The purpose is to take a web app and run it in its own window, stripped of all tool bars and assorted browser enhancement clutter.  Supposedly, you can enter different parameters and add them to the desktop, the task bar, and the quick launch bar.

I selected the stand-alone version and installed it.  Once you extract, you will need to send the shortcut to the desktop for convenience.  When you launch, you can put the URL of your choice into the dialog box and select an icon.  It said that the fav icon of the website would be automatically used, but it didn’t work for me.  I got a default globe instead.

Prism is meant to use with web applications.  One web application that I use quite a lot is Moodle!  So I decided to test it with Prism.  I launched the application, added our instance into the URL box, and saved.  Unfortunately, every time you run it, you get the scary box that says this publisher is unknown and you are running a security risk by proceeding.  But if you click run anyway, it will bring up your application.

Moodle looks like this in Prism.

All the toolbars are gone (which means, of course, that if you NEED a toolbar as a matter of course, you probably should not be using prism for that particular website.)  The application is running in a separate window (so if your browser crashes, this window should not be affected).  The prism Moodle is accessible from my tool tray or from a convenient icon on my desktop.  In all other respects, Moodle works just like it always has.  Any link that opens in a new window also opens in a new Prism window.

As I worked with it awhile, I noticed that I missed being able to search, open new tabs, copy and paste, and bookmark sites as I created resources to add to my course.  I could certainly do that, but it required me to switch back and forth between windows rather than tabs.  I remember how long it took me to get used to tabs!  This was like going backwards.

I did like the cleaner interface, however.  I had more screen space since there were no toolbars.  I thought that for making screen captures in Camtasia or Captivate, it would be nice to have the more streamlined interface.

If you have tried it out with other applications, let me know which ones and how you liked it!

We have the keynote with Martin Dougiamas tomorrow, first thing.  I expect him to talk about Moodle 2.0 and some idea about the future roadmap.

I had a great time listening to Patrick talk about theming moodle this morning.  Tomorrow I will attend Helen’s workshop on Moodle 2.0.  It will be nice to get a tour from an expert rather than trying to figure it out on my own!

I believe there are around 130 people attending, which is a slightly larger group than last year.

Our problem is this (we must have set something wrong):

When a person logs in to mahara directly, it creates an account with the default avatar icon and the institutional email address.

When a person logs in from the moodle block, Mahara creates ANOTHER account.  It adds a 1 after the username and appears to pull in the avatar and email from the moodle instance.

We certainly do not want two accounts for every user depending on how they logged in!!

The is additionally complicated by the fact that if this is really a portfolio, students will need access to it for some agreed-upon time after graduation (I am thinking 12-24 months).  Once they matriculate, they will not be able to log in through moodle because those courses are open to enrolled students only.

Things I need to figure out:

1. If a person has two different accounts in Mahara, won’t the content they add be unavailable from the alternate account?  Surely so, but worth testing.
2. Can students be migrated from one authentication method to another without losing their content?  If not, maybe we don’t want the portfolio so tightly integrated with moodle (even if SSO is a giant convenience).
3. Can you mix authentication methods?  We might need some manual accounts as well as LDAP accounts.
4. How do you lock mahara so that students can ONLY enter through the moodle block?

If it is one or the other, we have some policy thinking to do.  I hate to think that the whole system will be completely tied to course enrollment.  That wasn’t what I had in mind, so we will need to discover the work around.  I see pleas for assistance to Tony in my future. . .

We have been having quite a bit of fun in my Advanced Technology in Schools course. A big part of the course is exploring the magnificent array of on-line tools for teachers.

Our usual modus operandi is to introduce a class of tools or services–wikis, blogs, video hosting, social bookmarking, mindmapping, etc.–and each person in the class takes a tool and works with it for a while. Then they prepare a short demonstration of the tool or service for the class (we used jing for some, and in-class presentations for some). A blog post is also prepared and posted in our community blog.

Because I have a small number of people in the class, I made it a rule that there could be no duplicates when selecting tools or services for review. So every time we start a new topic, I create a forum for students to “claim” their tool or service. A proper claim requires the name of the tools to be specified in the subject line and a link to the tool to be placed in the text.

It is amusing to watch the race to stake a claim. We all laugh about it, but the competition is fierce! And woe unto the absent student . .

——————————

Most favorite hacks (moodle 1.8)

My most favorite hacks:

—————————

Increase the number of course summaries displayed before going to collapsed mode in category view:

the following change was made in course/lib.php
line 13 should read
define(’COURSE_MAX_SUMMARIES_PER_PAGE?‘, 25); // courses

—————————

Allow admins to edit posts after closing:

In moodle/config.php file, add the following two lines:

// Setting this to true will enable admins to edit any post at any time

//  $CFG->admineditalways = true;

except uncomment the second line (remove the two slashes):

// Setting this to true will enable admins to edit any post at any time

  $CFG->admineditalways = true;

—————————

Change the default course settings to create topic courses instead of weekly courses.

changes made in course/edit.php

98 change
$mform->setDefault(’format’, ‘weeks’);

to

$mform->setDefault(’format’, ‘topics’);

If you wanted to, you could change the default number of topics/weeks in a course. See
104 $mform->setDefault(’numsections’, 10);

—————————

Increase shortname field length in the course request form and the course creation form.

