DOULS
Jason Platts
CETIS Widget Bash
23rd March 2011
www.open.ac.uk/blogs/douls/
Project update March 2011
• Completion of first phase of the project ‘Visioning’
• Now in the first development phase
• 2 Key areas for development:
– Connecting the VLE to Google Apps
– Creating Gadgets
www.open.ac.uk/blogs/douls
VLE & Google Apps
Google Apps
• Over 10,000 students
• Single-sign-on
• Personal usage e.g. email provision
• Due to enter pilot for teaching usage:
• Issues with accessibility
• Issues adding staff/tutors on to system
www.open.ac.uk/blogs/douls
VLE & Google Apps
Export VLE data to Google Calendar
• Creates web calendar feed in Google
calendar
• Link from main module website homepage
• Extra guidance
• Support for other data - tasks
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VLE & Google Apps
VLE Portfolio activity
• Enables ‘scaffolding’ of portfolio
• Enables ‘template’ documents to be added to
portfolio
• Moodle ‘module’ with extendable architecture
• Save Portfolio content in Google Docs – also
supports other formats
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VLE & Google Apps
VLE Portfolio activity
• Scaffold layout can be reused across activities
• Templates can be re-visited across a number
of activities:
- User responses are saved
- Selective pages can be shown
- Builds to produce final document
•Flexible – meets wide range of ePortfolio usage
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VLE & Google Apps
VLE Google Collaborative activity
• Facilitates sharing of documents with students
• Others can see a rendition of the document
• Supports group collaboration
Issues:
• Needs to share to Google groups
(maintained centrally), difficult to match
Moodle groups to these
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Gadgets
Overview of gadget developments
• Plugin to enable secure connection of gadget
to Moodle Web services
• JavaScript library to aid connection to plugin
• Google gadgets to be deployed to iGoogle
• Moodle code to support each gadget –
creating web services
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Gadgets
Moodle Gadget plugin
SNAPP (SocialNetworkApplicationPlugin)
• Plugin providing number of services:
• ‘Serve’ gadget XML from Moodle
• ‘Match’ gadget user to Moodle user
• Provide secure connection to Moodle web
services from gadgets
• Manage OAuth certificates/keys
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iGoogle Gadget containing text from Moodle JSON web service
Inserted
by Moodle
Moodle validates
and checks user Request
has
authenticated
Result
from
sent to
Moodle web
service call
Moodle
Gadgets
Signed request
from gadget
Moodle
validates
Check
container
enabled
OAuth
Certificate
Add user
id
Call web
service
Return
result
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Gadgets
Gadget list
• Generated after a number of brainstorming
sessions
• Gadgets will be promoted to students for use
in iGoogle as part of personalisation of the VLE
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Gadgets
Gadget list
1. Study Planner (Sep)*
2. Collaborative tools alert (Sep)*
3. Module suggestion (Sep/Dec)
4. Assignment buddy (Dec)
5. Study buddy (Dec/Mar)*
* Dependant on other developments
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Gadgets
Paper prototype
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