Open source is a key value for LEO Learning’s platforms team. By building and contributing to open source projects, the bespoke code we create can be maintained by the community, reducing costs and increasing quality of upgrades and future development. It’s also the right thing to do; we benefit from open source work so should contribute back.
Today, LEO Learning are pleased to announce the release of a significant update to the Tin Can launch plugin for Moodle. Previously an alpha prototype, LEO Learning have transformed this plugin into a robust, production-ready module, complete with localisations for learner language strings in 10 languages.
The Tin Can launch module allows you to launch xAPI/ Tin Can-based learning experiences from Moodle which can then be tracked to any Learning Record Store (LRS). Moodle can then be configured to mark the launch activity complete based on xAPI data. The plugin is compatible with all the major authoring tools that support xAPI. This is a big step forward for Moodle which by default has no xAPI support.
In addition to the standard launch, the plugin boasts the following features which can be used with compatible content and Learning Record Stores:
- LRS integrated secure launch mode
- Language preference passed to the content
You can find the launch plugin in the Moodle plugins directory.
Alongside this plugin, we’re also releasing some example code used to add xAPI tracking to the Moodle quiz module. We’re really excited about this because the tracking happens server-side, making it considerably more secure than SCORM. This work also lays the foundation for xAPI tracking of other Moodle modules such as forum, face-to-face and feedback.
This quiz tracking code was specifically designed to work with a customised Moodle and is incompatible with Moodle 2.6 and up, so may not simply plug into your Moodle and ‘just work’. However, our hope in releasing this code is that it will provide a good foundation for a standalone xAPI tracking Moodle plugin in future.
The sample code is available on Github – we encourage developers to fork it and build on it. We have also posted a link to this code sample in the Moodle issues tracker at https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-35433.
If you want help deploying xAPI in your Moodle, or have general questions about xAPI or Moodle, please do get in touch.