MoodleDocs - Contribucions de l'usuari [ca]

Grade settings

2013-08-22T14:06:50Z

TimHunt: Reverted edits by Alecialow (talk) to last revision by Tsala

{{Grades}}
==Course grade settings==

[[File:Course grade settings.png|thumb|Course grade settings]]Course grade settings determine how the gradebook appears for all participants in the course.

Course grade settings are found in ''Settings > Grade administration > Course grade settings'' or via the gradebook Settings tab.

The default course grade settings are set by an administrator in ''Settings > Site administration > Grades''.

==Grader report preferences==

[[File:Grader report preferences.png|thumb|Grader report preferences]]Teachers can set their preferences for the grader report via the gradebook 'My preferences' tab. These settings will apply to all courses for that teacher. The teacher may change them at any time.

The default grader report preferences are set by an administrator in ''Settings > Site administration > Grades > Report settings > Grader report''.

In Moodle 2.4.2 onwards, the default number of students per page (''grade_report_studentsperpage'') can safely be increased without any loss of data when grading large numbers of students with many assignments.

==Site administration settings==

Default values for all grade settings can be set by an administrator. The easiest way to do so is to log in as admin then browse a course gradebook and follow the 'Change defaults' links.

The following additional grade settings can be found in ''Settings > Site administration > Grades > General settings''. The settings will affect all gradebooks used by all teachers.

===Graded Roles===

Graded roles are the type of user that will appear in the gradebook. Most of the time "student" is the only one needed.

===User profile report===

The default user profile report setting has just one option, 'User report', unless a custom user report has been added to the site.

Teachers can view the user reports for all or selected students in the course in ''Settings > Grades administration > User report''.

===Include scales in aggregation===
Scales can be included as numbers in all aggregated grades across all gradebooks in all courses. Changing this setting will force all aggregated grades to be recalculated.

If this is checked (and it is by default) then all custom scales will have a corresponding value that is assigned based on the number of options in the scale (ie. three values will have values of 1,2,3) and this will be included in the grade aggregation.

===Enable publishing===
[[Image:Grade publishing settings.png|thumb|Grade publishing settings]]
Grade publishing is a way of importing and exporting grades via a URL without being logged in to Moodle. Grade publishing is intended for administrators only. Security implications should be thoroughly considered before allowing non-admin users to publish grades.

Grade publishing may be enabled by checking the gradepublishing box. If enabled, administrators are provided with [[Grade export|grade export]] publishing settings in each course gradebook.

===Recover grades default===

When [[Enrolled users|manually enrolling]] a student in a course, there is an option 'Recover user's old grades if possible', however this checkbox is easy to miss. Enabling 'Recover grades default' results in 'Recover user's old grades if possible' being ticked for every course.

[[File:enrol users enrolment options.png]]

===Unlimited grades===
Teachers can enter grades over 100% directly in the gradebook if the ''unlimitedgrades'' setting is enabled.

==Grade capabilities==

*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:edit|Edit grades]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:export|Export grades]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:hide|Hide/unhide grades or items]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:import|Import grades]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:lock|Lock grades or items]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:manage|Manage grade items]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:managegradingforms|Manage advanced grading methods]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:manageletters|Manage grade letters]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:manageoutcomes|Manage grade outcomes]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:unlock|Unlock grades or items]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:view|View own grades]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:viewall|View grades of other users]]
*[[Capabilities/moodle/grade:viewhidden|View hidden grades for owner]]

[[de:Bewertungseinstellungen]]
[[fr:Paramètres de notes]]

question/type/pmatch

2013-07-01T16:36:22Z

TimHunt: TimHunt moved page question/type/pmatch to Pattern-match question type: Better name

#REDIRECT [[Pattern-match question type]]

Pattern-match question type

2013-07-01T16:36:06Z

TimHunt: TimHunt moved page question/type/pmatch to Pattern-match question type: Better name

{{Questions}}Pattern-match questions allow the student to give an answer of up to about 20 words, which can then be automatically graded by matching the students response against a number of different patterns expressed in the PMatch syntax. The first matching pattern determines the score and the feedback.

[[File:pmatch.png]]

This is a question type created and maintained by the Open University.

== More documentation ==

More [http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=470268&section=5.3.1 documentation is available] on the Open University's [http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ OpenLearn site]. That includes a description of the pmatch syntax. There another page that explains [[:dev:The_OU_PMatch_algorithm|The OU PMatch algorithm]], but that was written before development started, and may not be a 100% accurate description of what was finally implemented.

== See also ==

* [http://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=set&id=10 Other Moodle plugins from the Open University]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=category&id=29 Other third-party question type plugins]
* [http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3484 eAssessment at the Open University with open source software]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

Upgrading FAQ

2013-05-08T12:14:38Z

TimHunt: /* Can I upgrade more than one version at a time? */

{{Installing Moodle}}
==How do I upgrade from 1.9 to 2.4?==

1.9.x -> 1.9.latest -> 2.2.latest -> 2.4.latest

(It is better to upgrade to latest current stable before going to next branch, the same for add-on plugins; upgrading from early stable branches usually works but there is no guarantee.)

==How do I upgrade Moodle? Do I just overwrite the files?==

Do NOT overwrite files, as it may cause strange errors. Read the [[Upgrading]] documentation before proceeding.

==I obtain the message "Upgrade already running in this session, please wait!"==

Most likely you refreshed the page before the completion message. If you are absolutely sure that there are no upgrade processes active (php and/or mysql), you can click on "!!!" and restart the upgrade.

:''Note'': If you click on "'!!!" or try to restart the upgrade from another browser, there is a chance that your data in the database could be corrupted. If this happens, you will need to restore the database from sql dump and then restart the upgrade and wait - the process can take several hours on large sites.

==I've just upgraded to Moodle 2 and notice lots of missing files==

Check whether the files were also missing in the Moodle 1.9 site. Often problems, which on first sight seem to be caused by the upgrade, actually existed in the 1.9 site.

==Courses with "display a directory" aren't restoring correctly.==

This has now been fixed for Moodle 2.4.2 so if it possible for you to upgrade to this version then this should now work.

==Can I upgrade more than one version at a time?==

You can only upgrade to Moodle 2.4 from Moodle 2.2 or later.

You can only upgrade to Moodle 2.2 from Moodle 1.9 or later.

For information on upgrading from versions of Moodle prior to 1.9, see the section 'Upgrading more than one version' in the Moodle 2.2 documentation [https://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Upgrading Upgrading].

==See also==

* Using Moodle [https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=224561 Notes on upgrading Moodle from 1.9.x to 2.4.1 on a shared server] forum discussion

[[Category:FAQ]]

[[ja:アップグレードFAQ]]

Upgrading FAQ

2013-05-08T12:14:21Z

TimHunt: Reverted edits by TimHunt (talk) to last revision by Tsala

{{Installing Moodle}}
==How do I upgrade from 1.9 to 2.4?==

1.9.x -> 1.9.latest -> 2.2.latest -> 2.4.latest

(It is better to upgrade to latest current stable before going to next branch, the same for add-on plugins; upgrading from early stable branches usually works but there is no guarantee.)

==How do I upgrade Moodle? Do I just overwrite the files?==

Do NOT overwrite files, as it may cause strange errors. Read the [[Upgrading]] documentation before proceeding.

==I obtain the message "Upgrade already running in this session, please wait!"==

Most likely you refreshed the page before the completion message. If you are absolutely sure that there are no upgrade processes active (php and/or mysql), you can click on "!!!" and restart the upgrade.

:''Note'': If you click on "'!!!" or try to restart the upgrade from another browser, there is a chance that your data in the database could be corrupted. If this happens, you will need to restore the database from sql dump and then restart the upgrade and wait - the process can take several hours on large sites.

==I've just upgraded to Moodle 2 and notice lots of missing files==

Check whether the files were also missing in the Moodle 1.9 site. Often problems, which on first sight seem to be caused by the upgrade, actually existed in the 1.9 site.

==Courses with "display a directory" aren't restoring correctly.==

This has now been fixed for Moodle 2.4.2 so if it possible for you to upgrade to this version then this should now work.

==Can I upgrade more than one version at a time?==

You can only upgrade to Moodle 2.4 from Moodle 2.2.

You can only upgrade to Moodle 2.2 from Moodle 1.9 or later.

For information on upgrading from versions of Moodle prior to 1.9, see the section 'Upgrading more than one version' in the Moodle 2.2 documentation [https://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Upgrading Upgrading].

==See also==

* Using Moodle [https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=224561 Notes on upgrading Moodle from 1.9.x to 2.4.1 on a shared server] forum discussion

[[Category:FAQ]]

[[ja:アップグレードFAQ]]

Upgrading FAQ

2013-05-08T10:20:22Z

TimHunt:

{{Installing Moodle}}
==How do I upgrade Moodle? Do I just overwrite the files?==

Do NOT overwrite files, as it may cause strange errors. Read the [[Upgrading]] documentation before proceeding.

==I obtain the message "Upgrade already running in this session, please wait!"==

Most likely you refreshed the page before the completion message. If you are absolutely sure that there are no upgrade processes active (php and/or mysql), you can click on "!!!" and restart the upgrade.

:''Note'': If you click on "'!!!" or try to restart the upgrade from another browser, there is a chance that your data in the database could be corrupted. If this happens, you will need to restore the database from sql dump and then restart the upgrade and wait - the process can take several hours on large sites.

==I've just upgraded to Moodle 2 and notice lots of missing files==

Check whether the files were also missing in the Moodle 1.9 site. Often problems, which on first sight seem to be caused by the upgrade, actually existed in the 1.9 site.

==Courses with "display a directory" aren't restoring correctly.==

This has now been fixed for Moodle 2.4.2 so if it possible for you to upgrade to this version then this should now work.

==Can I upgrade more than one version at a time?==

You can only upgrade to Moodle 2.4 from Moodle 2.2 or later.

You can only upgrade to Moodle 2.2 from Moodle 1.9 or later.

For information on upgrading from versions of Moodle prior to 1.9, see the section 'Upgrading more than one version' in the Moodle 2.2 documentation [https://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Upgrading Upgrading].

==Can I upgrade to 2.2 from 1.9.4 or is it better to upgrade first to the latest 1.9.x?==

It is better to upgrade to latest current stable before going to next branch, the same for add-on plugins; upgrading from early stable branches usually works but there is no guarantee.

[[Category:FAQ]]

[[ja:アップグレードFAQ]]

Discussió:Question behaviours

2013-04-25T10:26:19Z

TimHunt:

Hi, my name is Alex. I'm quite new to Moodle and PHP in general, although very interested to explore. In particular, I'm planning to participate in this coming Google Summer of Code 2013 and therefore I would like to learn more about Question Bank, Quiz and Question Engine modules.

While reading this article I've got the following question:

It looks like question behavior is selected on per-quiz basis, not on per-question. Is there any reason for this? I mean, I think in some scenarios per-question behavior makes sense, e.g. some questions may be answered in deferred mode, while others may be answered in adaptive.--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 18:26, 25 April 2013 (WST)Alex

: Well, the question engine is capable of building a question_usage where every question uses a different behaviour. It was a design decision that in the quiz, the teacher would choose one preferred bahaviour for the whole quiz. If, as a teacher, you want students to do some deferred feedback questions, and some adaptive questions, then you will have to build two quizzes and combine the scores in the gradebook. (But, I have never seen a teacher ask for this.)--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 18:26, 25 April 2013 (WST)

Moodle version

2013-04-12T16:19:55Z

TimHunt: Reverted edits by Aivo (talk) to last revision by Marycooch

{{Managing a Moodle site}}[[Image:moodleversion.png|thumb|Moodle version with (build number) and copyright]]
The version of Moodle which your site is using can be found if you login as an administrator and go to ''Settings > Site administration > Notifications''.

If you are a regular teacher with no admin access, you might be able to find your Moodle version by clicking on "Moodle docs for this page" at the bottom of any Moodle page when logged in. If your admin has allowed this link to display, you should be taken to the documentation for your version of Moodle. Look at the number in the URL -eg 24, 23.

For a list of all past Moodle versions, see [[:dev:Releases]].

==Version.php file==
Your exact Moodle version may be obtained by viewing the file ''moodle/version.php'' in a text editor. Here is a typical ''version.php'':

<pre>
<?php

// MOODLE VERSION INFORMATION

// This file defines the current version of the core Moodle code being used.
// This is compared against the values stored in the database to determine
// whether upgrades should be performed (see lib/db/*.php)

$version = 2007101580.00; // YYYYMMDD = date of the 1.9 branch (don't change)
// X = release number 1.9.[0,1,2,3,4,5...]
// Y.YY = micro-increments between releases

$release = '1.9.8+ (Build: 20100512)'; // Human-friendly version name

?>
</pre>

Note: You cannot view the contents of version.php in your browser - you must use a text editor.

== Discovering Version programmatically ==

The above variables are copied into the $CFG global object. If you are writing custom code for Moodle you can access $CFG->version and $CFG->release.

IF you have system administrator level of account, you can also use the Site administration block => Server => Environment and it will show ou which Moodle 2.x code base you are using.

==See also==

* MDL-26852 No way provided for users to determine Moodle build information

[[Category:FAQ]]

Quiz security

2013-04-03T11:13:18Z

TimHunt: /* Using a 'Safe Browser' */

Just starting this page. When I have done some more I'll link it to the quiz menu here: https://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Quiz_settings. Please check for completeness and accuracy. --[[User:Derek Chirnside|Derek Chirnside]] 08:52, 3 April 2013 (WST)

The quiz is served up by the Moodle server. If you want to have various options for security further to those in the quiz settings, these need to be implemented at the computer end.

There are several options:
==Windows policies on the network==
Essentially, by tweaking policies on a network you can lock a computer to only be able to access a browser, to disable Alt-Tab and to set the browser to go to only one domain (ie your test). here is a random URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307882

==Using a 'Safe Browser'==
Tim has commented here: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=153953#p677304 There are many browser options. Two are

===1. Exam Safe Browser===
[[Safe_exam_browser]]

The home base: http://www.safeexambrowser.org/about_overview_en.html

Latest tracker activity: https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-31365

===2. Respondus option: locked down browser===
http://www.respondus.com/products/lockdown-browser/index.shtml

Performance recommendations

2013-03-19T18:43:20Z

TimHunt: Remove link to 8-year-old performance data!

