tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82872667452859449042024-03-14T05:43:30.928+00:00/var/blogIT developments and solutions from the IT Student Experience team.
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<i>Preconfiguring emergent disruption in an agile way.</i>OBIS - IT Services - Student Experiencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07981010445536624029noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287266745285944904.post-3504967973647236912016-06-13T16:52:00.002+01:002016-06-13T16:52:11.698+01:00Moodle 3.0 upgrade<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is time for our Summer Moodle upgrade again!</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On June 27th we will be upgrading to Moodle 3.0.3 (from 2.8). While the number is a big jump the differences in the platform are not too large and so should have a minimal impact on students and staff. Most of the improvements, bug fixes and security updates are internal and will not be directly noticeable.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-92a5ad26-4a72-0874-742f-54a74faa2031" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As with the previous upgrades there will be up to one day of read-only access while the upgrade proceeds (i.e. no Turnitin submissions, course editing, forum posting etc).</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Read only access will be from 09:30 until completion, sometime before 17:30. There may be a brief (less than 15 minutes of outage while the final switch over is performed).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #434343; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.6667px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moodle 3.x upgrade</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-0f6ae329-4a73-231e-9b40-d348b3a11e83" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On June 27th 2016 we will upgrade our live Moodle instance to version 3.0.3</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This will bring stability, security and performance enhancements along with upgraded integrations and plugins</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Note: we will also have Mahara upgraded to 15.10 at the same time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Upgrade plan</span></h4>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It will take between 4 and 7 hours to upgrade the platform. We will plan for the Moodle site to be in read only mode from 09.30 until 17.30.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Process carried out by ULCC</span></h5>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">0. Internal upgrade test run two weeks before actual upgrade. Any external access (firewall, SFTP) configurations are updated. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. On the day of the update the site is placed into read only</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> mode at 09:30</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. A clone of the site is taken and copied to new infrastructure</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Update is applied to the new site</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. Site is checked by ULCC Support team</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">5. DNS switch is performed by ULCC so that the current site is switched to the new upgraded site. I.e. moodle.brookes.ac.uk goes to new site</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">6. Admins are added back in and site is taken out of read only mode</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Note: there may be a brief (<15 minutes) outage while DNS is switched over.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Backup out Plan</span></h5>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. If an error is encountered during the update they will restore service from the backup (this is allowed for in the planned downtime)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Post analysis will be run and new update date will be arranged</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 4pt; margin-top: 16pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What is new in Moodle 3</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #434343; font-family: Arial; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">?</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Navigation Changes</span></h5>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Since 2.9 Moodle has improved the UI for user profiles and homepages</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My home is now Dashboard</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">More information can be found here <a href="https://docs.moodle.org/29/en/Dashboard">https://docs.moodle.org/29/en/Dashboard</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">New Grades page</span></h5>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Students can access an overview of their grades in all courses via a Grades link in the user menu (top right of each page). This lists courses they are students in under the heading ‘Courses I am taking’. If a student clicks on a course name, they will be taken to their user report for activities in that course.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://docs.moodle.org/29/en/Overview_report">https://docs.moodle.org/29/en/Overview_report</a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Themes</span></h5>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Adaptable and Klass themes added</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Atto Editor</span></h5>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now includes math notation</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Keyboard shortcut (ctrl+K) for hyperlinks</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There have been improvements in adding and configuring tables when editing text, plus there are new equations in the equation editor</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Under the hood</span></h5>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Improvements to web services, mobile services and administration of file resources.