Upcoming Plugin Reviews

As some of you know, I have been spending some time co-authoring a Packt Publishing book on Moodle with Jason Cole and Jeanne Cole. The book is called “Moodle for Business” and focuses on use cases within organisations for which Moodle can and is used globally. Each chapter also features at least one case study of an organisation using Moodle for the specific use case. But enough about that for now.

Now that we have moved into the production phase of that (gone through the writing, and main editing phase), it has given me a bit of time to start doing something which I have wanted to for a while, and that is look at the available Moodle 2 modules and the state of the release.

As you may be aware, there are plans of updating the Modules and plugins database which is a good thing. Right now, if you search for plugins with a requirement of Moodle 2.0 or later you get just 13 modules, which i list below.

However, as you will see there are known Moodle 2.0 compatible plugins not on this list as they are stored under “Moodle 1.9 or later” rather than Moodle 2.0. So to get a full list will take some effort, and not for this post.

However I do know of some as I have already looked at them in the course of the writing of the book and they are:

• Easy Integration with BigBlueButton
• Remote Learner Adobe Connect Pro Module

I have not started installing, or reviewing any of the below, so dont take this list as a recommendation. But that is what I intend to start doing in coming weeks.

What type of review am I going to do?

Well, there are many aspects of looking at modules but it the key questions I will be asking are:

• Is it simple to install?
• Is there documentation for it?
• Does it do what it promises?
• Is it easy for the teacher/admin to use?
• Is it easy for the learner/student to use?

There are many questions that I wont be asking, and if you are to consider using a plugin you should ask, or get checked those unasked questions which include:

• Is it well coded and secure?
• Will it impact on server performance?
• Does it backup/restore properly?

They are just 3 questions you need to ask about any module, but I will focus on the basic questions!.
So thats it for now, just a post to say what I intend to start doing over the coming weeks.
—
This is the list of plugins which is found in that search:

Activity Modules

Video Consultation Seminars
Implements activities like live video consultations, presentations, seminars.

Tutorship
A schedule tutoring sessions module for Moodle, where teachers and students can make appointments for tutoring interviews from a timetable view.

Docbook

123flashchat module
A module to integrate 123flaschat (http://www.123flashchat.com)

Repository
Nanogong plugin

Riffly plugin

Blocks
Theme Switcher Block for Moodle 2.0
Allow users to change their favorite theme without having to go to profile page

Jump To Menu
Jump To Navigation for Moodle 2.x

CSS theme tool
This block allows the user to create CSS (or a theme) though a simple point and click interface and WYSIWYG css editor.

Resource Type
Standard Slideshow
Standard is a tool for creating and editing slideshows using the Simple Standards-based Slideshow System (s5).

Hacks
Flashcard – glossary format
A new glossary format to help user memorise concepts

Other
Moodle Hub server

Integration
Offline Moodle: Google Gears caching
Offline caching integration using Google Gears