Developing New Tools in Moodle System

125 Pages·2017·7.24 MB·English

Republic of Iraq
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Thi-Qar University
College of Education for Pure sciences
Department of Computer Science

Developing New Tools in Moodle System
A Thesis Submitted to
The Council of the College of Education for Pure Sciences, Thi-Qar University, as a
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in
Computer Science

By
Nahla Flaih Hassani Alshuwaili
(B.Sc. Computer Science 2004)
Supervised By
Assistant Professor Dr. Kadhim Hasen Kuban Alibraheemi

February 2017 Jamada Al-awwal 1438
ةيلآا ىحضلا ةروس
Supervisor Certification
I certify that this thesis entitled “Developing New Tools in Moodle System “prepared by
”Nahla Flaih Hassani Alshuwaili” has been carried out completely under my supervision at the
Department of Computer Science, College of Education for pure Sciences /Thi-Qar University as a
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Computer Science.

Signature:

Assist Prof. Dr. Khadhim Hasen Kuban
Date: / 12 / 2016

The Recommendation of the Head of the Department
In view of the available recommendations, I forward this thesis for debate by the Examining
Committee

Signature:

Assist.Prof. Dr. Khaldun I. Arif
Date: / 12 / 2016
Certificate of the Examination Committee
We certify that we have read the thesis entitled "Developing New Tools in Moodle System",
and we have examined the student Nahla Flaih Hassani Alshuwaili in its contents and what is
related to it. In our opinion it meets the standard of a thesis for the degree of Master of Science in
Computer Science.

Signature: Signature:

Name: Dr. Ayad A. Abdulsalam Name: Dr. Hussein Ali Khouhder Alledane
Scientific title: Assistant Professor Scientific title: Assistant Professor
(Chairman) (Member)
Date: 2017/ / Date: 2017/ /

Signature: Signature:

Name: Dr. Khaldun I. Arif Name: Dr. Kadhim Hasen Kuban Alibraheemi
Scientific title: Assistant Professor Scientific title: Assistant Professor
(Member) (Member and Supervisor)
Date: 2017/ / Date: 2017/ /

Approved by the Dean of the College of Education for Pure Science, Thi-Qar University.

Signature:

Name: Dr. Rabeea H. Jari.
Scientific title: Assistant Professor.
(Dean of the College of Education for Pure Science, Thi-Qar University)
Date: 2017/ /
Dedication
To the light of ALLAH which is the guide of the rightly guided and
release the believers ...
To the dream of the prophets, the saints and the righteous ....
To the hope to the disadvantaged and the oppressed in the world .....
Our Imam and our leader Muhammad bin Al Hassan Al-Mahdi
( ALLAH hasten his Sharif reappearance).
To the person who Allah gave him the prestige and
dignity....Who taught me the generosity without waiting...
To who I carry his name proudly....I pray to ALLAH to put
him in the wide paradise....My dear father.
To my angel in life....The meaning of love, compassion and dedication
To who was her praying is the secret of my success....My mother,
ALLAH kept her for me.
To a burning candle to illuminate my life .... To the person
who with her I knew the meaning of life...My sister, the
virtuous teacher Nadwa Flaih.
To my brothers and sisters.
I dedicate my thesis
Nahla Flaih
Acknowledgements
Praise be to Allah the Lord of the worlds who lights our minds
with the light of knowledge and lits up our hearts with faith.
And who guided me and helped me to complete my thesis
and reach my achievement to the success and take the path
of science, thanks to ALLAH as a big as the heavens and the earth
and in night and day.
Then prayer and peace be upon the master of the human
being our prophetAbu Al- Qassim Muhammad and his
household (AS).
Then.. At the end of my studies of a master's degree I'd like to
extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to my teacher and advisor: the assistant
professor Dr. Kadhim H. Kuban Alibraheemi for his acceptance of supervision.
He was scientifically and carefully guided me and he has encouraging and
supporting me. I ask Allah to richly reward him and make this work in the
balance of his good deeds.
And I'd like to extend my sincere thanks to all the people who helped, stood
beside me, and guided me to obtain the Master degree especially:
Prof. Dr. Kadhim Mahdi Al-Musawi.
Assistant Professor Dr. Najah Rasul Al- Jabri.
The dean of the College of Education for Pure Sciences/Thi-Qar University,
assistant professor Dr. Rabi Hadi Jary.
The head of the Department of Computer Science /College of Education for
Pure Sciences/ Thi-Qar University, assistant professor Dr. Khaldoun I. Aref.
The head of English Language Department/ College of Arts/ Thi-Qar University,
Dr. Rajaa Sabar Al- Sharifi.
My great mother and my sister Nadwa and all of my family members.
Thi-Qar University.
Sumer University.
Members of Computer Science Department at the College of Education for Pure
Sciences/ Thi-Qar University.
Finally, I extend my sincere thanks to my teacher in my primary study in
computer sciences professor Dr. Jassim Tuma Srsouh may Allah have mercy on
him and put him in his wide paradise.

