mguhlin

#Moodle 2.2 Questionnaire Woes

Source: http://www.novisystems.com/Images/survey-tool.png

This past week at the TCEA 2012 conference, I had to put everything on hold to setup a questionnaire. Since I’d transitioned our Moodle 1.9.x to 2.2 version, running the latest version of the beloved Questionnaire module, I figured everything would work great (no, I didn’t really think that). In all seriousness, I found myself trying to get guest users access to a questionnaire (embedded in Moodle 2.2) that would be filled out by tons of folks.

In spite of multiple, helpful responses cited below, I couldn’t get it done.

Helpful Responses from MoodleMayhem.org email list folks:
  • One gentleman from Eagle-Mountain Saginaw ISD called me on the phone and helped troubleshoot the issue. In fact, he figured it out all on his own! Amazing! Thank you!
  • Have you done an override in activity permissions. YES
  • Well I don’t have much experience of Questionnaire in 2 but in 1.9 you need to give guests permission to complete a questionnaire so I would say – go to the Settings block for your questionnaire and click Permissions and ensure you have allowed (with a +) guests to complete a questionnaire. YES I HAVE.
  • Actually- I have a vague memory of guests not being able to do questionnaires in Moodle 2 and when I went to moodle.org it was confirmed – http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=167991
That last bullet or “nail” confirmed my fears. The reason why wasn’t that I had failed to enable guest access in Moodle 2.2 for Questionnaire, but that the feature that made the Questionnaire such a sought after commodity in Moodle 1.9.x had been secured by Moodle developers.
What!?!? Secured!? Who do these people think they are? Ok, let me count down:
  1. Questionnaire module locked down and eliminating my top use of it in K-12 schools–allowing anonymous takers of the questionnaire to fill it out and submit results.
  2. File management in Moodle 2.2 is just crazy, I don’t care what those people think or say. Who came up with this craziness?!? I heard this complaint over and over at Moodle Academy last week at the TCEA 2012 State Conference. Wake up, Moodle Developers!! 
  3. Did you know that enabling guest access on a Moodle 2.2 is a pain in the rear?
Consider the following steps one has to take to enable it:
Howdy! Could you help me? I’m trying to enable guest access to a course in Moodle 2.2 so that guests–anyone–can complete a questionnaire. The error message I get is:
“You are not eligible to take this questionnaire.”

What changes do I need to make to my Moodle to allow that?
Here’s what I’ve tried to do (unsuccessfully):
1) Enable Guest Access via:
Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Enrolments > Manage enrol plugins)

Click to enlarge
2)  Add Guest Access Enrolment plugin
Settings > Course administration > Users > Enrolment methods

3) Guest Access in Course Settings is Set to YES
4) Guest login is turned on by default for the Moodle Site
Settings>Site administration>Users>Permissions>User policies

5) Override Guest Permissions in Questionnaire Settings

Alas, Babylon!

So, what other alternatives remain for self-hosted survey tools?

  • Setup a login/pwd that anyone can use. Defeats the purpose. yuck.
  • Use LimeSurvey.
  • You tell me.
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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure

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