{{Performance}}
Moodle can be made to perform very well, at small usage levels or scaling up to many thousands of users. The factors involved in performance are basically the same as for any PHP-based database-driven system. When trying to optimize your server, try to focus on the factor which will make the most difference to the user. For example, if you have relatively more users browsing than accessing the database, look to improve the webserver performance.

==Obtain a baseline benchmark==

Before attempting any optimization, you should obtain a baseline benchmark of the component of the system you are trying to improve. For Linux try [http://lbs.sourceforge.net/ LBS] and for Windows use the Performance Monitor. Once you have quantitative data about how your system is performing currently, you'll be able to determine if the change you have made has had any real impact.

The overall aim of adjustments to improve performance is to use RAM (cacheing) and to reduce disk-based activity. It is especially important to try to eliminate swap file usage as much as you can. If your system starts swapping, this is a sign that you need more RAM.

The '''optimization order preference''' is usually: primary storage (more RAM), secondary storage (faster hard disks/improved hard disk configuration), processor (more and faster).

==Scalability==

Moodle's design (with clear separation of application layers) allows for strongly scalable setups. (Please check the list of [[Large installations|large Moodle installations]].)

Large sites usually separate the web server and database onto separate servers, although for smaller installations this is typically not necessary.

It is possible to load-balance a Moodle installation, for example by using more than one webserver. The separate webservers should query the same database and refer to the same filestore area, but otherwise the separation of the application layers is complete enough to make this kind of clustering feasible. Similarly, the database could be a cluster of servers (e.g. a MySQL cluster), but this is not an easy task and you should seek expert support, e.g. from a Moodle Partner.

===Server cluster===

Using Moodle forum discussions:

*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=57202 Moodle clustering]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=44470 Software load balancing]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=49986 TCP load balancing]
*[http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=88214 Installation for 3000 simultaneous users]

==Hardware configuration==
'''Note''': The fastest and most effective change that you can make to improve performance is to '''increase the amount of RAM on your web server''' - get as much as possible (e.g. 4GB or more). Increasing primary memory will reduce the need for processes to swap to disk and will enable your server to handle more users.
* Better performance is gained by obtaining the best '''processor capability''' you can, i.e. dual or dual core processors. A modern BIOS should allow you to enable hyperthreading, but check if this makes a difference to the overall performance of the processors by using a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_PI CPU benchmarking tool].
* If you can afford them, use '''SCSI hard disks''' instead of SATA drives. SATA drives will increase your system's CPU utilization, whereas SCSI drives have their own integrated processors and come into their own when you have multiple drives. If you must have SATA drives, check that your motherboard and the drives themselves support NCQ (Native Command Queuing).
* Purchase hard disks with a '''low seek time'''. This will improve the overall speed of your system, especially when accessing Moodle's reports.
* Size your '''swap file''' correctly. The general advice is to set it to 4 x physical RAM.
* Use a '''RAID disk system'''. Although there are many different RAID configurations you can create, the following generally works best:
** install a hardware RAID controller (if you can)
** the operating system and swap drive on one set of disks configured as RAID-1.
** Moodle, Web server and Database server on another set of disks configured as RAID-5.
* Use '''gigabit ethernet''' for improved latency and throughput. This is especially important when you have your webserver and database server separated out on different hosts.
* Check the settings on your '''network card'''. You may get an improvement in performance by increasing the use of buffers and transmit/receive descriptors (balance this with processor and memory overheads) and off-loading TCP checksum calculation onto the card instead of the OS.
* Read this [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=68579 Case Study] on a server stress test with 300 users.
* See this [http://elearning.sgu.ac.jp/doc/PT/ accompanying report] on network traffic and server loads.
* See the [[Moodle.org configuration]]
* Also see this SFSU presentation at Educause (using VMWare): [http://www.educause.edu/Resources/AnOpenSourceLMSforaMissionCrit/162843]

==Operating System==
* You can use [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux Linux](recommended), Unix-based, Windows or Mac OS X for the server '''operating system'''. *nix operating systems generally require less memory than Mac OS X or Windows servers for doing the same task as the server is configured with just a shell interface. Additionally Linux does not have licensing fees attached, but can have a big learning curve if you're used to another operating system. If you have a large number of processors running SMP, you may also want to consider using a highly tuned OS such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_Operating_Environment Solaris].
* Check your own OS and '''vendor specific instructions''' for optimization steps.
** For Linux look at the [http://linuxperf.sourceforge.net/ Linux Performance Team] site.
** For Linux investigate the hdparm command, e.g. hdparm -m16 -d1 can be used to enable read/write on multiple sectors and DMA. Mount disks with the async and noatime options.
** For Windows set the sever to be optimized for network applications (Control Panel, Network Connections, LAN connection, Properties, File & Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks, Properties, Optimization). You can also search the [http://technet.microsoft.com/ Microsoft TechNet site] for optimization documents.

==Web server performance==

Installing [http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/ Firefox] and the [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843 firebug] extension will allow you to watch the time it takes for each page component to load. Also, the [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5369 Yslow] extension will evaluate your page against Yahoo's [http://www.skrenta.com/2007/05/14_rules_for_fast_web_pages_by_1.html 14 rules], full text [http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html Best Practices for Speeding Up Your Web Site], <strike>([http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=1040890 video])</strike> for fast loading websites.

===PHP performance===
* You are strongly recommended to use a '''PHP accelerator''' to ease CPU load, such as [http://pecl.php.net/apc APC], [http://www.php-accelerator.co.uk/ PHPA], [http://trac.lighttpd.net/xcache/ Xcache], [http://sourceforge.net/projects/wincache WinCache] or [http://eaccelerator.net/ eAccelerator]. (Take care to choose a PHP accelerator that is known to work well with your version of PHP and note that Turck MMCache is [http://turckmmcache.exeprod.com/TheManifestoEnglish no longer maintained] and can cause failures with PHP 5).
* Improvements in read/write performance can be improved by putting the cached PHP pages on a [[TMPFS]] filesystem - but remember that you'll lose the cache contents when there is a power failure or the server is rebooted.
* Performance of PHP is better when installed as an '''Apache/IIS6 ISAPI module''' (rather than a CGI). IIS 7.0/7.5 (Windows Server 2008/R2) users should choose a FastCGI installation for best performance.
* Also check the '''memory_limit''' in php.ini, reduce it to 16M for Moodle version earlier than 1.7 ([http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=39656 See this forum discussion]). For Moodle 1.7 or later, it is recommended that the value of memory_limit should be 40M. As of [http://www.php.net/ChangeLog-5.php PHP 5.2.1] the default value for the memory_limit directive is 128M.
* Also see [[PHP_settings_by_Moodle_version]]

===Install HowTo===
* [http://2bits.com/articles/installing-php-apc-gnulinux-centos-5.html APC on CentOS 5.x (linux)]
* [http://fplanque.com/dev/linux/install-apc-php-cache-debian-lenny APC on Debian (linux)]
* [http://www.linuxtuts.net/211-installing-memcached-php5-memcache-module-debian-apache2.html MemCache module on Debian (Apache2 and PHP5) ]
* [http://noveckg.blogspot.com/2010/03/installing-memcached-on-centos-5x.html Installing Memcache on CentOS 5.x (linux)]
* [http://noveckg.blogspot.com/2010/02/installing-eaccelerator-cache-for-php.html Installing eAccelerator on CentOS 5.x (linux)]
* [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_eAccelerator_In_Ubuntu_Server/ Installing eAccelerator on Ubuntu Server (linux)]

===Apache performance===
* If you are using Apache on a Windows server, use the build from [http://www.apachelounge.com Apache Lounge] which is reported to have [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=93358 performance and stability improvements] compared to the official Apache download. Note that this is an unofficial build, so may not keep up with official releases.
* Set the '''MaxClients''' directive correctly. Use this formula to help (which uses 80% of available memory to leave room for spare):
MaxClients = Total available memory * 80% / Max memory usage of apache process
:Memory usage of apache process is usually 10MB but Moodle can easily use up to 100MB per process, so a general rule of thumb is to divide your available memory in megabytes by 100 to get a conservative setting for MaxClients. You are quite likely to find yourself lowering the MaxClients from its default of 150 on a Moodle server. To get a more accurate estimate read the value from the shell command:
#ps -ylC httpd --sort:rss

:If you need to increase the value of '''MaxClients''' beyond 256, you will also need to set the '''ServerLimit''' directive.

:'''Warning''': Do not be tempted to set the value of MaxClients higher than your available memory as your server will consume more RAM than available and start to swap to disk.
* Consider reducing the '''number of modules''' that Apache loads in the httpd.conf file to the minumum necessary to reduce the memory needed.
* Use the '''latest version of Apache''' - Apache 2 has an improved memory model which reduces memory usage further.
* For Unix/Linux systems, consider lowering '''MaxRequestsPerChild''' in httpd.conf to as low as 20-30 (if you set it any lower the overhead of forking begins to outweigh the benefits).
* For a heavily loaded server, consider setting '''KeepAlive Off''' (do this only if your Moodle pages do not contain links to resources or uploaded images) or lowering the '''KeepAliveTimeout''' to between 2 and 5. The default is 15 (seconds) - the higher the value the more server processes will be kept waiting for possibly idle connections. A more accurate value for KeepAliveTimeout is obtained by observing how long it takes your users to download a page. After altering any of the KeepAlive variables, monitor your CPU utilization as there may be an additional overhead in initiating more worker processes/threads.
* As an alternative to using KeepAlive Off, consider setting-up a '''Reverse Proxy server''' infront of the Moodle server to cache HTML files with images. You can then return Apache to using keep-alives on the Moodle server.
* If you do not use a .htaccess file, set the '''AllowOverride''' variable to AllowOverride None to prevent .htaccess lookups.
* Set '''DirectoryIndex''' correctly so as to avoid content-negotiation. Here's an example from a production server:
DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.htm
* Unless you are doing development work on the server, set '''ExtendedStatus Off''' and disable mod_info as well as mod_status.
* Leave '''HostnameLookups Off''' (as default) to reduce DNS latency.
* Consider reducing the value of '''TimeOut''' to between 30 to 60 (seconds).
* For the '''Options directive''', avoid Options Multiviews as this performs a directory scan. To reduce disk I/O further use
Options -Indexes FollowSymLinks
*'''Caching (absolutely unsupported, Moodle 1.9 only)''' ''Please note that this kind of caching creates major problems during upgrades, you need to remove the caching directives one week before any upgrade.'' Apache can be told to make pages load a lot faster by specifying that the browser should cache some various page elements such as images and reuse them from local memory rather than ask for them again every time a page is requested. How to do this varies slightly between OSes but there are two basic steps:

# Install and enable mod_expires - refer to documentation or man pages
# Add this code to the virtual server config file within the <directory> section for the root directory (or within the .htaccess file if AllowOverrides is On):
<IfModule mod_expires.c>
ExpiresActive On
ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 seconds"
ExpiresByType text/html "access plus 1 seconds"
ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 week"
ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 week"
ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 week"
ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 week"
ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 week"
ExpiresByType application/x-javascript "access plus 1 week"
ExpiresByType text/xml "access plus 1 seconds"
</IfModule>

The effect is to make everything stay in the cache except HTML and XML, which change dynamically. It's possible to gain a several hundred percent decrease in load times this way. Adjust the cache times according to how often your images etc change.

* Compression reduces response times by reducing the size of the HTTP response
# Install and enable mod_deflate - refer to documentation or man pages
# Add this code to the virtual server config file within the <directory> section for the root directory (or within the .htaccess file if AllowOverrides is On):
<ifModule mod_deflate.c>
AddOutputFilterByType DEFLATE text/html text/plain text/xml
</ifmodule>

More info: [http://metaskills.net/2006/02/19/how-to-control-browser-caching-with-apache-2/ www.metaskills.net]

===IIS performance===
All alter this location in the registry:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Inetinfo\Parameters\
* The equivalent to KeepAliveTimeout is '''ListenBackLog''' (IIS - registry location is HKLM\ SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Services\ Inetinfo\ Parameters). Set this to between 2 to 5.
*Change the '''MemCacheSize''' value to adjust the amount of memory (Mb) that IIS will use for its file cache (50% of available memory by default).
*Change the '''MaxCachedFileSize''' to adjust the maximum size of a file cached in the file cache in bytes. Default is 262,144 (256K).
*Create a new DWORD called '''ObjectCacheTTL''' to change the length of time (in milliseconds) that objects in the cache are held in memory. Default is 30,000 milliseconds (30 seconds).

===Lighttpd, NginX and Cherokee performance===
You can increase server performance by using a '''light-weight''' webserver like [http://www.lighttpd.net/ lighttpd], [http://nginx.net/ nginx] or [http://www.cherokee-project.com/ cherokee] in combination with PHP in FastCGI-mode. Lighttpd was originally created as a proof-of-concept[http://www.lighttpd.net/story] to address the [http://www.kegel.com/c10k.html C10k problem] and while primarily recommended for memory-limited servers, its design origins and asynchronous-IO model make it a suitable and proven[http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2006/12/28/lighttpd-powers-5-alexa-top-250-sites] alternative HTTP server for high-load websites and web apps, including Moodle. See the [[lighttpd | MoodleDocs Lighttpd page]] for additional information, configuration example and links.

Alternatively, both [http://www.lighttpd.net/ lighttpd] and [http://nginx.net/ nginx] are capable of performing as a load-balancer and/or reverse-proxy to alleviate load on back-end servers[http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10108], providing benefit without requiring an actual software change on existing servers.

Do note that these are likely to be the least tested server environments of all particularly if you are using advanced features such as web services and/or Moodle Networking. They are probably best considered for heavily used Moodle sites with relatively simple configurations.