In moodle/course/edit_form.php

line 72
$mform->addElement(’text’,’shortname’, get_string(’shortname’),’maxlength=”25″ size=”25″‘);

moodle/course/request_form.php

line 13
$mform->addElement(’text’, ’shortname’, get_string(’shortname’), ‘maxlength=”25″ size=”25″‘);

—————————

Assignment grading interface: turn quickgrade on as default, increase default number of assignments shown to 20, and remove instructor from the list.

in moodle/mod/assignment/lib.php

line 682
$perpage = get_user_preferences(’assignment_perpage’, 20);

line 684
$quickgrade = get_user_preferences(’assignment_quickgrade’, 1);

line 982
$teacherattempts = false; /// Temporary measure

—————————

Set default course blocks rather than using sticky blocks.

in moodle/config.php, lines 20-25

Find the defaultblocks_topics line and replace with this. Also change
the string for defalutblocks_weeks. Don’t change social though.

$CFG->defaultblocks_topics =
‘course_menu,myCourses:activity_modules,calendar_upcoming,quickmail’;

$CFG->defaultblocks_weeks =
‘course_menu,myCourses:activity_modules,calendar_upcoming,quickmail’;

Here are my notes for creating and using a local language pack. This is a great option in moodle, because it lets you create customized language files for your institution that are not overwritten when you install updated moodle code.

Following these excellent directions from Tim Allen:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=49150#p225224

In particular:

“The local pack en_utf8_local will not appear in the language menus for selection and your users do not need to change their settings.” So the reason you are not seeing the customized language pack in the menu is because you are not supposed to! wink The local pack en_utf8_local and the main pack en_utf8 are checked together (local one first, then the main one) and the language menu only shows one entry for both of them.

So, I did as suggested. First, copy the en_utf8 language pack, rename it, and go through with text editor and change all the desired strings. Things like “instructor” not teacher; “enroll” not “enrol”, “expiration” not “expiry”, and “course prefix and number” not “shortname”. Also, include all the extra language files from the blocks I have installed (quickmail, course menu plus, mycourses, gradebook enhancements). (Well, I have never been quite straight on where those need to go, so I put them in local anyway. I wanted to keep all my changes together).

Important things to note:

• The file must be named en_utf8_local. The first time around, I named it something else and of course it didn’t work properly!
• The file must be placed in the moodle/lang folder.
• Default site language is en_utf8.
• Do not include more than the necessary files. If strings are changed in main moodle language files, having the same file here will pre-empt loading of altered strings and help files

image by LadyHawke365

I was delighted when I found that there really was a script that allows you to use a csv file to create a set of courses on Moodle. This is something that I think should be part of the moodle core. Fortunately, a solution exists–contributed and tweaked by several kind souls in the forums at moodle.org. While additional batch tools maybe available in later moodle versions, 1.8.x does not include them. The solution I present here is good for moodle 1.8.x (I have done it on 1.8.1 and 1.8.4 WIMP and LAMP).

When setting up our pilot portfolio instance, I needed to be able to create some 36 student portfolios. Getting the process down now will ensure that additional portfolios can be created quickly each semester.

First you have to have the users all in the system. I created a “sandbox” course and ran uploadusers with a csv file to create the accounts and enroll all the students students into the sandbox course. This course can be deleted or hidden, as desired. In fact, you don’t have to enroll them into a course at all–that field is optional. I was going to use it as a means of sending a bulk email to portfolio users.

Where did the information come from? I actually exported gradebook information from the appropriate courses on the main Moodle LMS for the university and dropped it into the proper columns in an excel spreadsheet. After that, I filled in the remaining fields and saved the file in csv format. (If you use excel, always check the end of the file in wordpad. It is very easy to get extra rows of empty fields if you are not careful.)

Second, you need to install uploadcourse.php (this version of the file contributed by M. Pearson at Earlham–rename it to take off the txt extension if you use it) to your moodle/admin directory.

Create a csv file with the required information to create the courses. My file looks something like this. The file is a bit tricky to make. Almost all of the fields are required to create courses, even some things you might rather skip over! Fortunately, the script is friendly and will stop immediately when it encounters a required field with no data. Do double check the maxbytes settings in the moodle system policies or calculate the correct values. This value is in bytes, not mb.

If successful, the courses will be created and each student will be assigned as the instructor for that course. For more information about the various settings and fields, please see http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=30126#p339447

You can create categories with this script, but the categories are only created if at least one course exists in them. If you need to create an “empty” category, then you will want to create a placeholder course with a placeholder instructor account. I created a user called “tba” and placeholder courses which were deleted later.