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ref:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0f6ae329-4a75-43c4-896f-bf5b747ae20c"></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-0f6ae329-4a75-f4e7-7981-6a74e6c2e09a"><a href="https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_3.0_release_notes#Highlights" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_3.0_release_notes#Highlights</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://el.blogs.ulcc.ac.uk/2016/03/18/moodle-3-journey-upgrade-process/" style="text-decoration: none;">http://el.blogs.ulcc.ac.uk/2016/03/18/moodle-3-journey-upgrade-process/</a></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-0f6ae329-4a75-90fd-1998-019d01540b01"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://el.blogs.ulcc.ac.uk/2016/03/18/moodle-3-coming-part-2/" style="text-decoration: none;">http://el.blogs.ulcc.ac.uk/2016/03/18/moodle-3-coming-part-2/</a></span></span></div>
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-0f6ae329-4a75-c040-4b59-da70c5597198"><a href="http://el.blogs.ulcc.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/03/Moodle-Plug-ins-Matrix-3_0-1.pdf" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13.3333px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://el.blogs.ulcc.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/03/Moodle-Plug-ins-Matrix-3_0-1.pdf</span></a></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801504752246152285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287266745285944904.post-66007064876629646322015-12-01T15:05:00.003+00:002015-12-01T15:05:58.003+00:00Brookes apps in Moodle<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; font-family: 'open sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<i style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is an overview of how we are able to make some of our 'mobile' apps available to students directly from within Moodle.</span></span></i><br />
<i style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></i>
<i style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The benefit to students is that they have an opportunity to utilise the rich functionality these apps have to offer even if they don't have a mobile device (or it is currently unavailable). This aligns with Brookes' drive to extend and improve accessibility.</span></span></i><br />
<i style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></i>
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our mobile apps</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mobile apps are, generally, either:</span></div>
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<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 'native' - written and built for a specific mobile platform (operating system), such as Apple's iOS</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 'hybrid' - written in a more generic way, these apps can be built for several different mobile platforms or</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 'web' - written for display in a mobile's web browser</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Both 'native' and 'hybrid' apps require installation on the mobile device (downloaded from app stores) and can use features of the device that may be unavailable to 'web' apps.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">To simplify development and maintenance, minimise multi-platform deployment effort and maximise functionality, we have chosen to make the majority of our apps 'hybrid' ones.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hybrid apps</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The program code files for these, like many web apps, are written using the standard web-based 'languages' of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Additional functionality, such as the capability to receive notifications sent out by Brookes, is added by means of 'plugins' (of which there are different versions for each of the different platforms).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Unfortunately, limitations and differences still mean that the code files require some tailoring for each platform but this is far less effort than would be required to deploy separate native apps.</span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pChm9p9LURg/Vl2FDryFf9I/AAAAAAAAAFE/52tQyxE3sek/s1600/Categories.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pChm9p9LURg/Vl2FDryFf9I/AAAAAAAAAFE/52tQyxE3sek/s320/Categories.png" width="192" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Brookes app 'BRISC' on Android</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: 'open sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is this similarity with web apps, and the limited tailoring required for each platform, that encouraged us to explore the possibility of also having 'browser-based' versions of those apps that could be modified to function without the features of mobile devices.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: 'open sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20.7px;">Browser-based apps</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whereas the code files for a hybrid mobile app are installed and 'hosted' on the device itself, the files for a browser-based version need to be hosted on a separate web server.