==Database performance==

Moodle contains a script which will display some key database performance statistics from the [http://phplens.com/lens/adodb/docs-perf.htm ADOdb performance monitor]. Run the script in your browser as in the following example:

http://www.mymoodle.com/admin/dbperformance.php

Use the data displayed as a guide to tune and improve the performance of your database server.

===MySQL performance===

The following are MySQL specific settings which can be adjusted for better performance in your my.cnf (my.ini in Windows). The file contains a list of settings and their values. To see the current values use these commands
SHOW STATUS;
SHOW VARIABLES;
'''Important''': You must make backups of your database before attempting to change any MySQL server configuration. After any change to the my.cnf, restart mysqld.

If you are able, the [http://mysqltuner.com/ MySQLTuner] tool can be run against your MySQL server and will calculate appropriate configuration values for most of the following settings based on your current load, status and variables automatically.

* Enable the '''query cache''' with
query_cache_type = 1.
For most Moodle installs, set the following:
query_cache_size = 36M
query_cache_min_res_unit = 2K.
The query cache will improve performance if you are doing few updates on the database.
* Set the '''table cache''' correctly. For Moodle 1.6 set
table_cache = 256 #(table_open_cache in MySQL > 5.1.2)
(min), and for Moodle 1.7 set
table_cache = 512 #(table_open_cache in MySQL > 5.1.2)
(min). The table cache is used by all threads (connections), so monitor the value of opened_tables to further adjust - if opened_tables > 3 * table_cache(table_open_cache in MySQL > 5.1.2) then increase table_cache upto your OS limit. Note also that the figure for table_cache will also change depending on the number of modules and plugins you have installed. Find the number for your server by executing the mysql statement below. Look at the number returned and set table_cache to this value.
mysql>SELECT COUNT(table_name) FROM information_schema.tables WHERE table_schema='yourmoodledbname';
* Set the '''thread cache''' correctly. Adjust the value so that your thread cache utilization is as close to 100% as possible by this formula:
thread cache utilization (%) = (threads_created / connections) * 100
* The '''key buffer''' can improve the access speed to Moodle's SELECT queries. The correct size depends on the size of the index files (.myi) and in Moodle 1.6 or later (without any additional modules and plugins), the recommendation for this value is key_buffer_size = 32M. Ideally you want the database to be reading once from the disk for every 100 requests so monitor that the value is suitable for your install by adjusting the value of key_buffer_size so that the following formulas are true:
key_read / key_read_requests < 0.01
key_write / key_write_requests <= 1.0
* Set the '''maximum number of connections''' so that your users will not see a "Too many connections" message. Be careful that this may have an impact on the total memory used. MySQL connections usually last for milliseconds, so it is unusual even for a heavily loaded server for this value to be over 200.
* Manage '''high burst activity'''. If your Moodle install uses a lot of quizzes and you are experiencing performance problems (check by monitoring the value of threads_connected - it should not be rising) consider increasing the value of back_log.
* '''Optimize your tables weekly and after upgrading Moodle'''. It is good practice to also optimize your tables after performing a large data deletion exercise, e.g. at the end of your semester or academic year. This will ensure that index files are up to date. Backup your database first and then use:
mysql>CHECK TABLE mdl_tablename;
mysql>OPTIMIZE TABLE mdl_tablename;
:The common tables in Moodle to check are mdl_course_sections, mdl_forum_posts, mdl_log and mdl_sessions (if using dbsessions). Any errors need to be corrected using REPAIR TABLE (see the [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/repair-table.html MySQL manual] and this [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=58208#p279638 forum script]).
* '''Maintain the key distribution'''. Every month or so it is a good idea to stop the mysql server and run these myisamchk commands.
#myisamchk -a -S /pathtomysql/data/moodledir/*.MYI
:'''Warning''': You must stop the mysql database process (mysqld) before running any myisamchk command. If you do not, you risk data loss.
* Reduce the number of '''temporary tables saved to disk'''. Check this with the created_tmp_disk_tables value. If this is relatively large (>5%) increase tmp_table_size until you see a reduction. Note that this will have an impact on RAM usage.

===PostgreSQL performance===

There are some good papers around on tuning PostgreSQL (like [http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Tuning_Your_PostgreSQL_Server this one]), and Moodle's case does not seem to be different to the general case.

The first thing to recognise is that if you really need to worry about tuning you should be using a separate machine for the database server. If you are not using a separate machine then the answers to many performance questions are substantially muddied by the memory requirements of the rest of the application.

You should probably '''enable autovacuum''', unless you know what you are doing. Many e-learning sites have predictable periods of low use, so disabling autovacuum and running a specific vacuum at those times can be a good option. Or perhaps leave autovacuum running but do a full vacuum weekly in a quiet period.

Set '''shared_buffers''' to something reasonable. For versions up to 8.1 my testing has shown that peak performance is almost always obtained with buffers < 10000, so if you are using such a version, and have more than 512M of RAM just set shared_buffers to 10,000 (8MB).

The buffer management had a big overhaul in 8.2 and "reasonable" is now a much larger number. I have not conducted performance tests with 8.2, but the recommendations from others are generally that you should now scale shared_buffers much more with memory and may continue to reap benefits even up to values like 100,000 (80MB). Consider using 1-2% of system RAM.

PostgreSQL will also assume that the operating system is caching its files, so setting '''effective_cache_size''' to a reasonable value is also a good idea. A reasonable value will usually be (total RAM - RAM in use by programs). If you are running Linux and leave the system running for a day or two you can look at 'free' and under the 'cached' column you will see what it currently is. Consider taking that number (which is kB) and dividing it by 10 (i.e. allow 20% for other programs cache needs and then divide by 8 to get pages). If you are not using a dedicated database server you will need to decrease that value to account for usage by other programs.

Some other useful parameters that can have positive effects, and the values I would typically set them to on a machine with 4G RAM, are:

work_mem = 10240

That's 10M of RAM to use instead of on-disk sorting and so forth. That can give a big speed increase, but it is per connection and 200 connections * 10M is 2G, so it can theoretically chew up a lot of RAM.

maintenance_work_mem = 163840

That's 160M of RAM which will be used by (e.g.) VACUUM, index rebuild, cluster and so forth. This should only be used periodically and should be freed when those processes exit, so I believe it is well worth while.

max_fsm_pages = 100000
max_fsm_relations = 5000

These are used to hold the free-space map, and if they are too small you will see performance degradation after the database has been operating for some time. The exact numbers to set can be gleaned from the output of VACUUM VERBOSE, which prints the required FSM pages at the end of it's run. The 5x increase seems to be useful for a Moodle installation, from experience.

wal_buffers = 64

These buffers are used for the write-ahead log, and there have been a number of reports on the PostgreSQL mailing lists of improvement from this level of increase.

This is a little out of date now (version 8.0) but still worth a read: http://www.powerpostgresql.com/Docs

And there is lots of good stuff here as well: http://www.varlena.com/GeneralBits/Tidbits/index.php

''Based on Andrew McMillan's post at [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=68558 Tuning PostgreSQL] forum thread.''

===Other database performance links===
* Consider using a '''distributed cacheing system''' like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memcached memcached] but note that memcached does not have any security features so it should be used behind a firewall.
* Consider using PostgreSQL. See [[Arguments in favour of PostgreSQL]] and [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=49195 how to migrate from MySQL to PostgreSQL] (forum discussion).
* [[Increasing the database connection lifetime | Try increasing the database connection lifetime]]
* [http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/server-parameters.html General advice on tuning MySQL parameters] (advice from the MySQL manual)
* [http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/2007/11/01/innodb-performance-optimization-basics/ InnoDB performance optimization] taken from the [http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/ MySQL performance blog] site.

==Performance of different Moodle modules==

Moodle's activity modules, filters, and other plugins can be activated/deactivated. If necessary, you may wish to deactivate some features (such as chat) if not required - but this isn't necessary. Some notes on the performance of certain modules:

* The '''Chat''' module is [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=37979&parent=175079 said] to be a hog in terms of frequent HTTP requests to the main server. This can be reduced by setting the module to use ''Streamed'' updates, or, if you're using a Unix-based webserver, by running the chat in daemon mode. When using the Chat module use the configuration settings to tune for your expected load. Pay particular attention to the ''chat_old_ping'' and ''chat_refresh'' parameters as these can have greatest impact on server load.
* The '''Quiz''' module is known to stretch database performance. However, it has been getting better in recent versions, and we don't know of any good, up-to-date performance measurements. (Here is a [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=68579 case study from 2007 with 300 quiz users].)
* The Moodle '''Cron''' task is triggered by calling the script ''cron.php''. If this is called over HTTP (e.g. using wget or curl) it can take a large amount of memory on large installations. If it is called by directly invoking the php command (e.g. ''php -f /path/to/moodle/directory/admin/cron.php'') efficiency can be much improved.
* The '''Recent activities''' block is consuming to much resources if you have huge number of records <code>mdl_log</code>. this is being tested to optimize the SQL query.

==Moodle Image Optimization==

The base images delivered in the original Moodle distribution package provide unoptimized graphics, most of which can benefit from lossless recompression utilizing [http://optipng.sourceforge.net/ optipng] for PNGs, [http://www.lcdf.org/gifsicle/ gifsicle] for GIFs and [http://www.kokkonen.net/tjko/projects.html jpegoptim] for JPGs. Optimized graphics transfer faster and provide a faster perceived response for clients[http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/12/], especially distance learners. The following example will recursively optimize (without any loss of quality) all the graphics and image files included in a base Moodle installation directory on a server with the above commands installed and available.

<pre>
find /example/directory/moodle-1.9 -iname *.png -exec optipng -o7 {} \;
find /example/directory/moodle-1.9 -iname *.gif -exec gifsicle -O2 -b {} \;
find /example/directory/moodle-1.9 -iname *.jpg -exec jpegoptim -p {} \;
</pre>

Both [http://optipng.sourceforge.net/ optipng] and [http://www.lcdf.org/gifsicle/ gifsicle] are provided in the base repositories of most newer Linux distributions; [http://www.kokkonen.net/tjko/projects.html jpegoptim] must be downloaded and installed manually.

==See also==

*Using Moodle: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=94 Hardware and Performance] forum
*[http://opensourceelearning.blogspot.be/2012/10/why-your-moodle-site-is-slow-five.html Why Your Moodle Site is Slow: Five Simple Settings] blog post from Jonathan Moore
*I teach with Moodle perfomance testing: http://www.iteachwithmoodle.com/2012/11/17/moodle-2-4-beta-performance-test-comparison-with-moodle-2-3/

There have been a lot of discussions on moodle.org about performance, here are some of the more interesting and (potentially) useful ones:

* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=83057 Performance woes!]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=57028 Performance perspectives - a little script]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=88927 Comments on planned server hardware]
* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=102978#p461624 Moodle performance in a pil by Martin Langhoff]

[[es:Rendimiento]]
[[fr:Performance]]
[[ja:パフォーマンス]]
[[de:Geschwindigkeitsempfehlungen]]

Fitxer:Customising my home.png

2013-03-05T11:26:18Z

TimHunt: Reverted edits by BCES (talk) to last revision by Tsala

Question creator role

2013-02-19T17:14:02Z

TimHunt: /* Role set-up */

{{Roles}}The role of '''Question creator''' may be used to enable students to create [[Questions|questions]] for use in [[Quiz module|quizzes]].

''Warning'': Capabilities with [[Risks|XSS risks]] associated to them are allowed for the role of question creator. Thus, this role should be assigned with care.

==Role set-up==

#Access ''Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles''.
#Click the button "Add a new role".
#Give the role a name e.g. "Question creator", short name and description.
#Choose "course" for the context type.
#Change the following capabilities to allow:
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:add|moodle/question:add]]
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:editmine|moodle/question:editmine]]
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:viewmine|moodle/question:viewmine]]
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:usemine|moodle/question:usemine]]
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:movemine|moodle/question:movemine]]
#Click the button "Create this role".
#Switch to the "Allow role assignments" tab, and allow Teachers to assign the Question creator role.

==Role assignment==
[[Image:Course admin block inc questions link.png|frame|Course administration block with questions link]]
#Go to ''Settings>Course administration>Users>enrolled users''
#Choose the question creator role to assign.
#Select a user in the potential users list, and use the left-facing arrow button to add it to the existing users list. Multiple users may be selected by holding down the Apple or Ctrl key whilst clicking on the users' names.

Users assigned the role of question creator will be able to access the question creation interface via the questions link in the course administration block.

==Using questions in a quiz==
[[Image:Question created and last saved details.png|thumb|Question created and last saved details]]
A teacher can assign students the role of question creator for a short period of time, then unassign them and use the students' questions in a quiz. Details of who created / last saved each question can be found at the bottom of each question editing page.

[[Category:Questions]]

[[ja:問題作成者ロール]]
[[de:Fragenersteller-Rolle]]

Question creator role

2013-02-19T17:11:11Z

TimHunt: /* Role set-up */

{{Roles}}The role of '''Question creator''' may be used to enable students to create [[Questions|questions]] for use in [[Quiz module|quizzes]].

''Warning'': Capabilities with [[Risks|XSS risks]] associated to them are allowed for the role of question creator. Thus, this role should be assigned with care.

==Role set-up==

#Access ''Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles''.
#Click the button "Add a new role".
#Give the role a name e.g. "Question creator", short name and description.
#Choose "course" for the context type.
#Change the following capabilities to allow:
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:add|moodle/question:add]]
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:editmine|moodle/question:editmine]]
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:viewmine|moodle/question:viewmine]]
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:usemine|moodle/question:usemine]]
#*[[Capabilities/moodle/question:movemine|moodle/question:movemine]]
#Click the button "Create this role".
#Switch to the Role allow assign tab, and allow Teachers to assign the Question creator role.

==Role assignment==
[[Image:Course admin block inc questions link.png|frame|Course administration block with questions link]]
#Go to ''Settings>Course administration>Users>enrolled users''
#Choose the question creator role to assign.
#Select a user in the potential users list, and use the left-facing arrow button to add it to the existing users list. Multiple users may be selected by holding down the Apple or Ctrl key whilst clicking on the users' names.

