Key To School is a non-profit project, it offers free hosting.
- 500 Users
- 2.5 GB of storage
- 50 GB of bandwidth
- FTP access
- Moodle Themes
- No Ads
What do you think about this new project keytoschool.com?
Key To School is a non-profit project, it offers free hosting.
Key To School is a non-profit project, it offers free hosting.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Frances Bell གིས-
What do you think about it? given your association with the project. Smells like spam.
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Really? I thought people here might give some ideas of improvement.
If this is not the right forum could you please guide me to correct forum where I could ask same question.
If this is not the right forum could you please guide me to correct forum where I could ask same question.
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Russell Waldron གིས-
Frances, is there some etiquette about self-promotion in this forum?
Jai, I warn teachers to avoid a host that is not viable in the long term. Will you still be in operation, fee-free and advertising free in a 2010... 2012? Can you afford to scale up? What is your business model?
Jai, I warn teachers to avoid a host that is not viable in the long term. Will you still be in operation, fee-free and advertising free in a 2010... 2012? Can you afford to scale up? What is your business model?
In reply to Russell Waldron
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
We are not doing a business with Key To School.
Yes Russell, I warn teachers too. They should use services by Key To School at their own risk. We don't make any commitments.
PS: Moodle is still in operation and in fact doing very good ;)
Yes Russell, I warn teachers too. They should use services by Key To School at their own risk. We don't make any commitments.
PS: Moodle is still in operation and in fact doing very good ;)
In reply to Russell Waldron
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Frances Bell གིས-
My (slightly grumpy) email was based on Moodle's Advertising policy http://docs.moodle.org/en/Policy_on_Advertising and Jai's inclusion of the aforementioned web site as 'his' in his profile and his email address but apparently he is not doing business with them. Well, that does surprise me.
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Frances I am sorry for misunderstanding. When I said "We are not doing a business with Key To School." I meant Key To School (KTS) itself is not a business or in other words KTS is not a commercial project, hence it does not have a business model.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Patrick Malley གིས-
Hello Jai,
Do you ever plan to make money off of your ventures with Key to School?
If your plan is to make money (even eventually and in any way shape or form), then I'm afraid Frances is right and this post is a little spammy since you originated this thread.
If you don't plan on making money, then why are you offering hosting?
Do you ever plan to make money off of your ventures with Key to School?
If your plan is to make money (even eventually and in any way shape or form), then I'm afraid Frances is right and this post is a little spammy since you originated this thread.
If you don't plan on making money, then why are you offering hosting?
In reply to Patrick Malley
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Hello Patrick,
We are not going to make money using Key To School. We don't plan to charge money from users on KeyToSchool ever.
I leave the decision to moderators of this forum, if they feel my post has no appropriate context they have right to delete this post.
We are not going to make money using Key To School. We don't plan to charge money from users on KeyToSchool ever.
I leave the decision to moderators of this forum, if they feel my post has no appropriate context they have right to delete this post.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Patrick Malley གིས-
I was reading your Privacy Policy earlier today, and came across a couple references to payment and billing. For example:
Can you explain this to the community if you don't plan to make money of this venture going forward?
I ask only in the interest of transparency because their seems to be some confusion. I don't mean to pick on you. Your service looks great.
Unless you consent, KTS will use your personal information for the purpose for which it was submitted such as to reply to inquiries, handle your complaints and process billing and business requests related to program participation, ...
Can you explain this to the community if you don't plan to make money of this venture going forward?
I ask only in the interest of transparency because their seems to be some confusion. I don't mean to pick on you. Your service looks great.
In reply to Patrick Malley
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
You might have skipped text under first heading.
Donation is referred to as billing information. We do accept donations and as donations to KTS are not tax free so we have to generate an invoice.
Patrick, it is great to see that you want things to be clarified.
KTS encrypts billing information (Donations) wherever the KTS requests it online. Personal information is accessible only by designated to handle complaints or requests.
Donation is referred to as billing information. We do accept donations and as donations to KTS are not tax free so we have to generate an invoice.
Patrick, it is great to see that you want things to be clarified.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Patrick Malley གིས-
This is all much more clear now, Jai. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions.
I think this is a great service that you're offering and look forward to watching it grow and help the Moodle community.
I think this is a great service that you're offering and look forward to watching it grow and help the Moodle community.
In reply to Patrick Malley
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Elton Shmutz གིས-
Jia,
Well Done!
Key to School looks great.
Smooth set-up.
Keep up the good work.
Well Done!
Key to School looks great.
Smooth set-up.
Keep up the good work.