</span></div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: 'open sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As OBIS didn't have a suitable public-facing web server for this it was decided - initially - to make use of our Moodle web server at ULCC. As a Moodle 'plugin' is simply a packaged set of files (normally executable scripts) that can be served-up to a browser, it was feasible (with negligible overhead in regard to either space or time) to include our code files within such a plugin.</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rvgTlEMYj6Y/Vl2ZhWEKaCI/AAAAAAAAAFU/XWeTtNhhlzU/s1600/BRISC%2Bin%2Bbrowser.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="361" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rvgTlEMYj6Y/Vl2ZhWEKaCI/AAAAAAAAAFU/XWeTtNhhlzU/s640/BRISC%2Bin%2Bbrowser.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>'BRISC' in a browser</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Although apps served in this way functioned perfectly, because the layouts had been designed for a small screen they were really unsuitable for use within a full-screen browser. As we didn't want to overhaul the designs to such a great extent, we tried apps both inside an HTML 'iframe' and a browser 'popup' window that were nearer to the proportions of a mobile screen.</span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_i0FX1QUJFg/Vl2eG6VjLQI/AAAAAAAAAFg/zMNNTtLjgUI/s1600/BRISC%2Bin%2Biframe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_i0FX1QUJFg/Vl2eG6VjLQI/AAAAAAAAAFg/zMNNTtLjgUI/s640/BRISC%2Bin%2Biframe.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>'BRISC' in an iframe</i></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8YOM2n3VM0w/Vl2gGM3TucI/AAAAAAAAAFs/TwNh_ENHw2I/s1600/BRISC%2Bin%2Bpopup.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8YOM2n3VM0w/Vl2gGM3TucI/AAAAAAAAAFs/TwNh_ENHw2I/s320/BRISC%2Bin%2Bpopup.png" width="234" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #666666; font-family: 'open sans', sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>'BRISC' in a popup</i></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having established that apps would display and function correctly within iframes, we needed to develop and host suitable web pages to 'embed' these iframes in. We chose to include these pages within a Moodle plugin because the overall page layout could be provided by Moodle and it would be a natural place for a student to find and use the apps.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: #666666; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20.7px;">Google App Engine</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Due to the lead time to get our Moodle plugins updated it was decided to move the app code files themselves to another, more flexible, hosting solution.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google App Engine (GAE) is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering that we already use and it lets us build and run applications on Google’s infrastructure that are easy to scale as traffic and data storage needs change. With App Engine there are no servers for us to maintain ourselves - we simply upload our application and it’s ready to go.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Consequently, we developed a simple application on GAE that provides a </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;">'front-end' to our app code files that are now hosted there instead of on Moodle. There has been no change to the Moodle pages themselves nor to the user experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The future...</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Expect to see more great Brookes apps ported to Moodle/GAE!</i></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287266745285944904.post-63287671237498001182015-11-30T13:10:00.000+00:002015-12-02T07:29:27.607+00:00BRISC Quick Start Guide<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; font-family: 'open sans', sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<i style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Continuing the overviews of our apps, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here is BRISC </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.38;">(the “BRookes Individual Skills Catcher” app).</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit;">This has been developed in conjunction with the Faculty of Business but it could be invaluable to any Brookes student.</i></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The app is designed to allow students to simply and quickly capture personal reminders of employability skills they have gained, inside or outside of their course, enabling easy recall for later use in job or placement interviews</span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. These skills, a valuable resource, could otherwise be overlooked or forgotten.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the end of their time at Brookes, a student's BRISC entries can stay with them as they can be exported from Moodle into an ePortfolio (such as Mahara) or into other formats.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How it works</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Students access the app either directly from within Moodle (Brookes Apps -> BRISC) or by logging-in to a mobile version using their usual Brookes credentials. The relevant skill heading can then be selected either from the 'Brookes Attribute' or 'CBI/NUS' categories or from a full alphabetical list. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Previous entries can be viewed or new entries can be added. New entries will have a title, a text body (what to remember) and, if required, a URL link to a further explanation or video. If relevant, a new entry can also be associated with one of the student's current modules.