Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle
-
Upload
chad-leaman -
Category
Education
-
view
485 -
download
1
description
Transcript of Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle
![Page 1: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Canada Moodlemoot 2013 Conference Less is More: Stripping Moodle Down
1
![Page 2: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
What’s this going to be about?
2
![Page 3: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
If you haven’t read the description…
We’re going to discuss: • Plugins • Theme• Core Hacks
Our customizations solve problems with:• Accessibility/Usability• Navigation/Complexity• Community• Tracking
3
![Page 4: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
First a little background
4
![Page 5: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Who are we?
5
![Page 6: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Who do we work for?
The Neil Squire Society has for over 25 years empowered people with physical disabilities through knowledge, technology, and passion.
6
![Page 7: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
The Neil Squire Society
In 2013, we’re reaching a lot of people through e-Learning.
7
![Page 8: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Now that you know who we help
8
![Page 9: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
Usability: How easy is it for your users to do what you want them to be doing?
Accessibility: Does your content take your user’s abilities for granted?
9
![Page 10: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Usability
We want our Moodle students to:• Log In• Follow links to Blackboard Collaborate• Visit their courses• Do course activities• Know what they have completed• Message each other and their teachers
10
![Page 11: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Usability
We want our Moodle teachers to:• Log In• Follow links to Blackboard Collaborate• Visit their courses• Know what their students have completed• Help their students with their accounts• Message each other and their students
11
![Page 12: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Accessibility
We do not take user abilities for granted. The same content is there for:
• The blind to hear• The deaf to read• The mouse-less to command• The low-literacy to listen to• The inexperienced to find
12
![Page 13: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
That’s the background…Let’s talk about our problems (and solutions)
13
![Page 14: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Accessibility & usability(problems)
14
![Page 15: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
Our users are diverse*
Assistive technology (hardware and software)
Literacy (digital and literal)
Culture
*Teachers and Students
15
![Page 16: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
Moodle can be a pain
There is a lot going on!
There’s a lot of stuff to click… I don’t have a mouse.
There’s a lot to read!
There’s too much scrolling.
It can be overwhelming!
16
![Page 17: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Don’t worry
There are lots of little problems here. If you have them too, our code can help.
17
![Page 18: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
Accessibility & usability(solutions)
18
![Page 19: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
The file picker… Ouch
After trying to kludge a block to replace it, I gave up and hacked core.
• Turned off most of the repository plugins• Forced the <noscript> version unless a profile
field is checked.• For the <noscript version>, added a bunch of
redirects that auto-select the upload repository
There is a lot less fuss with this one.
19
![Page 20: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Before
20
![Page 21: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
After
21
![Page 22: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Comments > Forums
Screen reader users struggle with Moodle forums.
Our users have a 0% subscription rate.
We dumped forums:• Forked “Page” module into “Comment Page”.• “readable comment” block in “center of page”• “unread comments” report
22
![Page 23: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
Our comment page
23
![Page 24: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
We use a lot of questionnaires
Forked the questionnaire module to comment some things out and restructure things for keyboard users.
Replaced a lot of quizzes with questionnaires.
Created a block to “mark questionnaire as read”.
Integrated “unread” (public) questionnaires into our marking block.
24
![Page 25: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
Nanogong
We love multi-modal learning (visual + aural).
Nanogong is wonderful, but keyboard users can’t use it and its tabular layout is confusing.
We broke it out of tables and added html buttons.
We renamed it “Say It!”
25
![Page 26: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
Say It!
26
![Page 27: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
Youtube
Embedded Youtube videos are not focusable. We wrap them.
We type: [[swf|yt|Wellness For Work|CHg-E0BWGBw|wide]]
We get:
27
![Page 28: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
Text to speech block 2.0
Huge shout out to Patrick Thibaudeau and OOHOO.
They ported my 1.9 TTS block to 2.0.
They added a lexicon for correcting pronunciation.
I added an off/on option.
28
![Page 29: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
TinyMCE
We forked TinyMCE to add in an autosave.
29
![Page 30: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
Block: template
Fork of the HTML block.
Attempts to inject its content into the text editor.
Will respect HTML/noHTML formats.
Assignments and forums discussion topics.
Answer templates help students and teachers.
30
![Page 31: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
Squire theme
Adds:• WAI-ARIA landmarks• A “center” region for blocks• A site navigation (too custom for custom menu)• Course navigation buttons
Subtracts:• Most of the login page• A lot of the footer
31
![Page 32: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
Navigation (problems)
32
![Page 33: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
Our users get lost… a lot
The navigation block is complicated.
The settings block is just “clutter”.
The home page lists EVERY course.
Courses have “scroll of death”.
The “next” and “previous” links are gone from modules.