The categories are created in the order of the csv file, which can be a plus if you would like to manipulate those. But if you make a mistake the category order is tedious to change afterwards.

You trigger this script manually. I haven’t figured out how to add it to the admin menu.

This process worked very well to create portfolio courses for our portfolio instance. Although it takes a couple of steps, that is much faster than creating 20 or 30 courses individually and then having to set up the course setting information and assign the instructor role.

I am STILL on my soapbox about wishing to get off the WIMP platform. We are running php5.1.2, because we had a lot of trouble with IIS and violation errors last year when we upgraded php. We rolled back and were doing fine under moodle 1.6.3, but now it is a different story.

We stopped extra backups for old instances; that helped, but we still have a peak load problem. I am seriously thinking about moving my courses to another server. I will feel guilty, but I will be having class!!

Maybe one of these will help; we are checking them out.
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=78290

This one looks helpful:
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61334

This one I started, but lots of other interesting info got posted.
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=55451

This one has more on php; they think the slowdown is related to cron.
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=57715

———————-

Followup:

Performance Tuning

1. Set the variable allow_call_time_pass_reference = Off
2. Changed Recycle work processes to 360 minutes instead of 1740, this should keep the memory usage from growing too great.

Error logs in Windows
The log entries should be in the event viewer application log. If they’re not there, try uncommenting the settings in your php.ini file which control where the log entries are stored, e.g. log_errors = On and error_log = syslog. Save php.ini and restart IIS.

Turn on debugging in php
To turn on debugging, try setting the Server -> Debugging options on. Also, in your config.php, try adding:

define('MDL_PERFDB' , true); http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=74795#p333327

Final update: Upgrading to the newest version of 1.8 fixes this problem. It was mostly related to database queries. Refactoring has us back to normal for the spring 08 semester. What a relief!

Well, we are having a big problem with IE7 and ppt files in Moodle. If you click on the link, you get a presentation with a single blank slide. Reminds me very much of the old Windows 98 problem that was fixed with the first service pack. . . Integration with IE was problematic at times.

The only way I have been able to fix it so far is to append ?forcedownload=1 to the link in Moodle. The problem even occurs when I use a PowerPoint show. And I dislike those because you have to view full screen and endure the transitions.

I tend to think this is an IE problem. It happens with IE7 no matter which moodle version I test; it does not happen with IE6. I can’t replicate it with Firefox either. It happens whether in a new window, or loaded into the same window. But it is going to be great trouble to fix. Instructors will have to manually change every link since the students will likely not have Firefox installed.

Sigh. I am definitely too tired for this. More discussion here:

http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=76969

Update: Service pack is FINALLY out for Office 2007. Some people also reported relief for the blank white slide problem after tinkering with the security settings in IE. I think we have this sorted now. But I still have the patch on the server. I guess we will see how things go with a new build of Moodle 1.9.x for summer terms.

Using LDAP authentication (the last time I tried the upgrade I used the fall 2006 database where I had been using IMAP, so perhaps the change in authentication method contributed to our problems.)

Other tweaks included changes in various php files, but did not really affect the database.  The server is WIMP, with php 5.1.2.

THIS time, I am going to delete all the third-part blocks PRIOR to doing the database upgrade.  Will come back and post results.

——————

Results:  Well, it did work better.  No more “vanish everything” when turning editing on!  But we still have the problem of the blocks not deleting.

As an instructor and as admin, I can add blocks to courses. Once they are added I can’t delete them. They appear to be deleted, but once you turn editing off, they come right back. This happens in new courses and in pre-existing courses. The front page, however, works. You can delete blocks and they stay deleted. In regular courses, they come back.

I also tried this in a moodle 1.8 install with an empty database. There, I could delete the blocks and they stayed deleted! The mysterious return only happens with the upgraded database.

As I said, prior to doing the install, I deleted all the tables created from non-standard blocks (used the moodle admin interface to do this–I was using quickmail, course menu, sidebar, and attendance. I deleted EVERYTHING that was non-standard prior to installing the new codebase and triggering the database upgrade).

I did not, however, go through every single course (169) to take out references to the now deleted blocks/modules.

I find it very strange that the blocks can be added but not deleted.  I am pretty confident that this has to do with my database, not my codebase, but I have no ideas about how to fix it.

——-follow up ————-

Now using an empty database; restoring courses manually, one by one.  Now, the problems seem to be fixed.  I did confuse myself totally however!  The first day I had the site, I experimented with the stickyblocks.  If you use stickyblocks and then restore a course that used the blocks, you will get duplicates!  You can’t delete the stickyblocks, you have to delete the restored copy.  So now I have to think, is it better to start using stickyblocks and just go through the trouble of deleting the extras?  Or just skip the stickyblocks and edit the php code for standard course configuration?

I am not sure!

Also, I have found out from Mauno (helpful moodler on moodle.org) that ajax on Windows is still problematic.  This contributed to the mysterious reappearance of missing blocks.