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Note: the app uses standard Moodle Blogs that can also be accessed from any PC, mobile device or Chromebook. Be aware that any entries made directly via Moodle itself would need to be flagged as 'draft' (private) to ensure confidentiality.</span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The mobile app can be downloaded for free from</span><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #1155cc; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.ac.brookes.empskill" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #039be5; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Google Play</a></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, the</span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/brookes-individual-skills/id950891908?mt=8" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: #039be5; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: blue; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple App Store</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">or the</span><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/apps/brisc/9nblgggzlpnd" target="_blank">Windows Store</a>.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Login is done with Brookes staff or student credentials, as for Moodle (staff or student number).</span></div>
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<b style="box-sizing: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Categories</span></i></b></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2I0WgA3hmwo/VlwzM--uKyI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/9PGps2babDY/s1600/Categories.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2I0WgA3hmwo/VlwzM--uKyI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/9PGps2babDY/s320/Categories.png" width="192" /></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; color: black; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once logged in a user will see the possible selection methods. They may then choose a skill category or a list of all skills.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;">The user will see a list of the relevant skills and can either choose one to view (and/or to post new entries to) or choose to list all entries.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point the user can either select a previous entry to view or opt to add a new entry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;">New entries will have a title, a text body (what to remember) and, if required, a URL link to a further explanation or video. If relevant, a new entry can also be associated with one of the student's current modules.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That's it! - simple but effective.</span></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6fvItxHBluA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6fvItxHBluA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Produced by the Faculty of Business</span></div>
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<b style="background-color: white; font-family: 'helvetica neue', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20.7px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i><span style="color: #666666;">Video - BRISC Tutorial</span></i></b></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/fQUCRsoQyYs/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fQUCRsoQyYs?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Produced by the Faculty of Business</span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #666666; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287266745285944904.post-49088667211280367382015-11-20T15:59:00.001+00:002015-11-20T16:00:43.936+00:00Moodle notification block<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;">Use case</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Periodically we need to carry out maintenance or updates to our Moodle platform hosted at ULCC. We try to only do these, especially if they pose risk to the service, during our ‘at risk’ times on Tuesday mornings 07:00 - 09:00.</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the majority of cases any work carried out does not impact the service at all but occasionally some service interruption is unavoidable. This may be a restart of the web server or a significant outage. </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We propose adding a notification block to all Moodlers homepages to ensure important messages are conveyed and absorbed.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lose case</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Service unavailability that was not communicated sufficiently well has inevitably caused issues for students and staff who need access to the platform at that time, e.g. to retrieve lecture presentations before a 9am class. This notification block is our response to alleviate those issues.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whose case</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The block will be visible, when there is one or more messages to display, on student and staff My Moodle pages. It is important that all Moodlers are aware of any potential downtime well ahead of the event. Asynchronous methods of communication, such as email, are problematic in that people have an inbox overload and it is easy to miss important messages in the noise. Posting on institutional services such as our Service Desk portal and our Message of the Day news pages may not be seen.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was felt that placing the messages in Moodle, directly on the landing page following login, would get the most eyeballs. We do not want it to be intrusive but informative and, above all, noticeable.