In reply to Elton Shmutz
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Thanks Elton,
I hope you will enjoy your stay at Key To School
I hope you will enjoy your stay at Key To School
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Don Hinkelman གིས-
Hi Jai,
I checked out the Key To School site and I am excited about the offering of free moodle hosting to teachers getting started with Moodle. It is a big need and I am glad a non-for-profit group is starting this. Thank you for announcing it here. Do not be disappointed if some people here are skeptical or "grumpy"
. Anything free is initially viewed suspiciously. Look at all the suspicion that Moodle creates for being free and open source.
I do Moodle training for teachers in Hokkaido, Japan. I do it with other volunteers as a free service--a part of the Moodle community principle of "teachers helping teachers". We are always asked by teachers how to host their site and usually the answer is to get a hosting service. However, the learning curve to manage cPanel and Fantastico is too much for 80% of the teachers. Recently I recommended Ninehub.com as a free site and it is working out OK. My only complaint is the ads. If Key To School can do it ad-free, I am thrilled. However, it would be good to explain how KTS will get its anticipated donations (periodic email requests?) and what might happen if sufficient funds do not materialize. But I am not so worried as Russell is about the long term viability of KTS. As long as I make separate backups of courses, I can move my courses to other sites should KTS not be around in 2012.
In reading the terms of service, I was pleased but would suggest one change. The term limit of no activity is 30 days, followed by complete data deletion 7 days later. Many teachers do not use their sites for up to three months between terms. I hope that term limit will be expanded to at least 90 days, or there will be many surprised and disappointed teachers. Also the seven day deletion is rather severe.
I will comment again as I get reports from teachers trying the service. Good luck!
Cheers,
Don
I checked out the Key To School site and I am excited about the offering of free moodle hosting to teachers getting started with Moodle. It is a big need and I am glad a non-for-profit group is starting this. Thank you for announcing it here. Do not be disappointed if some people here are skeptical or "grumpy"
I do Moodle training for teachers in Hokkaido, Japan. I do it with other volunteers as a free service--a part of the Moodle community principle of "teachers helping teachers". We are always asked by teachers how to host their site and usually the answer is to get a hosting service. However, the learning curve to manage cPanel and Fantastico is too much for 80% of the teachers. Recently I recommended Ninehub.com as a free site and it is working out OK. My only complaint is the ads. If Key To School can do it ad-free, I am thrilled. However, it would be good to explain how KTS will get its anticipated donations (periodic email requests?) and what might happen if sufficient funds do not materialize. But I am not so worried as Russell is about the long term viability of KTS. As long as I make separate backups of courses, I can move my courses to other sites should KTS not be around in 2012.
In reading the terms of service, I was pleased but would suggest one change. The term limit of no activity is 30 days, followed by complete data deletion 7 days later. Many teachers do not use their sites for up to three months between terms. I hope that term limit will be expanded to at least 90 days, or there will be many surprised and disappointed teachers. Also the seven day deletion is rather severe.
I will comment again as I get reports from teachers trying the service. Good luck!
Cheers,
Don
In reply to Don Hinkelman
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Hi Don,
You are right; being free Key To School (KTS) creates suspicion. I guess situation will improve with time when people start using our services.
No we don't need to send emails for donations. People who wish to donate can do so by using our site. When someone logins in KTS he will get a link for donation. If we don't get sufficient funds from donation then we will request our parent company to release funds for us. Basically, as long as our parent company is in profit they won't let KTS down.
If I assume a case where we are out of funds and we have no way to raise funds we will be forced to shutdown. However this will never happen instantly, if we are low on funds we would know months earlier. Even if we are forced to shutdown we will give at least 3 months time for everyone to migrate their sites. Also, if at any point a teacher don't like our service or he just wants to move he can simply click a button in control panel and database of his Moodle site will be dumped (stored) inside his site's moodledata folder. He can then simply backup his database and moodledata folder using our FTP service. We don't lock you in and neither we charge you for giving your own database. Now, a teacher don't have to backup courses in a fear ;)
Regarding terms of service - program policies. We assumed that even if a teacher or admin don't use his site for any reason, some students will still be using site for learning. So no activity is for site and not for teacher. If anyone uses site (students, teachers, admin or anyone) then we consider site as active. Yes, cases might be present where site is used seasonally. We have made changes accordingly in our program policies and in our inactivity algorithm.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Robert Britten གིས-
Jai,
Could you tell us more about "Key to School".
I am particularly interested in your infrastructure. For example how many servers are used to host KTS? What operating system are you using on your servers? What kind of internet connection links your servers to the web? What version of Moodle are you running etc.
Regards,
Bob Britten
Victoria, B.C
Could you tell us more about "Key to School".
I am particularly interested in your infrastructure. For example how many servers are used to host KTS? What operating system are you using on your servers? What kind of internet connection links your servers to the web? What version of Moodle are you running etc.
Regards,
Bob Britten
Victoria, B.C
In reply to Robert Britten
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Hi Bob,
Our infrastructure or cluster can be divided into 5 parts.
