A Moodle ex ension o book online labs
José M. Ma ins Fe ei a1, An ónio M. Ca doso2
1 [email p o ec ed]; 2 an onio.ca d[email p o ec ed]
FEUP / DEEC – Rua Robe o F ias – 4200-465 Po o - PORTUGAL
Abs ac
Moodle is an open-sou ce con en managemen sys em ha is now widely accep ed
wo ldwide wi hin he academic communi y. I s social cons uc i is philosophy
makes Moodle an excellen choice o deli e e-lea ning con en s ha equi e
collabo a i e ac i i ies, such as hose ha a e equen ly associa ed wi h online
labs ( i ual labs, mixed- eali y labs, o emo e labs). Howe e , he de elopmen
o online labs ha include emo e expe imen a ion esou ces p esen s speci ic
unc ional equi emen s ha may no be en i ely me by he cu en ea u es o
Moodle, since he numbe o such labs will always be smalle han he numbe o
s uden s. This disc epancy c ea es he need o a booking ool o ese e online lab
ime be o ehand, a oiding access con lic s and a he same ime helping he
s uden s o o ganise hei ime and ac i i ies. In mos cases hose online labs will
be mean o suppo hands-on ac i i ies ha a e associa ed wi h lea ning con en s
deli e ed ia he web. Tu o s will in ha case need o in eg a e he booking link
in o he expe imen sc ip , a ask which will be acili a ed i such ool is embedded
in he e-lea ning pla o m ha is used o deli e he cou se con en s. This pape
p esen s a Moodle ex ension ha o e s a booking ool o suppo esou ce sha ing.
Such ool has an immedia e applica ion o o ganising access o online labs, bu
may in ac be used wi h any o he ype o sca ce esou ces, such as he
ideocon e encing ooms ha a e needed o suppo collabo a i e ac i i ies.
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1. In oduc ion
The wo k p esen ed in his pape was de eloped wi hin he scope o MARVEL
(Vi ual Labo a o y in Mecha onics: Access o Remo e and Vi ual e-Lea ning), a
Leona do da Vinci p ojec unning om Decembe 2002 o July 2005 [1]. MARVEL
de eloped and e alua ed online labs ha comp ise access o emo e esou ces be
in a s ic emo e expe imen a ion con ex , o as pa o mixed- eali y
en i onmen s. The main applica ion a eas co e ed by MARVEL a e mecha onics,
sola ene gy labs, obo aining and elec onics. Fo u he in o ma ion and o
access he MARVEL labs, isi h p://www.ma el.uni-b emen.de/.
The main objec i e o MARVEL is he e o e o make a ailable online labs p o iding
access o emo e expe imen a ion esou ces. The numbe o such esou ces will
always be smalle han he numbe o s uden s willing o use hem, and as such we
come ac oss he gene al p oblem o sha ing a sca ce esou ce among an e en ually
la ge numbe o use s. The ac ha such expe imen s a e deli e ed ia he web,
combined wi h he open-sou ce na u e o Moodle, c ea ed an oppo uni y o
de elop he booking ex ension ha is p esen ed in his pape .
The Moodle cou se managemen sys em is b ie ly in oduced in sec ion 2, ollowed
by a de ailed p esen a ion o he booking ool ha was de eloped by FEUP wi hin
MARVEL. A eal emo e expe imen ha is a ailable online is desc ibed o illus a e
he usage o his ool. The inal sec ion p esen s he conclusions o his wo k and
summa ises he u he de elopmen plans ha a e en isaged o he nea u u e.
2. The choice o Moodle
One o he i s asks in he MARVEL p ojec wo k plan consis ed o ecommending
an e-lea ning pla o m o be used ac oss he conso ium. The e is a wide o e o
such pla o ms a ailable on he ma ke , and many web si es summa ising hei
ea u es and o he in o ma ion, such as Edu ools [2] and e-Lea ning e iews [3].
Some o he well-es ablished playe s in his domain adop ed p ice policies ha do
no ecommend hei choice when he numbe o s uden s in ol ed is ela i ely
small. On he o he hand and on ecen yea s, we ha e wi nessed a widesp ead
accep ance o Moodle [4], an open-sou ce con en managemen sys em ha is now
used wo ldwide as an e-lea ning pla o m closely associa ed wi h a social
cons uc i is lea ning model (h p://moodle.o g). The open sou ce na u e o
Moodle acili a es he de elopmen o addi ional ea u es ha may be needed o
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suppo speci ic applica ion equi emen s, which was an addi ional eason o
ecommend i s usage wi hin MARVEL.
