MANAGING FILES IN MOODLE

LEARNING SYSTEMS

Today

• Why do we care?

• How Moodle stores files

• Moodle & “repositories”

• Where to store / how to manage X

Why care?

• Effective learning

• Saving time

• Best tools for the job

• Compliance

WHAT MOODLE DOES WITH FILESThis is going to be mildly complex. You will cope.

What Moodle does with files

Moodle is a website

Sometimes you store files thereAdd a resource -> File

Sometimes you just store linksAdd a resource -> URL

What Moodle does with files

If you add a File to Moodle:

• You can use Moodle to control things like

– Permissions and

– Visibility

• Moodle can backup the resource with the site

What Moodle does with files

Moodle has - a database- a file store

What Moodle does with files

When you add a resource link to Moodle… the URL gets stored in the database

What Moodle does with files

When you add a file… The file is placed in the file store, and its location in your site is stored in the database

What Moodle does with files

When someone else adds the same fileThe file isn’t stored againAnother location is recorded in the database

• Each use of that file can have different permissions etc… and can be used / removed / changed independently!

• That’s really cool

What Moodle does with files

When an instance of a file is deletedThe location is deleted from the database

What Moodle does with files

When all instances of a file have been deletedA cleanup process removes the file from the file system

REPOSITORIES?

Moodle repositories

Moodle 2 introduces a new type of plugin: REPOSITORIES

Any system that stores resources of any kind can be a repository

A repository plugin provides a simple way of getting files into Moodle from one of those systems.

Moodle repositories

MoodleHQ and the community have built these plugins for:• GoogleDocs• Flickr• YouTube• Alfresco• about a dozen other systems

Gerwood has built one that talks to eReserve

Why use a particular repo?

• It’s where your stuff is (e.g. Dropbox, GoogleDocs)

• It’s where someone’s sharing something(e.g. Flickr CC images, YouTube)

• It helps make other things easier

– eReserve: CAL reporting

– une.tv: tools for managing audio & video, syndication

Repo examples: link

GOOD• Change original

(YouTube); change everywhere(link is just a link)

BAD• Delete original; break

links everywhere• Repo has to serve files

publicly(link is just a link)

Repo examples: file (import)

GOOD• Delete original;

we’re ok• Moodle provides

access control

BAD• Change original;

update nowhere• We might be storing

for no reason

What about “Shared Files” (“Legacy course files”)

• Shared Files is just an external repository which happens to sit in a particular “site” (course) in Moodle

• It supports link(URL) and import(file)

What about “Shared Files”

GOOD• Files are in Moodle• A splash of Moodle access

control (linked to course/site)

BAD• Change original; maybe

update where it’s used• Delete original; break links

everywhere• No fine-grained access

control• Moodle storage limits for

massive files• Encourages storage of junk

that’s never used

(“Legacy course files”)

AS LINK

What about “Shared Files”

As per any other file resource…

i.e. the file is copied into the place where it is used.

(“Legacy course files”)

AS FILE

The holy grail: import & sync

From http://docs.moodle.org/en/Repository_API (14-12-2010)

Once a repository has been used the file will usually be copied into Moodle there and then. However there will also be options to:• only return the URL to the file if it's desired to keep it external

(but this does present security and integrity risks), or• refresh the local file copy regularly and automatically• refresh the file manually if desired

Once in Moodle, it is subject to the Development:File API for access control like any other file.

GREEN = not actually built

The holy grail: import & sync

GOOD• Change once;

update everywhere• Moodle provides

access control

BAD• Doesn’t solve the file

storage issue (files ARE imported)

• Doesn’t yet exist

So where do I put… ?Thing Repo Why? In Moodle via…

Readings eReserve Copyright reportingLibrary helps manage

Link(eReserve plugin coming soon)

Topic notes (none / shared files)*or direct in Moodle!

Lets Moodle handle everything

File / link (shared files)Page / Book (coming soon!)

Journal articles (various – on the web) Usually subject to all sorts of licenses

Link(would love an EZProxy plugin)

YouTube vid YouTube It’s not our content Link

Audio or video I made

une.tv(Kaltura?)

Great toolsMassive storageUses other than Moodle

Link

Learning object (HTML, Flash etc)

(none / shared files)* Lets Moodle handle everything

File / link (shared files)

3rd-party video une.tv(Kaltura?)

Great toolsMassive storage

File

Virtual classroom Adobe Connect? Specialised tool for playing back sessions

Special resource/activity link

* Perhaps importing (and syncing) from a new repo at a later date?

Q. When should I use Shared Files?

Less often than you think!

A. If multiple (link) resources will point to different parts of the same bucket of files

i.e. an HTML “mini-site”

Remember:• Shared files provide far less access control• Links to Shared Files aren’t magical – they can

still be broken if the original disappears!

WHAT NEXT?Let’s get into Moodle and start experimenting!