Internet connection: 1Gbps
Moodle Version: 1.9.4+.
Moodle add-ons: Sloodle, Certificate, DimDim, Book, Feedback, Questionnaire, WizIQ, Elluminate Live, Lightbox Gallery
At present we are using 64GB of RAM and 16 units of Intel 7450 so in total we have 96@2.40GHz cpu cores working for KTS.
Our clusters are made to scale, so power can be added as required.
Our infrastructure or cluster can be divided into 5 parts.
- Administration layer: Manages domains, sub-domains.
- Web Server: Apache V2.2.3, PHP V5.2.9, APC V3.0.19
- DB server: MySQL V5.0.76
- CDN (Internap): Currently used for images in Moodle themes, planned to use javascript and css of themes and Moodle.
- Backup: Responsible for daily incremented backup
Internet connection: 1Gbps
Moodle Version: 1.9.4+.
Moodle add-ons: Sloodle, Certificate, DimDim, Book, Feedback, Questionnaire, WizIQ, Elluminate Live, Lightbox Gallery
At present we are using 64GB of RAM and 16 units of Intel 7450 so in total we have 96@2.40GHz cpu cores working for KTS.
Our clusters are made to scale, so power can be added as required.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Frances Bell གིས-
Hi Jai, it's grumpy back again
This thread has helped to clarify what you are trying to do. I would suggest that you capture some of this in your profile (plenty of space).
In reply to Frances Bell
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Hi Frances,
By creating this post my motive was not to spam but to seek advice and get feedback from fellow moodlers. I apologize for the presentation of the post, I should have thought of a better way of doing this. I might have been over excited.
I have updated my profile, please let me know if it is ok.
By creating this post my motive was not to spam but to seek advice and get feedback from fellow moodlers. I apologize for the presentation of the post, I should have thought of a better way of doing this. I might have been over excited.
I have updated my profile, please let me know if it is ok.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Frances Bell གིས-
That is great Jai - thank you very much.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
WriteToShare .org གིས-
Jai,
We launched a similar site back in 2007 with the intent of providing free Moodle hosting to the masses. The difference with our site is that we offer Moodle courseware hosting while you offer to setup separate instances of Moodle for your users. We took the approach of wanting to throw everyone into one giant learning and sharing community. I'm curious to know which one will work out better.
I really love the fact that there are more and more people out there that are thinking along the same lines. Back when we launched our site, I always said that the world only needs one free Moodle host. That being said, I think we should get in touch sometime and figure out how we can help each other so that we don't waste effort and duplicate work.
We are currently hosting our site at Rackspace using LAMP. Our current version is 1.8.2 since I usually choose to wait a while before installing new versions.
Milan Indru Malkani
WriteToShare.org
We launched a similar site back in 2007 with the intent of providing free Moodle hosting to the masses. The difference with our site is that we offer Moodle courseware hosting while you offer to setup separate instances of Moodle for your users. We took the approach of wanting to throw everyone into one giant learning and sharing community. I'm curious to know which one will work out better.
I really love the fact that there are more and more people out there that are thinking along the same lines. Back when we launched our site, I always said that the world only needs one free Moodle host. That being said, I think we should get in touch sometime and figure out how we can help each other so that we don't waste effort and duplicate work.
We are currently hosting our site at Rackspace using LAMP. Our current version is 1.8.2 since I usually choose to wait a while before installing new versions.
Milan Indru Malkani
WriteToShare.org
In reply to WriteToShare .org
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Milan,
Idea behind WriteToShare.org looks good. I would love to know more details about it; basically I am more interested in stats like number of total teachers (users) and how many resources have been contributed etc. You can also email me.
Idea behind WriteToShare.org looks good. I would love to know more details about it; basically I am more interested in stats like number of total teachers (users) and how many resources have been contributed etc. You can also email me.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Dane Garcia གིས-
Hey just throwing this out there but i have had my non profit company only ads on it are on the front page, and it host moodle on subdomains with unlimited everything. I have had no problems getting teachers on it. Matter of fact I have 20+ teachers in only 10 days i will be up in 2012 because i run everything i love it! This project im doing is my passion :D
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Robert Britten གིས-
I am interested in adding a third party module [Menu Block (menu_site_and_course)]. I have been able to do so on my own Moodle server running under MAMP, but when I FTP into your site, the file layout appears different from what I see on my local site. In particular I cannot see the "Blocks" folder. I assume this is because adding Blocks is an Admin level function and I am not allowed access to that directory. Is this correct? If so, can you add this block in?
Regards,
Robert Britten
Victoria, B.C.
Regards,
Robert Britten
Victoria, B.C.
