imoot 2013: moodle addons - adding technological distinctiveness to moodle core

Moodle Addons:
Adding technological distinctiveness to Moodle core

How to make your Moodle installation shine

Moodle Addons:

Who am I?Anthony Borrow, S.J.Catholic PriestNew Orleans Province Jesuit

Associate Pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Albuquerque, NM

Previously taught theology at Cristo Rey Jesuit in Houston, TX and Dallas Jesuit College Preparatory

CounselorNASAP

ACAASERVIC

CSJ

Honduran Teen Gangs

Interests/HobbiesRacquetball

Star Trek Fan

Moodle Addons:

Moodle's Plugins FacilitatorJoined Moodle.org in 2005Particularly Helpful Moodler

Maintained pluginGBPv2 (1.8) patch

Developed pluginsBirthday block

MRBS block

Core developmentForum aggregation types

Feedback anonymity

Various little patches

Review Moodle Plugins

Moodle Addons:

ObjectivesRecognize the difference between a Moodle Plugin vs. Addon

Identify the various types of Moodle plugins

Discover and assess Moodle plugins shared by others

Integrate Addons into your Moodle installation

Support plugins for your site by actively participating in the Moodle community

Seeking Perfection: The Omega Molecule

Moodle Addons:
Moodle Plugin vs. Moodle Addon

M is for ModularMoodle is designed to be expanded

Moodle has a variety of plugin types

Use what you need Moodle Plugins should function independently of each other and be easily added or removed without impacting other parts of Moodle

Moodle Addons:
Moodle Plugin vs. Moodle Addon

Moodle Plugins and Addons increase functionality

Moodle Plugins and Addons can be deactivated without destroying your Moodle site

Moodle Plugins refers to all functionality that makes up a Moodle site. Moodle Addons refer specifically to non-core plugins that are added to your installation. Moodle Addons are a subset of Moodle Plugins.

Moodle Plugins primarily contains Addons.

Moodle Addons:
Moodle Plugin Types

Moodle has many types of plugins to enhance the tools you have at hand:Assignment Submission and feedback types (Moodle 2.3+) (/mod/assign/submission/ and /mod/assign/feedback)Course formats (/course/format/)

Themes (/theme/)

Activity modules (/mod/)

Blocks (/blocks/)

Repositories and portfolios (/repository/ and /portfolio/)

Plagiarism (/plagiarism/)

QuestionQuestion types (/question/type/)

Question formats (/question/format/)

Question behaviors (/question/behaviour/)

Authentication types (/auth/)

Enrollment types (/enrol/)

Filters (/filter/)

Grade reports (/grade/report/)

Local plugins (/local/)

Message outputs (/message/output/)

Reports (/report/)

Administrative tools (/admin/tool/)

User profile fields(/user/profile/field)

Moodle Addons:

Advantages of AddonsExpanded functionality

Cutting edge - cool toys to play with (BUT they may cut both ways)

Disadvantages of AddonsNOT maintained by Moodle HQ

Security may NOT be suitable for production sites

Reliability/Stability may NOT be as well tested or have unit tests

Usability may NOT be well documented

Upgrading - may NOT be supported in future Moodle versions

Backup! Backup! Backup!

Test server

Patience maintainers are usually volunteers

Moodle Addons:
Discovering technological distinctiveness

Browse Moodle Plugins by type

Search Moodle Plugins by name

Review download Stats

Moodle Addons:
Assessing technological distinctiveness

DescriptionFunctional necessity?

Download tested for my version of Moodle?

Popularity (Stats)Do you recognize the maintainer?

Moodle Addons:

ReviewsTrusted members of the community write reviews for a particular version

AwardsGiven to Addons that stand out and are worthy of special recognitionDeveloping

Moodle Addons:

Comments

Other positive indicatorsScreenshot

Documentation

Discussion

Bug Tracker

Source code

Moodle Addons:

There are many ways to install Moodle Addons2.4 and priorDownload zip and copy files to server (simple)

Using Git (mostly for developers)

2.5+Login as Admin then browse Moodle Plugins and click Install

Upgrade notifications

Moodle Addons:

Become part of the Moodle CollectiveParticipate in the communityMoodle Tracker

Moodle Docs

Moodle ForumsTranslatorsInexperience is irrelevant allow your own experiences to become part of the Moodle collective

Moodle Addons:

Moodle Plugins continues to evolveFrom CVS Git Moodle Plugins

Your participation is crucial to creating a dynamic community around Moodle plugins

If you have ideas of how Moodle plugins can better serve you and the community please let us know

Moodle Addons:

Moodle Addons Resistance is futile

imoot 2013: moodle addons - adding technological distinctiveness to moodle core

Technology