Deft response

Blocks ::: block_deft
Maintained by Daniel Thies, Stefan Scholz
Real time communication with Texts, Choices, Comments, and conference Venues. It is a much better way to use a poll, chat, and audio conference in Moodle.
Latest release:
127 sites
67 downloads
17 fans
Current versions available: 2

Description

The Deft response block allows teachers to interact in real time with students directly in a Moodle using Texts, Choices , Comments, and provides Venues for them to speak with each other with context sensitive audio conferencing using WebRTC peer-to-peer. Video can also be streamed to participants using a media server. Demos are available at https://deftly.us. It can also provide updated course information to course formats like Popups course format.

 

 

How it works

Deft provides a service which allows real time changes to the Moodle site to be communicated to clients. Whenever something happens in the Deft response block, all clients that are currently displaying the block receive a notification that something has changed, and the content of the block is updated by the browser. User data or actual content is only transferred from the Moodle site to the user.

The external service is available to enable updating the contents in users' browsers via the websocket protocol. The service is linked as an External Tool (LTI), but user information is not shared with the service other than what is necessary to provide connection i.e IP number associated with block's context. The service can also provide bridged audio and video hosting.

Requirements

In order to provide update messages, the Moodle site needs to be accessible from the internet by Deftly site (not localhost or blocked by firewall). Clients need to be able to access Deftly site through normal https to receive messages. Your site configuration may limit the number of clients that can be supported since resources are retrieved directly from your Moodle site.

Licensing and usage

The plugin is GPL. The service will remain free for smaller sites, but sites with larger usage may eventually require a service agreement.

Moodle Plugin CI

 

Potential privacy issues

All student data remains in Moodle. Users may connect to deftly.us server which exposes the users' IP number, but no other identifying information. The service forwards messages to the users for blocks open in their browsers. Once messages are received, the browser retrieves relevant course and user information directly from Moodle so the information is not shared with the service provider.

Screenshots

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Contributors

Daniel Thies (Lead maintainer)
Stefan Scholz: Learning Consultant
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Comments RSS

Show comments
  • Plugins bot
    Mon, 18 Jul 2022, 8:01 AM
    Approval issue created: CONTRIB-9010
  • David Mudrák
    Wed, 7 Jun 2023, 10:38 PM

    I am happy to report that this plugin passed the mobile app support review by the Moodle Mobile App team and it was granted with the "Mobile app support" award! Well done Daniel!

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