In reply to Robert Britten
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Robert, please check reply to your post in KeyToSchool forum
Your requested block has been added.
Please don't post technical issues here in moodle.org if they are solved by support forum or help desk. This is because only I am following this thread in moodle.org.
I hope you enjoy your stay with us
Your requested block has been added.
Please don't post technical issues here in moodle.org if they are solved by support forum or help desk. This is because only I am following this thread in moodle.org.
I hope you enjoy your stay with us
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Robert Britten གིས-
Agreed - my mistake!
Cheers,
Bob
Cheers,
Bob
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Diane Endres གིས-
Hi Jai, I have been trying to access KeytoSchool.com and my Moodle site hosted on one of your servers, Moodlehub, all day and it is down. I can't even get to the home page to add a support ticket. Help? (Yes, I know this is not your support forum but I saw that you are posting here and hoped you could help me! Our site is ancillaweb.moodlehub.com)
In reply to Diane Endres
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Mary Cooch གིས-
Hello there- I know nothing about KeytoSchool am not connected with them but I did see someone on another forum saying they seemed to be down today - so at least you can know it isn't just you. Hopefully it is just a temporary problem.
In reply to Mary Cooch
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Don Hinkelman གིས-
I have a Keytoschool site and it is working fine. Must've been a temporary glich.
In reply to Don Hinkelman
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Diane Endres གིས-
Thank you all - I am now back in and all is well. I do love the service of keytoschool as well, Don. I hope they can keep it free forever as I am sure our school will not spend money on a paid service for instructor training and practice. This is our first year offering fully online courses on the paid hosting service but those that have in-seat classes and want to start with just web resources as they learn the skills to teach online need the help that we get using keytoschool!
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
E. L. Cooper གིས-
Pardon my analytical nature but TANFL has proven valid to more than 3 decimal places. I would say that your site needs to spell out copyrights for those who have moodles hosted with you as well as information about who the parent company is.
In reply to E. L. Cooper
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
You are correct, we are expecting something in return. We expect people to contribute to education and Moodle, and yes, we do accept donations.
For moodle site that are being hosted for us, I think site owners are responsible for copyrights. We don't have control over it. (did I understood your question?)
Parent company, well, if we add name of our parent company then there would be some people complaining that KTS is not a non-profit. Moreover, we are thinking about registering KTS as a non-profit organization which would create a brand on its own.
It would be interesting to hear what youall think about it.
For moodle site that are being hosted for us, I think site owners are responsible for copyrights. We don't have control over it. (did I understood your question?)
Parent company, well, if we add name of our parent company then there would be some people complaining that KTS is not a non-profit. Moreover, we are thinking about registering KTS as a non-profit organization which would create a brand on its own.
It would be interesting to hear what youall think about it.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
E. L. Cooper གིས-
The question about copyright is this- normally the website owner owns the copyright to all materials posted there unless copyright agreements are clarified elsewhere. In your case there is no such public clarification. Legally you own anything a teacher puts in your system unless you expressly and publicly say otherwise. Your failure to understand my question tells me either the legalities have not been thought out, there is an issue ESL issue or something not so banal. None of which inspires confidence.
As to being a non profit, if you are not registered non profit you are not a non profit. If you were a non or not for profit corporation you would have a publicly named board and be subject to the full light of public scrutiny. You are just choosing to do something for nothing and per your earlier statements depending on some un named parent company to fund this venture.
There is the rub. If a truly legitimate source were behind this they would at the least want the goodwill publicity that comes from being named as benefactor. The failure and reluctance to do so is a silence that speaks volumes.
One other point- the server requirements to host a site with 500 students is to hefty for me to believe in this is a real offer. If MIT is behind it? You bet I'll be in line too but under the circumstances I think not.
Please prove my instincts wrong otherwise I personally will consider you to be another commercial face looking for a way around becoming a moodle partner to be in the business and use the distribution power of moodle.org
I will read any response with interest but I will post no more in this thread as I feel very close to bursting into flames.
In reply to E. L. Cooper
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Copyright: Yes, website owners own the copyright. Let me check out with our team what can be done to satisfy laws of other countries.
Non Profit: As I have already said, KTS is a non-profit project. After registration process is complete it will become a non-profit organization. Until it stays as a project you are right. We are just choosing to do something for nothing.
I will ask Moodle Trust (Help Desk) if they give us permission to show name of our commercial company in KTS.
I have already given our present server specs, servers will be added to our cluster as needed. Yes, you are right, our services are too good to be true
Non Profit: As I have already said, KTS is a non-profit project. After registration process is complete it will become a non-profit organization. Until it stays as a project you are right. We are just choosing to do something for nothing.
I will ask Moodle Trust (Help Desk) if they give us permission to show name of our commercial company in KTS.
