Dialogue 2.0 specification

This page tracks and summarises the progress of rewrite of the Dialogue module for Moodle 2.0. Moodle 2.0

Dialogue 2.0 specification
Status	Draft
Tracker	CONTRIB-2059

Introduction

The Dialogue module allows students or teachers to start two-way dialogues with another person. They are course activities that can be useful when the teacher wants a place to give private feedback to a student on their online activity. For example, if a student is participating in a language forum and made a grammatical error that the teacher wants to point out without embarrassing the student, a dialogue is the perfect place. A dialogue activity would also be an excellent way for counsellors within an institution to interact with students - all activities are logged and email is available but not necessarily required.

Usage scenarios

• Teacher sends same course welcome message to all students in “Course A” including future students. Not other roles. Multiple messages.
• Teacher sends same group welcome message to all members of “Group A” including future members. All roles in “Group A”. Multiple messages.
• Teacher sends same message to some students. Multiple messages.
• A Teacher can send “Message” to a student. Student can view but not respond. Single user message.
• A Student can send “Message” to a Teacher. But not to other students. Single user message.
• Teacher A leaves, Teacher B needs to close a Dialogue that posts to all Students.
• A specific Student (eg Class Rep with specified role) can send a “Message” to all students. Ongoing conversation allowed.
• A Student can send a “Message” to a specific students (eg Class Rep with specified role). Ongoing conversation allowed.
• All Teachers can view and participate in any existing conversation in a shared teaching situation.

Implementation plan

Database structures

dialogue

Field	Type	Default	Description	Notes
id	int (10)		auto-numbered
course	int (10)	0	the course id this dialogue
intro	text (medium)		the description/assignment of the workshop
introformat	int (3)	0	the format of the intro field
timemodified	int (10)	0	the timestamp when the module was modified
edittime	int (10)	0
maxattachments	int (3)	1	number of attachments
maxbytes	int (10)	100000	maximum size of the one attached file

Capabilities and Permissions

Capability	Description	Role permissions(defaults)	Notes
mod/dialogue:open	Open a dialogue with single recipient	teacher
mod/dialogue:receive	Can receive a dialogue	student	Can be used to control what roles are displayed in the recipient picker
mod/dialogue:reply	Can reply to a dialogue	teacher, student
mod/dialogue:closeown	Can close a dialogue if have ownership	teacher, student
mod/dialogue:deleteown	Can delete a dialogue if have ownership	teacher, student
mod/dialogue:deleteownreply	Can delete own reply	teacher, student	Add ability to delete last reply in dialogue thread. Maybe/Maybe not?
mod/dialogue:openmultiple	Can start a dialogue with multiple recipients	teacher	For sending the same dialogue to multiple recipients. Used for targeting particular group(s) of users or whole class.
mod/dialogue:viewany	TO-DO	TO-DO
mod/dialogue:replyany	TO-DO	TO-DO
mod/dialogue:closeany	TO-DO	TO-DO
mod/dialogue:deleteany	TO-DO	TO-DO

Messaging API

Setup messageprovider for routing posts.

Event API

user_enrolled()

Can be used for any automated opening of dialogues for new course participants when all participants were selected in a multi-open dialogue.

groups_member_added()

Can be used for any automated opening of dialogues for new group members when group(s) were elected in a multi-open dialogue.

user_unenrolled()

Cleanup function, delete any dialogues that user is a recipient.

Navigation functions

dialogue_extend_navigation($navref, $course, $module, $cm)

Can use for dialogue unread count, filters(All, Unread, Read e.t.c) providing direct linking.

dialogue_extend_settings_navigation(settings_navigation $settingsnav, navigation_node $dialoguenode)

???