Moodle administration essentially covers all the aspects mentioned in previous sections. But since Moodle is very open, flexible, and modular, it provides some additional layers of functionality that other systems lack. These extra options sometimes require further tasks to be carried out. Some examples are:
Integration with other systems holding information about your learners and course participation (for example via LDAP).
Installation of third-party add-ons: There are well over 350 non-core modules that can be installed and which will then have to be looked after.
Networking: Moodle provides a unique feature to network Moodle systems across the Internet.
Integration with ever more popular e-portfolio systems, for instance Mahara.
Moodle can be skinned via themes. To create themes you need to have good HTML and CSS knowledge.
It is not necessary to have any programming skills to administer Moodle. However, if you wish to change any of the functionalities of VLE, it is necessary that you know PHP, the programming language in which Moodle has been developed. It is further recommended to be familiar with HTML and CSS. However, we won't cover any programming aspects of Moodle in this book.
Along with the tasks that have been mentioned in this introduction, some more will also be covered in great detail in this book.