I have been wracking my brain around the problems with integrating Alfresco and Moodle 2 and file handling for almost a year now. I know many other Moodle users with similar concerns and problems.  I even wrote a whitepaper on the topic: Moodle 2 – Alfresco Integration.

It looks like a German company named edu-sharing* has solved my main problems:

  • one central external repository (Alfresco – not copied into Moodle)
  • updates to assets in the repository update all links in Moodle
  • use of metadata for searching
  • no accidental deletion of files
  • use of files across courses
  • a simple user-interface from within Moodle so the Moodle user doesn’t have to switch between systems to load to Alfresco first and then login to Moodle to link
  • SSO between Moodle and Alfresco
  • and so much more!

Seriously – this is the solution I have been looking for and will be excited to test!!!

Thank you edu-sharing! And thank you to Geoffrey Roland for posting about this in the Moodle.org forums.

*English translation: click on flag at top right corner of screen.

Update 10/23/12 from edu-sharing.org:

“We have a new version of edu-sharing 1.6 with integration of resources in Moodle wysiwyg fields. Try our demo to see how it works. Then next edu-sharing version is based on Alfresco 4.x.”

They also have a VM version (but know the “integration is not easy”).

Just wanted to share this with folks. I’m no longer working actively on this integration, but I believe it is important to note that the partners involved are keeping up on issues.

– Mary