Custom Moodle theming and reporting

Welcome to 2011, wishing you all an exciting and prosperous year!

Over the past year we have been involved in several projects that have involved developing custom themes for the Moodle Learning Management System usually aiming to match an existing website design. I thought I would share some of these in the image above which shows just how versatile Moodle is when being themed.  This really is one of the strengths of Moodle as its open source nature means you can get right into the code to modify the interface to match designs and layouts in detail.

Another benefit of the open access to Moodle code and database is that customised reporting facilities can be developed to meet the exact needs of course tutors and administrators (below is an example custom moodle report on a user’s progress in a course).

Accessing appropriate data for tracking user progress in any Learning Management System is usually complicated and and off-putting.  Moodle is no exception to this.  However with a bit of PHP coding and an understanding of the data structures used by Moodle to log user interactions with the system, facilities displaying the appropriate information clearly and without extra clutter can be developed.

Developing custom Moodle themes and reporting facilities are spome of the many e-learning related services that we offer here at Webducate.  Please get in touch for more information.

Dragster 3 scorm demonstration

The Scorm 1.2 publishing option available for Dragster 3 activities allows compatible Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) to track students’ activity scores!
This short movie demonstrates the simple process of publishing a Dragster 3 activity as a Scorm 1.2 learning object. This object is then imported into a Scorm compatible Virtual Learning Environment (in this case a Desire2Learn system). Once imported the activity is taken to show how the VLE system can report on the activity score plus how the VLE can provide the participant details to the Webducate activity results reporting system.
(View scorm demo movie)

Feel free to download a copy of this Dragster 3 scorm learning object so you can test the importing and reporting functionality within your own VLE.

Dragster 3 – SCORM and more…

We are very pleased to announce that several new features have been added to Dragster 3:

• Dragster 3 activities can now be published in Scorm 1.2 format. This format allows compatible host VLEs to track activity completion, time taken and score. It also removes the need for participants to enter their name when recording results on the Webducate system.
• Email alerts can now be set up for recorded Dragster activities.
• Participants can choose to have a link to their recorded activity result emailed to them.