Sovereign Learning: what I'd actually watch at MoodleMoot Europe
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MoodleMoot Europe 2026 is in Barcelona, 7–9 October. The slogan is Sovereign Learning. In plain terms: European universities should stop running the campus —Moodle, grades, video classes— on someone else’s cloud, on machines they do not own.
The programme has three tracks. Educational, Technical, Business & HR. I wouldn’t go for the brochure. I’d go —if I go— for the technical track, and for a filter I already wrote here: the data stays at home. Less “the future of AI on campus”, more who is talking about real LTI, about video that isn’t an iframe, and about GPL versus being able to switch the vendor off.
Sovereignty isn’t a keynote if you already host the LMS
Moodle’s licence is free. That is not sovereignty. José Manuel Pérez Marzabal says it in a session title, and it’s one of the few lines on the bill that survives a blog post: the licence is free; the sovereignty isn’t.
In practice, sovereignty is being able to answer four questions without asking permission: where the data lives, what code is running, what you depend on tomorrow, and how you leave if the contract turns ugly. Self-hosting Moodle covers the first two. The other two sneak in through plugins, LTI, and the AI that “only reads the course”. The European moot is selling that as the agenda. Fine. Let’s see if the content matches.
What I would actually watch
Jitsi versus BBB. I maintain mod_jitsi. The bill has two BigBlueButton sessions: Jesús Federico (subplugins) and Gerald Henzinger (BBB inside the course, not bolted on). I’m not converting the plugin. I want to hear how they argue “inside the LMS”. Same product problem: attendance, recording, roles, not opening another site. If BBB has solved that better in 2026, I want to see it. If it’s the same iframe with new CSS, I want to see that too.
MCP and 5.3. Johannes Moskaliuk (Teaching Moodle to Listen) and Clément Prudhomme (Moodle 5.3 and AI without losing control). MCP is how I work with agents: not a chatbot in the course, a model that calls tools with permission. I want to know whether Moodle HQ treats it as a protocol or a demo.
Andrew Boag (Catalyst). They let the CEO loose with agentic software development. That kind of story —find it, patch it, don’t wait for the tracker— is the job. I want to hear whether they tell it with scars or with LinkedIn.
3ipunt, locally. Antoni Bertran: local AI and open-source analytics, plus Edu API. Barcelona, Catalan partner, data on your own iron. Closer to how we run the campus than any Workplace SaaS.
Open University: from scripts to containers (Damian Hippisley). Gitolite, LVM, and a desarrollo.sh that clones production. Not embarrassing — that’s the estate of a lot of universities. Watching how the OU moved it doesn’t mean Docker tomorrow. It means stopping pretending the eternal script is a strategy.
LTI, demystified (Stephan Goeldi). Today, an LTI 1.3. The OIDC handshake, the redirect_uri with or without a trailing slash, the deployment id that is not the client id. If the session explains that —and not “just add the tool”— it’s worth the trip.
Isaac Marco Blancas. Former CIO of UDIMA. Proctoring, GDPR and the EU AI Act. We do remote exam supervision in the campus; this isn’t theory. It’s the most “home” session on the bill: someone from the same university, with the same problem, and the AI Act on the table.
Marie Achour and Martin Dougiamas. Product and origin. Marie, to hear where Moodle is going. Martin, because he still sets the frame, even if the detail is in the other rooms.
What I’d skip
Workplace 5.3. Microlearning. “Unbusy your workforce”. Almost all of Business & HR. Not contempt: it’s not the job. Sponsor slots, same. Wiris is in the campus; if I talk to them, it will be in the corridor, not at 17:30.
Wednesday’s workshops are still “details soon”. If nothing on infra or 5.3 shows up, Wednesday is networking. Thursday and the technical Friday are the point.
This is not a recap. It’s a filter, written before going. If I go, the one afterwards will say what was content and what was a stand. If I don’t, the filter still holds: the slogan doesn’t convince me; the technical track, in places, does.
Programme: moodlemooteurope.com.
14 September. I’ve decided to go. I’ll write it up in a new post when I’m back.
If you’re thinking of going, the organisers are offering readers of this blog 15% off registration with the code sergiocomeron.