How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

Introductions: Who are you?

(name/position) Where are you from? Why are you here? What do you hope to

learn or take away from this session so that it will be meaningful and worthwhile?

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

Who am I?● Anthony Borrow, S.J.

● Catholic Priest● New Orleans Province Jesuit● Associate Pastor of

Immaculate Conception Parish in Albuquerque, NM

● Previously taught theology and served as Campus Minister at Cristo Rey Jesuit in Houston, TX

● Counselor● NASAP● ACA

● ASERVIC● CSJ

● Honduran Teen Gangs● Interests/Hobbies

● Racquetball● Hunyuan Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan

What's missing?

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

Moodle's Plugins Facilitator Core development

Forum aggregation types Feedback anonymity Various little patches

“Developed” plugins Birthday block MRBS block

Maintained plugin GBPv2 (1.8) patch

Approves Moodle Plugins “Particularly Helpful Moodler”

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

What is a Moodle Plugin?✔ M is for Modular✔ Plugins

✔ Any code added to a Moodle installation that is not part of Moodle core to expand its functionality

✔ Designed to drop in without requiring any other changes

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

Moodle has many types of plugins to help you expand your installation. Some of the many plugin types include:✗ Assignment type (prior to Moodle 2.3)✗ Submission and feedback types (Moodle 2.3+)✗ Course formats✗ Themes✗ Activity modules✗ Blocks✗ Repositories and portfolios✗ Plagiarism ✗ Question types, formats, and behaviors✗ Authentication types✗ Enrollment types✗ Filters✗ Grade reports✗ Local plugins✗ Message outputs✗ Reports✗ Administrative tools

How many tools can you fit in your belt?

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

● Advantages of Plugins● Expanded functionality● Cutting edge - cool new toys

to play with (that may cut both ways)

● Disadvantages● Maintenance - not by Moodle

HQ● Security - may NOT be

suitable for production sites● Reliability/Stability – may NOT

be as well tested● Usability - may NOT be well

documented● Upgrading - may NOT be

supported in future Moodle versions

Keep in mind that you are often relying on the free generosity of the maintainer

Try this at home first! Have a test server and always make a good

backup before trying a new plugin.

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

How to I find and install plugins on my Moodle site?

✔ The simple answer:✔ Browse or search Moodle Plugins✔ Download the zip file✔ Unzip the file to your Moodle site - location

depends on type of plugin✔ For example, a block goes in the /blocks/

directory an activity module in /mod/✔ Login to your Moodle site as a site

administrator and go to the Notifications page

✔ Afterwards, you may also need to setup or configure some of the plugin settings

✔ The less simple answer (but more powerful)✔ See Git for Administrators

No heavy lifting required!

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

An overview of the various Moodle tools used to support Moodle Plugins➢ Moodle Forums – discuss, ask

questions, etc.➢ Moodle Docs – instructions for

installing and configuring, explain features, FAQs, show examples,

➢ Moodle Tracker – reporting bugs and requesting new features (develop to do list)

➢ Moodle Plugins – system for managing shared plugins (share, find, and download plugins)

➢ AMOS – translation➢ Github.com – working with code,

providing patches

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

How can I contribute to Moodle?

You can be an active Moodler even if you do not know PHP, how to administer a server, etc. Your experiences as a user a valuable to the community.

Forums – Share your experiences especially things that may be confusing. Ask questions that you have and share answers that you have.

Documentation – As you learn how to work with a plugin, if a feature is not clearly documented you can help write that documentation for others. If you catch an error in Moodle Docs you can correct that error.

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

Tracker – The Moodle Tracker is used to report bugs and request new features. You need to create a separate account for the Moodle Tracker before you can create an issue.

How do I create an issue in the tracker? If you spot what you believe to be a bug, go

to the Moodle Tracker, login, and create a new issue in the Moodle (MDL) project if the error is related to Moodle core or CONTRIB if the error is with a Moodle Plugin. Please provide as much detailed information as possible and make sure to indicate which version of Moodle you found the bug. Screenshots and detailed steps to reproduce the error are important so the developer can experience what you are experiencing. Once the problem is identified the solution is usually not too far away.

Complaining is welcome but try to be as specific as

possible

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

Moodle Plugins is the place to browse and search for plugins to install in your system.

If you have created a plugin and would like to share it, you can upload a version which will then be reviewed. Upon approval, it will be visible to the rest of the Moodle community.

It is good to share customizations that have helped make your Moodle site more productive with the rest of the community.

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

If you have downloaded and installed a plugin, feel free to share a comment about your experience.

If you want to become a plugin reviewer and write a more extensive thorough review please contact the Plugins Facilitator (anthony@moodle.org). You can also share your experience on the Moodle Forums.

The important thing is to share your experience and to actively participate in the community.

How to Contribute to the Moodle Community

Q&A – What questions remain?

Thank you for your participation!

Hopefully today's session has helped empower you to more actively participate in the Moodle community. I look forward to learning about your experiences of working with Moodle and how Moodle can continue to grow.

Let's unleash the power of collaboration!