Social forum

Re: Moodle Partners

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:24:49 GMT

by Mary Cooch.

I think Glenys the Particularly Helpful Moodler icon is a group icon in the Using Moodle course - and as the Lounge is a separate course I presume it doesn't use groups - and as we are not meant to be being "useful" but just chatting socially then it isn't considered to be a relevant group here. Though I guess we could have a group and group icon for "particularly friendly Moodlers"

Re: creating tests online

Wed, 16 May 2012 19:20:36 GMT

by Mary Cooch.

Hi Mike. If you mean that you are looking for someone to help put onto Moodle your test information as a one-off contract job then I suggest you use the link Russell provided in the previous post http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=54 which is where people look for or advertise Moodle jobs. You won't find many takers here as this is the social chat forum.

Re: creating tests online

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:12:49 GMT

by Mike Hoinville.

Hello Glenys - thank you for your interest. Here is overview in brief - your comments to me privately at minaduk@gmx.co.uk would be welcome

>th ebackground
we have created an online mock exam testing for the 3 main english language exams; FCE - BULATS - IELTS.
these are intended to give a much more accurate assessment of real-exam readiness than is currently available
the clients will take a scaled-down version (re content and time) of the actual exam using native speaking qualified teachers
currently the exam boards do NOT provide detailed analysis or feedback to individual clients ref their weak areas and future needs - we will do this

>The material for upload.
each exam will have >written tests in typical various formats like open-cloze, multi choice, best match etc
each will have > a read and comprehension section requiring 'best match/right or wrong' answers
each will have very short audio files as part of the listening/answer process

Each of the tests will need answers available to the students onllne.

The students will only have password controlled access to exams and answers once they have registered with us

NB - the speaking test will be done by SKYPE and any essay writing can be done by e-mail so NO file uploads are needed frodm you for these

Finally - I have a very short WRITING ONLY free test as a taster with simple 'best answer' that clients can see (with comments) but that does not require access paroles etc as it is a simple 'come and buy me' exercise......but it does have to be uploaded

Time scale - ideally by end of July/mid August so we have time to test and refine the system; there are a number of security bolt-ons we have to try as you can understand perhaps.

thank you - Mike

Re: creating tests online

Tue, 15 May 2012 22:46:41 GMT

by Russell Waldron.

There's a list of jobs like this (and longer term jobs) on Moodle.org - http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=54 - and a Twitter feed - http://twitter.com/#!/moodlejobs

I also see tasks like this on LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=129894

Re: Moodle Partners

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:49:27 GMT

by Glenys Hanson.

Hi Mike,

I'm not in a financial position to use a Moodle Partner, but if I were, I know exactly how I'd go about choosing:

one of those who respond frequently and competently on the Using Moodle forums.
one of those who are also "Particularly helpful Moodlers"

On the Using Moodle forums, the status of "Moodle Partner" and "Particularly helpful Moodler" is indicated by an icon (it's not indicated here in the Lounge - I don't know why).

Cheers,

Glenys

Re: creating tests online

Tue, 15 May 2012 21:36:27 GMT

by Glenys Hanson.

Hi Mike,

I'm a native English speaker but "a one-off contract to Moodle my TESOL information to my pending web site" doesn't mean anything to me. I'm rather elderly so maybe I'm not up-to-date with the current language. If you could reformulate I might be able to help.

Cheers
Glenys

Re: Moodle Partners

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:25:12 GMT

by Michael Penney.

Hi Mike if you re asking about where to submit a request for information or a request for a quote, you can go to Moodle.com and find a partner or several you would like to work with.

One of the big reasons there are many different Partners around the world is so that customers can find someone in or near their timezone and language, which generally makes things easier.

Most Partners will have a contact form on their site.

Re: Moodle Partners

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:09:33 GMT

by Mike Hoinville.

