Spoodle Help

Spoodle Help

by Fatima Rahiman -
Number of replies: 12

Hi there

Im hoping Stephen Grono can assist with this query as I'm desperately trying  to get hold of him via email , having liaised  with him previously but now cant seem to get hold of him since last November in 2020...

We created four courses on Spoodle for educators in remote lying areas and now wish to import the course into an existing  Moodle platform.

However users are having problems installing Spoodle into their existing Moodle platform with the following errors reported: 

Description of errors

 IS there anyone else that can please assist?

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In reply to Fatima Rahiman

Re: Spoodle Help

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hello there. I am sorry I don't know what Spoodle is but in terms of restoring courses I suggest they follow the instructions in the documentation (and accompanying video) Course restore Personally I find it easier to create a blank, empty course first and then restore the course into there.
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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Spoodle Help

by Justin Hunt -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers
I did not know what Spoodle was either , but its explained here ....
https://www.lmspulse.com/2021/spoodle-the-moodle-on-a-stick-solution-now-built-with-moodle-3-3/

These Moodle rhymers....
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In reply to Justin Hunt

Re: Spoodle Help

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Spoodle is one of the portable Moodle trio: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=353602#p1427188.
wink
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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Spoodle Help

by Fatima Rahiman -
I hope there'll be further development of these offline portable Moodle platforms.(i.e compatibility with more recent versions of Moodle to allow for courses developed on the portable solutions to be easily restored in later online Moodle versions)..a pressing need in areas with low connectivity here in South Africa.
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In reply to Fatima Rahiman

Re: Spoodle Help

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hi

These derived products have their own development cycles, ups and downs and strengths and weaknesses. I was indirectly involved in projects in areas of low connectivity. Spoodle wasn't the answer for me, since I don't touch Microsoft of my free will (see my profile). I chose MoodleBox instead. See also Chatterbox: Mobile Moodle micro-servers in rural Zimbabwe.

Note: Please note that MoodleBox has its own community support. Visit their MoodleBox discussion.
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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Spoodle Help

by Peter Raeth -

Unfortunately, https://steve.moodlecloud.com appears to be dead. The instructional videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYqk8vONRvLP_uIDPGUjppw still exist. However, they assume you have already downloaded Spoodle from the dead link.

Does anyone know of a place to download Spoodle itself, now that the original location is dead?

From other discussion, There are two other portable Moodle installs:

- moopi https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=312419#p1256208

- MoodleBox https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=349368#p1409602

But, those apparently require the purchase of a small computer and are not on-a-stick for use by the portable computers I've seen most students have, where I have been teaching.

Many Thanks for your input to this discussion.

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In reply to Peter Raeth

Re: Spoodle Help

by Peter Raeth -

This may work as a source of Spoodle: https://sourceforge.net/projects/spoodle. Coupled with the videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYqk8vONRvLP_uIDPGUjppw, there are still opportunities.

Something I found is that it may be necessary to upgrade the version of Moodle embedded in the Spoodle download. That is not difficult.

Ran into Spoodle as I developed my own courses and worked with Saylor.org, a non-profit developing and publishing open-access college courses presented within the Moodle framework. The brief artidle I wrote on this effort is here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/diskcourse-ondisk-open-access-courses-peter-raeth. 

Courses developed like this have been happily received by colleges as far away as Tanzania.

Appreciate the chance to share thoughts with this community.

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In reply to Fatima Rahiman

Re: Spoodle Help

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hi Fatima

As Mary has already noted Spoodle* is not the standard Moodle we discuss here. But from your description I have the feeling that it is a user error. Have you taken a "course backup" on a site's front page and trying to restore it in a normal course? Then that is not possible, since the front page is not a normal course.

* https://steve.moodlecloud.com/course/view.php?id=4
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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Spoodle Help

by Fatima Rahiman -

Thanks Visvanath.

So the Spoodle is the offline Moodle version which i should have explained earlier.

 I think your comment, though not directly related to the solution, has steered me on the right path...We were trying to do a backup and restoration  of a composite offline Moodle platform(SPOODLE)  onto another online Moodle -which of course wont work..(DUH!!) We need to do a backup of each course individually and then import!!

This of course mean the very visually attractive theme's Front page that we had used with a slider etc. will be lost along with the tags etc..see attached first frame of the home page which had links to the units. Im going to try to see of  we can back up each course and restore on our online Moodle platform.   

Thanks everyone!!

Attachment Home Screen.png
Attachment Slider Screen Unit1.png
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In reply to Fatima Rahiman

Re: Spoodle Help

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hi Fatima

I'm glad that my hint ultimately lead you to the solution. The error "You can only restore front page backups on the front page" is a notorious one.
wink

Now the immediate problem out of the way, you should review your work-flow. You reproduce whole Moodle sites through course backup followed by course restore, i.e. course-by-course. Although this could be automated with tools like Moosh, as you've already pointed out important site-wide information do not propagate. Have a look at site backup and site restore as an alternative.
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