the weblib.php file.  So you might try adding this somewhere near the top:

    require_once($CFG->dirroot .'/lib/weblib.php');
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Stephen Walker -

I managed to get rid of the error by replacing 'format_string' with 'format_text'!

However I still cannot edit the student entry logged on as a teacher.

If I choose the student entry then 'Edit this entry' it allows me to put text in but when I choose 'Save changes'  the screen flashes and the original page is displayed without the changes I have made!

The webpage displayed says:

http://{OUR VLE SITE}//mod/simpleblog/edit.php?id=1214&blogID=16

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Tony Beld -
Thanks a bunch... As a second language teacher, the student only blog with teacher only view is great for student journaling with subsequent instructor correction. I love it. Easier than creating weekly assignments. Just add the blog and voilà students have a place all semester long to do their journaling...
Average of ratings: -
In reply to Tony Beld

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by C R -

anyone get this to work with 1.6.3?

when I try to add an activity of simple blog, after you put in the name and description, it then comes up with "Course module is incorrect"

How can I resolve this?

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Matt Crosslin

Re: Blogs: Simple Blog Activity for Moodle 1.5.3 update - student blogs

by Julian Ridden -
I have been using this on a production site for some time and it is working well. However would like to know if anyone would know how to add the following.

The only thing missing here is the ability to list users by groups (as you do with assignments). Would anyone know how to do this?

Julian
Average of ratings: -