I have already given our present server specs, servers will be added to our cluster as needed. Yes, you are right, our services are too good to be true
In reply to E. L. Cooper
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Don Hinkelman གིས-
Hi E. L.,
>>The question about copyright is this- normally the website owner owns the copyright to all materials posted there unless copyright agreements are clarified elsewhere.
Sorry, E.L., but that is not always true in the case of social networking, collaborative, or Web 2.0 applications. The copyright belongs to the writer. This may not be true in the U.S. where I believe you are located, but internationally this is common practice.
With englishforum we do not state any copyright notice and all the schools I have associated with in Japan do not have such notices. Because the U.S. has a very litigatious culture, you may have to be more explicit. But to disparage other Moodlers because they do not share your cultural values is rather patronizing in my opinion.
>>As to being a non profit, if you are not registered non profit you are not a non profit. If you were a non or not for profit corporation you would have a publicly named board and be subject to the full light of public scrutiny.
I think it is wonderful for a firm or a group to provide free services if they can afford to. As I mentioned earlier, englishforum.sgu.ac.jp/moodle/ is a similar free service and there are many, many more free sites offered by teaching associations like us. So englishforum is also a not-for-profit project. It is time-consuming and expensive (annual financial reports need to be filed) to be a registered not-for-profit. I prefer that KeytoSchool remain a not-for-profit project like us to reduce expenses and thus allow them to provide this service.
By the way, Ninehub.com just announced that their ad-supported free service has reached 35,000 online classes. I think their model also has a place in the moodle ecosystem where a teacher is willing to put up with a few ads.
>>One other point- the server requirements to host a site with 500 students is to hefty for me to believe in this is a real offer. If MIT is behind it? You bet I'll be in line too but under the circumstances I think not.
The key question is how many simultaneous users KeytoSchool can provide for. Ninehub.com, I believe, suggests that 30 simultaneous users is the maximum they can expect to handle on their shared hosting service. Bluehost.com (a commercial service) has a similar recommendation. In general, I find 50:1 or 30:1 ratio between simultaneous users and intermittant users (a very rough estimate based on my school's experience). Thus ninehub can reasonably handle a moodle site with about 1000 intermittant users.
Now KeytoSchool is just beginning so it is reasonable to assume that they will adjust their load limits as they add more and more users. I think the role they should play is providing for single teachers (not institutions) who want to try Moodle, but have little expertise to use a hosting service. I would suggest KeytoSchool publically advertise that they can handle a class of 30-40 simultaneous users and 500 intermittant users and reserve the right to adjust these as the service expands. Does that sound right?
It is a great idea overall, so I suggest giving them time to develop and give room for them to adjust their offering as it grows.
Cheers,
Don
>>The question about copyright is this- normally the website owner owns the copyright to all materials posted there unless copyright agreements are clarified elsewhere.
Sorry, E.L., but that is not always true in the case of social networking, collaborative, or Web 2.0 applications. The copyright belongs to the writer. This may not be true in the U.S. where I believe you are located, but internationally this is common practice.
With englishforum we do not state any copyright notice and all the schools I have associated with in Japan do not have such notices. Because the U.S. has a very litigatious culture, you may have to be more explicit. But to disparage other Moodlers because they do not share your cultural values is rather patronizing in my opinion.
>>As to being a non profit, if you are not registered non profit you are not a non profit. If you were a non or not for profit corporation you would have a publicly named board and be subject to the full light of public scrutiny.
I think it is wonderful for a firm or a group to provide free services if they can afford to. As I mentioned earlier, englishforum.sgu.ac.jp/moodle/ is a similar free service and there are many, many more free sites offered by teaching associations like us. So englishforum is also a not-for-profit project. It is time-consuming and expensive (annual financial reports need to be filed) to be a registered not-for-profit. I prefer that KeytoSchool remain a not-for-profit project like us to reduce expenses and thus allow them to provide this service.
By the way, Ninehub.com just announced that their ad-supported free service has reached 35,000 online classes. I think their model also has a place in the moodle ecosystem where a teacher is willing to put up with a few ads.
>>One other point- the server requirements to host a site with 500 students is to hefty for me to believe in this is a real offer. If MIT is behind it? You bet I'll be in line too but under the circumstances I think not.
The key question is how many simultaneous users KeytoSchool can provide for. Ninehub.com, I believe, suggests that 30 simultaneous users is the maximum they can expect to handle on their shared hosting service. Bluehost.com (a commercial service) has a similar recommendation. In general, I find 50:1 or 30:1 ratio between simultaneous users and intermittant users (a very rough estimate based on my school's experience). Thus ninehub can reasonably handle a moodle site with about 1000 intermittant users.
