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The Marriage Moodle and Word

The document discusses how Kimmage Development Studies Centre uses Moodle and Word to provide distance learning courses. It offers three main ways of publishing course materials: as Moodle Books, PDFs, and ePubs. It also describes plugins that allow importing Microsoft Word files into Moodle as Books, questions, or pages. This improves accessibility of content and formatting while allowing offline editing in Word.

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joshua espinoza
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© © All Rights Reserved
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146 views

The Marriage Moodle and Word

The document discusses how Kimmage Development Studies Centre uses Moodle and Word to provide distance learning courses. It offers three main ways of publishing course materials: as Moodle Books, PDFs, and ePubs. It also describes plugins that allow importing Microsoft Word files into Moodle as Books, questions, or pages. This improves accessibility of content and formatting while allowing offline editing in Word.

Uploaded by

joshua espinoza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Marriage of Moodle (and

Word)

Eoin Campbell,
Kimmage Development Studies Centre,
Dublin, Ireland
Kimmage DSC
• Offers distance learning MA in
International Development
programme
• Also BA with Maynooth University
• CPD courses
• > 50% students are located in
sub-Saharan Africa
• Largely NGO or government staff
• Working in national or local offices
or “in the field”
• May not have “always on”
access to Internet, power or
even light
Kimmage DSC: Publishing Formats

• Course material formats:


• Moodle Book (online)
• PDF for printing
• ePub ebooks for
tablets/phones
• Kindle for remote workers
(great batteries!)
• Even audio files for some
recorded lectures
Publishing Process: Word Master File
Plugin: Microsoft Word File
Import/Export (Book)
• Imports Microsoft Word files into Moodle
• Part of a set of plugins to support narrative text content
maintenance in Word
• Supports export from Moodle to Word
• Plugins available for Books, Question banks or Pages
• Or anywhere the Atto Text Editor is used in Moodle
Advantages of Import Word File
Plugin over Copy/Paste
• Automatically splits Word file into Moodle
Book Chapters
• Imports embedded images
• Demotes headings to suit Moodle conventions
• More accessible import of table headings
• Supports text highlight boxes
• Converts Microsoft Equations into MathML
Book Import: Convert and Split

• Word files are split into chapters or subchapters


based on Word “Heading 1” or “Heading 2” styles
Content: Word Styles => HTML Elements

• Basic principle: map Word styles into corresponding HTML


elements
• Also keeps some (but not all) explicit formatting (e.g. bold)
Heading Style to Element Mapping

• Demotes “Heading 1” style to h3, “Heading 2” to h4, etc.


• Required to overcome Moodles’ flawed(!) heading usage convention
Pictures/Images

• Imports and stores Web-compatible picture formats (GIF, PNG, JPG)


• Microsoft Word Shapes, SmartArt, Charts are not supported
• Picture width, height and alternate text attributes are retained
Importing Tables

• Handles column and row headings, and merged/spanned cells


• Improves both accessibility and presentation quality (via CSS)
Highlight Boxes

• Supports predefined highlight boxes that present nicely using CSS


• Identified in Word with Heading style 4..8 in row 1 of a 2-row, 1-column table
Microsoft Equation Editor to
MathML
• Word equations written
in Office Math Markup
Language (OMML)
• Microsoft provide Open
Source XSLT OMML to
MathML conversion
script
• Moodle supports
MathJax, Javascript-
based MathML rendering
engine
• Plugins include
OMML2MathML scripts
Getting Started Creating a Book
• Google Docs
• Download as Word .docx file
• eBook
• Import into a Moodle Book
(Lucimoo) and export to
Word
• LibreOffice Writer
• Save as .docx file
• Ideally, edit in Word
• Best for style name usage
Editing: MoodleBook Word Template

• Download from www.Moodle2Word.net


• Gathers the most common styles in one Ribbon menu
• Styles are more explicit and easier to reach
• Defines keyboard shortcuts, e.g. <Ctrl>+1 = Heading 1
Microsoft Word File Import/Export
Set
Atto Text Editor: Word File Import
Plugin

• Supports drag and drop Word file into text field


• See Chris Kenniburg YouTube demo
http://tinyurl.com/wordimportvideo
• Students could also use it for blog entries, essays, etc.
Question Format Word Import Plugin
• Entire question is
visible
• Many questions can
be managed in 1
Word file
• Convenient review,
printing, spell-
checking, and bulk
editing
• Categories and
questions can be
easily re-organised
• Offline editing is
possible
Question Preview Within Word
Question Format Word Template
Advantages of Word Editing with
Import into Moodle
• Familiarity
• Use a tool you already know
• Avoid HTML editing in Moodle
Atto Text Editor
• Convenience
• Text and images stay together
• Offline editing
• Power
• Maintain multi-page books in a
single file
• Maintain many multi-field
questions in a single file

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