Users assigned the role of question creator will be able to access the question creation interface via the questions link in the course administration block.

==Using questions in a quiz==
[[Image:Question created and last saved details.png|thumb|Question created and last saved details]]
A teacher can assign students the role of question creator for a short period of time, then unassign them and use the students' questions in a quiz. Details of who created / last saved each question can be found at the bottom of each question editing page.

[[Category:Questions]]

[[ja:問題作成者ロール]]
[[de:Fragenersteller-Rolle]]

error/moodle/dmlwriteexception

2013-02-14T09:36:59Z

TimHunt:

This indicates that a general error occurred when Moodle tried to write to the database. If you turn on [[Debugging]] you will get more detailed information about what the problem is.

==See also==

* [[Development:DML exceptions]]

[[Category:Error|Dmlwriteexception]]

Update profile

2013-01-14T12:17:33Z

TimHunt: Reverted edits by Schriver32 (talk) to last revision by Marycooch

{{Accounts}}
==Editing Your Profile ==

Administrators can update user profiles via ''Administration > Users > Accounts > Add a new user'' or ''Browse list of users'' and individual users may update their profiles by choosing the ''Edit profile'' link from ''Settings>My profile settings''

The fields are divided into 3 sections - General, Picture & Optional which are all explained below. Note that some settings are 'advanced', so you may need to click the 'Show Advanced' button on the right to see all the settings. The advanced settings are indicated below.

Remember to click 'Update profile' when you have finished.

=== General ===

The first section contains fields that must be completed:

'''First name & Surname'''

These are self-explanatory. These names will identify you everywhere in your Moodle courses.

'''Email address'''

The email address should be an address that you check regularly. It is used for acknowledgements and announcements from Moodle, including messages from Forums that you are subscribed to. It is also the address that is displayed to other users of Moodle, depending on your 'Email display' setting (below).

'''Email display'''

This controls the visibility of your email address to others. The three settings are self-explanatory but please note 'Hide my email address from everyone' only hides it from students. Teaching staff and other staff with editing access will always be able to see your email address.

'''Email format (advanced)'''

There are two formats: "Pretty HTML format" (messages will be formatted) and "Plain text format" (plain text with no formatting).

'''Email digest type (advanced)'''

This setting determines how you receive any posts from Forums to which you are subscribed, allowing you to receive messages individually or on a daily basis.

'''Forum auto-subscribe (advanced)'''

This setting lets you decide if you want email copies of posts that are added to forums. If you set this to subscribe, the system will automatically email you copies of new posts in forums that you post in, unless you manually override it when posting.

'''Forum tracking (advanced)'''

Enabling forum tracking means highlighting the posts you have not read yet, which should improve your forum navigation.

'''When editing text (advanced)'''

This can usually be left on "Use HTML editor (some browsers only)". This allows for text formatting options, but requires newer browsers. If you find your browser is not letting you edit text, change this setting to "Use standard web forms".

'''City/town & Country'''

Add your location.

'''Timezone'''

This field is used to convert time-related messages on the system (such as assignment deadlines) from the local timezone (the time in London) to the correct time in whichever zone you have selected.

'''Preferred language and theme (advanced)'''

You can view Moodle in several different languages and colour themes, which you can select via these two options. Note: changing the preferred language only affects the Moodle interface, not the course content!

'''Description'''

In this field you can enter some text about yourself, be it information about your studies, hobbies, qualifications or anything else.

=== User picture ===

This section is optional and allows you to choose your own profile picture. Your current picture is shown, if you have already chosen one.

Note: If the admin has enabled it in ''Settings > Site Administration > Users > Permissions > User policies'', a gravatar you might have attached to your email account will appear as your profile image if you don't upload a different one.

'''New picture'''

The "Choose a file" button allows you to choose a new picture for your profile. The picture must be in JPG or PNG format (ie the names will usually end in .jpg or .png).

To upload an image, click the "Upload a file" button from the list in the [[File_picker]], and select the image from your hard disk.

NOTE: Make sure that the file is not larger than the maximum size listed, or it will not be uploaded.

Then click "Update Profile" at the bottom - the image file will be cropped to a square and resized down to 100x100 pixels.

When you are taken back to your profile page, the image might not appear to have changed. If this is so, just use the "Reload" button in your browser.

==Interests==
Use tags here to display your interests on your profile page.

=== Optional ===

There are several optional fields (all advanced) allowing you to add further details to your profile such as contact details and your website.

===Custom Profile Categories===
If any custom user profile categories and fields have been created on your Moodle site, they will be listed at the bottom of the [[User profile fields|Admin >Accounts>User profile fields]]

==Updating a user profile==

Users with the capability [[Capabilities/moodle/user:update|moodle/user:update]] are able to update another user's profile i.e. in addition to being able to edit the profile, all settings (username, password, authentication method, force new password etc.) may be changed.

==Account disabling==

An account may be disabled by setting the authentication method to "[[No login]]". The account email may not be used to create another account.

==See also==

*[[User profiles]]

[[fr:Modifier le profil]]
[[de:Nutzerprofil aktualisieren]]

Discussió:Roles FAQ

2013-01-09T15:04:37Z

TimHunt: /* Can you give me some examples about permissions? */

Pasting in a new version of one of the FAQ to see if it is correct before adding to main page:

==Can you give me some examples about permissions?==
When you logged into the site you were given the system role of Authenticated User. You are also enrolled in a course and given the student role. Let's look at a single capability called X to see how permissions work.

In the example below we are just talking about the permissions for a single capability in the course role of a Student and the system role of Authenticated user for 1 user.

* If Student (at course level) is '''Prevent''', and Student (at site level) is '''Allow''' then you are NOT allowed to do X
* If Student (at course level) is '''Prevent''' , and Authenticated user (at site level) is '''Allow''', then you are NOT allowed to do X.
* If Student (at course level) is '''Allow''', and Authenticated user (at site level) is '''Prevent''', then you ARE allowed to do X.
* If Student (at course level) is '''Prohibit''', and Authenticated user is '''Allow''', then you are NOT allowed to do X.
* If Student (at course level) is '''Allow''', and Authenticated user is '''Prohibit''', then you are NOT allowed to do X.
--Mary Cooch

This is wrong. (It would have been right in 1.9.) My best effort to explain this is in the "Permission Aggregation" section of http://www.aosabook.org/en/moodle.html. You probably need to start reading at the "13.2. Moodle's Roles and Permissions System" heading.--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 23:04, 9 January 2013 (WST)

Discussió:Building Quiz

2012-10-12T12:43:59Z

TimHunt:

== Redrafting this page==
Just wondered if anyone had any objections to my redrafting some of this page with newer screenshots?--[[User:Mary Cooch|Mary Cooch]] 06:19, 12 October 2012 (WST)

:Sounds like a good thing to do! --[[User:Helen Foster|Helen Foster]] 14:34, 12 October 2012 (WST)

:Please go for it!--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 20:43, 12 October 2012 (WST)

Quiz statistics report

2012-10-11T18:29:45Z

TimHunt:

{{Quiz reports}}
''Navigation > Course > Quiz name > Results > Statistics''

This report gives a statistical (psychometric) analysis of the quiz, and the questions within it. The top section of this report gives a summary of the whole quiz. The next section gives an analysis showing all questions in a table format. There are links in this section to edit individual questions or drill down into a detailed analysis of a particular question. The last section of this report is a bar graph of the percent of correct answers (Facility index) and the Discriminative efficiency index.

The full report (overview, and detailed analysis of all questions) can be downloaded in a variety of formats, as can the quiz structure analysis table.

For a general introduction to psychometrics, this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Lu3EdsXNo&NR=1 45-minute seminar] gives a very good an approachable introduction.

===Overall quiz statistics===
Here are the details concerning information in this robust report.

====Quiz information====

This section gives some basic information about the test as a whole. You will see:
* Quiz name
* Course name
* Open and close dates (if applicable)
* Total number of first/graded attempts
* Average grade for first/all attempts
* Median grade
* Standard deviation of grades
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skewness Skewness] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurtosis Kurtosis] of the grade distribution
* Coefficient of internal consistency (sometimes called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronbach%27s_alpha Cronbach Alpha]) - This is a measure of whether all the items in the quiz are testing basically the same thing. Thus it measures the consistency of the text, which is a lower bound for the validity. Higher numbers here are better.
* Error ratio - the variation in the grades comes from two sources. First some students are better than others at what is being tested, and second there is some random variation. We hope that the quiz grades will largely be determined by the student's ability, and that random variation will be minimised. The error ratio estimates how much of the variation is random, and so lower is better.
* Standard error - this is derived from the error ratio, and is a measure of how much random variation there is in each test grade. So, if the Standard error is 10%, and a student scored 60%, then their real ability probably lies somewhere between 50% and 70%.
[[File:Quiz_results_statistics_information.png|thumb|center|Example of quiz information section]]

====Quiz structure analysis====

This section lists all the questions in the quiz with various statistics in a table format.

* '''Q#''' - shows the question number (position), question type icon, and preview and edit icons
* '''Question name''' - the name is also a link to the detailed analysis of this question (See Quiz Question Statistics below).
* '''Attempts''' - how many students attempted this question.
* '''Facility Index''' - the percentage of students that answered the question correctly.
* '''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_deviation Standard Deviation]''' - how much variation there was in the scores for this question.
* '''Random guess score''' - the score the student would get by guessing randomly
* '''Intended/Effective weight''' - Intended weight is simply what you set up when editing the quiz. If question 1 is worth 3 marks out of a total of 10 for the quiz, the the intended weight is 30%. The effective weight is an attempt to estimate, from the results, how much of the actual variation was due to this question. So, ideally the effective weights should be close to the intended weights.
* '''Discrimination index''' - this is the correlation between the score for this question and the score for the whole quiz. That is, for a good question, you hope that the students who score highly on this question are the same students who score highly on the whole quiz. Higher numbers are better.
* '''Discriminative efficiency''' - another measure that is similar to Discrimination index.

:Where random questions are used, there is one row in the table for the random question, followed by further rows, one for each real question that was selected in place of this random question.
:When quiz questions are randomized for each quiz, the quiz module determines a default position.
:[[:dev:Quiz_statistics_calculations|Quiz statistics calculations]] gives further details on all these quantities.
[[File:Quiz_results_statistics_structure_analysis.png|thumb|center|Example of statistics structural analysis section]]
====Quiz statistics chart====
[[File:Quiz_results_statistics_chart.png|thumb|center|Chart example]]

===Quiz question statistics===
Navigation > quiz's name > Results > Statistics (click on any question title)
It is possible to see the statistics for one question on a single page. This view will also tell you what percentage of quiz takers selected each answer (Analysis of responses) and give you basic information about the question.

*Question information- The basic information about the question, the name of the quiz, the question, the question type, the position in the quiz and the question itself. There are preview and edit icons in this page.
*Question statistics - This repeats the information from the table row from the Quiz structure analysis that relates to this question.
*Report options - You can choose whether to run the report on all attempts, or just the first attempt by each student. Some of the calculations used in the report are based on assumptions that may not apply to quizzes that allow more than one attempt.

'':Tip:'' Computing the statistics takes some time, the report will store the computed values and re-use them for up to 15 minutes. Therefore, there is a display of how recently the statistics were calculated, with a button to recalculate them immediatel

<gallery>
File:Quiz_results_statistics_individual_question_preferences.png|Individual question page preferences
File:Quiz_results_statistics_individual_question_information.png|Individual question's information
File:Quiz_results_statistics_individual_question_statistics.png|Individual question's statistic information
</gallery>

====Analysis of individual question responses====

This gives a frequency analysis of the different responses that were given to each part of the question. The details of the analysis depends on the question type, and not all question types support this. For example, essay question responses cannot be analyzed.

[[File:Quiz_results_statistics_individual_question_analysis_responses.png|thumb|center|Individual question's responses statistic information]]

Fitxer:Quizexample.png

2012-10-09T09:53:34Z

TimHunt: Reverted edits by Pedagogia 1 (talk) to last revision by Marycooch

example of quiz

Discussió:Quiz settings

2012-10-08T09:07:54Z

TimHunt:

On this page, it says "The administrator may also have classified some of the settings as 'advanced' ..."
Could someone make a link at that point that tells us where in Admin this can be done.

Thanks, James

: Note added.--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 17:07, 8 October 2012 (WST)

Quiz settings

2012-10-08T09:07:21Z

TimHunt:

{{Quiz}}
Creating a new quiz is a two-step process. In the first step, you create the quiz activity and set its options which specify the rules for interacting with the quiz. In the second step you add questions to the quiz.
This page describes the options you can set for the quiz activity. The page [[Building Quiz]] describes how to set up the questions for the quiz.

'''Quiz options'''
There are a large number of options and your administrator should already have chosen the default values for most of them so that you will not have to modify them for the type of quiz that you use most often. The administrator may also have classified some of the settings as 'advanced' which means that they will be hidden from the set-up screen by default. This can help to keep the screen simpler. You can turn on the display of these advanced options by clicking on the '''Show advanced settings''' button. They will then remain visible until you click on '''Hide advanced settings'''. (The admin controls this using the Plugins -> Activity modules -> Quiz page in the Site administration menu.)

==Quiz administration==
When you first set up your quiz from ''Add an activity or resource > Quiz'', (or, if you don't have this link, the dropdown ''Add an activity>Quiz'') you will get the following settings, (which can also be changed later in the Edit Settings link of the Quiz administration settings block)

===General===
;Name
:This is the standard name field. This name will appear on the home page of the course, navigation menu and other places which will show or provide links to this quiz.

;Introduction
:Write an introduction for the quiz. A student will see the introduction immediately after clicking on the quiz name. The student will see this description before they click on the "Attempt quiz" link and thus before the quiz timer is started (if used). This is a good place to include any special instructions for taking the quiz like the number of attempts allowed, time limit or scoring rules.