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Choose case </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea is a block that we will add to the default My Moodle layout so all users will see it. They can ‘opt-out’ by hiding or deleting the block but this would be discouraged. We hope that by ensuring that only important, succinct and pertinent notifications are displayed it will encourage people to notice the block when it is visible.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">News case</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is envisaged that the notifications will be constrained to content that is of high importance. If generic ‘news’ is added it is likely that the effect of seeing the block will be diluted and a localised information overload will lead to glazing over when presented with posts. The appearance of the block should be a triggered call to action. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Views case</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We looked at currently available solutions and found none that quite fit our requirements. We have developed a custom block that will sit above the Course Overview block on the My Moodle page.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If there are no current notifications to display the block will not be visible. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moodle Administrators can add messages through the back end. Messages can be configured to appear in red for high impact notifications.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Each notification should be on a new line. The format of each notification should be: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">{notification text}|{start date/time}|{end date/time}|{type}. date/time should be YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm. date/times are UTC. type should be one of normal, important. Example: Test notification|2015-11-18T09:00|2015-11-18T17:00|normal</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This allows the addition of messages that can have specific durations so that we can automate posts ahead of time or for recurring tasks.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tues case</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We will maintain Tuesday 07:00 - 09:00 as an ‘at risk’ window for scheduled changes to the live service and encourage people, where possible, to avoid having critical events during, or directly following, this period.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><img height="231px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/HsO20L28PpoD8QnweIGxlidybwFgac5Fl57OuKJZitCMHaGEb-mZ3SSYjcbOo8tMnf6Z5ASnGdbSv1A4jOkEswWqpLcE9Aq9wB0eZAU3C0JhTQLbbZann9StapOj5F-U9_nDPUFT" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="602px;" /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Moose case</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we moose, erm, miss any important notifications we would like to remind Moodlers to check the other information services such as </span><a href="http://obis.brookes.ac.uk/motd/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Message of the Day</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or the </span><a href="https://service.brookes.ac.uk/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Service Now portal</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and to report any incidents via the </span><a href="http://obis.brookes.ac.uk/helpandsupport.html" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Service Desk</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><img height="320px;" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0EF7ZEkhFmfgMPJctF34qBIFYg_EDN4qLbyi2fpPcd4nHfu9s5Hbi8cm6VRjLXknZ8iZxmdOytlP22i_buZEkU_oXh0GuiSyzDwnSgmvIZdfaOcT3NMbnQUbAxxe297ZMT_vTxCf" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="267px;" /></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">image from http://rileyandco.blogspot.co.uk</span></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801504752246152285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287266745285944904.post-18413255049690689442015-10-23T14:22:00.000+01:002015-10-23T14:22:29.222+01:00QuAK Quick Start Guide<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/igFBlSE0I7X7274u-CKd6Fj7IsyXe2UiNKv7mCRZZ_gM1QGKGxhJcqG85v-zEaYIl0y-6TYy4YmCyUMy54AXzI1ocYm-nOy10Ax0VV2986Kmwy8Q_L0T0A7gp9qWDA-O8FsEq_0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="QuAK-icon .png" border="0" height="298px;" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/igFBlSE0I7X7274u-CKd6Fj7IsyXe2UiNKv7mCRZZ_gM1QGKGxhJcqG85v-zEaYIl0y-6TYy4YmCyUMy54AXzI1ocYm-nOy10Ax0VV2986Kmwy8Q_L0T0A7gp9qWDA-O8FsEq_0" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="297px;" /></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we will be demonstrating a few of our apps at the next Commun</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ications Forum at Brookes next Monday it may be useful to have an overview of the intended usage of the apps. To kick things off here is </span><span style="line-height: 1.38;">QuAK (the “Question Answer Knowledge” app)</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38;"><i>This has been developed from a winning entry in the <a href="https://obis.brookes.ac.uk/brookesapp/" target="_blank">Oxford Brookes app competition</a>, submitted by Brookes student Tom Wilford.