MootDACH24: The Moodle A-Challenge

Devcamp project proposal for Educators, Admins and Developers

"Show your Moodle admin skills and get your 'Admin Pro' badge!"

We create a website where Moodle admins can proof their skills.
Rewards: A badge for every successfull contestant and an entry in the top ten list for the best attempts.

Some possible tasks of this project:

Educators/Admins:

Finding, installing and customizing a catchy theme for the Portal Moodle*)

Educators:

Designing the course at the portal Moodle where the questions are posed, tasks are assigned and results are shown. (I have prepared already a Moodle for this: mchallenge.org)
Find many questions and tasks like:
"Make sure participants do not see the email addresses of other users in the course participants list"
"Set debug mode of this Moodle site to 'DEVELOPER', let Moodle generate a test course 'S (~10MB)', name it 'Small Course' and make sure its first assignment is scale-graded by a scale of succeed|failed|DNS"
"Duplicate the editing-teacher role, name it 'assistant teacher' and do not allow this role to add editing teachers to a course or to grade assignments or quizzes"
"Rename the first section of a course in the topic format from 'General' to 'Introduction'"
"Install the german(de) language package and activate the language switch menu"
"Which user must have the right 'write' for the moodledata directory: -root -the database user -the owner of the webserver process"
"Which Moodle standard theme(s) support mobile devices as well: -classic -boost -both"
"Which Moodle versions do not support php verion 7 anymore: -4.0 -4.1 -4.2 -4.3"
"What do you have to do to activate the use of the Moodle app for your Moodle site users: -Enable web services for mobile devices -Enable the external service 'Moodle mobile web service'"
..........
Design a badge to be earned by those contestants who have reached the requested amount of points

Admins/Developers:

Make sure every contestant gets a generated challenge Moodle**) for the attempt (Docker?)
Code a top ten list of the best contestants to show at the home page (it should be impossible to earn all the points)
In order to avoid performance problems: Limit the amount of concurrent attempts. Make a waiting list for the case that all slots are used. If a slot is free, Moodle sends an invitation email to the first entry in the waiting list.

Developers:

After the attempt: Check the database tables of the challenge Moodle (tasks) and the portal Moodle (quiz questions) for the results

Admins:

Customize the portal Moodle and provide security
Destroy the challenge Moodle a certain time after the attempt

*) Portal Moodle: The Moodle where contestants apply for the challenge and answer questions (provided by me for the devcamp)
**) Challenge Moodle: The generated Moodle for every contestant's attempt, where tasks have to be done (generated for every attempt, propably by docker)

Cheers,
Thomas

Re: The Moodle A-Challenge

by Thomas Niedermaier - Tuesday, 20 August 2024, 4:40 AM

Side note: We could use the help of chatGPT for the questions (and tasks too?). And AI-Assistant(s) for the coding, of course...

Re: The Moodle A-Challenge

by Thomas Niedermaier - Tuesday, 20 August 2024, 1:40 PM

Wow!
Prompt: "I am a teacher for Moodle administrators and I want to create a Moodle quiz for my Moodle administrators to check their Moodle administrator knowledge. Could you create 30 multiple choice questions for this quiz?"

Answer ChatGPT 3.5 (free to use version):
---------------------------------------------------------------
Certainly! Here's a set of 30 multiple-choice questions designed to test the knowledge of Moodle administrators. The questions cover various aspects of Moodle administration, from user management to course settings and system configuration.

---

### Moodle Administrator Quiz

#### 1. Which role is the most powerful in a Moodle site by default?
a) Manager
b) Course Creator
c) Site Administrator
d) Teacher

**Answer:** c) Site Administrator

#### 2. What is the primary purpose of the "Cron" in Moodle?
a) To manage course enrollments
b) To automate routine tasks
c) To backup courses
d) To create new users

**Answer:** b) To automate routine tasks

#### 3. Which setting allows administrators to limit the maximum upload size for files across the site?
a) File settings
b) Site policies
c) Security settings
d) Course settings

