Pearson, a US-based provider of educational content and services, announced the upcoming release of Equella 5.2 (QA 2) the latest version of its digital repository that enables users to search, create and manage content online. The release introduces advanced integration capabilities with Moodle 2.3, the latest version of the learning management system. Moodle is a software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites.
The enhanced Equella and Moodle integration enables instructors within the Moodle community to select Equella content and populate it into their course without ever leaving the Moodle application.
It is projected to lead to other enhancements also. These include a simplified search functionality that retains previous searches for ease-of-use, and the extension of the filtering and sorting capabilities within the file picker, which are now shown in drop-down menus within the same page view. Other enhancements include direct access to the repository’s media content including streaming media, SCORM and IMS packages, zipped web pages, and other complex learning objects from within Moodle.
The integration is additionally expected to offer a new way of referencing internal and external content in Moodle, similar to an “alias” or a “shortcut” on traditional operating systems; and the introduction of bulk update, which enables a single piece of content to appear in multiple places throughout Moodle courses.