Hi I did not know where to start with this hence the first mail! It is only a one off 'job' but I thought it wiser to 'delegate wisely' rather than try and save money learning to do it badly myself as I have quite a bit of other stuff to do before site launch - any guidance would be very appreciated re where to post the offer - thanks Mike

Re: Moodle Partners

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:17:46 GMT

by Jim Grogan.

Sean, did you try to contact anyone at Moodle.org?

creating tests online

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:26:47 GMT

by Mike Hoinville.

I am new to this site so - not to be annoying - can anyone advise me where to post a one-off contract to Moodle my TESOL information to my pending web site please? thanks Mike

Re: Moodle or Moodle Services on the GSA Schedule in the USA

Mon, 14 May 2012 18:11:17 GMT

by ben reynolds.

Hi Willem,

Most likely, your are looking for a Moodle commercial partner. Go to http://moodle.com/partners/ and search for location "United States."

If others are curious about what "GSA schedule" means, answers are here. http://gsa.federalschedules.com/GSA-Schedule/GSA-Schedule-FAQ.aspx?gclid=COHXpoavgLACFUFo4AodYD_aGA

Moodle or Moodle Services on the GSA Schedule in the USA

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:16:09 GMT

by Willem Boom.

Anyone aware of Moodle Services on the GSA schedule in the USA? Need as much information as possbile. Thanks!!

Re: Improving collaborative learning within Moodle

Mon, 14 May 2012 06:43:49 GMT

by Félix Albertos Marco.

Hello Michael,

Account details have been sent to your Moodle profile e-mail.

Thanks for your collaboration, I'm looking forward for your comments.

Re: TED Talk: Gary Kovacs - Tracking the trackers

Sun, 13 May 2012 04:27:34 GMT

by Matt Bury.

And the need for data protection and privacy reveals itself before our eyes: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/may/12/trade-personal-data-secret-investigation

Just think what unscrupulous organisations with a few bucks to throw around could do to individuals they didn't like!

Re: TED Talk: Gary Kovacs - Tracking the trackers

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:26:09 GMT

by ben reynolds.

One of the lists I'm on has been discussing Klout. I only noticed Klout because Seesmic, my Twitter client, started showing a litte K with a number beside it. Eventually, I clicked on the K just to learn what it was about.

The only way out of having a Klout score is to login and opt out

Re: TED Talk: Gary Kovacs - Tracking the trackers

Sat, 12 May 2012 21:21:50 GMT

by Visvanath Ratnaweera.

The most terrifying thing is, that you don't know by "tracking the tracker" you open up yourself even more!

Just watching that video, Mozilla collusion reported: google.com, vizu.com, facebook.com, doubleclick.net, linkedin.com, scorecardresearch.com, imrworldwide.com whereas Collusion on Chrome reported: scorecardresearch.com, 2mdn.net, google.com, google-analytics.com, linkedin.com
addthis.com, chardbeat.com.

How does one explain that?
~
~

TED Talk: Gary Kovacs - Tracking the trackers

Sat, 12 May 2012 16:38:50 GMT

by Matt Bury.

Hi Moodlers,

An interesting talk and a nice little plugin for Firefox to keep track of who's tracking you:

http://www.ted.com/talks/gary_kovacs_tracking_the_trackers.html

I've been trying it out and even though I have a so-called "cookie blocker" installed (Abine), I'm still racking up a lot of 3rd party cookies in my Collusion network map.

I guess the only way to stay anonymous to Google, Facebook, et al is to use TOR.

Enjoy!

Re: Blackboard acquires Moodlerooms and NetSpot

Sat, 12 May 2012 14:24:55 GMT

by Doug Cullen.

I fond this interesting at the very least. The real question is what happens with MR now.

Does BB really support open source and even contribute to the Moodle code base?