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b id="docs-internal-guid-50070529-85ea-94f2-18bf-dd23b89dd868" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The app is designed to allow students to ask questions during lectures either anonymously or not, and for module leaders and other students</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> to be able to answer them, either in lectures or at a later time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How it works</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Students log into the app using their usual Brookes credentials and see a list of courses from the semester which they are currently enrolled on. They can then click on a course to see question forums within that course. Once in a question forum (e.g. Week 8) students can ask a question or suggest an answer to an existing question. Please note that answers are not anonymous. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Lecturers will log in and be able to set-up question forums on any of their courses. These could, for example, relate to a particular week in the semester.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Note: the app uses Forums that are stored within Moodle so can be accessed from any PC, mobile device or Chromebook. This also allows content to be searched, exported, etc. Note that any posts made directly via Moodle will not be anonymous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The app can be downloaded for free from </span><a href="http://goo.gl/0hyQNT" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Google Play</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> or the </span><a href="http://goo.gl/gQYcbr" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Apple App Store</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/r92tWKf7a_NiQ3CABrczZQ8yxDHjIBJrmsunwiRYdzQimWmTK8RcIYbFHOxQosOABJSG7F1hgdpF9c1QBeJ1zI68-BitsPIdLrptnbh-D6DJEPpCyLgQRLYBOY5-1A61o0zdw30" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot_2014-12-18-11-34-39.png" border="0" height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/r92tWKf7a_NiQ3CABrczZQ8yxDHjIBJrmsunwiRYdzQimWmTK8RcIYbFHOxQosOABJSG7F1hgdpF9c1QBeJ1zI68-BitsPIdLrptnbh-D6DJEPpCyLgQRLYBOY5-1A61o0zdw30" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="180" /></a><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/r92tWKf7a_NiQ3CABrczZQ8yxDHjIBJrmsunwiRYdzQimWmTK8RcIYbFHOxQosOABJSG7F1hgdpF9c1QBeJ1zI68-BitsPIdLrptnbh-D6DJEPpCyLgQRLYBOY5-1A61o0zdw30" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></a><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/r92tWKf7a_NiQ3CABrczZQ8yxDHjIBJrmsunwiRYdzQimWmTK8RcIYbFHOxQosOABJSG7F1hgdpF9c1QBeJ1zI68-BitsPIdLrptnbh-D6DJEPpCyLgQRLYBOY5-1A61o0zdw30" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Logging in</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Login is done with Brookes staff or student credentials, as for Moodle (staff or student number).</span><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.38; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Courses Page</b></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They may then choose a course.</span></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AdlY7qv8jeCJUDeMP0_KqUefsUhTP3-dUHQRAkcJcpPZXxS_MzxXyegc0UBolW8r1MUx1idYkQkpPwL-kjFCiT6f6hN3cS5saJukVAdRrVZSI3i1A107x7V6KB-mae-P5dmOI6c" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Question forums screen</b></span>
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<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/XKXWTQ-KC_fhKQbUrVXNyHqAS8L-Lu5wA6EqDzdFMMr2Mj26757nhEUEkEw5v0rtGQAXVToFRl4Uuj2CWrIKYOcv9E1x1KVZV2c7AMjBcgdgS6T_t0u_wdCOG0vNr9WE5feE_cM" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Once the course has been chosen users will see a list of current question forums.</span></div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AdlY7qv8jeCJUDeMP0_KqUefsUhTP3-dUHQRAkcJcpPZXxS_MzxXyegc0UBolW8r1MUx1idYkQkpPwL-kjFCiT6f6hN3cS5saJukVAdRrVZSI3i1A107x7V6KB-mae-P5dmOI6c" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Screenshot_2014-12-18-11-35-36.png" border="0" height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AdlY7qv8jeCJUDeMP0_KqUefsUhTP3-dUHQRAkcJcpPZXxS_MzxXyegc0UBolW8r1MUx1idYkQkpPwL-kjFCiT6f6hN3cS5saJukVAdRrVZSI3i1A107x7V6KB-mae-P5dmOI6c" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="225" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this point Module Leaders can add a Question Forum.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If a digit is entered under “week number/topic” a forum activity will be added under that week number on the relevant course. e.g. if “5” is entered as the “week number/topic” then this activity will be listed under week 5 on the course.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back on the Question Forums page users can select a forum and will then see a list of questions that have been asked.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HwUfQjifoXdN0CtmRr3RrFpNXJ1cuICZTSH3228fVa_LPdtKLDek-tXzWVgagFZEDt2ALTY_qbRi71WhnSPFSv6gK2rqXRxk3Nk_9KGcGguwiFCEHWOu6UayGNxugRxAI-G6h3E" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Screenshot_2014-12-18-11-36-42.png" border="0" height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HwUfQjifoXdN0CtmRr3RrFpNXJ1cuICZTSH3228fVa_LPdtKLDek-tXzWVgagFZEDt2ALTY_qbRi71WhnSPFSv6gK2rqXRxk3Nk_9KGcGguwiFCEHWOu6UayGNxugRxAI-G6h3E" style="border: none; transform: rotate(0rad);" width="225" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br class="kix-line-break" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the bottom of the page users have an option to “Ask question” and can choose to be anonymous or not. The default setting is anonymous.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><br />