;'''Display description on course page'''
:You can choose to make the description visible with the activity on the course page.
===Timing===

;Open the quiz
:You can specify times when the quiz is accessible for people to make attempts. Before the opening time the quiz will be unavailable to students. They will be able to view the quiz introduction but will not be able to view the questions.

Note: You can make the quiz available at different times for different groups or users in the Group or User override sections of the Quiz Administration settings block.

;Close the quiz
:After the closing time, the students will not be able to start new attempts. Answers that the student submits after the quiz closing date will be saved but they will not be marked.

: Even after the quiz has closed students will still be able to see the quiz description and review their attempts. What exactly they will see depends on the settings you choose for review options (see below).

[[File:quiz timer.png|thumb|Navigation block showing quiz timer]]
;Time limit
:By default, quizzes do not have a time limit, which allows students as much time as they need to complete the quiz. If you do specify a time limit, several things are done to try and ensure that quizzes are completed within that time:

# A countdown timer is shown in the quiz navigation block
# When the timer has run out, the quiz is submitted automatically with whatever answers have been filled in so far
# If a student manages to cheat and goes over the allotted time, no marks are awarded for any answers entered after the time ran out

Note: You can make the quiz available last a different period of time for different groups or users in the Group or User override sections of the Quiz Administration settings block (see below).

;When time expires..
{{New features}}
There are three options as to what will happen when the time limit is up. Choose the one you need from the dropdown menu:

[[File:quizgrace.png]]

If you select "''there is a grace period...''" then you can check the box to enable the "Submission grace period" and specify a period of time during which learners may still submit the quiz after the time is up.

===Examples of how timing is handled===

#A student starts a quiz at noon. The quiz has a one-hour time-limit, and a 1 hour delay between attempts. The student gets distracted, and so actually does not submit (using the overdue handling) until 1:30pm. ''They are allowed to start their second attempt at 2. pm''
#The quiz count-down timer submits a student's quiz attempt at the last second when time expires. Because the server is heavily loaded, it takes 30 seconds to process the student's attempt. ''The submission is accepted nonetheless.''
#Same situation as above but with a 120 second delay: ''The submission is rejected.''
#The delay is not because of server load but because the student found a way to cheat the timer. ''Moodle cannot know what causes a delay.The behaviour is controlled by the admin setting(quiz | graceperiodmin), 60 seconds by default.''
#A student is a member of 3 groups,all of which have different override settings. Which limits will apply to this student? ''If there is any user-specific override, then that is used, and the group overrides for that setting are not used at all. Otherwise, if there are multiple group overrides, the most generous values are used (the earliest open date, the latest close date, the longest time limit, the most number of attempts, and the student can type any of the passwords).''

===Grade===
;Grade category
If you have categories in your gradebook, select the one you wish the quiz to be in here.
;Attempts allowed
:Students may be allowed to have multiple attempts at a quiz. This can help make the process of taking the quiz more of an educational activity rather than simply an assessment. If the quiz is randomized then the student will get a new version for each attempt. This is useful for practice purposes.

Note: You can change the allowed number of attempts for different groups or users in the Group or User override sections of the Quiz Administration settings block.

;Grading method
:When multiple attempts are allowed, there are different ways you can use the grades to calculate the student's final grade for the quiz.
* Highest grade - the final grade is the highest (best) grade in any attempt
* Average grade - the final grade is the average (simple mean) grade of all attempts
* First grade - the final grade is the grade earned on the first attempt (other attempts are ignored)
* Last grade - the final grade is the grade earned on the most recent attempt only

===Layout===

;Question order
:If 'Shuffled randomly' is selected, then the order of questions in the quiz will be randomly shuffled each time a student starts a new attempt at the quiz. The intention is to make it a little harder for students to copy from each other.

;New page
:For longer quizzes it makes sense to stretch the quiz over several pages by limiting the number of questions per page. When adding questions to the quiz, page breaks will automatically be inserted according to the setting you choose here. However, you will also be able to move page breaks around by hand later on the editing page.
:'''Note that changing this setting has no effect on questions you have already added to the quiz'''. The setting will only apply to questions you add subsequently. To change the page breaks in an existing quiz, you need to go to the quiz editing screen, tick the 'Show page breaks' checkbox, then use the repaginate control.

;Navigation method (available by clicking ''Show Advanced'')
{{New features}}

[[File:seqnav.png]]

By choosing ''Sequential'' instead of ''Free'', the teacher is forcing the student to progress through the questions in order without being able to go back to a previous question or skip to a later one.

===Question behaviour===

;How questions behave
* Deferred feedback - Students must enter an answer to each question and then submit the entire quiz, before anything is graded or they get any feedback.
* Adaptive mode and Adaptive mode (no penalties) - Allows students to have multiple attempts at the question before moving on to the next question. The question can adapt itself to the student's answer, for example by giving some hints before asking the student to try again.
*Manual grading - Used for essay questions (irrespective of what the quiz is set to) but you can now choose to have every question in the quiz manually graded, if you wish.
*Interactive mode - After submitting one answer, and reading the feedback, the student has to click a 'Try again' button before they can try a new response. Once the student has got the question right, they can no longer change their response. Once the student has got the question wrong too many times, they are just graded wrong (or partially correct) and get shown the feedback and can no longer change their answer. There can be different feedback after each try the student makes.
*Immediate feedback - Similar to interactive mode in that the student can submit their response immediately during the quiz attempt, and get it graded. However, they can only submit one response, they cannot change it later.
*Deferred feedback or Immediate feedback with '''Certainty-based marking''' ('''CBM''') - With CBM, the student does not only answer the question, but they also indicate how sure they are they got the question right. The grading is adjusted by the choice of certainty, so that students have to reflect honestly on their own level of knowledge in order to get the best mark. See the ''See Also'' section below.
=====Certainty-based marking=====
When a student answers a question they also have to state how sure they are of the answer: not very (less than 67%); fairly (more than 67%) or very (more than 80%). Their grading is then ajusted according to how certain they are, which means that for example if they answered correctly but were only guessing, their mark is adjusted from 1 to 0.33. If they answered wrongly but were very sure, their mark is adjusted from 0 to -2.

{|
| [[File:cbm03.png|thumb|correct answer; very sure]]
| [[File:cbm05.png|thumb|correct answer; fairly sure]]
| [[File:cmb04.png|thumb|correct answer; not very sure]]
| [[File:cbm01.png|thumb|wrong answer; very sure]]
| [[File:cbm99.png|thumb|wrong answer; not very sure]]
|}

;Each attempt builds on the last
:If multiple attempts are allowed and this setting is set to Yes, then each new attempt contains the results of the previous attempt. This allows the student on the new attempt to concentrate on just those questions that were answered incorrectly on the previous attempt. If this option is chosen then each attempt by a particular student uses the same questions in the same order, independent of randomization settings. To show a fresh quiz on every attempt, select No for this setting.

===Review options===

This section controls what information students will be shown when they review their past attempts at the quiz, and during the attempt in adaptive mode. It is a matrix with check boxes.

The various pieces of information that can be controlled are:
; The attempt: Will show how the student responded to each question.
; Whether correct: Displays whether the students response to each question is correct or incorrect.
; Marks: Reveals the marks awarded to the student and the grade for the quiz.
; Specific feedback: Will show the feedback for the response to the answer as set when adding the question to the quiz. Each response to a question can have feedback for both correct and incorrect answers.
; General feedback: Displays the general feedback for the whole question as set when adding the question to the quiz. You can use the general feedback to give students some background to what knowledge the question was testing.
; Right answer: Reveals the correct answer to each question, whether the student answered correctly or not (See note below).
; Overall feedback: Displays feedback for the entire quiz as set in the quiz settings (See note below).

For each of the above items, you can determine the timeframe when the students will see them:
; During the attempt : is only available when ''‘How questions behave’'' has been set to ''‘Immediate feedback’'', ''‘Immediate feedback with CBM’'' and ''‘Interactive with multiple tries’''. If set to one of these options then a ''‘Check’'' button will appear below the answer and when clicked the student will submit that response and then receive immediate feedback.
; Immediately after the attempt : means within 2 minutes of the student clicking "submit all and finish".
; Later, while the quiz is still open : means after 2 minutes, but before the close date (if the quiz does not have a close date, this phase never ends).
; After the quiz is closed : means what it says (you never get here for quizzes without a close date).

:''Tip:'' Checking any of the boxes in the timeframe row, will reveal the test to the student. For example, to allow students to see their quiz immediately after taking it but not later, make sure none of the boxes in "Later" or "After" rows are checked. The student will be able to see their grade but not get into the quiz.

Note: Currently, the Answers display is a bit inconsistent between different question types. For example, the matching question type shows students which of their responses are correct, but does not tell them the right answer for the ones they got wrong. The short answer and multiple choices question types do tell the student what the correct answer is.

Users with the capability 'View hidden grades' [[Capabilities/moodle/grade:viewhidden|moodle/grade:viewhidden]] (typically teachers and administrators) are not affected by these settings and will always by able to review all information about a student's attempt at any time.

In your list of review options, you must have 'The attempt' (the first option in the lists) selected before you can enable the options to show 'Whether correct', 'Specific feedback', 'General feedback', and 'Right answer'. If you choose not to let the students review the attempt, your only options are to display 'Marks' and 'Overall feedback'.

===Display===

;Decimal places in grades
:This option determines how many digits will be shown after the decimal point when the grade is displayed. A setting of 0 for example means that the grades are displayed as integers. This setting is only used for the display of grades, not for the display or marking of answers.

===Extra restrictions on attempts===

;Require password
:This field is optional.

:If you specify a password in here then participants must enter the same password before they are allowed to make an attempt on the quiz. This is useful to give only a selected group of students access to the quiz.

;Require network address
:This field is optional.

:You can restrict access for a quiz to particular subnets on the LAN or Internet by specifying a comma-separated list of partial or full IP address numbers. This is especially useful for a proctored (invigilated) quiz, where you want to be sure that only people in a certain room are able to access the quiz. For example: 192.168. , 231.54.211.0/20, 231.3.56.211

:There are three types of numbers you can use (you can not use text based domain names like example.com):

# Full IP addresses, such as 192.168.10.1 which will match a single computer (or proxy).
# Partial addresses, such as 192.168 which will match anything starting with those numbers.
# CIDR notation, such as 231.54.211.0/20 which allows you to specify more detailed subnets.

:Spaces are ignored.

;Browser security
:The options in this section offer various ways to try to restrict how students may try to 'cheat' while attempting a quiz. However, this is not a simple issue, and what in one situation is considered 'cheating' may, in another situation, just be effective use of information technology. (For example, the ability to quickly find answers using a search engine.)

::Note also that this is not just at problem of technology with a technical solution. Cheating has been going on since long before computers, and while computers make certain actions, like copy and paste, easier, they also make it easier for teachers to detect cheating - for example using the quiz reports. The options provided here are not fool-proof, and while they do make some forms of cheating harder for students, they also make it more inconvenient for students to attempt the quizzes, and they are not fool-proof.

:'''Full screen pop-up with some JavaScript security'''

:There is a limit to what the quiz, which runs on a web server, can do to restrict what the student sitting at their computer can do while attempting the quiz. However, this option does what is possible:

:* The quiz will only start if the student has a JavaScript-enabled web-browser.
:* The quiz appears in a fullscreen popup window that covers all the other windows and has no navigation controls.
:* The students are prevented, as far as is possible, from using facilities like copy and paste.
:* This setting does not work well with the MyMobile theme for mobile devices included in the standard installation. In particular, quiz time limits do not function correctly (MDL-32047).

:'''Require the use of Safe Exam Browser'''

:This option will only appear if your administrator has enabled it in ''Settings > Site administration > Development > Experimental > Experimental settings''.

:[[Safe exam browser|Safe Exam Browser]] is a customised web browser that must be downloaded and installed on the computer that the student uses to attempt the quiz. It restricts student use more effectively than a pop up window option. Features include full screen, without web navigation options, shortcut keys including copy and paste are disabled and of course surfing the web during an exam.

===Overall feedback===
Overall feedback is shown to a student after they have completed an attempt at the quiz. The text that is shown can depend on the grade the student got.

For example, if you entered:

:Grade boundary: 100%
:Feedback: "Well done"
:Grade boundary: 40%
:Feedback: "Please study this week's work again"
:Grade boundary: 0%

Then students who score between 100% and 40% will see the "Well done" message, and those who score between 39.99% and 0% will see "Please study this week's work again". That is, the grade boundaries define ranges of grades, and each feedback string is displayed to scores within the appropriate range.

Grade boundaries can be specified either as a percentage, for example "31.41%", or as a number, for example "7". If your quiz is out of 10 marks, a grade boundary of 7 means 7/10 or better.

Note that the maximum and minimum grade boundaries (100% and 0%) are set automatically.

You can set as many or as few grade boundaries as you wish. The form allows you up to 5 ranges at first, but you can add more by clicking the "Add 3 fields to form" button underneath.

If you're getting confusing error messages about a boundary being out of sequence (when it's obviously *in* sequence), or "boundaries must be between 0% and 100%" (and they are) -- check that the Maximum Grade for this quiz is set to something greater than zero.

===Common module settings===
;Group mode
:Here you can choose whether the quiz should be organized by group. This only has an effect on the review screens of the teachers where it determines which groups of students they see.

;Visible to students
:Determines whether the quiz will be visible to students. If you are still in the process of setting up the quiz then it is highly advisable to leave this set to 'Hide'. Otherwise students might view or even attempt the quiz before it is tested and ready. This setting is common to all activities and can also be toggled by clicking on the eye icon behind the activity's name on the course page.

===Restrict access settings===
The [[Restrict_access_settings|Restrict access]] area becomes visible in Moodle activities and resource settings if [[Conditional_activities|Conditional Activities]] have been enabled.

==Group and User overrides==

[[File:overridesquiz.png]]

Dates, timing and number of allowed attempts may be changed for individual users or groups by following the links ''Group Overrides'' or ''User Overrides'' in the Quiz Administration settings block.

===Group overrides===
To change a quiz setting for a particular group, click the "add group override" button in ''Quiz Administration>Group overrides'', make the changes you wish and save or enter another override.

