Table Of ContentMoodle
E-Learning Course Development
A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle
William H. Rice IV
BIRMINGHAM - MUMBAI
Moodle
E-Learning Course Development
Copyright © 2006 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
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However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: May 2006
Production Reference: 1160506
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
32 Lincoln Road
Olton
Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.
ISBN 1-904811-29-9
www.packtpub.com
Cover Design by www.visionwt.com
Credits
Author Development Editor
William H. Rice IV David Barnes
Reviewers Indexer
Mark Bailye Abhishek Shirodkar
Gurudutt Talgery
Proofreader
Technical Editor Chris Smith
Heidi Pearl
Production Coordinator
Editorial Manager Manjiri Nadkarni
Dipali Chittar
Cover Designer
Helen Wood
About the Author
William H. Rice IV is a training manager, a technical writer, and a knowledge manager
who lives and works in New York City. He has been helping people to incorporate
technology into their work processes since graduating with a degree in technical writing
in 1988. He has developed training and documentation for Fortune 100 clients, hospitals,
small businesses, and universities. His first book for Packt Publishing was User Training
for Busy Programmers, ISBN 1-904811-45-0.
When William isn't working, he enjoys foraging for edible wild plants in New York City
parks, hiking and climbing in Pennsylvania, and archery within sight of J.F.K.
International Airport. His current favorite blog is www.43folders.com. His favorite
non-work activity is spending time with his beautiful wife and child.
William maintains an online magazine for technical trainers and writers at
www.williamrice.com. On this website, other trainers and writers are welcome
to browse and submit articles. He can be reached through his website or at
[email protected].
For my father, William III, who instilled in me a curiosity and love of learning; and for
William V, to whom I hope to pass on this wonderful legacy.
About the Reviewers
Gurudutt Talgery has close to twenty years of industry experience in areas of software
development, software process, and product engineering working in the Indian arms of
such companies as Texas Instruments and Tektronix. His area of interest is Digital Asset
Management and Search Applications using open source solution stacks. He believes that
technology exists for people rather than the other way round. When not thinking about
asset management and search interfaces, Gurudutt dabbles into Oriental philosophy, Indic
computing, and living a cyberlife exclusively on open source technologies. Gurudutt lives
in Bangalore, India with his family.
Table of Contents
Preface 1
Chapter 1: Introduction 5
Who is This Book For? 6
A Plan for Creating Your Learning Site 6
Step-By-Step: Using Each Chapter 6
Step 1: Learn About the Moodle Experience (Chapter 1) 7
Step 2: Install and Configure Moodle (Chapter 2) 7
Step 3: Create the Framework for Your Learning Site (Chapter 3) 7
Step 4: Add Basic Course Material (Chapter 4) 7
Step 5: Make Your Courses Interactive (Chapter 5) 8
Step 6: Make Your Course Social (Chapter 6) 8
Step 7: Create a Welcome for New and Existing Students (Chapter 7) 8
Step 8: Use Teacher's Tools to Deliver and Administer Courses (Chapter 8) 8
Step 9: Extend Moodle (Chapter 9) 9
The Moodle Philosophy 9
The Moodle Experience 10
The Moodle Front Page 11
Arriving at the Site 11
Anonymous, Guest, and Registered Access 12
The Main Menu 13
Blocks 13
Site Description 14
Available Courses 14
Inside a Course 15
Breadcrumbs 15
Blocks 15
Topics 16
Join a Discussion 18
Complete a Workshop 19
Assessing Other Students' Work 21
Editing Mode 22
Normal versus Editing Mode 22
The Edit Icon 23
Table of Contents
The Delete Icon 23
The Hidden/Shown Icons 24
The Group Icons 24
Resources and Activities 24
Adding Resources and Activities 24
The Administration Block 26
And Much More 26
The Moodle Architecture 27
The Moodle Application Directory 27
The Moodle Data Directory 29
The Moodle Database 30
Summary 30
Chapter 2: Installing and Configuring Moodle 31
Go Ahead, Experiment 31
Using This Chapter 32
Accessing the Site Variables and Site Settings Pages 32
Installing Moodle 33
Installation Step 1: The Web Server 34
How Much Hosting Service Do You Need? 34
Installation Step 2: Subdomains 35
Installation Step 3: Getting and Unpacking Moodle 36
Which Version? 36
Which Format? 37
Installation Step 4: The Moodle Data Directory 40
Installation Step 5: Creating the Moodle Database 40
Installation Step 6: Setting up the Cron Job 42
Installation Step 7: The Installer Script 43
Installation Step 7a: Run install.php 43
Installation Step 7b: Specify Settings for config.php 43
Installation Step 7c: Database Tables Created by install.php 46
Installation Step 7d: Specify Site Variables 46
Installation Step 8: Upgrading the Database and Setting Up Tables 60
Installation Step 9: Site Settings 60
Full Site Name 61
Short Name for Site 61
Front Page Description 62
Front Page Format 62
ii
Table of Contents
Configuration Choices after Installation 66
Filters 66
Auto-Linking Filters 66
Math Filters 67
Email Protection Filter 67
Multimedia Plugins 67
Multi-Language Content 67
Filter Uploaded files 68
Backup 68
Authentication 68
Enrolment Choices 69
External Database 69
Flat File 71
Internal Enrolment 71
Paypal 71
Summary 72
Chapter 3: Creating Categories and Courses 73
Using Course Categories and the User Experience 73
Creating Course Categories 74
Organizing Course Categories 75
Putting a Course into Several Categories 75
Creating Courses 76
The Course Settings Page 77
Category 77
Full Name and Short Name 77
ID Number 78
Summary 78
Format 79
Course Start Date 85
Enrolment Period 86
Number of Weeks/Topics 86
Using Group Mode 87
Availability 88
Use Enrollment Keys to Regulate Access 88
Guest Access 88
Cost 89
Hidden Sections 89
News Items to Show 91
Show Grades and Show Activity Reports 92
iii
Table of Contents
Maximum Upload Size 92
Words for Teacher and Student 92
Force Language 92
Adding Teachers and Students 93
Blocks 93
The Standard Blocks 94
Activities 94
Administration 94
Calendar 97
Course Summary 97
Courses 99
Latest News 100
Login 100
Main Menu 101
Online Users 102
People 102
Recent Activity 103
Remote RSS Feeds 103
Search 104
Section Links 105
Upcoming Events 107
Summary 107
Chapter 4: Adding Static Course Material 109
What Kinds of Static Course Material can be Added? 109
The Resource Summary 110
Activities Block Encourages Exploration 112
Files 113
Why Upload Files? 113
File Types 114
Linking to Uploaded Files 114
Why Use Uploaded Files? 116
Text Page 117
Formatting 117
Moodle Auto-Format: for Quick, Limited Formatting 117
Plain Text Format: for Program Listings 118
Markdown Format: Intuitive, Fast Formatting 118
Window Settings 118
When to Open Pages in a New Window? 118
iv