Or does MR become a sales lead tool and defector detector. Image you're considering a new LMS and you send a RFP to MR. Is your BB rep getting a red hot memo from above to do whatever it takes to keep you on board? Will MR begin steering clients to BB using classic cars sales techniques? "Sure you could get Moodle at a great price, but don't you think your students and staff deserve all of the "advanced features" of BB? BTW You do know that a lot of code in Moodle is written by amateurs"

And for the more concerned, will BB be working towards collecting and selling demographic data? Your LMS systems contains lots of data about your students and staff, data that has real commercial value. Yes there are laws and contracts that restrict the use of some of that data, but start thinking about what you LMS provider can learn even with restrictions. They know which school LMS students access and therefore their geographic information and age group (elementary, middle or high school) which can then be linked to demographics, they know the IP address being used to access your system so they potentially known where they live. They know when and how long you LMS is being accessed.

If they can start to integrate "services" within the LMS they can gain even more. Integrate a websearch tool and gain access to search info. Add a way to access the a ebook provider (you know, a great tool to make it easy for a teacher to recommend some books to students) and gain insight into students preferences)

And that's without some of the less altruistic methods that web businesses have already implemented to collect personal data to sell. We've already experienced Facebook tracking all of your web surfing even after you have logged out. Well, they say they aren't tracking just helping, but researchers point out that they exposing your data in any event. Image the value in being able to track the web traffic of your students all of the time. And with control of RM, BB could implement tracking to all of their hosted Moodle installations.

Re: Improving collaborative learning within Moodle

Sat, 12 May 2012 07:44:30 GMT

by Choong Michael.

Hello Ferix,

It looks very interesting to me and would love to participate in your research. Could you please setup an account for me later? Hope this is ok?

Cheers,
Michael

Re: Moodle as our school's CMS Intranet?

Fri, 11 May 2012 21:34:20 GMT

by Russell Waldron.

Moodle is probably not a good fit for purpose.

If layout and presentation are the highest priority, there are a number of really well established, open source Content Management Systems which will serve you better. (e.g. Drupal, Joomla)

If workflow (versioning, delegation and release control) is crucial (which is likely, given that your school uses Banner), Moodle doesn't facilitate that. There are people who build workflows in Drupal, but that's adding a hard technical job to the already difficult human task of discovery and negotiation of institutional practices. If your organisation really cares about authorisation of publication and distribution of information, it probably needs a Document Management System (DMS) such as Alfresco.

That said, the form-answers probably are:

