Course Publishing block (publishflow)

The Publishflow block implements a complete course tranport and publishing architecture over the Moodle Network. The block provides a mean to publish, deploy or retrofit course archives from inside the course space itself. Publishing, deploying or retrofitting a course to a working platform use the same course transport infrastructure that operates through the network or via the local filesystem.

Moodle site types (regarding publishing concerns)

The course publishing architecture conceptually introduces three typical assignation to a Moodle application :

• The Course Factory concept: A Course Factory is a Moodle instance where courses are designed and tested, but where non real training is performed. Courses can be set visible so promoting a cooperative work of the whole pedagogic operators. Courses can be exposed even if not complete or still in work, without depreciating the global e-Learing system apparent value.
• The Course Catalog concept: A Course Catalog is a Moodle instance that stores and exposes full features course volumes, as the result of a production process. A Course Catalog should not be the place where to perform real training, although nothing forbids really real use of courses there.
• The Training Instance concept: More commonly assignable to a "standard Moodle" concept, but being able to be fed with course volumes got from a Course Catalog. The Training Instances are targets for course deployment.

Each of this general Moodle site role in the publishing network can be quickly setup by a site level preference of the Publishflow bloc. (See Global Settings)

Assembling these three concepts may allow to constitute complex Moodle based architectures answering a publishing metaphoric model.

Publication use cases

• Course publishing: Publishing a course is making the course volume available for use by the Traning Centers.
• Course deployment: Deploying a course is copying an instance of a course to get a workable course session with students.
• Course retrofitting: Retrofitting a course brings back a copy of an updated course volume to a factory for starting a new design and publishing process.

Course transportation principles

Course archives are being transported from a Moodle to another Moodle using the bublishflow simple publishing use cases. There are three transporting modes that a publishflow can operate:

Using the local file system

This is the fastest one. The course archive is picked up from one Moodle within the moodledata container of the source Moodle. This allows quite big size transportation in a very fast way, but of course needs the filesystem to be the same (or network mounted) between both Moodle instances. This is fully operable on a Virtualized Moodle installation.

Using MNET back call

Using MNET back call will transport the material through a Moodle MNET XMLRPC operation. This allows transporting Moodle archives between distinct physical servers an filesystems, but has a size limitation of about 40Mo due to XMLRPC encoding library breakdown.

Using simple HTTP back call

If the course archive does not need to be so protected during transport, the publishflow bloc envisages using a simple HTTP call to get the archive.

this is still to be implemented.

Bloc Features

Within a Course Factory Moodle

• Indexing: The course needs to be indexed (ie : having a non empty IDNumber to track published copies).
• Making a transportable archive: The course needs to be backup WITHOUT ANYTHING RELATIVE TO USERS to be tranportable. The bloc provides a control to make such an archive in "two clicks" process.
• Publish: Publishing a course to a remote Course Catalog chossing the target Moodle within the list of available targets.

Within a Course Catalog Moodle

• Deploy: The course can be deployed to any Training Center known in the MoodleNetwork neighbourhood.

Within a Training Center Moodle

• Open/Reopen: The course can be deployed to any Training Center known in the MoodleNetwork neighbourhood.
• Close: The course can be deployed to any Training Center known in the MoodleNetwork neighbourhood.
• Retrofit: The course can be deployed to any Training Center known in the MoodleNetwork neighbourhood.

Block Operations and implementation documentation

implementation documentation

• Installation
• Initialization
• Global Settings
• Capabilities
• MNET Services

Operations

Making a course publishable

A course is publishable if :

• MNET is activated.
• MNET Services for publishing architecture are enables :
  • Coursedelivery_admin service needs to be published by targets of a deployement
  • Coursedelivery_admin service needs to be subscribed by sources of a deployement
  • Coursedelivery_data service needs to be published by sources of a deployement
  • Coursedelivery_data service needs to be subscribed by targets of a deployement
• The network has been scanned for publishing structure recognition
• A publishflow block is added to the course
• The course has been indexed (using the publishflow block in a Factory node)
• The course has got a transportable backup stored in backupdata (course files).