Have you ever asked the following question: « How could I connect my Moodle platform with another LMS? » During my talk, I will present a solution, conceived of at the University of Geneva, to connect the Moodle platform with other LMS (e.g., Chamilo, OLAT) and with a Swiss national learning repository, known as SwitchCollection. These connections allows teachers to share their resources (documents, ppt presentation) and activities (wiki, glossary, quiz, etc.) with other teachers working in various teaching environments. Sharing such learning resources is reminiscent of the Open Educational Resources (OER), whereupon depending on the license agreement teachers can modify the content and reuse it in their courses. Technically, our solution is based on two main elements: * A repository using Fedora Commons (FedoraLOR.unige.ch) to collect and render sharable and harvestable the various resources and activities. * Import/export LMS modules for converting resources and activities into a standard format (IMS CP and IMS QTI) and storing them in the repository. A live demo will illustrate the whole concept. We will conclude by sharing with the audience some thoughts about what we think could be potential barriers behind OER (copyright issues, philosophy of sharing, etc.) and propose ways to handle such difficulties.

1. “We are not alone!” – Truly exchanging
Learning Objects between Moodle and other
LMS
Patrick Roth and Laurent Opprecht
April 20, 2011

2. Objectives
• Current situation
– 2 LMS (Dokeos and Moodle) + multimedia server
– LO exchange impossible between LMS
– No connection with Swiss national repository
“SWITCHcollection”
• Our goal
– Make the LO exchange possible between LMS
– Develop a connection with SWITCHcollection

3. Initial Goal
UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Dokeos • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
• Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
LO LO LO LO
UniZH
OLAT
Switch LO LO
SWITCHcollection

4. Initial Goal
UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
• Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
LO LO LO LO
UniZH
OLAT
Switch LO LO
SWITCHcollection

5. Solutions
• Add a repository FedoraLOR.unige.ch
– Product selected: Fedora
• Store digital objects: content and/or metadata
• Easy communication with SWITCHcollection
• Develop import/export LO modules

6. Initial Goal
UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
• Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
LO LO LO LO
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch LO LO
SWITCHcollection

7. Solutions
• Add a repository
• Develop import/export LO modules
– Simple LO
– Complex LO
• For Quiz: encode to IMS-QTI
• Otherwise: encode to IMS-CP
• Keep the content (no IMS players)

8. Solutions: IMS-QTI import/export
UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
LO LO • Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch LO LO
SWITCHcollection

9. Solutions: IMS-QTI import/export
UniGE
Chamilo
multiple LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
choice
LO matrix
essay matching • Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
ordering
LO LO LO
IMS-QTI
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch
LO LO
SWITCHcollection

10. Solutions: IMS-QTI import/export
UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
LO LO • Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
IMS-QTI
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch LO LO
SWITCHcollection

11. Solutions: IMS-QTI import/export
UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
LO LO • Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
IMS-QTI
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch LO LO
SWITCHcollection

12. Solutions: IMS-QTI import/export
Moodle UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
• Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
LO LO LO LO
multiple
matching
IMS-QTI
choice
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch
LO LO
SWITCHcollection

13. Solutions: IMS-CP import/export
Moodle UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
link file LO • Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
glossary
LO LO
IMS-CP
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch
LO LO
SWITCHcollection

14. Solutions: IMS-CP import/export
UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
LO LO • Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
IMS-CP
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch LO LO
SWITCHcollection

15. Solutions: IMS-CP import/export
UniGE
LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
LO LO • Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
IMS-CP
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch LO LO
SWITCHcollection

16. Solutions: IMS-CP import/export
UniGE
Chamilo LO Learning Object
Moodle Chamilo • Resources: pdf, ppt, mp3, etc.
LO • Activities: tests, forums, wiki, etc.
LO LO
link
file
glossary
IMS-CP
FedoraLOR.unige.ch
UniZH
OLAT
Switch
LO LO
SWITCHcollection

17. How it works
Demonstration

18. Next steps
• Modules and repository in production
– Upgrade for Chamilo 2.0 and Moodle 2.0
• Connect more learning tools
– Multimedia server
– ePortfolio « Mahara »

19. Next steps
• Promote OER culture
– Encourage sharing and reusing LO

20. Next steps
Promote OER culture: Barriers

21. Next steps
Promote OER culture: Solutions

22. More infos
• To obtain Moodle import/export modules
– Check the « Modules and Plugins » repository at
moodle.org

23. Thank you
: Patrick.Roth@unige.ch