===User overrides===
To change a quiz setting for a particular user or users, click the "add user override"button in ''Quiz Administration>Group overrides'', make the changes you wish and save or enter another override.

[[Image:groupuseroverride.png|groupuseroverride.png]]

==Site administration settings==

The quiz module has additional settings which may be changed by an administrator in ''Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Quiz''.

The add a new quiz page may be simplified by selecting a number of options to be hidden by default and only displayed when users click the "Advanced settings" button.

How questions behave can be configured in ''Settings>Site administration>Plugins>Question behaviours>Manage question
behaviours''[[de:Test konfigurieren]]

==See also==
[http://helderenwijzer.nl/2011/10/certainty-based-marking-in-moodle/ Blog post on CBM (Certainty Based Marking)in Moodle]

[[fr:Ajouter/modifier un test]]

Moodle.org forums Code of Conduct

2012-10-07T16:35:22Z

TimHunt: /* See also */

{{Main page}}
Moodle.org aims to be a friendly place where people can get help with and learn about Moodle, and contribute to making Moodle even better. Therefore, in the interests of maintaining a productive learning environment, we request that all participants follow this code of conduct. If you do not wish to do so, you have the right not to participate.

==Before posting==

* Check [[Main_page|Moodle documentation]] with a [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Main_page?search=&go=Go search] and look at the [[:Category:FAQ|frequently asked questions]] list of topics.
* Try a [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/search.php?search=&id=5 Using Moodle advanced forum search] or a [http://moodle.org/public/search/ Google search of moodle.org] to see if you can find another discussion about your topic

==The basics==
===Choose the most appropriate forum to post in===

* For technical help in English, choose an appropriate forum in [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5 Using Moodle]
* For socialising with other Moodlers in English, visit the [http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=55 Lounge]
* For posting in a language other the English, see the [http://moodle.org/course/category.php?id=3 list of community discussion courses in other languages]

Any posts deemed to be in the wrong forum will be moved. As Moodle does not yet include functionality for informing posters when a thread is moved, if you think your post might have been moved, please try a [http://moodle.org/public/search/ Google search of moodle.org] to locate it.

Moodle has a friendly and helpful community where you can ask questions. We ask that you first try to solve any problems by reading the forum and then by posting your question before messaging anyone. For those who don't want messages you have the ability to block new messages from unknown users. Please try to return to the forum to finish solving your issue so that all can benefit or at least post any successes you experience.

===Choose an informative subject line===

Subject lines are like advertisements. You want helpful Moodlers with solutions to your specific problem to find and read more about your issue.

* Instead of using a subject line like "Urgent help needed!!!" use a subject line which is specific, such as, "Restore stops with error message 'xyz'".

===Present facts and background in your post===

Helpful Moodlers like posts that tell a '''short''' story that includes basic facts.
* Provide as much relevant background information as you can in your post
* If your question relates to a page on your site which is publicly available, you may post a link to it; however please note that out-of-context links (such as in a signature) will be removed
*''Remember to state the version of Moodle you are using''

For further advice on how to ensure your question is answered, see [[Moodle.org forums help]].

===Provide feedback for others===

* Rate forum posts - In order to help others that may encounter the same problem as you did and encourage people who posted helpful replies, rate forum posts as useful using the dropdown menu below each post (only available when logged in).
* Once your problem is solved, mark the discussion as [Solved] - Reply to the thread, providing links to the documentation, discussion or tracker issue that helped you. Add [Solved] to the subject line of your post. This ensures that people don't continue trying to answer question unnecessarily, and others who may have the same problem can find the answer quickly.

==Good conduct==
Here are some best practices that can be enforced by moderators.
===Post your question in one forum only===

Posting the same question in multiple forums is of no benefit. It only fragments the support you receive and makes it more difficult for other users to find the correct information in the future when they do a search.

If you really feel your topic falls in two forums (e.g. a major development in the Quiz module that may impact other parts of Moodle), pick the most specific (e.g. Quiz forum) and post a small pointer to the other discussion in the second forum (e.g. General developer forum).

===Respect other forum users===

Show respect and consideration to others at all times. [[Wikipedia:Flaming_(Internet)|Flaming]] and personal attacks will be deleted.

Please respect the decisions of forum moderators and course facilitators.

===Spam and unsolicited advertisements are not allowed===

Our [[Policy on Advertising]] explains the contexts in which advertising is permitted. In addition, Moodle-related jobs offered may be advertised in the [http://moodle.org/jobs Moodle Jobs database]. All other advertising and [[Wikipedia:Spam_(electronic)|spam]] will be deleted. Posts with no substantial content (e.g. "Hi") will also be deleted.

Signatures in forum posts will be removed as they cause clutter and distract from the information and help provided.

===Code of conduct violations===

If you come across any spam, unsolicited adverts or any other post that you feel is inappropriate, please report it to a forum moderator (listed in the forum introduction) or course facilitator or email [mailto:helen@moodle.org helen@moodle.org].

Posts which violate our code of conduct may be edited, moved to a closed discussions forum or deleted at the discretion of moderators. Moderators and course facilitators are encouraged to discuss issues in the Facilitators Corner.

Spammers or anyone else who persists in violating our code of conduct will have their account blocked.

==Disclaimer==

Whilst moodle.org moderators and course facilitators will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every post. All posts made on moodle.org express the views and opinions of the author and not the moderators or course facilitators (except for posts by these people) and they cannot be held liable.

If you have any comments on our code of conduct please use the [[Talk:Moodle.org forums Code of Conduct|talk page]] or post in the [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=7135 Moodle.org design forum].

==See also==

* [[Moodle.org forums help]]
* [[Policy on Advertising]]
* There is a really unfriendly, but classic article about how to effectively ask questions online. We all strive to make the Moodle forums a friendlier place than describe there. With that warning, you might want to read the advice in http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[[Category:Moodle.org]]

Messaging settings

2012-09-29T20:22:31Z

TimHunt:

{{Messaging}}
==Enabling / disabling instant messaging sitewide==

The instant messaging system in Moodle is enabled by default. It may be disabled by a site administrator in ''Settings > Site administration > Advanced features > Enable messaging system''.

==Site administration settings==

=== Manage Message outputs===

There are three default types of output methods for messaging: popup notices, Jabber IM type messages, and messages sent as email.

Each of these can be enabled or disabled independently by a site administrator in ''Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Message outputs > Manage message outputs''.

By default Popup and Email are both enabled, though email will only work of course if the site has been properly configured to deliver email. Jabber is off by default and needs to be configured first.

[[File:moodle23-manage-message-outputs.png]]

===Default message outputs===

The user defaults for these are set in ''Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Message outputs > Default message outputs''.

You can specify the default outputs for each type of message that Moodle can send.

====Permittedness====

You can also set to what degree each type of message is enabled, and whether users are able to change these default settings in their profiles:

* ''Disallowed'' - the message of chosen type will never be delivered through the chosen output, user is not allowed to change the personal preference for this combination of message type and output.
* ''Permitted'' - the message of chosen type is allowed to be delivered through the chosen output, default preferences can be set by administrator using the checkboxes below, user can control this preference on the messaging preferences page (and change the suggested defaults the most preferable way).
* ''Forced'' - the message of chosen type will be delivered through the chosen output, user is not allowed to change the personal preference for this combination of message type and output.

====Online/Not online====

You can set whether each of these will be sent when the user is online through the messaging system interface available to users in their profiles, and/or whether each output is sent via email.

==== List of message types====

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Output Name !! Description !! Recipients
|-
| Assignment (2.2) notifications || Student has submitted an assignment (in older 2.2 Assignment module) || Teacher
|-
| Assignment notifications || Student has submitted an assignment (in [https://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Assignment_FAQ 2.3+ version] of Assignment module)|| Teacher
|-
| Warning when your quiz attempt becomes overdue || ||
|-
| Available update notifications || New in 2.3 - See [https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Available_update_notifications dev page] || Site admins
|-
| Backup notifications || Automated backup schedule run completed || Site admins
|-
| Confirmation of your own quiz submissions || Notice your quiz was successfully submitted || Student
|-
| Course creation request approval notification || Notice a requested course has been approved || Defined in ''Site admin > Courses > Course request > Course request notification''
|-
| Course creation request notification || Notice a course has been requested - See [https://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Course_request#Course_requests course requests] || Defined in ''Site admin > Courses > Course request > Course request notification''
|-
| Course creation request rejection notification || Notice a requested course has been rejected || Defined in ''Site admin > Courses > Course request > Course request notification''
|-
| Important errors with the site || || Site admins
|-
| Essay graded notification || Notify students a teacher has graded an essay question || Student
|-
| Personal messages between users || Using the Messaging interface in a user's Profile || Authenticated Users
|-
| Feedback reminder || ||
|-
| Notices about minor problems || || Site admins
|-
| Subscribed forum posts || Master switch for forum subscription handling || Anyone subscribed to a forum
|-
| Feedback notifications || ||
|-
| Notification of quiz submissions || Message that student has submitted a quiz || Teacher
|}

Except for '''Personal messages between users''' which refers to the interaction messaging tool on a user profile, the other messages are generated by events in Moodle.

[[File:m32-messageoutputs-defaults.png|thumb|Default messaging settings]]

=== Jabber message===

Jabber must be configured before use.

''(Could someone with working settings fill this out with example?)''

*Host - The server to connect to to send jabber message notifications - full hostname (e.g. jabber.org)
*Server - XMPP host ID (can be left empty if the same as Jabber host)
*Username - The user name to use when connecting to the Jabber server
*Password - The password to use when connecting to the Jabber server
*Port - defaults to 5222

===Email settings===

====SMTP hosts====

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The SMTP host is an email relay that will take the email from Moodle and send it to users. You will need to set this only if your server does not allow mail relay. Otherwise, PHP will send out the mail using its built-in mail server. All the email sent by forums and other modules will be sent through this host.

Most SMTP hosts make use of the default port 25 to for listening email traffic. However, occasionally a non-default port is used. In such cases, entering an SMTP host followed by a colon (i.e. :) and the port number should work. For example, if my SMTP host is myemailserver.com and it listens on port 587 or 465 (most common) instead of port 25 I would enter the SMTP host as myemailserver.com:587. Currently, the parameter check is too strict to allow this via the Moodle UI; however, MDL-15923 has been created and resolved to address this. Until then, it can be set via phpMyAdmin using a query statement like:
<code mysql> UPDATE mdl_config SET value='myemailserver.com:587' WHERE name='smtphosts';</code>

====SMTP security====

{{New features}}If the SMTP server requires a secure connection, the correct protocol type, SSL or TSL, may be set.

====Configure HTTPD/SELinux on CentOS/Red Hat (RHEL) 6.2/6.1/6====

Most new installations of Centos/Red Hat have SELinux activated and is configured by default, rather strictly. In this state SELinux does not allow Apache (httpd,phpmailer) to use the sendmail function and make any sort of network connection.

If you continue to have problems with sending/authenticating use the '''getsebool''' command to find out if SELinux is one of the culprits. When the '''getsebool''' command is issued it returns ''on'' or ''off''.

Type to check if your Apache is allowed to send mail and make a connection over the network
*''getsebool httpd_can_sendmail''
*''getsebool httpd_can_network_connect''

You will receive the values of ''httpd_can_sendmail'' and ''httpd_can_network_connect''. Let's assume both options are off:
*''httpd_can_sendmail -->off''
*''httpd_can_network_connect -->off''

We need to change the values from ''off'' to ''on'' by using '''setsebool'''. Number 1 = on and 0 = off. Type the following:
*''setsebool -P httpd_can_sendmail 1''
*''setsebool -P httpd_can_network_connect 1''

You will not receive a response. You can double check if the '''setsebool''' command worked by using '''getsebool''' and see if the values changed from ''-->off'' to ''-->on''.

==Messaging capabilities==

The following capabilities can be applied as permissions to make custom changes to roles affecting messaging.

* [[Capabilities/moodle/course:bulkmessaging|course:bulkmessaging - Send a message to many people]]
* [[Capabilities/moodle/site:readallmessages|site:readallmessages - Read all messages on site]]
* [[Capabilities/moodle/site:sendmessage|site:sendmessage - Send messages to any user]]
* [[Capabilities/moodle/user:editownmessageprofile|user:editownmessageprofile - Edit own user messaging profile]]
* [[Capabilities/moodle/user:editmessageprofile|user:editmessageprofile - Edit user messaging profile]]

==User profile settings==

Users can receive message alerts for a number of different reasons and can also send and receive instant messages. How a user receives notification of incoming messages can be set in ''Settings > My profile > Messaging''.

This brings up a screen with check boxes where users can choose how they wish to be notified both when logged in and logged out. They can choose between a pop up,Jabber message or an email.

[[File:Messagingnotifications.png]]

'''Note:''' The choices a user has on this screen depends on their role and permissions within Moodle. For example, an administrator would see options for notifications about backups or important errors with the site.

{{New features}}An administrator can receive update notifications for both Moodle core code and any contributed plugins installed on the site if the automatic check for available updates is enabled in ''Settings > Site Administration > Server > [[Notifications|Update notifications]]''.

===Pop up===
When a user is logged into Moodle, the message will pop up from the bottom right corner of the page. The user can choose to read the message immediately or to ignore it. If they choose to ignore it, the message returns until it is read.

===Jabber===
If the Jabber server has been configured, Jabber messages can be sent.The Jabber ID can be set at the bottom of the screen.

===Email===
{{New features}}Users cannot by default automatically choose to have notifications sent to a different email address from their official Moodle email. However, the administrator has the option to override this so that users can have an alternative email. This is done from ''Settings>Site administration>Advanced features'' and when activated, a box will appear for users to enter another email address.

===Prevent non-contacts from messaging me===
Non-contacts can be prevented from sending messages by ticking this box in General Settings at the bottom of the screen.

==See also==

*[[:dev:Messaging 2.0|Messaging developer documentation]]

[[de:Mitteilungen konfigurieren]]

The OU workflow system

2012-08-24T12:51:07Z

TimHunt:

The Workflow system is used at the OU to manage the production of courses and some activities. It comprises a block and a related admin report.