The e a e a ew p e- equi emen s o a success ul ins alla ion o Moodle, al hough
he whole p ocess is e y s aigh o wa d and indeed se e al eady- o-use ins alle
packages may be downloaded om he web. Moodle needs a web se e and a
da abase, o easons ha a e be e explained by ansc ibing om Moodle
documen a ion Adminis a ion Apache, MySQL, PHP (a h p://moodle.o g/doc):
Moodle is w i en in a sc ip ing language called PHP, and s o es mos o i s da a in
a da abase. The da abase we ecommend is MySQL. Be o e ins alling Moodle you
mus ha e a wo king PHP ins alla ion and a wo king da abase o u n you
compu e in o a unc ional web se e pla o m.
Fo easons o consis ency and o acili a e main enance and suppo , a s anda d
con igu a ion consis ing o an Apache web se e [4], MySQL [5] and PHP [6], we e
ecommended wi hin MARVEL. The la es s able elease o Moodle a he ime o
comple ing his ex is e sion 1.4.4 (a ailable since Ma ch 9 h, 2005), which may
be downloaded om h p://moodle.o g/download/ (see igu e 1). De ailed
ins alla ion ins uc ions may be ound on Moodle documen a ion Adminis a ion
Ins alla ion a h p://moodle.o g/doc/.
Fig. 1: Download Moodle.
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3. The booking ex ension
Since he deli e y o pedagogical con en s in mos o MARVEL scena ios is done ia
he Moodle e-lea ning pla o m, FEUP de eloped a Moodle ex ension ha is made
a ailable as a booking module. This module is shown o he u o s in he o m o a
s anda d con en -building op ion in he d op-down menu ha is isible while in
edi ing mode.
3.1. S uden s’ iew (ca ying ou an expe imen )
The heo e ical concep s unde lying he expe imen will be deli e ed using he
usual Moodle modules (e.g. lesson, quiz, e c.). The booking link, illus a ed in
igu e 2, will enable he s uden o book a one-hou ime slo o ca y ou his
emo e expe imen , whene e he eels ha i is ime o do so.
Fig. 2: The booking link.
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By clicking on his link, a se en-day calenda will be displayed, as shown in igu e
3. The i s day shown co esponds o oday’s da e, and i s weekday / da e cell is
displayed wi h a blue backg ound. Wi h he excep ion o oday’s column, all
weekday / da e cells con ain a link ha shi s he calenda o he le , so as o
b ing ha column in o he le mos posi ion. I ha same link is clicked on oday’s
column, hen he calenda is shi ed one day o he igh , and yes e day becomes
he le mos column. The le and igh a ows shown below he summa y
desc ip ion on op a e used o shi he calenda in one week slo s.
The calenda page shows he local ime (a he use ’s ime zone), which may o
cou se be di e en om he se e ime (a he emo e lab ime zone). The ime
con e sion akes place au oma ically, so ha use s a any ime zone see he ee /
booked slo s ma ke acco ding o hei local ime zones.
Fig. 3: The calenda displayed by he booking module.
By clicking on he book icon ( ), he clien is able o book he equi ed one-hou
slo . Any ese ed slo may be eleased by i s owne , by clicking on he unbook

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icon ( ). When he ese ed slo becomes he cu en one-hou slo , a ed a ow
link is displayed and enables access o he emo e expe imen , as shown in igu e
4.
Fig. 4: The link o he expe imen ( ).
Clicking on his link launches he emo e expe imen page, enabling he s uden s o
do hei wo k. No ice ha he synch onous communica ion ool is launched
sepa a ely, and may ac ually no e en be ac i e, i he expe imen is done by a
single s uden . Whene e necessa y, he s uden s may communica e ia in e ne
elephony o ideocon e encing, so as o ha e e e y hing p epa ed when hei one-
hou slo is eached.
3.2. Tu o s’ iew (c ea ing an expe imen )
While in edi ing mode (selec ed by he “Tu n edi ing on” bu on ha is a ailable
on he uppe igh o he cou se con en s page), he u o may inse a booking link
be selec ing his en y in he “Add” d op-down lis , as illus a ed in igu e 5.
