[Closed JomSocial Integration: Moodle to JS Groups

Idea for deeper integration of Moodle Courses and Roles into JomSocial Groups.

1. Ability for JomSocial groups to be automatically created based on:
a. Role type (admin, teacher, parent, etc.)
b. Course creation (Math 101, Art 101, etc.)
c. Admin area needed to show list of roles and courses in Moodle. Admin to check box next to each role or course they want to have a JS Group linked to Moodle.
d. In admin area, ability to "Select all" for all roles and/or courses.

2. Ability for Users to automatically be enrolled in JomSocial group as their role is added in Moodle.
a. If role in Moodle is Teacher, Student, Parent, etc. they would automatically be subscribed to the corresponding JomSocial group.
b. If user is enrolled in course, they would automatically be enrolled in JomSocial Group.

3. Should user role change or course enrollment change, they should be automatically removed from the JomSocial group. Should role or course be removed from Moodle, corresponding group should be removed.

4. Single point to manage - Moodle should be primary source of role and course data. Should not be able to override from JomSocial. User role or course info should be changed in Moodle to make corresponding change in JomSocial group. i.e. Moodle = Master; JomSocial = Slave.

5. Moodle Activity Module - ability for teacher to place an activity module (could be simple link) within Moodle course that links to their JomSocial Group for class interaction.

Benefits:
Admin, teachers, students can send messages, write on group walls, post videos / pics, etc. based on Moodle role and course enrollment. Easy way to communicate with all teachers, parents, students, etc.

Comments:
Not sure if best approach would be to use existing Groups App for JomSocial or create a new App - i.e. Joomdle Groups for JomSocial.

Thanks for the detailed thought on this. We have started on JS Groups for courses already. Thus far, the groups are created based on the courses and users are included when registered like you have suggested. It is not as functional yet however.

Perhaps, we can send you the version early if you would like to test. This should be in 1-2 weeks.

Perfect - Thanks! Will be happy to test on our dev platform for you.

Hi.

Reading your comments I am not sure exactly how you envision the group-course correspondence.

As of now, it is implemented 1-1, meaning there is one group for each course.
There, teachers are group admins, and the rest (parent, student) are regular members

You seem to think about several groups for each course, each for each role? Please, can you explain a little?

1 to 1 for each course. Additionally one group for teachers, one group for parents, one group for students, etc. That way we could send one message to all parents, etc.

Make sense?

Ah ok, you mean general groups for all teachers, parents, students, not related to any specific course.

Just some thoughts here... I think this "general groups" part will have to wait for next release.

This would involve, as you predicted:
- Admin area, for defining which roles should have groups attached to them
- Event handlers in moodle that would enrol the users in the relevant group if needed, everytime they enrol in some course.

Hi there,

The assumption I have made, since we are talking about parents, teachers and students, is that you are also running JoomlaXi's multi profile types. If so, any user who registers and belongs to any of those groups will be assigned to the JS Groups defined in the profile type definition.

Is this sufficient for now? Is this sufficient in general?

Good question - after thinking about it - JoomlaXI multi-profile types is set at registration. It isn't synced after that. That said, these groups likely do not change much. It is sufficient for now.

Having groups per class linked to Moodle is more important as this does change significantly over time.

I think what Chris suggests is the only way to do it, as Moodle roles are per course, not per user.