{"id":1230,"date":"2020-06-03T08:45:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-03T06:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpethzprd.ethz.ch\/letblog\/?p=1230"},"modified":"2023-06-06T09:16:52","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T07:16:52","slug":"deeper-integration-moodle-and-safe-exam-browser-take-their-relationship-to-the-next-level","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethz.ch\/letblog\/2020\/06\/03\/deeper-integration-moodle-and-safe-exam-browser-take-their-relationship-to-the-next-level\/","title":{"rendered":"Deeper integration. Moodle and Safe Exam Browser take their relationship to the next level"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For many years, ETH has been using two open-source software projects: Safe Exam Browser<\/a> (SEB) and Moodle<\/a> are the foundation of online assessment at ETH Z\u00fcrich. They work together seamlessly but the management of SEB configurations is somewhat complicated. With the brand-new release of Moodle 3.9 in early June 2020, the integration was improved significantly to support a number of different online exam scenarios. For example, in a bring your own device (BYOD) scenario admins now have the possibility of enabling teachers to configure SEB settings directly in a quiz. Admins can manage templates of SEB settings that are provided to teachers via the quiz settings in Moodle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A development project between two open source communities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Two
Two popular open source software close ranks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How did this come about?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, a\nmember of LET was on sabbatical<\/a> in Australia and visited Moodle\u2019s headquarters<\/a>. During this visit, the idea arose that these two popular open-source\nsolutions should work together on a deeper level. Together with the Moodle team\nat Bern University of Applied Science, the Moodle team at ETH Z\u00fcrich planed a\ndevelopment project and wrote user stories. During this phase, it became clear,\nthat the estimated amount of work could not be handled by these two\ninstitutions alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A crowdsourced project \u2013 eight universities and two companies acted in concert<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With the user stories in our hands, we reached out to communities like SAMoo<\/a>, MoodleDACH<\/a>, SIG E-Assessment<\/a> and Moodle-Forum<\/a>. After dozens of calls, meetings and discussions, a further six universities (Zurich University of Applied Sciences<\/a>, Ruhr-Universit\u00e4t Bochum<\/a>, Berlin School of Economics and Law<\/a>, University of Applied Sciences Neubrandenburg<\/a>, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria<\/a>, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover<\/a>) agreed to contribute to the project. The code was developed by Catalyst IT<\/a>, a Moodle Partner in Australia, with advice and support by Moodle HQ and the SEB development team. A diverse project team then worked together closely to find solutions for very different exam scenarios. Within only six months the integration was submitted for integration in the Moodle core version 3.9 and new SEB versions were published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Configure Safe Exam Browser directly in Moodle <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Screenshot of the new settings in the quiz activity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Usually Safe Exam Browser has to be configured via its Config Tool. In Moodle 3.9 teachers can do this directly in Moodle and for each separate Quiz activity. This is extremely helpful for e-assessments in a BYOD scenario. There is no need to provide a separate SEB settings file to students before the exam anymore. As students access the quiz, Moodle hands out the SEB configuration file and SEB is reconfigured as required by the student\u2019s device. This means teachers can set a different SEB quit password for every attempt, configure different additional software for different quizzes, and because it is that easy to configure you can consider using SEB in formative quizzes to help students to focus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project learnings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This\nproject was challenging in many ways. There were many different stakeholders, tight\ndeadlines, two big open source communities, and different locations and time\nzones. Here are the most important learnings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n