Now KeytoSchool is just beginning so it is reasonable to assume that they will adjust their load limits as they add more and more users. I think the role they should play is providing for single teachers (not institutions) who want to try Moodle, but have little expertise to use a hosting service. I would suggest KeytoSchool publically advertise that they can handle a class of 30-40 simultaneous users and 500 intermittant users and reserve the right to adjust these as the service expands. Does that sound right?
It is a great idea overall, so I suggest giving them time to develop and give room for them to adjust their offering as it grows.
Cheers,
Don
In reply to Don Hinkelman
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Don: I would suggest KeytoSchool publically advertise that they can handle a class of 30-40 simultaneous users and 500 intermittant users and reserve the right to adjust these as the service expands. Does that sound right?
Internally at KTS we had a long discussion about concurrency (simultaneous users). The way some people use this term with Moodle seems inappropriate to us. For us concurrency (in context of Moodle) can be simply defined as Number of users at any instance. Concurrency also depends on the response time of the server. Higher response time tends to increase concurrency. We have experience of hosting huge sites, even for a site with 100000 users; average concurrency of the peak hour is never more then 50. However if we calculate concurrency by the maximum number of users using Moodle in duration of 5 minutes at any given time then the concurrency in a site with 100000 users may go to more than 500 or even more.
So for us, creating a definition which is also accurate and does not scare away teachers or school was not possible. At KTS, our prime objective is to keep Moodle easy, hence we choose to give users something they understand (500 max users) and leave all the trouble for us
Internally at KTS we had a long discussion about concurrency (simultaneous users). The way some people use this term with Moodle seems inappropriate to us. For us concurrency (in context of Moodle) can be simply defined as Number of users at any instance. Concurrency also depends on the response time of the server. Higher response time tends to increase concurrency. We have experience of hosting huge sites, even for a site with 100000 users; average concurrency of the peak hour is never more then 50. However if we calculate concurrency by the maximum number of users using Moodle in duration of 5 minutes at any given time then the concurrency in a site with 100000 users may go to more than 500 or even more.
So for us, creating a definition which is also accurate and does not scare away teachers or school was not possible. At KTS, our prime objective is to keep Moodle easy, hence we choose to give users something they understand (500 max users) and leave all the trouble for us
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Don Hinkelman གིས-
Thank you for explaining the details on concurrency. I think you have a far deeper knowledge about this problem than I.
The main thing I think you should provide for is the case in a computer lab or a language lab where a teacher says, "OK, everyone, go to our Moodle site and open Quiz #1". This is a very common situation, and if you can handle 40-50 users doing that at the same time, your service is beyond what ninehub and bluehost can offer, and will meet the needs of 99% of new teachers who come to KeytoSchool to get started with Moodle.
I agree keeping the system simple for teachers is the number one goal. Thanks for making it easy!
And as for copyright, it is common practice and good sense that the author who posts a document or comment that they have written retains copyright to that document. I teach writing, and we always require students to properly give credit by quoting or paraphasing an author when they post something on a forum. We do not tell students to quote the "site owner". When a teacher puts curriculum content on a site, the teacher retains its copyright unless he or she offers it to the public domain. The site owner should never resell the content without the author's permission. Note that I am not talking about legal rules but ethical guidelines. I hope you include such guidelines on your site policies.
The main thing I think you should provide for is the case in a computer lab or a language lab where a teacher says, "OK, everyone, go to our Moodle site and open Quiz #1". This is a very common situation, and if you can handle 40-50 users doing that at the same time, your service is beyond what ninehub and bluehost can offer, and will meet the needs of 99% of new teachers who come to KeytoSchool to get started with Moodle.
I agree keeping the system simple for teachers is the number one goal. Thanks for making it easy!
And as for copyright, it is common practice and good sense that the author who posts a document or comment that they have written retains copyright to that document. I teach writing, and we always require students to properly give credit by quoting or paraphasing an author when they post something on a forum. We do not tell students to quote the "site owner". When a teacher puts curriculum content on a site, the teacher retains its copyright unless he or she offers it to the public domain. The site owner should never resell the content without the author's permission. Note that I am not talking about legal rules but ethical guidelines. I hope you include such guidelines on your site policies.
In reply to E. L. Cooper
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Don Hinkelman གིས-
Hi E. L.
Thank you for taking time to respond to my post offline. I appreciate your comments but was unable to answer because your Moodle IM is set to block others from sending to you. Could you turn it on for me?
Thanks,
Don
Thank you for taking time to respond to my post offline. I appreciate your comments but was unable to answer because your Moodle IM is set to block others from sending to you. Could you turn it on for me?
Thanks,
Don
In reply to E. L. Cooper
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
E.L. and Don, thank you for your suggestions.
KTS program policies have been updated. Changed were made under the heading Site Content.
Please let me have your feedback.
KTS program policies have been updated. Changed were made under the heading Site Content.
