Replace Active Directory authentication with authentication against a External Database

This method uses an external database table to check whether a given username and password is valid. If the user does not currently exist in Moodle a new account will be created and their information copied from the external database.

I will draw in this post the big picture about how to change the user authentication type in the user database table from "LDAP" to "external database".

1. Activate the external database here: Home / ► Site administration / ► Plugins / ► Authentication / ► Manage authentication



2. Configure the external database. Click in the settings link of the 'external database' and point it to the right table in the database: mdl_user`.

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Find Out Which Sites Have Embedded Your YouTube Video

1. When you are logged into your YouTube account go to the next url: https://www.youtube.com/analytics
2. In the right menu, click in Playback Locations
3. Now you are in the right place, please go to step three in this link to read the next steps

Please write your comments below.

Licences and embedding YouTube videos into Moodle

Any of the Youtube licences allow you to embed videos as we can see when having a look to the 'Terms of Service' in Youtube in section 8...

Terms of Service A. to YouTube, a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence (with right to sub-licence) to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform that Content in connection with the provision of the Service and otherwise in connection with the provision of the Service and YouTube's business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels;  B. to each user of the Service, a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to access your Content through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such Content to the extent permitted by the functionality of the Service and under these Terms.

The text text in red refers to  embedding too, but you need to be careful as if anyone uploaded a video that contains copyrighted content them if you embed that contains copyrighted content, the license to embed the video on your site is not going to protect you from a copyright infringement claim. Please read more in the youtube 'Terms of Service' here.

As an example, if I create an upload a video to Youtube that includes a song from an U2 album I will be infringing the copyright associated with the song. If you embed the video in your site you are as well. I am the person who created the video and uploaded it first but it doesn't relieve you from infringing the licence too.


I got inspired from the article here.

NOTE: There is a button to avoid other from embedding the videos you upload to Youtube but most of the people do not know it. 

The content on this blog is intended to be educational and is not specific legal advice for your situation. The information is not updated. 

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MoodleCloud offering now paid hosting for schools

MootIEUK16 was a three day conference, bringing together the Moodle community to collaborate, learn and develop.
There was an event in that conference called 'Moodle - The Road Ahead' and the video was published on Apr 12, 2016.

In the minute 18:45 Martin Dougiamas announced the expansion of MoodleCloud to offer paid hosting further than the actual service of removing ads for $5 AUD.

On the right are the fees announced during the event...



You can see the 'Moodle - The Road Ahead' event in the bellow video published by Moodle...

Please write your comments below...

Activity Chooser in Moodle (Video)

In the below video you can see an introduction to the activity chooser and how to add activities in Moodle...

Please write your comments below...

Course Reports in Moodle (Video)

Do you have a course in Moodle and want to know how many student are looking at it and what are they doing in it?

Just go to ‘Reports’ under from the administration menu.

Please watch the below video for more information.

Please write your comments bellow...

Google Alerts (Video)

Are you using Google Alerts? I find very useful to make Google to send you alerts about certain content you are interested in. Please see the below video in how to set it up...

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Upload files faster to your courses in Moodle: Drag and Drop (Video)

The below video demonstrate how to upload files to your courses using the drag and drop method (no need to add a file activity).

I highly recommend  you to send these video to the teachers in your institution/company as even people who have been using Moodle for a long time do not know this method and it can save a lot of time.

They will be surprised as to how fast this method is.

Quality assurance in European Higher Education in Europe and Moodle

The QQI just published a Policy for the Cyclical Review of Higher Education Institutions in Ireland.

The QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland) is a state agency established by the Quality Assurance and Qualifications (Education and Training) Act 2012 with a board appointed by the Minister for Education and Skills.

Their functions include those previously carried out by...

• the Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC); 
• the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC); 
• the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB) 
• the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI)

The cyclical review model is in keeping with The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area, 2015 (Parts 2 and 3) published by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) in co-operation with...

• the European Students’ Union (ESU), 
• the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE) 
• the European University Association (EUA).

These Guidelines are outlined as follows...

I was wondering where in this outline can we include the LMS of a Higher Education Institution. In a first overview it call my attention subsections: 1.6 Information system and 2.5 Reporting.

I will be analyzing more in dept this idea during the next months and will keep you updated.

Please write your comments bellow.

Canvas Network: free MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)

Canvas Network offers open, online courses taught by from colleges, universities, and organizations everywhere in the world.

You can access the site and search for courses without any sign up but when wanting to enroll in any course you will be asked for your email and a password.

