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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 Worlds 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.

Collaborative Spreadsheet Activity

Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities


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Calendar

Docs

1,2

3,4

Study Planner

Forum

New Forum App

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 views


Scenario 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.
Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities
2

Lesley wishes to have study planner data from her


modules viewable in her Google Calendar. She clicks the
Scenario 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 1.1
Projects 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 OUs Roadmap Acceleration Programme is


Projects examining how an eportfolio in Google Docs could be submitted for assessment.

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 Charts link and
Scenario then see useful graphical representations of various types
1.4
of usage.

Lewis Carr from Leeds City College details the Moodle Meter facility he
created using the Google Charts API which measures the activity levels of his
Projects users.

2. Existing app transfers data to Moodle


More complex functionality would involve a transfer of data back from an App to Moodle.

Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities


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Scenario 2

Lesley ticks off study items as shes completed them from


within her Google Calendar. When she views her study
planner within Moodle it shows the items shes 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 apps
API.

Scenario 3

Iain studies 2 modules, both of which have forums, and is


also active on forums hosted by the Students Association.
He doesnt 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 OUs 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. Heres 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.

Projects

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 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.
Google Apps - Moodle integration possibilities
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Eileen goes into Moodle daily but doesnt use email much.
She finds it useful to see when there are new messages
waiting for her in the gmail block on her module website.
Scenario If there is one she clicks to view her gmail in a new
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window.

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. The
main features are common authentication and the Apps blocks within Moodle
Projects
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.

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