**Answer:** b) Site policies

#### 4. How can you enable debugging in Moodle to troubleshoot issues?
a) By changing the config.php file
b) Through Site administration > Development > Debugging
c) Through Course administration > Settings > Debugging
d) By running a cron job

**Answer:** b) Through Site administration > Development > Debugging

#### 5. Where can you configure the default role for all users on the site?
a) User policies
b) Role definitions
c) Permissions
d) User management

**Answer:** a) User policies

#### 6. Which Moodle plugin is essential for integrating external authentication methods?
a) External tool
b) Authentication
c) Enrollment
d) Quiz

**Answer:** b) Authentication

#### 7. What is the default format for course backups in Moodle?
a) ZIP
b) GZ
c) MBZ
d) TAR

**Answer:** c) MBZ

#### 8. Where can administrators manage system paths, such as for the "Ghostscript" used for PDF annotation?
a) Server > System paths
b) Plugins > System paths
c) Site administration > Advanced features
d) Reports > System paths

**Answer:** a) Server > System paths

#### 9. What type of course format allows users to navigate through content in a book-like manner?
a) Weekly format
b) Single activity format
c) Topics format
d) SCORM format

**Answer:** b) Single activity format

#### 10. How can you enforce a password policy in Moodle?
a) Through Site administration > Security > Site policies
b) Through User management > Password settings
c) Through Site administration > Users > Password policies
d) Through Server > Security > Passwords

**Answer:** a) Through Site administration > Security > Site policies

#### 11. What does the "Capability" term in Moodle refer to?
a) A specific permission associated with a role
b) A module in Moodle
c) A type of report
d) A course setting

**Answer:** a) A specific permission associated with a role

#### 12. Where can you check the Moodle version installed on your site?
a) Site administration > Notifications
b) Site administration > Server > Environment
c) Site administration > Server > Update notifications
d) Site administration > Appearance

**Answer:** b) Site administration > Server > Environment

#### 13. Which type of plugin is used to add new types of resources and activities to Moodle courses?
a) Block plugin
b) Activity module plugin
c) Authentication plugin
d) Local plugin

**Answer:** b) Activity module plugin

#### 14. What is the function of the "Purge caches" button in Moodle?
a) To clear temporary files and data caches
b) To delete user data
c) To reset courses to default settings
d) To remove old log entries

**Answer:** a) To clear temporary files and data caches

#### 15. Which section of Moodle allows administrators to schedule regular backups of all courses?
a) Server > Backup > Automated backup setup
b) Course administration > Backup
c) Site administration > Backup > Course backup
d) User administration > Backup

**Answer:** a) Server > Backup > Automated backup setup

#### 16. What feature allows users to log in to Moodle using their social media accounts?
a) OAuth 2 authentication
b) LDAP authentication
c) Manual accounts
d) SSO integration

**Answer:** a) OAuth 2 authentication

#### 17. How can you restore a course from a backup in Moodle?
a) Site administration > Restore
b) Course administration > Restore
c) User administration > Restore
d) Backup management > Restore

**Answer:** b) Course administration > Restore

#### 18. Which report in Moodle provides information about site-wide logs and user activity?
a) Logs report
b) Course participation report
c) Activity report
d) Site-wide activity report

**Answer:** a) Logs report

#### 19. What does the "Scheduled task" feature in Moodle do?
a) Runs tasks at predefined intervals
b) Schedules user enrollments
c) Schedules course completion
d) Automates course backups

**Answer:** a) Runs tasks at predefined intervals

#### 20. What is the function of the "Boost" theme in Moodle?
a) It is a responsive theme for modern interfaces
b) It is used for boosting course content loading speed
c) It provides additional plugins
d) It enhances the database performance

**Answer:** a) It is a responsive theme for modern interfaces

#### 21. Which setting controls whether users can self-enroll in courses?
a) Course settings > Enrollment methods
b) Site administration > Plugins > Self-enrollment
c) Site administration > Users > Enrollment
d) Course administration > Self-enrollment