Please let me have your feedback.
KTS now supports 1000 learners.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Manuel de la Torre གིས-
I think this project is to good to be true... Really the work you have done looks great, excellent response time, many activities and resources, many themes, is like a candy store for moodle users.
But I have become very skeptical of free things in life. And there are many questions that have been made and not answered in a straight full way by Jai witch have made me more skeptical.
1. There is a cloud of mistery on who the company parent is. And why they are interested in investing a lot of money in a project like this. I don't think knowing who is behind will demerit the non-profit nature of the project in any way.
2. The privacy policy is very limited, there is no mention on how data is protected, who has access to it, and there is no mention if you will or not will sell it to a third party.
3. There were issues about copyright and who owns the material we upload, that haven't been answered by your team. BTW, we dont know who are the members of your team, looks to me that you are the only one in charge!
4. Why is your parent company so interested in people contributing to education and Moodle.
5. You have said: After registration process is complete it will become a non-profit organization" When this will happen?, where it will be, in the US, India, etc????
6. You have said: "They (users) should use services by Key To School at their own risk. We don't make any commitments." I understand that on a free service you cannot expect a lot commitments. But at least there must be a commitment to privacy of our personal data, and other basic commitments.
7. In your profile you state that 20% from all donations will be donated to Moodle Trust, I have reviewed the donations to moodle and have not seen your name or keytoschool even in the $10 Dlls donations. Does this mean that you havent received any donations?
8. Finally, with 1000 users, 2.5GB HD, 50 GB of bandwidth per month, unknow number of courses, FTP all for free, I am sure not many teachers and even small and medium schools will reach this requirements, so many Moodle Partners will not be happy. For example Moodlerooms Basic Academic Package has almost the same specs and will cost $1000 US Dollars for a whole year.
I like and use open-source because there are no misteries in the code, anyone can ask, comment and review the code anytime and anywhere... for a non-profit project using an opensource project (someday? a non-profit organization) there are many questions that are unanswered, and many not clear answers given....
I hope this can become clear and transparent, because this looks like a very promising project....
Manuel.
But I have become very skeptical of free things in life. And there are many questions that have been made and not answered in a straight full way by Jai witch have made me more skeptical.
1. There is a cloud of mistery on who the company parent is. And why they are interested in investing a lot of money in a project like this. I don't think knowing who is behind will demerit the non-profit nature of the project in any way.
2. The privacy policy is very limited, there is no mention on how data is protected, who has access to it, and there is no mention if you will or not will sell it to a third party.
3. There were issues about copyright and who owns the material we upload, that haven't been answered by your team. BTW, we dont know who are the members of your team, looks to me that you are the only one in charge!
4. Why is your parent company so interested in people contributing to education and Moodle.
5. You have said: After registration process is complete it will become a non-profit organization" When this will happen?, where it will be, in the US, India, etc????
6. You have said: "They (users) should use services by Key To School at their own risk. We don't make any commitments." I understand that on a free service you cannot expect a lot commitments. But at least there must be a commitment to privacy of our personal data, and other basic commitments.
7. In your profile you state that 20% from all donations will be donated to Moodle Trust, I have reviewed the donations to moodle and have not seen your name or keytoschool even in the $10 Dlls donations. Does this mean that you havent received any donations?
8. Finally, with 1000 users, 2.5GB HD, 50 GB of bandwidth per month, unknow number of courses, FTP all for free, I am sure not many teachers and even small and medium schools will reach this requirements, so many Moodle Partners will not be happy. For example Moodlerooms Basic Academic Package has almost the same specs and will cost $1000 US Dollars for a whole year.
I like and use open-source because there are no misteries in the code, anyone can ask, comment and review the code anytime and anywhere... for a non-profit project using an opensource project (someday? a non-profit organization) there are many questions that are unanswered, and many not clear answers given....
I hope this can become clear and transparent, because this looks like a very promising project....
Manuel.
In reply to Manuel de la Torre
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Russell Waldron གིས-
Manuel, perhaps I should put it more clearly:
Regards,
Russell
Jai, your project is useless to schools in Australia because you continue to mask your company.
If your company is not accountable in Australia, schools cannot ask students to participate in courses on your site, due to obligations under their state 'Working with Children Act' and 'Privacy Act'.
Relaunch when you are prepared to be honest about your identity.
If your company is not accountable in Australia, schools cannot ask students to participate in courses on your site, due to obligations under their state 'Working with Children Act' and 'Privacy Act'.
Relaunch when you are prepared to be honest about your identity.
Regards,
Russell
In reply to Manuel de la Torre
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Manuel and Russel, thank you for your attention on Key To School. I am sure your feedback and suggestions will help this project.
We are working on KTS site and on next update it will show much more information and will also include an FAQ. This will solve identity issue and other common questions. We have planned to make it live on June 15, 2009.