33
![Page 34: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
Navigation (solutions)
34
![Page 35: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
We got rid of a lot
Navigation block
Settings block
Breadcrumb
Course listing on front page
35
![Page 36: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
We added
A customized frontpage
Some frontpage blocks
A custom menu that’s more custom than Moodle’s
Profile editing back in the user profile page
A settings block that only admins can see
A custom course format
Navigation icons in modules
36
![Page 37: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Frontpage before
37
![Page 38: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
Frontpage after
38
![Page 39: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
Disclaimer
The “before” page still shows up for administrators.
The “after” page shows up for users.
I hacked core to force users to “MyMoodle” and hacked it more to make every MyMoodle page the same.
39
![Page 40: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
Main menu
Home (moodle/my)
My Profile
A report that shows “friends”
A link to noscript version of messages
40
![Page 41: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
Profile management (core hack )
41
![Page 42: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
Edit profile
User - Change password / edit links to profile page
42
![Page 43: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
Block: course list lite
List of enrolled courses
Categorized
Alphabetized
43
![Page 44: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
Block: collaborate
Links that are populated from hidden profile field.
Classroom and moderator links populated during account setup.
More than one link is supported.
44
![Page 45: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
Badge course format
Each section has two icons
One for all activities complete
One for some activities incomplete
Sections are grouped under “units”
Units are sortable
Sections are sortable
45
![Page 46: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
Badge course format
46
![Page 47: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
Badge format admin
47
Way easier to implement in 2.3+
![Page 48: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
Badge course format: single section
When you click on a section:
48
![Page 49: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/49.jpg)
When you’re in an activity
Navigation buttons are added after “Main Content”.
• Back to the main course view• Back to the section view• Previous activity within section• Next activity within section
(This is done in the theme)
49
![Page 50: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/50.jpg)
So…
Users can tell what they’ve completed.
They can’t spam the “next button” till they get lost.
They can use the main menu to go home.
They have an easy time finding their courses and virtual classroom.
50
![Page 51: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
Community (problems)
51
![Page 52: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/52.jpg)
Cohorts are not quite there
We like cohorts for: • Community.• Cohort-sync enrollment.
We wish:• There was a cohort context (like “user” context).• Cohorts could mass “friend”.
52
![Page 53: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/53.jpg)
Community (solutions)
53
![Page 54: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/54.jpg)
We made some cohort plugins
Now we have:• Cohort friendship sync• Friends report• Cohort breakup• Cohort relationships
54
![Page 55: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/55.jpg)
Admin tool: cohort friendship sync
Cron checks that each “from” cohort member is friends with each “to” cohort member.
New cohort members become instant friends.
55
![Page 56: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/56.jpg)
Report: friends
Looks like Outlook
Has email addresses and Moodle message links.
Encourages profile pictures.
Easier for screen reader users to navigate
56
![Page 57: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/57.jpg)
Admin tool: cohort breakup
Breaks friendships.
This lets teachers move on when they have a new class of students.
57
![Page 58: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/58.jpg)
Admin tool: cohort relationships
Each member of cohort “from” is assigned a role in the “user” context of each user in cohort “to”.
Our classroom IT is given a role that allows account editing for each student.
58
![Page 59: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/59.jpg)
Tracking (problems)
59
![Page 60: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/60.jpg)
Navigation
Our staff hate the navigation and settings blocks.
We’ve had facilitators on screen readers.
We don’t grade anything.
Our staff do live demos… they can’t display client information.
60
![Page 61: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/61.jpg)
Tracking (solutions)
61
![Page 62: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/62.jpg)
This was tricky
We made a “Class Facilitation” course.
The course contains:• A comments activity• A marking block• Links to tracking reports
62
![Page 63: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/63.jpg)
Marking block
Our marking block:• Doesn’t use AJAX• Shows assignments, questionnaires, say its!, and
questionnaires.– Course
• Unit (if course is badge format)– Section
» Activity
• Is semantically set up for screen reader navigation.
• Displays in the “center” block region.
63
![Page 64: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/64.jpg)
Report: unread comments
Breaks comments down by course and activity.
Provides “mark as read” link for each comment.
64
![Page 65: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/65.jpg)
Report: badges
We can see that Bart has only completed one section.
65
![Page 66: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/66.jpg)
Report: participant credentials
Shows anyone you are “teaching”.
Displays:• Name• Username• Whether their password is still set to default• Last login
66
![Page 67: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/67.jpg)
Report: participant submissions
The inverse of the marking block.
Helps blind teachers reference user activities.
67
![Page 68: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/68.jpg)
Thank you for your time
Chad Leaman – [email protected] Thomas – [email protected] 604 - 473 – 9363www.neilsquire.ca@neilsquiresoc
68
![Page 69: Neil Squire Society Moodlemoot 2013: Less is More; Stripping down Moodle](https://reader037.fdocuments.us/reader037/viewer/2022110119/556779a9d8b42a60198b4625/html5/thumbnails/69.jpg)
Questions? Talk shop?
69