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Fig. 5: Adding a booking link while building pedagogical con en s.
The u o is hen p omp ed o in o ma ion conce ning he expe imen , as shown in
igu e 6. The “booking name” will be shown o he s uden o iden i y he
expe imen . The summa y desc ip ion inse ed in he ex ield below will be
displayed abo e he calenda , when he s uden p oceeds o book his one-hou
ime slo . The “maximum numbe o s uden s” ield enables he u o o speci y
he accep able eam size o each expe imen . The URL o he expe imen is
gene a ed dynamically a un ime, and is c ea ed andomly using he base URL
indica ed by he u o in he “URL base ( ixed s ing)” ield. Expe imen URLs a e
no p edic able and he e o e he expe imen page may no be accessed di ec ly.
The “Command ile loca ion” ield con ains he pa h o he ile ha is used by
Moodle o gene a e he un ime URL o he expe imen . A 32-cha ac e s ing is
w i en by Moodle in his ile when he use clicks on he expe imen access link
(), and is la e used o build he [ACCESSKEY] ha is e e ed in he “URL base”
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ield. Finally, any expe imen is associa ed wi h a s a da e, when he booking link
becomes a ailable, and an end da e, when i ceases o be displayed.
Fig. 6: The in o ma ion equi ed by he booking module.
3.3. Ins alla ion o he booking ex ension
The booking module ha was de eloped a FEUP is an ex ension ha is no ye pa
o a s anda d Moodle ins alla ion. To ins all his module ollow he wo simple
s eps p esen ed below:
1. Copy he olde “booking” in o he “mod” di ec o y a Moodle’s oo ( his
olde is a ailable om he MARVEL web si e a h p://www.ma el.uni-
b emen.de)
2. Login as adminis a o and en e he adminis a ion a ea o Moodle
The booking module will be ins alled au oma ically on execu ion o s ep 2 abo e,
since Moodle will look o any new modules and p oceed o hei egis a ion. The
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nex ime ha a u o en e s he “edi ing on” mode, he booking module will be
a ailable on he d op-down menu ha is used o c ea e lea ning con en s (see
igu e 5).
4. Conclusions
The booking ool p esen ed in his pape was de eloped as a Moodle ex ension and
enables any use o his e-lea ning pla o m o sha e sca ce esou ces in a
coo dina ed manne . I was w i en in PHP and in eg a ed in o Moodle e sion
1.4.4. The ials ca ied ou so a in ol ed a emo e elec onics wo kbench
(expe imen desc ibed in ou Moodle se e a h p://p se. e.up.p /moodle —
Elec onics In oduc ion o elec onics use name “demo”, passwo d “public”)
a ailable a FEUP, which uses ideocon e encing o e he web o mee he
collabo a i e equi emen s o he expe imen sc ip . The in e ace o he emo e
equipmen was de eloped using LabView 7.0 [1], and he ideo-con e encing oom
was c ea ed using a Flash Communica ion Se e . All booking ac ions epo o he
local ime zone o he use s, acili a ing he usage o his ool in a mul ina ional
en i onmen .
Fu u e plans include ex ending he cu en e sion o his ool o suppo booking
in a mul i-use / mul i-lab con ex ( he cu en e sion is mul i-use / single-lab).
The new e sion will enable se e al g oups o s uden s o access mul iple ins ances
o he same online lab, in a way ha is en i ely anspa en o he use .
Re e ences
[1] José M. Fe ei a and Die e Muelle , “The MARVEL EU p ojec : A social
cons uc i is app oach o emo e expe imen a ion”, Remo e Enginee ing and
Vi ual Expe imen a ion Symposium (REV 2004), Villach, Aus ia, Sep embe
2004.
[2] Edu ools (independen e iews, side-by-side compa isons, and consul ing
se ices o assis decision-making in he e-lea ning communi y), a ailable a
h p://www.edu ools.in o/ (accessed on Ap il 27 h 2005).
[3] Elea ning- e iews (selec ion o seminal publica ions as well as in e es ing up-
o-da e publica ions om he a ious disciplina y pe spec i es), a ailable a
h p://www.elea ning- e iews.o g/ (accessed on Ap il 27 h 2005).