What is your CMS' technology stack? Please describe.
1. {Linux|MacOS|Windows} + {Apache|IIS} + {MySQL|PostGres|MS-SQL} + {PHP5}
Does your CMS offer the ability to publish more than one "site" for different audience types? One tool to rule them all?
1. Yes. Apply a theme at a Category level. Or, because there are no license fees and low computing overheads, create another instance.
Does your CMS have features to publish content to different platform? mobile devices; digital signage; websites; 3rd-party applications? If yes, how does it work and please demonstrate.
1. Mobiles: Yes. In Moodle 2.2, a separate theme can be defined for mobile (small screen) devices.
2. Signage: No. Moodle can output an RSS feed, but the signage control would be separate software.
3. Websites: Yes. However, usually coupled with Joomla for non-teaching publication.
Could you show us how an authenticated user's view would change based on their AD group memberships (ie. Views controlled by user members in an AD group/container.)
1. AD group memberships are not necessary. It is normal to use enrolments (updated by clerical processes) rather than AD (IT department) to change access.
How would each user log in and what is their username login string format for staff, students and alumni? (ie. Jsmith@school.com as a staff or jsmith (or 123456789@school.com or just 123456789 for students)
1. SSO
2. Optionally, an email address
3. Optionally, any ASCII string can be a username
Visitors should be able to see certain pages such as announcements, news releases, etc. and/or sections of the site without the need to log in.
1. The front page, a category and specific courses can be designated public
Does your CMS have the ability to display content for non-authenticated or authenticated users onto one site?
1. The front page, a category and specific courses can be designated public
How are pages created and who could create them?
1. See Using Moodle. An administrator can give any user the role of Course Creator within a course, which allows them to assign the role of Teacher to any other user. A Teacher can create content and activites within a course.
Does the CMS have workflow / approval capabilities?
1. Not inherently. Some activities (database, forum) have limited options for teacher approval before publication to students.
2. It is recommended to use Alfresco as a repository. Alfresco has workflow capabilities.
When pages are created, how could the content creator add them to a / their own menu? Could they modify their menu?
1. Courses are automatically added to the “My home” page and Navigation menu of anyone enrolled in them.
2. Content within a course can be resequenced by anyone who has editing rights there. A change in the course design applies to everyone who has access to the course.
Any calendaring /appointment features which integrate with outlook?
1. ICAL export and import
Any social media tools? Chat module?, status updates?, micro-blogging?, department or personal blogs? forums, etc.?
1. Chat, presence, blog, forums, shared (group) blog/wiki/forum/database/glossary, and many more.
How could we embed a youTube feed or rich media content within a page?
1. Media filter does this automatically when you add a Youtube or multimedia link into a page in a forum
2. WYSIWYG HTML editor in most tools
Show us permissions, administration and security and how they are set up.
1. Settings > Permissions
How and where is the content stored? Pages, attachments, etc.
1. It is recommended to couple Moodle with a repository such as Alfresco.
Show us how to backup and restore entire site.
1. See Buchner.
Show us how to backup and restore selected content only.
1. Settings > Backup. This menu option is normally available to any teacher in a course.
Could a user delegate his or her role to another user if the delegator is away for an extended period of time?
1. Yes.
Describe roles & permissions and how they are assigned and restricted.
1. Settings > Permissions. Individual permissions can be set for each role at the level of the site, category, course, and activity (exceptions).
Are there any rollback features/capability?
1. Not inherently. Settings > Restore|Import is available to any teacher in a course, so Course Creators are advised to create backups of the course before implementing substantial change.
Statistical analytics?
1. Settings > Reports.
Does the CMS integrate with SCT Banner to pull out courses? How does it work?
1. See Eric Merrill’s plugin and his description on Slidehshare.
Does the CMS integrate with other data sources? Is yes, which types and how do they work and implement into the CMS?
1. Repositories such as Alfresco appear as file-sources - see http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Repositories
2. Community Hubs - see http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Community_hubs .
3. CMS integrations - See http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Integrations
4. SSO pass-through
5. File-picker draws on multiple sources including your repository, GoogleDocs, Flickr, etc.
How easy is it to customize the theme, look and feel, or design of the CMS?
1. Default styles can be selected from a menu (similar to WordPress).
2. CSS controls every aspect of the theme, look and feel. Because this is very extensive, theme development takes time and testing by a designer. However, it is normal practice for institutional sites.
If the content store is unavailable, is there a feature where users can still access the site while the content store is rebuilt?
1. The (optional) repository does not affect operation of any features except delivery of files. Most of the activities continue to work.
Does the CMS have any system self monitoring capabilities?
1. Yes. See Buchner. It is customary to set Cron jobs to report/monitor some functions.
Does the CMS have browser limitations/or does it work best under one particular browser rather than another?
1. In wide use with most modern browsers (including Firefox, Safari, Chrome, IE).
2. I have seen problems with “secure” corporate sites that mandate very early versions of IE.
SSO considerations? MS Unified Access Gateway or ForeFront Identity Manager integration?
1. See Buchner for SSO options.
What other CMS features do you offer that other CMS vendors do not have?
1. Performance and reliability: stability, low system load, low maintenance workload
2. As a Learning Management System, Moodle tracks student progress through a planned sequence of social and individual activities and provides feedback to support learning.
3. Community-contributed modules for an enormously wide range of pedagogical purposes.
4. See forum discussions ‘Advocacy’ - http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=485
What are your support policies and limitations?
1. Very low support load per user
2. Scheduled semi-annual upgrades
3. Addition of new modules is negotiated

http://www.packtpub.com/moodle-2-administration-configuring-securing-customizing-extending/book