Jason Platts Lead Technical Developer The Open University An overview of how the Open University has incorporated bibliographic references within their Moodle-powered VLE References and bibliographic management within Moodle

How to ‘Hack’ TELSTAR WARNING!

It’s all about… Reference data: Creating Importing Interpreting Storing Displaying Providing

Moodle does: Creating (Interface) Importing (Accessing) Interpreting Storing Displaying Providing

RefWorks does: Creating Supplying (File + RSS) Storing (MyReferences) Displaying (Styling)

Generating reference data and importing into Moodle. We need data in a structured format Title: Using Moodle: Teaching with the popular open source course management system Author: Cole, Jason Publisher: O'Reilly Community Press Place of publication: Sebastopol, CA Year of publication: 2005 ISBN: Format: Book We need to collate references

References Generating reference data and importing into Moodle. RSS feedXMLRIS RefWorks XML Format Storing (MyReferences) Displaying (Styling)

What we’ve added to Moodle: Bespoke Modules References Filter References code library Resource Page + MyReferences

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page Internal OU module – used to present lists of resources used on a course to students. Might be several per course e.g. ‘Library resources’, ‘Block 1 optional readings‘. Resources: Files (usually PDF or mp3) Web links (inc RSS feeds) Links to other Moodle activities (forum etc) References (web links)

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page What we support: Web links References Files

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page References: Imported from file or RSS Styled (RefWorks) Link generated using ref data Ref data stored Interactivity (export)

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page Reference importing process File RSS 1.Check file 2.Convert 3.Sort 4.Get styled ref 5.Get Links 6.Get description ( ) 7.Create item 1.Check feed 2.Add feed title 3.Convert 4.Sort 5.Get styled ref 6.Get Links 7.Get description ( ) 8.Create item

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page Reference styling process Resource page mod APIBib

XML OpenURL service (SFX) Online source Generate OpenURL from data in XML: Looks at reference format (e.g. book) Uses set of ‘rules’ to form URL Manual override using set data fields SFX connects to Library catalogue and authentication services to ensure source is accessible Bespoke Modules: Resource Page Providing links to reference sources

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page Storing reference data Ref data (RefWorks XML) stored in Moodle DB Journal Article Author title journal full name 2010 volume issue start page Notes …

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page

Move reference data into other areas of the VLE MyStuff (e-portfolio) MyReferences (Moodle module) Collaborative activity (Moodle filter) – enables sharing of references Download reference data for import into bibliographic management software e.g. RefWorks, EndNote, Zotero Bespoke Modules: Resource Page Adding functionality to references

Bespoke Modules: Resource Page Key Files mod/resourcepage/ - Class based addreferences.php export_references.php extensions/rssfeed/rssfeed.php resourcepage_item.php – display reference

MyReferences Connects via API to users RefWorks accounts “Core” RefWorks functionality Simple familiar interface Extra functionality: “Shared” accounts Connect to other services “Push” references to students MyReferences – Bibliographic management module; integrating Moodle with RefWorks.

MyReferences Needs RefWorks API access key and password Contact RefWorks for this – free. You must have RefWorks at your institution. These details need adding to local/references/rwapi/rwapi/php

MyReferences mod/refworks - Class based (static classes) refworks_base.php – Main library refworks_connect.php – Connection to RW refworks_ref_api.php – RW API calls

Moodle Reference Filter This feature allows users to share reference data with each other in collaborative activities (wiki, forum, blog). 1.Export to filter format (Collaborative Activity) 2.Filter interpretation + display 1.Search for ref text (refworks xml) 2.Create text summary 3.Drop down of export types Uses AJAX to call export in background.

Moodle Reference Filter

Reference library Local/references/ Connection to external services RefWorks API WorldCat CrossRef Styling of references (RefWorks) Conversion types (import and/or export) Export menu Link generation

Uses RefWorks XML as data format RefWorks API: Supports all RefWorks features RESTful service (HTTP + XML) Authentication (access key + password) Accesses institution instance Reference library rwapi/rwapi.php – handles sessions + key functions RWAPI

Reference library Other services WorldCat (data from ISBN) CrossRef (data from DOI) File: getdata.php Connection details (user/password etc) hard-coded In this file. All services (inc RefWorks) are connected to using cURL library.

Reference library Reference styling APIBIB – Performs same function as RefWorks QuikBib service; but uses API. Imports refs into VLE ‘Master’ account in tmp folder. Uses API to return styled output. Deletes folder + refs.

Reference library Conversion Convert to and from RefWorks xml FormatImportExportExport type RefWorks XMLDownload RISDownload RefWorks RSS MyStuffExport Reference FilterExport RefWorks Direct ExportExport RDF-a (Experimental!)Export

Reference library Conversion convert/ folder Base class controls format. Tests contents. export.php – export functions Export menu Defines export type

Ideas for extra functionality Add references to other Moodle areas Add extra format support Other bibliographic formats Add extra features to resource page Populate from alternate source Use alternate services Reference styling

Want to find out more? Code released under open-source licence Advice