Nahla Flaih
Abstract
E-learning is the use of IT in learning and teaching. This usage improved the quality of learning
and teaching through facilitating access to resources and remote collaboration among teachers and
students. E-Learning makes it easier to create and distribute learning materials, independently of
geographical or time limits. It allows students to exchange information and participation in
activities.
There are many systems (software) development for management of E-learning (LMS). These
systems provide tools for simulation the traditional learning, development and support the
electronic learning.
LMS provides many tools to create, manage the examination, evaluate the grades and spread
question types.
The general aim of this thesis is to develop the LMS that has been increasingly used having
widespread in E-Learning in many countries. This system is "Moodle" which designed to
supporting electronic learning.
Moodle system is not satisfying conditions of the traditional exam copybook that is used in
examination committees in Iraqi universities in terms of security and accuracy.
"Single view" report in Moodle system allows the teacher to edit grades of "Quiz" activities.
Moodle system not provided question type in which the answering method is done through
selecting word from a given text; this idea is a suggested product for the development of Moodle
website in 2014 and doesn't have solution yet.
In this thesis, we proposed three main proposals:
1. Development of Moodle system to use it in the examinations in Iraqi Universities through
designing and implementation of new module named "Teacher view" to provide "The
Electronic Exam Copybook" which simulated the traditional exam copybook that is used in the
examination committees in these universities for assessment of student's answers. It also
presents documentation of detailed information about student's attempt on examination and
calculates the student's grades. This "Electronic Exam Copybook" satisfies all conditions of the
traditional exam copybook in terms of security and accuracy. Also, the proposed module
provides students' results in English and Arabic languages and manual of this module.
2. Overcome of the weakness in "Single view" report in Moodle system.
3. Development of Moodle system through designing and implementation of a new question type
called "Highlight words" in this system. The idea of answering method to this question type is
highlight word from a given clickable text.
We used the following requirements to design and implement the proposals tools in this thesis:
I
32 bit windows7 operating system, 2.30 GHz Core i3 processor, router device, WAMP server,
Moodle system (version 2.9) in English language, Mozilla Firefox web browser, Macromedia
Dreamweaver 8 and First object XML Editor software.

II
List of contents
Subject #Page
Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ I
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... VI
List of Abbreviation .................................................................................................................... VIII
Chapter One: Introduction 1-6
1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Problems Statement ................................................................................................................ 2
1.3 Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Problems Discussion ...............................................................................................................3
1.5 Related Works ........................................................................................................................ 4
1.6 Thesis Structure ...................................................................................................................... 6
Chapter Two: Moodle System Overview 7-18
2.1 Moodle system ....................................................................................................................... 7
2.1.1 Moodle system Development ......................................................................................... 7
2.1.2 Moodle system Features ................................................................................................. 8
2.2 Basic definitions ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.3 Users' roles in Moodle system ................................................................................................. 9
2.4 The Course ............................................................................................................................... 10
2.4.1 Course homepage ............................................................................................................ 10
2.4.2 Edit the course ................................................................................................................. 11
2.4.3 Activities and resources in Moodle system ..................................................................... 11
2.5 "Quiz" activity module in Moodle system ............................................................................... 13
2.5.1 Create "Quiz" activity ...................................................................................................... 13
2.5.2 Edit of settings of "Quiz" activity .................................................................................... 15
2.5.3 Delete of "Quiz" activity .................................................................................................. 15
2.6 Question types in Moodle system ............................................................................................ 15
2.7 Grades Reports in Moodle system ........................................................................................... 16
2.8 Moodle system implementation requirements ......................................................................... 18
Chapter Three: Proposed Developments Moodle System 19-87
3.1 Main Proposed Developments .................................................................................................. 19
3.2 Database and Structure of Moodle system .............................................................................. 19
3.3 Design and analysis of "The Electronic Exam Copybook" in Moodle system ....................... 21
3.3.1 Main functions of "Teacher view" module .................................................................... 21
3.3.2 Interfaces of "Teacher view" module ............................................................................ 23
III
3.3.2.1 "The Grade Book" interface ............................................................................... 24
3.3.2.2 "The Electronic Exam Copybook" interface ...................................................... 28
3.3.2.3 "The student's information and details information of his/her attempt .............. 35
on Quiz activity" interface
3.3.2.4 "The student's information and details information of not attempt on ............... 36
Quiz activity" interface
3.3.2.5 "Finish the assessment for all students' answers" interface ................................ 36
3.3.2.6 Students' results interfaces .................................................................................. 38
3.3.3 The proposed structure of "Teacher view" module ....................................................... 41
3.3.4 Design interfaces of "Teacher view" module ................................................................ 43
3.3.4.1 The proposed algorithms and database tables .................................................... 43
3.3.4.2 Design "The Grade Book" interface ................................................................... 45
3.3.4.3 Design "The Electronic Exam Copybook" interface .......................................... 46
3.3.4.4 Design "The student's information and details information of his/her ............... 56
attempt on Quiz activity" interface
3.3.4.5 Design "The student's information and details information ............................... 56
of not attempt on Quiz activity" interface
3.3.4.6 Design "Finish the assessment for all students' answers" interface ................... 56
3.3.4.7 Design "Students' results in alphabetical order by students' names" interface ... 57
(in English language)
3.3.4.8 Design "Students' results in alphabetical order by students' names" interface .... 59
(in Arabic language)
3.3.4.9 Design "Students' results in descending order" interface ................................... 60
(in English language)
3.3.4.10 Design "Students' results in descending order" interface ................................. 60
(in Arabic language)
3.4 Overview and Processing of The Drawback in "Single view" Report in Moodle system ....... 62
3.4.1 Overview of "Single view" report in Moodle system ..................................................... 62
3.4.2 Processing of the drawback in "Single view" report in Moodle system .......................... 64
3.5 Design and Analysis of "Highlight words" question type in Moodle system ......................... 66
3.5.1 The general properties of any question type in Moodle system ...................................... 66
3.5.2 Design and analysis of "Highlight words" question type in Moodle system ................... 69
3.5.2.1 The proposed structure of "Highlight words" question type ............................... 69
3.5.2.2 Design "Teacher" Interface ................................................................................. 71
3.5.2.3 Design "Student" interface .................................................................................. 75
IV