The Moodleman Blog has recently posted a sneak peak at conditional activities in Moodle 2.0. Before I read the post I was not sure what this even meant but Moodleman writes

“Conditional activities now say that if a student has “completed” an activity/resource (or range of activities/resources) they can then see the newly created one.”

I never really thought of this concept but it makes complete sense and it could make a teacher’s life a lot easier! Moodle.org even has a forum dedicated to this type of thing. In earlier versions you will need a hack but it looks like it will be in the core of Moodle.org (I believe).

For more information take a look at Moodle.org Docs on Conditional Activities. Read more about the feature and watch a video walkthrough on Moodleman’s blog post: Moodle 2.0 Sneak Peak – Conditional Activities.

Realizing this ability in Moodle 2.0 makes me excited to show our users (in the way future..) that this is possible. I believe this will save teachers’ time by allowing them to do more at one time. For instance, instead of having a student complete an activity, then having the teacher go back to unlock or create a quiz and directing the student to complete it–a teacher is able to do everything at once instead of editing the course twice. I think this will also work great with motivating students to complete their work. Knowing they have the power to see or reach the next activity may motivate them–like a game.

I just wonder how easy this feature is to set up in Moodle 2.0. I might focus some attention on this on my dev site and post on it in the future.

Any thoughts?

I recently downloaded and installed Moodle 2.0 dev. I have not investigated every new feature and update but my early exploring left me quite happy. Moodle 2.0, in my opinion, is going to be much improved from earlier version upgrades.

A few things that I like in my early exploration:

• HTML editor 2.0 – The look of the editor is more pleasing to the eye. A few features are added like tables, layers, handling of Word documents, better for HTML code editing, better options for inserting images and media. Read more about the HTML editor 2.0.
• File API – The look and structure of file management  feels a lot different. A good different. When uploading an image (within the Editor) it opens a new window which a much better interface. I think users will fidn this new look easier to follow and understand. I had to add the “local files” repository and “show” it to be able to upload files within ‘site files’ then use it when in the Editor. I also had to “show” the “upload a file” to allow users to upload a file within the Editor. Looking at the documentation for the new File API there are a lot of improvements with file management and linking to files with the HTML editor. They may be still working out the kinks but I think this is going to be one of my new favorite upgrades.
• Repository API – Just looking at the repository possibilites excites me because it includes interaction with other software and sites like: YouTube, Alfresco, Flickr, Box.net, Picasa and more. Read more on the Repository API coming in Moodle 2.0.
• Portfolio API – Moodle 2.0 is going to be able to integrate with Mahara. It looks like it can also integrate with Picasa, Google Docs, Flickr, Box.net or you are able to do a file download (not sure how this works?). I have not worked with portfolios but I would think this will be a great resource for students. Read more on the Portfolio API documentation.

Those were the main areas of improvement I saw and that I think will be some of the best improvements. I only spent a day looking through Moodle 2.0 dev and it’s hard to know all the ins and outs of the new features and the new processes without having a real Moodle site to work on.

I have been expirementing on my Moodle Development site. I will continue to explore Moodle 2.0 Dev and review the above improvements (and more) on another blog post. This was just a rough review of my initial thoughts.

Check out the Moodle Docs Roadmap to Moodle 2.0 for further Moodle 2.0 information and updates.