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Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Where's Wally? Add a Facebook-like wall to your Moodle 1.9 coursepage!

My latest project.

A Facebook-like wall on your Moodle front coursepage. Here's what it looks like on my Moodle 1.9.15 production site.



WHY build one for your Moodle site?
  1. It's FUN!
  2. It's more PERSONAL!
  3. It's great for scrolling on MOBILE DEVICES like smartphones and tablets
  4. It's like Facebook and I haven't yet met a student who didn't like Facebook
  5. It can function as a forum discussion thread
  6. It allows students to collaborate asynchronously
  7. It brings a Web 2.0 dimension into good-ole'- clunky-Moodle1.9-2.x
  8. It allows you to enbed videos fro Youtube and Vimeo (yeah!)
  9. It allows auto URL linking
  10. WHY NOT?????
In case you and your students find the wall too distracting, you can also configure the Wall as a collapsible Accordian resource object. For example, on my production site, I can click the green cube icon to expand the Wall. See the image below. Goodbye distracting wall, hello clickable green icon.



Here it is!



HOW TO BUILD IT

Your starting point to build a Facebook-like wall is here at Srivinas Tamada's website with the stock zip file here. If you follow the installation instuctions, you will end up with a Wall that looks like this.


The problem with the wall above is that I could only display my own updates, and not updates from others. In addition, the Wall requires me to hardcode my Google email address into a file so that the Wall can retrieve my Gravatar icon. The script has room to create a separate login.php file that allows the user to login in with a username and password. But that would mean that the user has to first login with his or her Moodle username and password, and then login with another set of username-password data to use the wall.

The good news is that I've modified Srivinas' Facebook wall script 3.0  for instant login with your Moodle login account. Plus a few other features which you won't find in the stock zip file. In other words I've spent N hours customising it for Moodle 1.9 use. In another post, I'll tackle a Moodle 2.x version of the code. Since Srivinas' code is written for a generic LAMP website, I am sure that it can be coded to run in a Moodle 2.x environment. For Moodle 2.x it'll may take more than a few tweaks since the user table name may differ.

Working demo:
Username: studentscm
Password: studentscm
http://www.moodurian.com/course/view.php?id=39

Discussion on this Wall's development: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=197229
For a pedagogical and an interesting academic discussion of the use of a Wall and Facebook with a Moodle site: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=212705




IN closing, here's a list of features that I have added on to Srinivas' Facebook Wall Script 3.0:
  1. The wall is ready to be integrated into your Moodle production site.
  2. The wall is now multi-user. Any number of coursepage participants can post on the same wall.
  3. You can paste in TED video links and they will expand
  4. No more double Youtube video bug (solved that pesky bug)
  5. Shows Firstname and Lastname instead of userid
  6. Compatible with Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome - no more CSS issues (on my PC at least!)
  7. Wiggly icons!!! Nice effect that one.
  8. You can add some text before the Youtube http link and both the text and youtube embed video will  be posted on the wall.
  9. Videos embedded in the wall can be viewed by iOS and Android devices.
  10. The Moodle course administrator can delete others' posts and comments directly off the wall
  11. I have managed to allow the single Wall to be shared among any number of coursepages. With each coursepage loading a different view or subset of the wall. We're talking about a single comments table and a single messages table being used by N number of coursepages. Each coursepage displays only the messages and comments posted by participants of the coursepage.
  12. Using an iframe embed code, I can add a wall as any type of Moodle resource. A label, a webpage resource, an Accordian resource.
  13. The user's name is a live link that shows the Moodle user's profile tab when clicked.
Plans for the future:
  1. Allow users with teacher roles to delete messages and comments of students and users.
  2. Integrate the impressive-looking Facebook Wall Script version 5.0 (commercial version) with Moodle integration code so that what I have done with Version 3.0, I can duplicate the same made-for-Moodle features,
  3. Adapt the code for Moodle 2.3 and above!
  4. To tell you the truth, I think that it's very possible to even create separate walls not just for separate coursepages, but for separate resources within separate coursepages. I believe that this is possible because each resource in Moodle (be it a forum, book, label etc) has its own id=value. So just like where you can have various forums in each coursepage, you can actually (I believe strongly) have separate (virtual) walls for each coursepage. ALL THIS FROM JUST ONE messages TABLE AND JUST ONE comments TABLE!
Interested to know more? Email me at boonsengkam@gmail.com

regards
Frankie Kam

If you like this post or site
a small donation would be nice but would last only a day,
otherwise leaving a comment (or a compliment) below will last me a month!

27 comments:

  1. Nice way of sharing about Moodle 1.9 and 2.3 Coursepage Keep Sharing... Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Xenoswarren! Thanks. If you want the code, just ask for it. Comes with installation instructions for Moodle 1.9.15. Can be adapted for Moodle 2.x.

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  2. Congratulations to Kirby! You're the first to request for the zip file. I've E-mailed you the zip file and 'detailed' instructions. 19 more to give away.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kirby! You beat me to the punch...grrrr. I want a rematch!
    (Just joking of course.)
    Nick

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nicholas comes in at #2. Zip file already sent. With instructions. You're using M1.9.14 I think, so the code should be compatible.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Terry makes 3. Zip file sent. Any problems please let me know.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Timothy is lucky number 4. Zip file sent. Instructions sent. If you see stars, then just give me a tinkle.

    ReplyDelete
  7. BJohnson is lucky number 5. Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello Sir Frankie.
    Can you send me the. Zip

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I Lucas. I've sent it to your E-mail. This version is quote outdated...

      Delete
  9. Mr. Frankie.
    Thank you very much, you are amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Can I get the .zip file too sir?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Carlos! Contact me via my E-mail :- boonsengkam@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Please share me the script file with code plz....

    ReplyDelete
  13. May i get the script file with code plzzz....

    ReplyDelete
  14. Hi Macs! Am sending to you. But it's a really old version. The latest version is for sale.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hello Mr. Frankie Kam. I am excited for the project you have created, although, it has been few months after this forum has been posted and I am wondering if I am still eligible to receive the code and the installation instructions.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi JJ Matsumura
    You can download the Moodle 2.2 version of the Free-limited-features-Wall from here:
    http://moodurian.blogspot.com/2013/01/here-it-is-my-free-limited-features.html

    if you are using Moodle 1.9x, I also have a free-limited-features version of the Wall which has been tested under Moodle 1.9.15. Just E-mail me if you want that version as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow! Thank you so much! I am presently using moodle version 2.2 and above, though, if I have any other questions or request I will surely email you. Thank you.

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  17. Hi Frankie, i have days wondering how to mix this, until now i found your post, ill thank u so much if u can send me the version for Moodle 1.9x.

    My email is lcamilo@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sent to you already today. Hope you can install it on your site!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, yes i did already, just i have a doubt im using it not directly editing course form, im using SCORMs, i know its not scorm concordant but i want it to be used dinamycaly as object on some courses, so this way im not getting CID, i was looking on session structure but there is no data about course im at, at currentcourseaccess array i can see some data but it can have more than one course id, so i wonder, if i use scoid as id for messages it could work, just i have to remove courseid paremeter on profile links.. ill try and tell you later :)

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