There are a lot free MOOCs and, as the main deliverers are universities, there are a lot of courses dealing with learning and teaching which is a good new for you if you are in this sector.

I think that in a time when MOOCs are everywhere it´s a very good idea to create a website that bring all of them together.

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Moodle&Totara: Forking

Totara, apart from being a a large New Zealand coniferous tree, was a distribution of Moodle adapted for governments and corporations.

Totara offered a additional features not offered by Moodle. The first release of TotaraLMS was 1 March 2011 and later they created a partner network to offer their services.

The news are that Totara forks from Moodle and the Moodle Community. Richard Wyles, CEO and co-founder of Totara, published the following...

"We have made the carefully considered decision that from 2016 Totara LMS will no longer be in lockstep with Moodle. This will free the team at Totara Learning to focus on big leaps forward in usability and modernising the framework for our enterprise customers."

There seems to be some post in the Moodle community dealing with this: here is one of them.

Please write your comments bellow.

Moodle Blocks: Adding a Twitter widget

If you want to display the tweets from a Twitter account you can use the HTML block in Moodle as follows...

1. Log in to Twitter
2. Go to this address: https://twitter.com/settings/widgets/new
3. Find the Twitter username you want to include (e.g. moodledev) and click the button 'Create widget' 
4. Twitter will provide you some code, copy that code and go to Moodle
5. Add an html block in Moodle and paste the code into the html version of the editor.

See the result on the right.

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Turnitin: Interactive Tutorial (5-10 Minutes)

I found very helpful this tutorial about Turnitin marking and grading...



By following this tutorial you will learn how to...

1. Choose a comment from the library
2. Add a QuickMark comment to the paper
3. Add your feedback to a quickMark
4. Create your own comment
5. Strike through text
6. Leave a Voice or text general comment
7. Use Rubrics to grade the paper
8. More Grademark features
9. What your students will see

Please try it out and write your comments below.

Turnitin: Create a new Assignment in Moodle

Please follow the next steps:

1. In your course main page click in 'Turn Edition On' on the top right of the screen...



2. Click in 'Add an activity or resource' under the topic where you want to add your Turnitin assignment (click in the below image to make it bigger)...



3. A popup window will show up where you need to choose the Turnitin assignment as bellow...



4. When you click 'Add' you will be prompted with the configuration settings page for your new Turnitin assignment. You just need to adjust the settings under the two tabs in Green 'General' and 'Turnitin Advanced Options'. You do not need to change anything in the other tabs (marked with X in red)




5. Under the tab 'General' the settings in yellow background are the right settings




* The maximum length for Turnitin Assignment Name is 40 characters

6. Under the  'Turnitin Advanced Options' tab the settings in yellow background are the right settings, the setting with no background color could be left as they are or could be customized as you wish.

* Note: The last option 'Exclude Small Matches' allow you to exclude common phrases which length can be indicated in words or % (we recommend to use from 5 to 8 words). This will help you to exclude common phrases, as the title of the assignment which could be the same for all the students,  from being considered a copy.



7. Click the Save and return to course button at the base of the settings page. This will save the assignment and bring you back to your Moodle course page.



* When clicking the button wait for 20 seconds, it takes some time to save. Do not click several times this button or you will create several assignments 

8. To set the assignment due date click the link for the Turnitin assignment on the course page:



9. Click  the edit icon (on the far right-hand side):



10. Specify the assignment dates:



Note: The Post Date refers to the availability of grades and feedback to students if you are using Turnitin’s grading and feedback tools. Don’t worry if you aren’t using these features of Turnitin. You just need to ensure the Post Date is on or after the assignment Due Date.

11. If you want to edit the settings (title, description, or other settings) for the Turnitin assignment, go into your course, turn editing on and click on the edit icon beside the assignment you created.




Please write your comments below...

Turnitin Moodle Direct v2: Change the 'Post date' to solve the problem of students not being able to see the teacher's comments and grades

In Turnitin the 'Post Date' is the date that marks and feedback from GradeMark are released to students. To solve this problem the post date will need to be changed...

1. Go to your course main page and click in the Turnitin activity link



2. Mare sure you are on the Summary tab. You will see the Start, Due and Post Date as in the screenshot below...



3. On the right (see above in red) click in the icon and you will see the dates as below...



4. Change the Post Date to a date not in the future (*Note: The Post Date is the date that marks and feedback from GradeMark are released to students).

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What is new in Moodle 3

Found the next around the net: http://www.moodleblog.net/wp-content/uploads/Moodle3WhatisNew.pdf