Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities
A discussion paper
Niall Sclater, October 2010
Google Apps for Education is becoming a key way for students to interact and share content.
Moodle is the World’s most popular learning management system. Many institutions have both
platforms available for students but integration, if any, is often limited to single sign-on between the
two systems. There are various potential benefits of integrating Moodle and Google Apps more
closely e.g.:



Providing a more integrated (and hence less disjointed and confusing) experience for
students
Students being able to view content from their LMS/VLE in a more customisable,
personalised environment – e.g. using iGoogle
Teachers being able to create innovative learning activities using rapidly evolving
functionality not available in Moodle – but able to present it within a Moodle site
There are various ways in which Google Apps and Moodle could be further integrated:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Moodle transfers data to existing app
Existing app transfers data to Moodle
Moodle transfers data to new app
New app transfers data to Moodle
App presented within Moodle
App content presented within new Moodle block
Deeper integration
Examples of the first five of these are shown in the following diagram and elaborated further below.
Calendar
Docs
5
1,2
3,4
Collaborative
Spreadsheet
Activity
Study
Planner
Forum
New Forum App
Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities
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1. Moodle transfers data to existing app
There are a number of situations where it may be useful for Moodle to transfer data to a Google
App. It may simply be more convenient for the user to view Moodle content this way – they may for
example wish to use iGoogle as their front end to the virtual learning environment. Transferring
data from Moodle may also add value to an existing app.
The simplest form of this is for an app to consume an RSS or ATOM feed. Some of these are
provided already by Moodle and the following scenario is already possible.
John, a student, uses iGoogle as his home page and
Scenario views news from his modules using Google Reader.
1.1
More complex examples could involve Moodle updating content in an app using the Google Apps
API.
Lesley wishes to have study planner data from her
modules viewable in her Google Calendar. She clicks
Scenario the “View in Google Calendar” button next to the study
planner to set this up.
1.2
The JISC-funded DOULS project (Distributed Open University Learning Systems)
at the OU is exploring the presentation of Moodle content in scenarios such as
Projects 1.1 and 1.2.
Mhairi is required to develop an eportfolio while taking
her nursing module. When submitting the eportfolio for
Scenario assessment the permissions of her files are altered so
she can no longer change the content or delete the files.
1.3
The eportfolio project in the OU’s Roadmap Acceleration Programme is
Projects examining how an eportfolio in Google Docs could be submitted for assessment.
Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities
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Elena, a curriculum manager, wants to view usage stats
for the modules she manages. From each module
website she can click the “View usage stats in Google
Scenario
Charts” link and then see useful graphical
1.4
representations of various types of usage.
Lewis Carr from Leeds City College details the “Moodle Meter” facility he created
Projects using the Google Charts API which measures the activity levels of his users.
2. Existing app transfers data to Moodle
More complex functionality would involve a transfer of data back from an App to Moodle.
Scenario 2
Lesley ticks off study items as she’s completed them from
within her Google Calendar. When she views her study
planner within Moodle it shows the items she’s done.
3. Moodle transfers data to new app
New apps could be created for Google Apps with functionality aimed at learners. As with existing
apps this could either take place by the app reading a feed from Moodle or Moodle using the app’s
API.
Scenario 3
Iain studies 2 modules, both of which have forums, and is
also active on forums hosted by the Students’
Association. He doesn’t want to waste time by going into
each forum in Moodle to see if there are new posts.
Through a new forum app, presented in iGoogle, he can
get an immediate overview of how many new posts have
been made on his forums.
He can also view forum comments from within the app
itself.
The OU’s Roadmap Acceleration Programme is exploring the possibility of
Projects creating a “student dashboard” for viewing forums from a Google App.
4. New app transfers data to Moodle
If users are able to view Moodle content outside Moodle from new apps there are compelling use
cases for those apps to be able to access and update content on Moodle. Here’s one example:
Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities
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Scenario 4
When Iain views a forum comment from within the new
forum app Moodle is updated by the app. The comment
is marked as read in future when viewed on either
platform.
5. App presented within Moodle
It is easy to integrate some Google Apps content (e.g. a presentation) within Moodle by simply
making it available as a web page and adding it as a Moodle resource. Michael Penney shows how
to incorporate a Google Doc within Moodle in his blog. Meanwhile the process of adding a Google
Map to a Moodle site is detailed by MoodleNews. None of this requires any adaptation to standard
Moodle or Google Apps.
It is also possible to present a Google App within Moodle in an iframe. This allows the user to access
Google Apps functionality while giving the impression that they are still in Moodle.
Dougie, an economics tutor, sets up a Google
spreadsheet and asks his students to work collaboratively
on the spreadsheet in small groups.
Scenario 5
Dougie can view the spreadsheet for each group within
Moodle and see them being updated in real time.
At Valladolid University the facility to incorporate a Google Doc as a Moodle
activity has been developed. A tutor can see the spreadsheets being worked on
Projects live by different groups – in a single scrollable page within Moodle.
Barcelona Tech has developed similar facilities which allow a Google Doc such as
a spreadsheet or a presentation to be submitted as a Moodle assignment. This
can also be done collaboratively. The intention is to integrate other Google Apps
such as forms, maps and calendar. They are implementing the IMS basic
Learning Tools Interoperability specification.
6. App content presented in new Moodle block
Another form of integration is the presentation of content from Apps within a block in Moodle. In a
similar way to Scenario 3 above (but in reverse) selective data is taken from one system and
presented in the other.
Eileen goes into Moodle daily but doesn’t use email
much. She finds it useful to see when there are new
messages waiting for her in the gmail block on her
Scenario
module website. If there is one she clicks to view her
6.1
gmail in a new window.
Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities
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Moodle-Google provides a gmail block and a Google Apps block (simply linking
to docs, calendar etc) within in Moodle.
Projects
Moogoogle is another initiative which has created a block within Moodle with
links to gmail, calendar, docs etc. Information on this project is not current so it
may be discontinued.
7. Deeper integration
Full investigation between the two platforms has been investigated by the OU Moodle development
team. If Moodle could be implemented on the Google Apps Engine this might be feasible however
there are several serious technical hurdles to this taking place. The most significant is that Moodle is
written in PHP, Google Apps in Java. There is currently no way of emulating PHP in Google Apps. A
rewrite of Moodle to fit this platform would be a mammoth engineering task and result in a long
term burden of maintaining the two versions in parallel.
The most significant project tackling integration between the two platforms has
been a joint effort between Google and Moodlerooms called Moodle-Google.
Projects The main features are common authentication and the Apps blocks within
Moodle detailed above. The software does not appear to have been updated
since May 2010.
Rashan Anushka from UCSC has developed a Moodle GApps integration code
package for joint administration of accounts in Google and Moodle and common
email handling between the platforms. He plans to add email list management
and integration with docs, calendar etc.
Gahoodle is another project supposedly looking at single sign on and deeper
integration between Google, Moodle and Mahara but there is no evidence of
current activity.
While full integration is highly problematic there are clear advantages for the OU in progressing
some of the developments outlined above. One obvious use case is the replication of the tutor
group (and sub tutor group) structures within Google Apps. Documents could then be shared by
tutors with their students – or students could connect more easily with those in their tutor groups.
Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities
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