PROJECT: LMS: Improve the integration of the Paella Player into the Moodle plugin(s)

[abias]

1. Aim/description

The Moodle plugins currently ship with a built-in Paella Player. This comes with some downsides which are documented on Opencast-Moodle/moodle-mod_opencast#74.

The aim of this project is to discuss alternative approaches to improve the UX and feature set of Paella in Moodle.

There isn't any preferred approach yet. Furthermore, it is unclear if there will be change requirements to Opencast core or not.

Depending on the agreed approach, the solution for Moodle might also fit for other LMS and could be adopted by them as well.

This issue is just a stub for capturing this requirement for the OC roadmap. Further specifications and discussions are needed.

2. After the issue has been created, please use project fields to the right to categorise your project:

• Funding: Funding needed
• Scope: L
• Area: LMS
• Begin/End: N/A

3. Additional information

• Responsible Person: Alexander Bias (ssystems)
• Additional Stakeholders: David Graf (UniBE), Farbod Zamani (ELAN)
• Related Feature Requests and Issues:
  • Refactoring: Re-think the Paella player deployment Opencast-Moodle/moodle-mod_opencast#74

[dagraf]

In roadmap meeting:
Start discussion about possible solutions, together with the ILIAS community (as they have similar problems) and with someone from Valencia

[dagraf]

Update: Seperate discussions took place in the Moodle and the ILIAS community and there was some exchange between the two communities. The goal is to agree on a solution together and then join forces. To this end, there will be exchange and working meetings before the DACH meeting in Jena and then at the DACH meeting itself.

[dagraf]

In roadmap meeting:

• Is an addition to JWT (addition of JWT to Paella) in order every LMS can profit from that.
• Refactoring of Paella is needed, partly already done/in progress for Paella Player 8. We will focus on PP8, not PP7. Suggestion: integrate PP8 in OC18, which should be possible without problems.
• What about Stud.IP: @ferishili (main developper for Stud.IP integration): will follow the solution of ILIAS & Moodle.

[ferishili]

Latest Update

For further details on the JWT implementation and integration, please refer to this comment:
#23 (comment)

Perspective on the Future of the Paella Player in LMS Platforms

Moodle

For Moodle, we can rely entirely on the iframe support introduced in Opencast to present video-on-demand content.

Since the official Moodle plugins do not support live events (just yet), there is no dependency on livestream functionality. As a result, the built-in Paella Player can likely be removed for Moodle without affecting feature coverage.

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ILIAS & Stud.IP

For ILIAS and Stud.IP, the situation is slightly different because both platforms support fully integrated live events.

In the worst-case scenario, we may need to continue maintaining the built-in Paella Player specifically for livestream handling.

A clearer direction will emerge in the next few days after testing a more complex setup:

• An Opencast 19 build
• Based on PR #7249 (iframe + JWT support)
• Combined with livestream functionality

These tests will help determine whether livestreaming can run seamlessly via iframe with JWT, or whether the built-in player must remain for that use case.

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Current Implementation Status

As reflected in the ILIAS plugin pull request:
opencast-ilias/OpenCast#460

• Livestreams use the built-in Paella Player.
• The live-event stream URL is injected with a JWT token that remains valid for the entire duration of the event.
• Video-on-demand content already uses the iframe support provided by Opencast.

Future Implementation Based on Community Decision

As discussed with @LukasKalbertodt (please correct me if this interpretation is inaccurate), handling livestreams from within Opencast via iframe support could be implemented directly in Opencast. However, this approach may not cover external livestreaming services such as Wowza.

[ferishili]

[UPDATE]: I can confirm that live events are also working with the JWT + iframe approach.

This brings us closer to moving forward with "Variante 3," which means gradually phasing out the built-in Paella Player, unless there's a specific use case (e.g., using self-generated streaming URLs directly from Wowza in the ILIAS plugin).

[ferishili]

[UPDATE]: As agreed, JWT authentication will remain optional (enable/disable) for both the ILIAS and Moodle plugins. Consequently, maintaining and updating the built-in Paella Player is still required.

This decision is mainly due to the fact that JWT support in Opencast was only introduced in versions 18-19 and is still relatively new. As a result, not all institutions are ready to upgrade to the latest versions yet.