Chapter 1, Getting to Grips with the Moodle 3 Architecture, introduces the ethos of the Moodle project and how it has influenced the internal architecture. We prepare ourselves for plugin development by installing the tools we need.
Chapter 2, Moodle plugins - What Can I Plug In?, investigates the main plugin types, such as those dealing with users and how they access the platform. Also, it covers plugins that provide the learning interactions that users experience when they take a course. We also looks at the less obvious plugins, such as filters.
Chapter 3, Internal Interfaces, shows the different types of application programming interfaces (APIs) Moodle provides to support plugin development.
Chapter 4, Course Management, demonstrates how courses can be enhanced through the development of novel course formats. We see how plugins can be used to modify course structure and, by so doing, enhance teaching.
Chapter 5, Creative TeachingDeveloping Custom Resources and Activities, shows that there are two types of teaching interaction: resources and activities. Both of these are types of course module plugin. In this chapter, you will learn how Moodle course plugins work, which scripts need to be present in order for your plugin to behave correctly, and how to modify course plugins to fit your needs.
Chapter 6, Managing Users - Letting in the Crowds, explores how plugins can manage users in a variety of different contexts. We develop two novel plugins, one to authenticate users against an external WordPress site using OAuth, and another to automatically enroll users onto courses when they connect to Moodle via WordPress.
Chapter 7, Creating a Dashboard - Developing a Learner Homepage, teaches us how plugins can be used to create an enhanced learner homepage. Gamification is all about using the same tricks and techniques employed by game developers to entice learners into progressing with courses. In this chapter, we learn how plugins can be developed to promote similar techniques.
Chapter 8, Creating a New Skin, focuses on aesthetics after we have concerned ourselves with functionality. We investigate how Moodle can be rebranded through theme plugins, with a particular focus on support for mobile and tablet devices.
Chapter 9, Moodle Analytics, showcases how to develop plugins to monitor and analyze learner behavior. We learn how to extract data efficiently, how to judge the effectiveness of that extraction, and the various means by which data can be reported, including via a secure external interface.
