Moodle 2.0 includes two important new points of integration with other open source products. The Repository integration allows admins to set up external content management systems and use them to complement Moodle's own file management system. Using this integration you can now manage content outside of Moodle and publish it to the system once the document or other content is ready. The Portfolio integration enables users to store their Moodle content in an external e-portfolio system to share with evaluators, peers, and others.
In this chapter, we will focus on both an open source solution and a Google Docs solution for both repositories and portfolios. Alfresco is an open source content management system that integrates well with Moodle and can act as Moodle's content repository. Mahara is an open source e-portfolio system which has been tightly integrated with Moodle 2.0. Google Docs is a cloud-based office suite which is available for free from Google. You can get a personal account for free, or your organization can sign up for a Google Enterprise account.
In this chapter, we will:
- Set up an Alfresco content repository and tie it in with Moodle
- Integrate Moodle with Google Docs to act as both a repository and a portfolio
- Link Moodle with Mahara, an open source e-portfolio system
The repository system of Moodle 2 allows you to store and manipulate content outside of Moodle and easily add it to courses. By managing content outside of Moodle, you can provide users with a more robust editing experience. Many organizations utilize workflows and approval processes to ensure the accuracy of the content used in the LMS. A content repository can help you manage that process, and then make the content available on Moodle when it is ready for final publication.
We'll take a look at Alfresco first, then we will explore using Google Docs to manage content for publishing in Moodle.
Alfresco is an open source, enterprise content management system, similar in many ways to Microsoft Sharepoint or EMC's Documentum. Alfresco has seen widespread adoption over the last few years as more people begin to recognize the advantages of open source software. We will start by installing Alfresco, then look at how to link it to Moodle and add content to a Moodle site. At the end of this section, we'll take a look at Alfresco's content conversion services as a tool to ensure content is reliably converted to web friendly formats.