We’ve launched a new free, self-paced MOOC for all PHP developers who want to learn the basics of Moodle Plugin Development – available now on learn.moodle.org
The Moodle LMS is a big open source project and, as such, it grows and thrives with contributions from not only our team at Moodle HQ, but also from hundreds of volunteer developers who contribute their time and code to create new functionalities, fix bugs and overall enhance Moodle for everyone.
Taking the first steps into developing Moodle, however, might be a bit daunting for newbies in the community. That’s why our Moodle Community Engagement team has created the new Moodle Plugin Development Basics MOOC.
A practical MOOC to learn the essential of Moodle plugin development
Designed for PHP developers who want to get familiar with Moodle development and set themselves up to contribute to Moodle, Moodle Plugin Development Basics includes a series of practical tasks in which you’ll learn to set up a Moodle development environment or to actually implement a demo plugin.
Plus, when you sign up as a student for the Moodle Dev Basics MOOC, you have the chance to use Moodle just like learners do:
The course serves two purposes – it’s not just a basic tutorial on the first steps into Moodle plugin development – it’s also a great opportunity for developers to experience Moodle as a student – something very few of them will ever have done and yet it’s really important!” David Mudrák, Senior Developer at Moodle HQ and creator of the Moodle Plugin Development Basics MOOC
Understanding Moodle’s modular architecture
Knowing how Moodle is structured is essential to make sure that your first steps into Plugin Development go in the right direction. Moodle Plugin Development Basics MOOC will teach you essential concepts related to Moodle’s modular architecture to make strategic choices in your approach.
“As part of my role in Moodle, I review plugins contributed by our global community. This gave me and other plugins reviewers a good insight into the areas essential for good quality plugin development. More often than not, the most important decisions need to be made right at the beginning. While you can fix some code later on, the overall design of the plugin can’t be easily changed without starting again from scratch. So with this in mind, we created this course to help new developers master the skill of wise decision-making.” David Mudrák
Take a sneak peak at the contents of Moodle Plugin Development Basics MOOC
The topics included in the MOOC are:
- Development environment
- Plugin types
- Plugin folder name and contents
- Request handling
- Localisation
- Page layout and output essentials
- Site navigation
- Administration settings
- Database tables and SQL enquiries
- Access control and security
To be able to go through the MOOC successfully, you will need some experience of PHP web applications, HTML, JavaScript, SQL queries and general web application principles such as HTTP.
Ready to take your first steps into Moodle development? Sign up for our free MOOC!