**Answer:** a) Course settings > Enrollment methods

#### 22. How can administrators restrict access to Moodle based on IP address?
a) Security settings > IP blocker
b) Site administration > Security > IP blocker
c) User management > IP restrictions
d) Server > Security > IP blocker

**Answer:** b) Site administration > Security > IP blocker

#### 23. What tool can administrators use to import and export user accounts in bulk?
a) Upload users tool
b) User import/export tool
c) Bulk user management
d) CSV import/export

**Answer:** a) Upload users tool

#### 24. How can you change the front page settings, such as what is displayed when users first visit the site?
a) Site administration > Front page settings
b) Appearance > Front page
c) Site administration > Appearance > Front page settings
d) Theme settings > Front page

**Answer:** c) Site administration > Appearance > Front page settings

#### 25. What is the purpose of the "Rebuild context paths" function?
a) To fix broken course links
b) To restore default user roles
c) To refresh the site’s cache
d) To fix issues with role assignments and contexts

**Answer:** d) To fix issues with role assignments and contexts

#### 26. Which setting allows Moodle administrators to define site-wide text filters, such as converting URLs to links?
a) Site administration > Plugins > Filters
b) Appearance > HTML settings
c) Site administration > Text filters
d) Course settings > Filters

**Answer:** a) Site administration > Plugins > Filters

#### 27. Where can an administrator set up a custom Moodle URL (shortened URL)?
a) Site administration > Appearance > Custom URL
b) Site administration > Server > URL Rewriting
c) Plugins > URL management
d) This feature is not available by default in Moodle

**Answer:** d) This feature is not available by default in Moodle

#### 28. How can you configure Moodle to send out email notifications?
a) Site administration > Server > Email
b) Site administration > Plugins > Message outputs > Email
c) Site administration > Notifications
d) User management > Email settings

**Answer:** b) Site administration > Plugins > Message outputs > Email

#### 29. What is the purpose of the "Completion tracking" feature in Moodle?
a) To monitor the completion status of courses by students
b) To track course creation by administrators
c) To manage course enrollments
d) To automate course backups

**Answer:** a) To monitor the completion status of courses by students

#### 30. Which Moodle plugin type allows you to extend the core functionality of the Moodle gradebook?
a) Gradebook plugins
b) Report plugins
c) Local plugins
d) Question type plugins

**Answer:** a) Gradebook plugins

---

These questions should help assess the key knowledge areas for Moodle administrators. You can use these in your quiz directly or customize them further to suit your specific requirements.
---------------------------------------------------------------
...It's not the final solution (some questions are too easy and I miss real pro questions) but as a starting point - not bad

Re: The Moodle A-Challenge

by Tim Hunt - Tuesday, 20 August 2024, 2:47 PM

I am far less impressed than you. Knowing exactly where settings are hidden in the Moodle admin menus is not important knowledge for Moodle admin. (There is always admin search.)

Being able ti know which setting to look for to acheve a particular need of your organisation or users is, and I don't see many questions like that.

Also, quite a lot of inaccuracies (e.g. Athentication is not a plugin, it is a type of plugin.)

The limiting factor in education is not a lack badly worded multiple choice questions.

(Also, really good human-created Moodle administrator courses are available on Moodle Academy.)

Re: The Moodle A-Challenge

by Gemma Lesterhuis - Tuesday, 20 August 2024, 7:06 PM

I agree with you Tim, though do you know you could ask ChatGPT to transform your questions into the right XML format so you can import them easily ?
For that is a little more usefull use of ChatGPT .

Re: The Moodle A-Challenge

by Thomas Niedermaier - Tuesday, 20 August 2024, 7:46 PM

You're right: The questions are not really good. And that is my fault, I am an absolute beginner and my prompt is obviously not good enough. But the result is good enough for me to have a closer look to this subject and to try to learn to create better prompts. This ChatGPT's answer is far more than google would ever give me.
This pitching idea shall not be a competitor to the excellent Moodle academy courses. I would just like to bring a whiff of gamification to the Moodle admin world.
And I would really like to know what an acknowledged Moodle expert like you thinks about the limiting factor of education (elearning and Moodle)! But this is another story, I'm afraid...