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Moodle for Mobiles

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Moodle for Mobiles is designed to work with mobile phones in Japan. It is a non-standard addition to Moodle that was originally designed for use with Moodle 1.6 and now has been updated to work with Moodle 1.9. It interfaces with Moodle using CHTML (Compact HTML). Included are module plugins for the feedback module and quiz module (multiple choice and matching questions only).


Moodle For Mobiles

This project targets Japanese mobile phones 98% of which at present support CHTML. MFM is a parallel interface to Moodle that works on your Mobile phone. Includes :

  • User login
  • Course navigation
  • Multi Language support.
  • Activities in a Moodle course can be mobile enabled by a teacher so that they are then available to be used on students’ mobile phones.
  • So far Quiz and Feedback modules ported –function libraries and framework already in place to do more.

On the right you see a screen shot from a mobile phone emulator accessing the web site for the JALT (Japan Association of Language Teachers) CALL (Computer Aided Language Learning) Special Interest Group Conference web site. 190 users, participants in the conference, used the software to give real time feedback on presentations through their mobile phones as well as through wifi notebooks.

Installing a Mobile Enabled Moodle Site

Installation instructions are here : Moodle for Mobiles installation

Moodle for Mobiles Activity Modules

This module interfaces with Moodle using CHML (Compact HTML), a W3C standard used in Japan in mobile phone web browsers.

The Moodle for Mobiles code includes plug in functionality to allow developers to develope code to make a mobile version of an activity module. The following activities already have already been ported for use on mobile phones :

  • The Feedback module, see MFM feedback activity documentation here. The following items types are all supported :
    • check box
    • dropdown rated
    • dropdown, radio button
    • radio button rated
    • picture
    • textfield
    • text box
  • The Quiz module, see MFM quiz activity documentation here. The mfm code supports question type plug ins just as the main Moodle code does so adding question types is easy. Currently supported question types are :
    • Multiple choice (single and multiple answer types)
    • Matching questions
  • The Hotpot module.

Developer Overview of Code

Developer Overview of MFM Code

Moodle For Mobiles Created by...

  • Freelance Developer : Jamie Pratt
  • Sapporo Gakuin University: Don Hinkelman
  • Kanezawa Gakuin University: Gordon Bateson
  • Hokusei Gakuen University: Bob Gettings, Narumi Sekiya
  • Yamaguchi University: Tim Takemoto

Creating Mobile Learning Tutorials for iPhone/iPod Touch

iphone.jpg

SumTotal who now owns Toolbook created this best practices for Mobile Learning Development

Limit Graphical Content With the tight mobile device screen being roughly a twelfth (or smaller) of a desktop screen, large-screen graphics not only increase load times, but also take up valuable space that is needed to display text, hyperlinks, and other important information.

Text Considerations Text should be limited – briefer is better. Layout should be structured to avoid the need for scrolling. Thus, this involves breaking up text into smaller pieces/sections and linking to those smaller pieces, instead of putting a lot of text on one screen. Smaller fonts are also recommended. For example, Microsoft Windows Mobile standard is Tahoma with a point size of eight, which is an appropriate size for text viewed in the Apple iPhone’s Safari Web Browser.

Limit Use of Data Entry Since the keyboard is a limited size, input fields should be kept to a minimum to reduce the amount of typing. Where possible, provide possible text or phrases to avoid needing the user having to type. These text items should have a hyper-link associated with them to serve as an easy way for users to select them, rather than their having to type them on the keyboard.

Utilize Empty Space Another design guideline is to utilize screen space. Avoid excessive horizontal and vertical spacing between screen elements. Unlike designing a print ad or brochure, you don’t need a lot of “white space” on mobile device’s screen.

Place Non-Essential Links at the Bottom of the Screen Hypertext links that are not relevant to the information being displayed should be placed at the bottom of the page to preserve space. This places critical information in the user's view upon entry to the screen or page. For example, a navigation menu that would normally be on the left or top of the screen of a desktop computer should be placed at the bottom of the screen for a mobile device.

I'm presently hacking on some DHTML code to create simple Mobile Tutorial stay tuned!


For making actual video tutorials, Camtasia Studio allows screencasts to be optimised for iphones/ipods and works very well -- Matt Gibson 12:43, 26 February 2009 (CST)

See also

Moodle Docs

Moodle Forums

Miscellaneous