Message-ID: <10678227.1182532582690.JavaMail.joeescobar@joe-escobars-computer.local>
Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2007 23:05:46 -0800 (PST)
From: moodleadmin
Reply-To: Online@lanecc.edu
Subject: Moodle mail issues
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Folks,

Jennifer Love's messages has made me think a little more about the email is=
sue, whence this message.  I'm trying to figure out the best direction for =
handling Moodle messages, and I'd like your thoughts.  (Stephen and Todd, y=
ou're welcome to chime in, but I mostly cc:d you to keep you in the loop.)=
=20

Joe, you've suggested the "InternalMail" plugin as a good substitute for Mo=
odle's built-in mail functionality.  They've just released a new version, w=
hich they claim is compatible with Moodle 1.7/1.8 as well as 1.6, which is =
good news.  But I'm not sure that's the direction we want to go in.  Here's=
 what I mean.

The use of internal mail requires a paradigm shift from how we've done thin=
gs for the last two terms, which have assumed that "email" (which is diffic=
ult to define because of the way that Moodle morphs internal, IM-style mess=
ages into email depending on whether the user's logged in or not, as well a=
s other factors) means email sent to the address registered as the user's e=
mail address in Moodle.  Thus, we'd be going from the user-has-an-external-=
email-address model, where things get forwarded outside of Moodle, to one w=
here each user has a virtual Moodle mailbox that's the target for messages.=
  There are advantages to that strategy, but it does require re-educating o=
ur students and our faculty to explain how (and why) things are working dif=
ferently.  I'm looking at the number of weeks between now and Spring term, =
and thinking about having to re-orient our users to how things will be diff=
erent, and thinking about having to potentially debug a plugin where the do=
cumentation is only available in Spanish, and thinking: I really don't want=
 to go there right now.

Here's what I propose.

The QuickMail block, which we had in earlier instances of Moodle, now seems=
 to work fine with 1.6.  I would like to go ahead and install that block, a=
nd announce to the faculty that we are making it available in test mode, to=
 see how well it works for them.  That block has, I think, three advantages=
:

- It's very easy to use. =20
- It doesn't have the bugs that the existing internal messaging system does=
 (it still doesn't correctly process HTML entities like <>, for example).
- It eliminates the confusion between internal messaging and email: when yo=
u send a QuickMail, you know you're sending an email message, not a message=
 that may be sent as an email depending on whether your receipients are log=
ged in, whether their profiles are set to automatically email messages when=
 off-line, and so forth.

As long as we're clear that this is a test, and we don't yet know whether w=
e'll use it in Spring 2007, I don't think we have anything to lose by a tri=
al run.  While that happens, we'll have a little time to think about the lo=
nger-term strategy for Moodle messaging (whether we want to use the equival=
ent of internal, Moodle 'mailboxes' with InternalMail, or continue to use e=
xternal addresses).  Of course, there may be other technical issues that I'=
m forgetting--so please remind me of any technical concerns that are releva=
nt here.

Anyway: any thoughts?

David


----
David Walton
Web/Moodle administration and identity management
Information Technology
Lane Community College
Email: waltond@lanecc.edu
Voice: 541-463-3367


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