Tips for creating Moodle Mobile app friendly courses sites

1. Tips for creating
Moodle Mobile friendly
courses/sites
Juan Leyva
Moodle Mobile Developer
@jleyvadelgado #mootes14

2. This presentation is about the official app for
Android, iOs, Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8
If you are more interested in using mobiles
to support learning with Moodle, see:
● http://www.slideshare.net/epictalk/20-tips-for-mobile-learning-in-moodle
● http://www.slideshare.net/epictalk/using-mobiles-to-support-active-learning-with-
mobile
Disclaimer

3. Moodle Mobile is the official mobile
app for Moodle
https://download.moodle.org/mobile/
Moodle Mobile

4. “It is important to know that the app will never be able to support all
the functions of Moodle, because Moodle is a huge fast-moving
target and writing secure web services (which is how the app
communicates to Moodle) takes a long time to do properly. This is a
tradeoff that we had to make, and we know it may disappoint some
users who want this app to do everything immediately!”
“We focus on the communication aspects, plus a few of the
information aspects.”
Martin Dougiamas
Mobile strategy going forward

5. Install the “Moodle additional features plugin”
● Local plugin for adding new features to the current
Moodle Mobile app
● This add-on provides new features and also web
services which are currently only available in the latest
Moodle version
● A Moodle 2.4 installation with the plugin has the same
Mobile features available than a Moodle 2.8 installation
Tips for sites

6. Moodle additional features plugin
● Extra features: Support for sites using SSO
authentication methods (Shibboleth and CAS)
● A new Moodle Mobile major version requires to upgrade
this plugin in your Moodle installation.
● https://docs.moodle.org/Moodle_Mobile_additional_feat
ures
Tips for sites

7. Enable Push notifications
● The site must be registered in moodle.org
● Administration / Plugins / Message outputs / Mobile
notifications
● User must enable in their profile to receive Mobile
notifications
Tips for sites

8. Enable Push notifications
● Notifications are connected to the Moodle messaging
system
● A bulk message to all the users in a course will send a
Push notification to the user mobile phone (Remember,
the user must enable to receive Mobile notifications)
Tips for sites

9. ● Use the topics or weeks course format
Tips for courses

10. ● Avoid orphaned activities or direct links to activities
Tips for courses

11. ● Labels are initially collapsed, use a short text as
introduction of what is inside
Tips for courses

12. ● Use responsive HTML in pages or mini-sites
Tips for courses

13. ● Youtube or maps links (URL resource) opens
automatically the system app
Tips for courses

14. Find alternatives to unsupported activities or resources
● Book module: Publish an “accessible” version of the
Book resource using the export to HTML feature
● IMS CP: Instead using the IMS CP resource, unzip the
file and add it as a resource (mini-site)
Tips for courses

15. Find alternatives to unsupported activities or resources
● Same for SCORM without API tracking
● Not all the video formats are supported by all mobile
devices, upload the same video in different formats in a
directory resource
Tips for courses

16. Upload a detailed guide of how to use Moodle Mobile
including:
● Download links to the different platforms/stores.
● Explain the different possibilities and limitations of the
app.
● Explain how the offline mode works (you should
download your contents first).
● Explain how to configure your messaging settings for
receiving mobile notifications.
Tips for sites

17. ● Create a custom theme for your site
Tips for sites

18. ● Do not use frontpage courses or activities
Tips for sites
● Place those pages in a
global course where all the
users are enrolled via
cohorts, meta-course
enrolments

19. ● Enroll all the users in that course via the db plugin
Tips for sites

20. You have more information here:
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Mobile_app
https://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_Mobile_additional_features
http://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_Mobile
https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MOBILE
Thanks for your time!