Learning the World

Moodle 1.8.2 is out, and includes fixes for two XSS vulnerabilities. It also includes the following improvements, none of which address issues we’ve been having with Moodle 1.8.1 (more on those later):

Bug

• [MDL-7759] – some help files are missing (e.g. in the scorm module whatgrade.html and maxattempt.html)
• [MDL-9051] – No admin setting for $CFG->forum_enabletimedposts
• [MDL-9141] – Missing lang strings in ‘othersettings’
• [MDL-9143] – missing help file scorm/package.html
• [MDL-9236] – scorm/player.php doesn’t use theme’s footer logic
• [MDL-9270] – Edit Questionnaire mode faulty navigation
• [MDL-9364] – Broken Links to Help Files in SCORM Module
• [MDL-9570] – missing language translations in scorm\mod_form.php
• [MDL-9599] – Glossary terms revert back to ‘Not categorized’ when using categories.
• [MDL-9720] – Missing varible
• [MDL-9748] – Missing help file
• [MDL-9836] – Authorize.net / SSL Config Bug prevents display of options from enrol/authorize/enrol.php
• [MDL-9919] – Link to help files are wrong when adding a SCORM/AICC activity
• [MDL-10027] – Survey complains that I have not completed the survey when I have.
• [MDL-10036] – Browse repository button doesn’t appear on IMS resource
• [MDL-10091] – “A required parameter (id) was missing” error given when clicking on GROUPS button (which shouldn’t be available)
• [MDL-10093] – An administrator or course-creator assigned at category context cannot restore new courses
• [MDL-10122] – Search Courses form does not complies with WAI AA and Section 508
• [MDL-10144] – Weak include in
• [MDL-10148] – hard coded lang strings in user/message.html
• [MDL-10154] – Journal intro doesn’t show on the journal view page (patch included)
• [MDL-10155] – detect failed regexes duing multilang upgrade
• [MDL-10175] – Issue Exporting Calendar
• [MDL-10234] – Fail to correctly import images in questions from XML exported file
• [MDL-10242] – Missing strings in Scorm
• [MDL-10254] – Typo3 library loading failure
• [MDL-10264] – undefined function called in moodlelib.php
• [MDL-10309] – Broken password expiration support for LDAP user types rfc2307 and rfc2307bis
• [MDL-10311] – Group import broken
• [MDL-10355] – undefined function strislashes() in moodle/auth/pam/auth.php
• [MDL-10375] – Wrong (undefined) mnethostid prevents guest access sometimes…

Improvement

• [MDL-10237] – The sequence of the feedback forms for true-false questions is confusing

New Feature

• [MDL-8327] – moved column width settings from the index.php/format.php files to theme/config.php – more flexible
• [MDL-8328] – New Moodle 1.8 theme

Sub-task

• [MDL-9572] – additional missing translations
• [MDL-10072] – Removing question/type/datasetdependent/categorydatasetdefinitions.php

Technology in the class room is the focus of an upcoming LVAIC symposium, and news of the event leads off the latest edition of the ITS Coffee Break, recorded on location at the Cosmic Cup Coffee Co. on College Hill. Hosts Ken Newquist and Courtney Bentley also have news about the network upgrade project and upcoming outages associated with it, as well as an update about progress with Moodle.

In Tech News, they discuss the much hyped iPhone, review Google Maps new “drag your route” feature, get organized with Unclutterer.com, and discover how to build things from scratch with Instructables.com. News about July and August workshops and of just-added Moodle documentation rounds out the podcast.

• Download the MP3 directly
• Subscribe to the Soapbox podcast rss feed using an aggregator (you only need to do this once; subsequent shows should download automatically)
• Subscribe to the Soapbox feed via iTunes

One of my major summer projects is migrating the campus from Blackboard to Moodle, and in the process, moving Moodle from its 1.7.1 pilot incarnation to its 1.8.x production one. To that end, I’ve been hanging out quite a bit at the Moodle 1.8 Experience group at EduSpaces. It’s proven to be a useful place for tracking down bugs and simply talking about Moodle 1.8; granted you can do all that on Moodle.org, but the noise-to-content ratio is much better.

Here’s a few organization/productivity/self-improvement sites that I read regularly:

• 43 Folders: A “Getting Things Done”-oriented site, but it’s still useful for those who haven’t drunk the GTD Kool Aid.
• LifeHack: Recent posts include “How To Use Deadlines”, “Read the Classics to Improve Your Mind”, and “How to Increase Virtual Memory in Windows XP”
• LifeHacker: More tech-oriented life hacks, including “Read/write to NTFS drives on your Mac”, “Soundproof your apartment” and “Speed up OpenOffice”
• Mind Hacks: By the authors of the O’Reilly book of the same name (which is available through Lafayette’s Safari Tech Books subscription)