==Overview==

A workflow (for our purposes) is a linear sequence of steps. A step has
* a name
* some instructions;
* a check-list of actions;
* a list of roles who are responsible for performing this step;
* a list of actions that are taken automatically when the step is started/finished, for example assigning roles or changing activity settings.

The system allows the definition of different workflows. Each workflow has
* a name
* a description
* an indication of the type of thing it relates to (e.g. ‘course’, ‘mod_quiz’)

Under Admin -> Plugins -> Blocks -> Workflow, there is an interface for Administrators to define and edit workflows, and to import and export workflow definitions as XML.

To use a workflow to manage the production of, say, a course, you go to the course, and add a workflow block to it. Initially, the block will display a message “There is currently no workflow associated with this course.” with an Add workflow button. Clicking the button allows you to select from any of the workflows that are appropriate for ‘course’.

When the workflow is added to the course, the first step in the workflow becomes active. The workflow block now displays the step instructions for the currently active step; the checklist items as a list of check-boxes; a comments area; a Finish step button; and a link to the workflow overview.

When a step becomes active, all the people responsible for completing the step are sent an email informing them that they should do the step. These people may also get an additional role assigned to them in the context the workflow applies to.

The comments area in the workflow block is a simple editable text area where people working on the step can leave notes for each other.

The Finish step button leads to a confirmation page. If the action is confirmed, then the workflow advances to the next step. When the last step of the workflow is finished, the workflow either stops, or loops back to one of the other steps.

The workflow overview gives an overview of all the steps in this workflow, and the progress through it. The system tracks the timestamp, and the user, each time a step is finished or made active.

The overview page also allows workflow administrators (those with an appropriate capability) to jump the workflow to any particular step.

There is also a report that summarise the workflow across a selection of courses or activities.

==Setting up a workflow==

Before you can use the workflow system, you have to create a workflow. To set up workflows, you need to go to Admin -> Plugins -> Blocks -> Workflows.

===Creating a workflow===

To create a workflow, click on the 'Add workflow' icon at the bottom of the 'Manage Workflows' section of the page. This takes you to the Add workflow form.

Like with Roles, you need to give your workflow both an internal 'Short name' and a human-readable name. It is a good idea to use the description to explain what this particular workflow is for.

You need to specify what type of thing the workflow applies to, either a course, or a type of activity.

Finally, you can say whether they workflow is available for use yet. You should probably leave the 'Current status' as 'Disabled' until you have finished building the workflow.

Once you have got this far, click Save changes.

===Adding steps to a workflow===

Once the workflow is created, you are taken to a page where you can edit this list of steps in the workflow.

The newly created workflow will have one step already. Click the edit icon by that step, to see what you can change.

You can edit the Steps name, and instructions, and you should probably do that.

The 'On step activation' and 'On step completion' boxes let you cause things to happen automatically when a step starts or finishes. This is an advance feature,

===Defining the list of tasks for a step===

===What happens at the end of the workflow===

===Automatic script actions===

There are two scripts associated with each task. The '''On step activation''' script is always run when the step starts. The '''On completion step''' script only runs if the step finishes normally with someone clicking the finish step button. This distinction is subtle, but important.

Any line of the script that starts with a # character is considered to be a comment and ignored. You are encouraged to use comments to document what your script does.

Remaining lines are commands, which are a sequence of words separated by spaces. The first word on the line determines which command this is. The meaning of the remaining words depends on the type of command. The available commands are:

; email {templatename} to {role1} {role2} ...
: Sends an email to all the users with any of these roles in the context the workflow applies to. If a user has multiple roles, they only get one email. templatename refers the shortname of one of the email templates that has been defined.

; assignrole {newrole} to {role1} {role2}
: This assigns the new role to any user who has any of the other roles in this context (not parent contexts), and who does not already have newrole in this context. The roles are identified by their shortnames.

; setactivityvisibility {hidden|visible}
: sets the course_module.visible column to 0 or 1 as appropriate. Can only be used in activity workflows.

; setcoursevisibility {hidden|visible}
: sets the course.visible column to 0 or 1 as appropriate. Can only be used in course workflows.

; override {role} {inherit|allow|prevent|prohibit} {capability} in {course|activity}
: sets a role override. The role is identified by its shortname. In course workflows, only course can be used as the last word. In activity workflows, either course or activity can be used.

; setactivitysetting {column} to {value}
: This can only be used in activity workflows. Sets that column in the module’s table, for example in the quiz table. value has to be a fixed value, and (at least at present) only values that are a single word need to be supported. (The word may be a number or a string.)

; setactivitylinkedsetting {tablename} by {foreignkeycolumnname} clear
; setactivitylinkedsetting {tablename} by {foreignkeycolumnname} set {field1} {value1} {field2} {value2} ...
: This one is quite complex. See https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-block_workflow/blob/master/classes/command_setactivitylinkedsetting.php#L28 for more.

===Email templates===

These are used by the <tt>email</tt> script command. Each template has a shortname, which is how the email command refers to it. They also have a subject and a message body.

The subject and the message body can contain the following tokens, which are replaced the the appropriate value:

; %%workflowname%% : the name of this workflow.
; %%stepname%% : the name of the current workflow step.
; %%contextname%% : the name of the context the workflow applies to. For example “Course B747-11B” or “Quiz iCMA41”. For courses, that is using the course shortname. For activities, it is using the activity name.
; %%contexturl%% : the URL of the course of activity that this workflow relates to.
; %%coursename%% : for course workflows, this is the same as %%contextname%%. For activity workflows, it is “Course B747-11B” with the applicable course shortname.
; %%usernames%% : a comma-separated list of all the users who will be receiving this email.
; %%currentusername%% : the name of the user who triggered the action that lead to this email being sent.
; %%instructions%% : the instructions for the current step.
; %%tasks%% : the list of tasks for the current step.
; %%comment%% : when executing the onactivescript this is set to the comment from the step that was just completed. When executing the oncompletescript, this is set to the comment from this step. If the comment is blank, this is set to ‘[none]’.

So, a typical email template for an On step activation email might look like:
; Subject : Please do workflow step %%stepname%% for %%contextname%%
; Message
: Dear %%usernames%%,
: You are responsible for performing the workflow step %%stepname%% as part or workflow %%workflowname%% for %%contextname%%.
: The step instructions are:
: ---------------------------------------------------------------------
: %%instructions%%
: ---------------------------------------------------------------------
: To perform this step, please go to <%%contexturl%%>
: The people working on the previous step left the comment:
: ---------------------------------------------------------------------
: %%comment%%
: ---------------------------------------------------------------------

===Managing workflows===

On the main manage workflows page, as you might expect, you can edit or delete any workflow.

The system will only let you delete a workflow that it not used anywhere, so instead of deleting a workflow, you may prefer to hide it using the 'eye-con'. If a workflow is hidden, then it will go on working in any place where it is used, but you will not be able to start using it in any new place. In other words, the workflow will be hidden from the list available when you select the workflow to add to a course or activity.

==Importing and exporting workflows==

On the manage workflows page, you can export any workflow to an XML file, and import a workflow from an XML file. The import/export automatically includes all the necessary email templates.

==Using the workflow system==

For definiteness, in this section, I will talk about using a workflow on a course. Using a workflow on an activity is very similar, you just add the block in a different place.

===Adding a workflow to a course===

On the course page, turn editing on. Then do Add a block -> Workflow. That adds the workflow block, but it does not yet add a workflow. The block will be showing

===The list of tasks===

===Using comments===

===The workflow overview===

==The workflow report==

==See also==

* [[Installing plugins]]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=block_workflow Plugins database entry for the block]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=report_workflow Plugins database entry for the admin report]
* [https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-block_workflow The block on github]
* [https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-report_workflow The report on github]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

The OU workflow system

2012-08-20T16:03:34Z

TimHunt:

The OU workflow system

2012-08-17T17:51:10Z

TimHunt:

Using certainty-based marking

2012-08-17T16:36:54Z

TimHunt: Created page with "This page relates to the work being done in MDL-32188. If that gets accepted into Moodle 2.4, then this page needs to be updated to say something like http://www.tmedwin.net/cbm/..."

This page relates to the work being done in MDL-32188. If that gets accepted into Moodle 2.4, then this page needs to be updated to say something like http://www.tmedwin.net/cbm/moodlecbm.htm

qbehaviour/deferredcbm/certainty

2012-08-17T16:35:59Z

TimHunt: Redirected page to Using certainty-based marking

#REDIRECT [[Using certainty-based marking]]

The OU workflow system

2012-08-16T17:27:37Z

TimHunt:

The OU workflow system

2012-08-16T17:26:55Z

TimHunt:

The Workflow system is used at the OU to manage the production of courses and some activities. It comprises a block and a related admin report.

A workflow (for our purposes) is a linear sequence of steps. A step has
* a name
* some instructions;
* a check-list of actions;
* a list of roles who are responsible for performing this step;
* a list of actions that are taken automatically when the step is started/finished, for example assigning roles or changing activity settings.

The system allows the definition of different workflows. Each workflow has
* a name
* a description
* an indication of the type of thing it relates to (e.g. ‘course’, ‘mod_quiz’)

Under Admin -> Plugins -> Blocks -> Workflow, there is an interface for Administrators to define and edit workflows, and to import and export workflow definitions as XML.

To use a workflow to manage the production of, say, a course, you go to the course, and add a workflow block to it. Initially, the block will display a message “There is currently no workflow associated with this course.” with an Add workflow button. Clicking the button allows you to select from any of the workflows that are appropriate for ‘course’.

When the workflow is added to the course, the first step in the workflow becomes active. The workflow block now displays the step instructions for the currently active step; the checklist items as a list of check-boxes; a comments area; a Finish step button; and a link to the workflow overview.

When a step becomes active, all the people responsible for completing the step are sent an email informing them that they should do the step. These people may also get an additional role assigned to them in the context the workflow applies to.

The comments area in the workflow block is a simple editable text area where people working on the step can leave notes for each other.

The Finish step button leads to a confirmation page. If the action is confirmed, then the workflow advances to the next step. When the last step of the workflow is finished, the workflow either stops, or loops back to one of the other steps.

The workflow overview gives an overview of all the steps in this workflow, and the progress through it. The system tracks the timestamp, and the user, each time a step is finished or made active.

The overview page also allows workflow administrators (those with an appropriate capability) to jump the workflow to any particular step.

There is also an admin reports that summarise the workflow across a selection of courses or activities.

==Setting up a workflow==

===Creating a workflow===

===Adding steps to a workflow===

===Defining the list of tasks for a step===

===Automatic script actions===

===What happens at the end of the workflow===

===Managing workflows===

==Importing and exporting workflows==

On the manage workflows page, you can export any workflow to an XML file, and import a workflow from an XML file. The import/export automatically includes all the necessary email templates.

==Using the workflow system==

===Adding a workflow to a course===

===The list of tasks===

===Using comments===

===The workflow overview===

==The workflow report==

==See also==

* [[Installing plugins]]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=block_workflow Plugins database entry for the block]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=report_workflow Plugins database entry for the admin report]
* [https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-block_workflow The block on github]
* [https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-report_workflow The report on github]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

The OU workflow system

2012-08-07T17:03:57Z

TimHunt: Created page with "The Workflow system is used at the OU to manage the production of courses and some activities. It comprises a block and a related admin report. A workflow (for our purposes) is ..."

The Workflow system is used at the OU to manage the production of courses and some activities. It comprises a block and a related admin report.

A workflow (for our purposes) is a linear sequence of steps. A step has
* a name
* some instructions;
* a check-list of actions;
* a list of roles who are responsible for performing this step;
* a list of actions that are taken automatically when the step is started/finished, for example assigning roles or changing activity settings.

The system allows the definition of different workflows. Each workflow has
* a name
* a description
* an indication of the type of thing it relates to (e.g. ‘course’, ‘mod_quiz’)

Under Admin -> Plugins -> Blocks -> Workflow, there is an interface for Administrators to define and edit workflows, and to import and export workflow definitions as XML.

To use a workflow to manage the production of, say, a course, you go to the course, and add a workflow block to it. Initially, the block will display a message “There is currently no workflow associated with this course.” with an Add workflow button. Clicking the button allows you to select from any of the workflows that are appropriate for ‘course’.

When the workflow is added to the course, the first step in the workflow becomes active. The workflow block now displays the step instructions for the currently active step; the checklist items as a list of check-boxes; a comments area; a Finish step button; and a link to the workflow overview.

When a step becomes active, all the people responsible for completing the step are sent an email informing them that they should do the step. These people may also get an additional role assigned to them in the context the workflow applies to.

The comments area in the workflow block is a simple editable text area where people working on the step can leave notes for each other.

The Finish step button leads to a confirmation page. If the action is confirmed, then the workflow advances to the next step. When the last step of the workflow is finished, the workflow either stops, or loops back to one of the other steps.

The workflow overview gives an overview of all the steps in this workflow, and the progress through it. The system tracks the timestamp, and the user, each time a step is finished or made active.

The overview page also allows workflow administrators (those with an appropriate capability) to jump the workflow to any particular step.

There is also an admin reports that summarise the workflow across a selection of courses or activities.

==See also==

* [[Installing plugins]]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=block_workflow Plugins database entry for the block]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=report_workflow Plugins database entry for the admin report]
* [https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-block_workflow The block on github]
* [https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-report_workflow The report on github]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

Edit dates report

2012-08-07T16:14:45Z

TimHunt:

This 'report' is actually at tool that lets you edit all the dates for all] the activities in your course on a single page.

Once the plugin is installed, you can access the functionality by going to Reports -> Dates in the navigation block when you are looking at the course.

==Permissions==

This tool is available to users with the <tt>report/editdates:view</tt> capability, so you can control who can use it.

In order to actually edit any given date, you need the applicable standard Moodle capability like <tt>moodle/course:manageactivities</tt> (for activity dates), <tt>moodle/course:update</tt> (for the course start date) or <tt>moodle/site:manageblocks</tt> (for blocks dates). In other words, you can only edit a date through this report if you can edit it using the standard Moodle UI.

