Microsoft’s Moodle Connections

Office Add-in for Moodle

Uploading files to Moodle has never been easier.  The Office Add-in for Moodle (OAM) is an add-in for Microsoft Office (versions 2003 and 2007) that allows teachers to open and save Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents to a Moodle website.

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Today, teachers who use Office and Moodle have to switch back and forth between their web browser and Office applications.  With the OAM, teachers can create, open, edit, and save Moodle documents from within the Office applications.  You no longer need to use your web browser when working with Office documents stored in Moodle.

For a quick look visit Microsoft’s Channel 9 site for the video overview titled Office Add-in For Moodle Now Available.

Configuring Moodle to use Microsoft Office SharePoint Server as its file system

Configuring Moodle to use Microsoft Office SharePoint Server as its file system finally brings all the advantages of a full featured document management system – including file versioning and file recovery – to the Moodle community.

SharePoint Server provides Moodle users with a “safety net” for their Moodle files. For example, when a Moodle instance uses SharePoint Server as a file system, any file saved to Moodle can be accessed and restored—even if a teacher or an administrator accidentally deletes the file. Depending on how Moodle and SharePoint Server instances are configured, SharePoint can also be an alternative and possibly more convenient means for finding, accessing, and managing Moodle files.

Microsoft Live Services Plug-in for Moodle

Moodle site administrators can now include Microsoft Live Services in the list of features provided to teachers and students through Moodle. With the Microsoft Live Services Plug-in for Moodle, students and teachers can use their Windows Live IDs to sign in to Moodle and access Live Services, such as e-mail, instant messenger, and calendar without leaving Moodle.

Need Windows Live IDs? Enrolling your school with Live@edu provides students, staff, faculty, and alumni with free, hosted e-mail addresses and access to Live Services they can use to collaborate and communicate online. With Live@edu, you can provision Windows Live IDs for everyone at your school, which can also be used to sign in to Moodle.

For a quick look visit Microsoft’s Channel 9 site for the video overview titled Education Labs release Windows Live Moodle Plug-in.

Also, check out this TechNet Port25 article The Microsoft Live Services Plug-in for Moodle Debuts.