moving the ou to moodle 2.0
TRANSCRIPT
Moving the Open University to Moodle 2.0
Ross MackenzieThe Open University
This time last year• Moodle 1.9
– Huge number of core customisations
– 35,000 – 50,000 users per day
– Peaking at c.700,000 transactions per day (*)
– Contemplating Moodle 2.0
Then what happened?• Traffic kept on growing
– user counts up by 35%– transaction counts up by 100%
• The challenge– add new stuff– do it all sooner
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The Challenge• Accelerate development activities – adding lots of new
features in 12 rather than 24 months.
• Moodle 1.9 or Moodle 2.0 or Something Else? (*)
The Challenge• Accelerate development activities – adding lots of new
features in 12 rather than 24 months.
• Moodle 2.0
Redeveloping for Moodle 2• Fewer core customisations
• OU requirements addressed via separate modules that run inside a (close to) standard Moodle environment
Migration• Reimplement / enhance OUforum, OUblog, OUwiki,
authoring tools, dataplus, study planner
• Sort out Quiz (version issue: 1.9 meets 2.0 meets 2.1)
• Reimplement data integration / Elluminate integration
• Revisit groups / roles / permissions
New features• Integrate Moodle with GoogleApps
– Still have accessibility concerns re GoogleApps
• Improve mobile support
• Improve personalisation of learning experience
• Add/improve User Generated Content tools
Migration Strategy• The OU never sleeps
• No obvious conversion time
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Migration Strategy• Lots of course running to their own pattern
– Usage peaks in February, May and November– Lots over 9 months, more 6 months long
• Migrate progressively at end of course
• Run Moodle 1.9 and Moodle 2.x installations in parallel
New Design• Implementing new set of themes for M2
• Wanted visual distinction between old and new platforms
• Building on experience with M1.9 themes
Mobile Matters• Seeing increasing mobile device traffic to VLE
• Latest numbers– c. 2M pages last month (to 13,000 users)– 60% Apple / 22% Android / 7% Blackberry
• Apps vs Mobile Web
Annotation Tool• Reinventing the highlighter pen and post-it notes
• Make/manage annotations on any website
• Share annotations with other users (groups/OU/World)
• Follow other users
Timetable• Hope to have first limited groups of OU students using
VLE2 in July 2011
• Gradual ramp based on how good VLE2 is under load
• How will VLE2 cope with November load-peak
Issues – Moodle 2.0• Do still have concerns about performance
– Currently in the middle of load testing– Bottlenecks, Where?– Will make decision about ability to carry load in May
• Do still have concerns re accessibility– Are resolving some locally– Escalated others back to Perth
Talking about Moodle 2 in UK HE• 20th June 2011, Milton Keynes• Talk about what your institution is doing about
evaluating, developing or rolling out Moodle 2• Aimed at staff with a strategic interest in Moodle
– (hopefully also of interest to the more technically inclined too)
• Any interest in forming a Moodle UK HE user’s group?• More info at http://goo.gl/P1lf6
Other Presentations from OU• Anthony Forth - our recent work in supporting mobile
users of Moodle: "Mobile, Moodle and the Open University".
• Sam Marshall - how we've been working with Martin and his team: "How to change Moodle: working with Moodle HQ".
• Tim Hunt - latest quiz related developments: "Introducing the new Moodle question engine".
Any Questions?
Ross Mackenzie
http://twitter.com/rossmackenzie
http://bit.ly/rossmac