==Known issues==

* Does not currently support standard wiki (only OU wiki).
* There seems to be an issue with editing the Allow access from / to and Expected completed dates, although there is supposed to be code in there to make that work.

==See also==

* [[Installing plugins]]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=report_editdates Plugins database entry]
* [https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-report_editdates The code on github]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

report/editdates/index

2012-08-07T16:07:39Z

TimHunt: Redirected page to Edit dates report

#REDIRECT [[Edit dates report]]

Edit dates report

2012-08-07T16:07:17Z

TimHunt: Created page with "This 'report' is actually at tool that lets you edit all the dates for all] the activities in your course on a single page. Once the plugin is installed, you can access the func..."

How to write a good bug report

2012-08-03T07:40:08Z

TimHunt: Redirected page to dev:Tracker introduction

#REDIRECT [[dev:Tracker_introduction]]

Edit roles by capability

2012-07-25T17:11:35Z

TimHunt: Created page with "The normal Moodle Edit role page lets you change the permission for all the different capabilities for one particular role. Sometimes, however, you want to chang..."

The normal Moodle [[Manage roles|Edit role]] page lets you change the permission for all the different capabilities for one particular role. Sometimes, however, you want to change the permission for all the different roles for one capability. Using the normal Moodle interface, that takes many mouse-clicks. This simple plug-in lets you do it all on just one page.

Here is a screen-grab:

[[File:Edit_roles_by_cap.png]]

==See also==

* [[Manage roles]]
* [[Installing plugins]]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=tool_editrolesbycap Plugins database entry]
* [https://github.com/moodleou/moodle-tool_editrolesbycap The code on github]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

admin/tool/editrolesbycap/index

2012-07-25T17:07:15Z

TimHunt: Redirected page to Edit roles by capability

#REDIRECT [[Edit_roles_by_capability]]

Fitxer:Edit roles by cap.png

2012-07-25T17:04:51Z

TimHunt:

Installing add-ons

2012-05-08T12:40:05Z

TimHunt:

{{Installing Moodle}}
<p class="note">''This page requires updating.'' Please do so and remove this template when finished.</p>

''Warning: Please be aware that some contributed modules and plugins have not been reviewed, and the quality and/or suitability for your Moodle site has not been checked. The modules and plugins may have security problems, data-loss problems, interface problems or just plain not work. Please think carefully about maintenance before relying on contributed code in your production site, as some of this code may not work with future versions of Moodle.''

==Downloads==

Contributed modules and plugins may be downloaded from...:

* [http://moodle.org/plugins/ Modules Plugin Directory]

==Installation==

To install a contributed plugin:
# You must have access to the server containing Moodle. This can be direct access, through a network or to a remote server through Internet with an FTP client, you can't do it from "inside" Moodle itself. (There are many free FTP programs like FileZilla [http://filezilla-project.org/] that can be used. If you use FTP, you will need to know [from the server provider] the ID and password and maybe a couple more things. Once it is setup, it's as easy as other file management.)
# Locate the plugin in [http://moodle.org/plugins/ Modules Plugin Directory], find the plugin version that matches your Moodle version and click on version release name (or 'Learn more' link). You will see installation instructions for this plugin type.
# Download the zip file and unzip it to the correct directory. The correct directory to use depends on the type of plugin you are trying to install. The plugins database will tell you which directory to use when you download the zip file.
# In your browser, go to your Moodle site, login as administrator and choose ''Site Administration > Notifications > Continue''
# Perform other plugin-specific actions to enable this plugin (add a block to the page, enable filter, add module to some course, etc.)

Note: The plugin may contain language files. They'll be found by your Moodle automatically. These language strings can be customized using the standard ''Site Administration > Language'' editing interface.

===Installation trouble-shooting===

If you visit the admin page and don't get a message about a new block (or module) being successfully installed then check the following:

* You unzipped the archive to the proper directory

==Module and block removal==
To remove a contributed module:
# First make sure that you don't use this module in any course
# Access ''Administration > Modules > Activities > Manage activities''
# Click on delete next to the module you wish to remove.
# Use a file manager to remove/delete the actual module directory from ''mod/'' directory, otherwise Moodle will reinstall it next time you access the site administration.

To remove a contributed block:
# Access ''Administration > Modules > Blocks > Manage blocks''
# Click on delete next to the block you wish to remove.
# Use a file manager to remove/delete the actual module directory from ''blocks/'' directory, otherwise Moodle will reinstall it next time you access the site administration.

==See also==

*[[Contributed code FAQ]]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=44 Contributed modules and plugins forum]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPUB_ReBPeg Installing contributed modules in Moodle video]
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=131413 Moodle not installing a new Activity Module] forum discussion
* [[Installing Moodle from Git repository#Installing a contributed extension from its Git repository|Installing a contributed extension from its Git repository]]

For developers:

*[[:dev:Category:Plugins|Plugins developer documentation]]
*[[:dev:Plugin validation]]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

Discussió:Cron with Unix or Linux

2012-04-02T08:50:24Z

TimHunt: /* Linux _is_ Unix, Mac OS too */

== Since wget is being used to run the cron.php script anyway, you can really run this ANYWHERE ==
:Brought this comment from 2.0 Cron comment page. It was unsigned/undated --[[User:chris collman|chris collman]] 20:09, 22 November 2011 (WST)
It is important to note that since the cron.php script is not run internally by Moodle, but by an outside interaction, you can really run a cron job on ANY server that runs the cron.php on your Moodle installation.

So, for example, if you have a Moodle install at an ISP that does not let you run cron jobs, but you have, say, a DSLline at home, you can use any of your Linux computers at home to run cron. (you do use Linux at home, right? :)

And the beauty of it is, the crontab line is *exactly* the same as listed in the main article. It just points to an outside URL.

Now, I mention this because at one point I had configured a server to run Moodle but, in the interest of security, I did not have wget available on the server. (cron was available, but not wget).

Well, the easiest thing to do was to just run a cron job somewhere else.

Alrighty, seeyalater!

== Update and clarify ==
:Brought this comment from 2.0 Cron comment page. It was unsigned/undated --[[User:chris collman|chris collman]] 20:09, 22 November 2011 (WST)

* The whole cronclionly vs. shell invocation vs. "using wget" is completely misleading.
** while you can call cron.php using a web browser or a command line web "browser" like wget, curl, lynx from outside or inside the server. The latter commands can be scripted, e.g. to be called by cron.
** the "cronclionly" checkbox restricts the call to cron.php to calling it from inside the server and only using "bin/php". This can be scripted to be called by cron, as well.
* It should be said somewhere that using e.g. the "www-data" user in e.g. /etc/cron.d/moodle is far better than using /etc/crontab which is executed by root. AFAICS this is nowhere mentioned.

== Linux _is_ Unix, Mac OS too ==

Why does it say "Unix or Linux"? Linux _is_ Unix!

One could say "Unix (and Linux)". But then Mac OS X is Unix too.

The best is to continue with the original article [Cron] and maintain the section "Unix" (it will be valid for Linux and Mac OS X).
[[User:Visvanath Ratnaweera|Visvanath Ratnaweera]] 06:00, 1 April 2012 (WST)

::Linux is not Unix. Literally. Look up the origin of the name. Similarly, MacOS is neither Unix nor Linux. It is based on one of the BSD variants, which is a Unix derivative. You could say that all these things are more or less POSIX compliant, but I am not sure that is a useful thing to say.--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 16:50, 2 April 2012 (WST)

Discussió:Cron with Unix or Linux

2012-04-02T08:50:12Z

TimHunt:

== Since wget is being used to run the cron.php script anyway, you can really run this ANYWHERE ==
:Brought this comment from 2.0 Cron comment page. It was unsigned/undated --[[User:chris collman|chris collman]] 20:09, 22 November 2011 (WST)
It is important to note that since the cron.php script is not run internally by Moodle, but by an outside interaction, you can really run a cron job on ANY server that runs the cron.php on your Moodle installation.

So, for example, if you have a Moodle install at an ISP that does not let you run cron jobs, but you have, say, a DSLline at home, you can use any of your Linux computers at home to run cron. (you do use Linux at home, right? :)

And the beauty of it is, the crontab line is *exactly* the same as listed in the main article. It just points to an outside URL.

Now, I mention this because at one point I had configured a server to run Moodle but, in the interest of security, I did not have wget available on the server. (cron was available, but not wget).

Well, the easiest thing to do was to just run a cron job somewhere else.

Alrighty, seeyalater!

== Update and clarify ==
:Brought this comment from 2.0 Cron comment page. It was unsigned/undated --[[User:chris collman|chris collman]] 20:09, 22 November 2011 (WST)

* The whole cronclionly vs. shell invocation vs. "using wget" is completely misleading.
** while you can call cron.php using a web browser or a command line web "browser" like wget, curl, lynx from outside or inside the server. The latter commands can be scripted, e.g. to be called by cron.
** the "cronclionly" checkbox restricts the call to cron.php to calling it from inside the server and only using "bin/php". This can be scripted to be called by cron, as well.
* It should be said somewhere that using e.g. the "www-data" user in e.g. /etc/cron.d/moodle is far better than using /etc/crontab which is executed by root. AFAICS this is nowhere mentioned.

== Linux _is_ Unix, Mac OS too ==

Why does it say "Unix or Linux"? Linux _is_ Unix!

One could say "Unix (and Linux)". But then Mac OS X is Unix too.

The best is to continue with the original article [Cron] and maintain the section "Unix" (it will be valid for Linux and Mac OS X).
[[User:Visvanath Ratnaweera|Visvanath Ratnaweera]] 06:00, 1 April 2012 (WST)
::Linux is not Unix. Literally. Look up the origin of the name. Similarly, MacOS is neither Unix nor Linux. It is based on one of the BSD variants, which is a Unix derivative. You could say that all these things are more or less POSIX compliant, but I am not sure that is a useful thing to say.--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 16:50, 2 April 2012 (WST)

Discussió:Manage question behaviors

2012-03-26T12:58:29Z

TimHunt: /* Do we need this page? */

==Do we need this page?==
I am going through pages needing updating/stubs and I note this is a stub and I am not sure we need this page. I have added a link to the relevant site admin setting in the Quiz settings page so do we need to keep this page or not? --[[User:Mary Cooch|Mary Cooch]] 18:34, 26 March 2012 (WST)

: What happens when you click the 'Moodle Docs for this page' link on Site administration ► Plugins ► Question behaviours ► Manage question behaviours? That seems to go to https://docs.moodle.org/24/en/admin/qbehaviours, which redirects to [[Question_behaviours]]. That is mainly aimed at documenting the choices teachers have to make in the quiz settings. I will let you decide what pages should exist.--[[User:Tim Hunt|Tim Hunt]] 20:58, 26 March 2012 (WST)

Fitxer:Addcategory.png

2012-03-09T10:51:45Z

TimHunt: Reverted edits by Viralshah (talk) to last revision by Bagehot

screenshot add a new category

Pattern-match question type

2012-02-24T20:59:18Z

TimHunt: Created page with "{{Questions}}Pattern-match questions allow the student to give an answer of up to about 20 words, which can then be automatically graded by matching the students response against..."

Fitxer:pmatch.png

2012-02-24T20:58:27Z

TimHunt:

question/type/gapselect

2012-02-20T11:25:45Z

TimHunt: Created page with "{{Questions}}This is very similar to the Drag and drop into text question type, but uses drop-down menus in the text instead of drag-boxes. This works we..."

{{Questions}}This is very similar to the [[question/type/ddwtos|Drag and drop into text]] question type, but uses drop-down menus in the text instead of drag-boxes. This works well where the question text is very long, so you would have to scroll a lot to do drag and drop.

This is a question type created and maintained by the Open University.

== More documentation ==

More [http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=470268&section=5.5.1 http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=470268&section=5.4.6 documentation is available] on the Open University's [http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ OpenLearn site].

== See also ==

* [http://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=set&id=10 Other Moodle plugins from the Open University]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=category&id=29 Other third-party question type plugins]
* [http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3484 eAssessment at the Open University with open source software]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

question/type/ddwtos

2012-02-20T11:22:22Z

TimHunt: Created page with "{{Questions}}A drag and drop question type where missing words have to be dragged into gaps in a paragraph of text. File:danddqruntimem2.jpg This is a question type created..."

{{Questions}}A drag and drop question type where missing words have to be dragged into gaps in a paragraph of text.

[[File:danddqruntimem2.jpg]]

This is a question type created and maintained by the Open University.

== More documentation ==

More [http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=470268&section=5.5.1 http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=470268&section=5.4.1 documentation is available] on the Open University's [http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ OpenLearn site].

== See also ==

* [http://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=set&id=10 Other Moodle plugins from the Open University]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=category&id=29 Other third-party question type plugins]
* [http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3484 eAssessment at the Open University with open source software]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

Fitxer:danddqruntimem2.jpg

2012-02-20T11:21:35Z

TimHunt:

question/type/ddimageortext

2012-02-20T10:42:23Z

TimHunt: Created page with "{{Questions}}The student must drag images or text labels onto predefined drop zones in a background image. File:ddimageexample.png My comparison, the [[question/type/ddmark..."

{{Questions}}The student must drag images or text labels onto predefined drop zones in a background image.

[[File:ddimageexample.png]]

My comparison, the [[question/type/ddmarker|Drag-and-drop markers]] question types lets students all labels to an image with no predefined areas.

This is a question type created and maintained by the Open University.

== More documentation ==

More [http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=470268&section=5.5.1 http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=470268&section=5.4.2 documentation is available] on the Open University's [http://www.open.edu/openlearn/ OpenLearn site].

== See also ==

* [http://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=set&id=10 Other Moodle plugins from the Open University]
* [http://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=category&id=29 Other third-party question type plugins]
* [http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3484 eAssessment at the Open University with open source software]

[[Category:Contributed code]]

Fitxer:ddimageexample.png

2012-02-20T10:39:19Z

TimHunt: