Using the Kialo Plugin in Moodle

About Using the Kialo Moodle Plugin

• Kialo discussions can be embedded 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.
• Students accessing Kialo discussions through Moodle will be automatically signed into Kialo using their Moodle email address.

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.

Alternatively, you can download the plugin from the Kialo GitHub repository. To install the plugin, see the Installation section.

Adding a Kialo Discussion as an Activity in Moodle

Note: To add a Kialo discussion as an activity in a Moodle course, you must have Admin permissions or higher in the discussion.

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 name of the discussion you want to embed, 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 currently does not currently inherently support Moodle group mode, however you can use a workaround. Inherent Moodle group support is planned in Q1 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 for each group. 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.