<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/XD3s0BjQSj5asAHdYAuNRke_GH8F4mHeDm5BZNbn8quRl2CBdxNhiDMbLabv3HVxBbaC0EcjWu5rFNCU5e-Th_GGWgwymFLgBcbmoXG9ZWT40wKszmv2R8P32F52fRupPajxWeM" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Screenshot_2014-12-18-11-36-54-crop.png" border="0" height="61px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/XD3s0BjQSj5asAHdYAuNRke_GH8F4mHeDm5BZNbn8quRl2CBdxNhiDMbLabv3HVxBbaC0EcjWu5rFNCU5e-Th_GGWgwymFLgBcbmoXG9ZWT40wKszmv2R8P32F52fRupPajxWeM" style="-webkit-transform: rotate(0.00rad); border: none; transform: rotate(0.00rad);" width="201px;" /></span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Please note: users will remain logged into the app unless they use the Logout button.</span></span><br />
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That is it. Hopefully it is simple and straightforward and easy to use in many situations. We recently used it at an OBIS Development Day and it proved useful for capturing interesting questions that there may not have been time to deal with individually. These questions were then followed up with answers after the session. As everything is stored in Moodle activities these can be revisited at any time to promote further discussion or reflection.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801504752246152285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8287266745285944904.post-53470180378349466712015-09-17T14:22:00.002+01:002015-10-06T15:00:39.399+01:00A room with a webview<a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/wN7yR-Mm0RWxI3hvclARdm_fqCqawapxPdKrnplxIbMbBkVljxRf2Dt5_b3iEWB6q23wHv6RIK4nauIpjJ45Z8dm3LRUpedU6LJwJV0MuKQ_-RhRE7JRJA1fWfwzmhnmjNg=s1600" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="roomfinderlogo.png" border="0" height="122px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/wN7yR-Mm0RWxI3hvclARdm_fqCqawapxPdKrnplxIbMbBkVljxRf2Dt5_b3iEWB6q23wHv6RIK4nauIpjJ45Z8dm3LRUpedU6LJwJV0MuKQ_-RhRE7JRJA1fWfwzmhnmjNg=s1600" style="border: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; transform: rotate(0rad); white-space: pre-wrap;" width="122px;" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
<br />We have been interested in way-finding and ‘context aware spatial information delivery’ for some time. We have aspirational ideas for pushing the envelope in this app space but, as with all things, we are starting small and building a coherent strategy around our developments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this time of year we welcome new students to the institution and, inevitably there is a need to help people to orientate themselves in their unfamiliar surroundings. Normal mapping apps or services get you to the campus and static signage shows you the detail - we want to find a way to cover that liminal space in between.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
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<img height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/fWEa6bVh0Q9HV-mkZIUCB5Jv-lHhW-JPLakQ0u5HkleKrq5ZPMhJzoCFf8oA2tvkcXamAzdNTCc7mgWmm3afW50_pwYGq-lq2GSxAY1LkCI98Hc3lM25CrW6AOFRExrap08=s1600" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 10px;" width="178" /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have previously released PC Finder for <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.ac.brookes.android.pcfinder&hl=en">Android</a> , with a <a href="http://pcfinder.brookes.ac.uk/">web version</a> available as well, to indicate to users the potential availability of computers around the campuses. Due to the list format UI, filtered only by campus, it could tell you ‘what’ you wanted but not necessarily ‘where’. </span><br />
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Roomfinder is our first foray into spatial context. It features stylized image maps of the campuses and uses available Location APIs to determine your device location. This is visually displayed according to position with an indication of accuracy(using the familiar UX of most map based applications). The image maps are scalar (SVG) and so fidelity is preserved on a range of resolutions and this also facilitates location point adjustment as the UI zooms in or out. You can choose to search for a room by keying in the name, which dynamically filters the resulting list, or you can drill down by campus or building. There is an optional direction capability to indicate orientation, like a compass, which introduces a wayfinding sense of direction. </span></span><br />
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<img height="320" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/NfET9ObOGG1uHjh_x2NQLhqlEaU0RmcZhm57ic-D_SVhlOPS0uNVvXlmaFCPce9t15QZG6cAvnx2T-hYcS8suzx5cbmhaoZKAqxFoGVq3QH1mvUDUrEo3Sajkme0zrI3bfA=s1600" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-top: 10px;" width="179" /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To expand upon the utility of the app we have built a push notification system into it using Google App Engine as the processing component. This again is an initial step into a space which we foresee as becoming more useful and gaining greater adoption - the changing vectors of communications to mitigate the perceived stifling overload of traditional methods like email. Combined with context notifications can be much more pertinent and so leading to more user engagement. </span><br />
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This service will compliment traditional signage and any upcoming Google indoor mapping, by overlaying information applicable to the combination of location and moment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over time we hope to add more context to our apps, for Roomfinder this could be point to point path navigation (“maps at the room and floor level”), utility pinpointing (“nearest cafe to me”), integration with other apps and datasets (“visual indication of PC usage in areas”), spatial notification (“you are near the restaurant, today there is an offer on x”) and a myriad of other user stories that could be catered for. We are just starting.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14801504752246152285noreply@blogger.com0