Moodle Plugin

The Kialo Moodle plugin is the easiest way for institutions to set up Kialo integration in the Moodle platform. For institutions unable to use the plugin on Moodle, you can manually set up Kialo as an LTI tool.

About Using the Kialo Moodle Plugin

• Kialo discussions can be integrated as an activity directly in Moodle through the Kialo plugin. Please ask your IT department to install the Kialo Moodle plugin for a seamless integration with Kialo.
• When accessing Kialo Edu via the plugin or LTI:
  • students and teachers will be automatically signed into Kialo using their Moodle email address.
  • in discussions, students are automatically assigned the Writer role, while teachers are assigned the Admin role.

Installing the Kialo Plugin in Moodle

The Kialo plugin can be downloaded from the official Moodle plugin directory. To install the plugin, see the MoodleDocs installing plugins article for up-to-date instructions.

Adding a Kialo Discussion as an Activity in Moodle

After you have installed the Kialo plugin, to add a discussion as an activity:

1. Open your Moodle course.
2. Enable Edit mode.
3. Click Add an activity or resource in the appropriate topic.
4. Select the Kialo Discussion activity.
5. Add a custom Activity Name if desired.
6. Click Select Discussion. A list of discussions appears in which you have the Admin or Owner role.
7. Select the desired discussion or create a new one, then click Select Discussion.
8. Adjust any further settings if required, then click the appropriate Save button.

Using the Kialo Plugin with Moodle Group Mode

The Kialo plugin does not currently inherently support Moodle group mode, however you can use a workaround. Inherent Moodle group support is planned in Q2 2024 – submit your email address to be notified when it is released.

If group mode is enabled, each group would normally receive their own instance of the same activity. Currently, using the Kialo plugin normally with group mode will result in all groups receiving access to the same Kialo discussion, rather than each group receiving their own discussion.

As a workaround, you can manually create a Kialo activity for each group, then use the restrict access setting to only show each activity to the desired group:

1. Ensure your Moodle groups are set up as usual and create the desired starter Kialo discussion for your groups.
   
2. In Kialo, clone the discussion until you have an equal amount of discussions and groups. For example, if there are four groups, clone the discussion three times so there are four discussions total. You may find it useful to number each discussion title to keep track easier.
   
3. Create and set the restriction rules for the first discussion:
   • Create a Kialo activity in Moodle using the first Kialo discussion.
   • In the Restrict Access section of the activity settings, click the Add restriction button.
   • Click Grouping.
   • Select the first group.
   • Click Add Restriction.
   • Save the activity.
4. Repeat the previous step for each group, selecting the appropriate Kialo discussion activity and group for each step. When finished, you should have a Kialo activity for each group with a separate discussion selected.

Once complete, you will be able to view separate Kialo activities and discussions for each group, and each group will have its own activity.

How accounts are managed

For Teachers

Teachers accessing Kialo via LTI need to be signed in on Kialo Edu (https://kialo-edu.com) in order to use the activity. If they are already signed in to Kialo, they can immediately use the LTI activity. Otherwise, they are prompted to log in (or create an account) the first time they click on Select content, or when opening an already configured Kialo activity.

For Students

Students who access Kialo via an LTI activity are usually automatically provided with a Kialo account with the same email address as provided by the LMS. The exact behavior depends on whether an account with the same email address already existed previously and some other factors.

Generally, if no Kialo account with the student’s email address has existed previously, a new account will be automatically created and the student is automatically signed into that account whenever they access Kialo via LTI. Subsequently, in most cases students won’t receive a login prompt.

If a Kialo account with the student’s email address has already existed before accessing Kialo via LTI, the student is prompted to log into that account by entering their password. Once they have entered their password, the account is linked to the LMS, so that the next time they access Kialo via LTI they are automatically signed in (even if they have been logged out of https://kialo-edu.com or if they access it via LTI on a different computer).

For security reasons, the student may be prompted to re-enter their password in certain circumstances, e.g. when they add or change an authentication method on their Kialo account.

Student Account Provisioning Details

When accounts are automatically created during the LTI process, their Kialo username is derived from the LMS account details. If still available, the Kialo account will have the same username as the account in the LMS. If the name is not available or invalid in Kialo, a valid account name will automatically be generated based on the student’s full name.

For provisioned student accounts, the Kialo terms and conditions are implicitly accepted, without the students having to explicitly check any checkboxes.