Now back to questions from Manuel.
1. There is a cloud of mistery on who the company parent is. And why they are interested in investing a lot of money in a project like this. I don't think knowing who is behind will demerit the non-profit nature of the project in any way.
A) Accepted, main reason to hide our identity was to keep Moodle partners cool. We didn't want MP's to point that out as a potential threat to their business. Moodle's help desk has also allowed us to show our parent company name and now as many people want the same, it will be done. Changes will be made on (or before) June 15.
Off topic: Even after tacking so much of precautions I have heard a MP blaming that we are actually selling themes. Ha Ha, funny!
2. The privacy policy is very limited, there is no mention on how data is protected, who has access to it, and there is no mention if you will or not will sell it to a third party.
A) There is no way we can use your (content owner's) data. In our program policies it is written "KTS don’t have any right or responsibility for Your Content". However I agree that we need to expand our privacy policy and program policies.
3. There were issues about copyright and who owns the material we upload, that haven't been answered by your team. BTW, we dont know who are the members of your team, looks to me that you are the only one in charge!
A) Copyright changes were made (my previous answer), I also updated the status here. It may not have been clear.
At present, I am the only one working full time.
4. Why is your parent company so interested in people contributing to education and Moodle.
A) This is the primary goal of our company. Why? Both education sector and Moodle have helped us a lot. Now it is the time to pay back.
We also want to start e-learning in India. India has 10 million students in higher education and over 200 million students in schools who are our target. We need an automated system which could scale at such a level while keeping recurring cost low. KTS will help us in analysis of that system.
5. You have said: After registration process is complete it will become a non-profit organization" When this will happen?, where it will be, in the US, India, etc????
A) It will be in India. At present I cannot give a time frame. There are many formalities that need to be resolved, this will take time.
6. You have said: "They (users) should use services by Key To School at their own risk. We don't make any commitments." I understand that on a free service you cannot expect a lot commitments. But at least there must be a commitment to privacy of our personal data, and other basic commitments.
A) Yes, absolutely. Privacy of your personal data and content is important. I think you have only read privacy policy and not our program policies.
7. In your profile you state that 20% from all donations will be donated to Moodle Trust, I have reviewed the donations to moodle and have not seen your name or keytoschool even in the $10 Dlls donations. Does this mean that you havent received any donations?
A) We have received two donations till now. $38.14 from Francisco Suarez and $9.31 USD from Antonella Elia. It is a hassle to donate back to Moodle after every transaction. We will donate when the amount becomes little big. We do understand that we need some stats (with history) for donations as well. This feature is in queue.
8. Finally, with 1000 users, 2.5GB HD, 50 GB of bandwidth per month, unknow number of courses, FTP all for free, I am sure not many teachers and even small and medium schools will reach this requirements, so many Moodle Partners will not be happy. For example Moodlerooms Basic Academic Package has almost the same specs and will cost $1000 US Dollars for a whole year.
A) We don't limit on number of courses. Yes, I am also feeling that many MP are not happy with KTS. Any way to make them happy? No, we can't shutdown KTS ;)
We are working on KTS site and on next update it will show much more information and will also include an FAQ. This will solve identity issue and other common questions. We have planned to make it live on June 15, 2009.
Now back to questions from Manuel.
1. There is a cloud of mistery on who the company parent is. And why they are interested in investing a lot of money in a project like this. I don't think knowing who is behind will demerit the non-profit nature of the project in any way.
A) Accepted, main reason to hide our identity was to keep Moodle partners cool. We didn't want MP's to point that out as a potential threat to their business. Moodle's help desk has also allowed us to show our parent company name and now as many people want the same, it will be done. Changes will be made on (or before) June 15.
Off topic: Even after tacking so much of precautions I have heard a MP blaming that we are actually selling themes. Ha Ha, funny!
2. The privacy policy is very limited, there is no mention on how data is protected, who has access to it, and there is no mention if you will or not will sell it to a third party.
A) There is no way we can use your (content owner's) data. In our program policies it is written "KTS don’t have any right or responsibility for Your Content". However I agree that we need to expand our privacy policy and program policies.
3. There were issues about copyright and who owns the material we upload, that haven't been answered by your team. BTW, we dont know who are the members of your team, looks to me that you are the only one in charge!
A) Copyright changes were made (my previous answer), I also updated the status here. It may not have been clear.
At present, I am the only one working full time.
4. Why is your parent company so interested in people contributing to education and Moodle.
A) This is the primary goal of our company. Why? Both education sector and Moodle have helped us a lot. Now it is the time to pay back.
We also want to start e-learning in India. India has 10 million students in higher education and over 200 million students in schools who are our target. We need an automated system which could scale at such a level while keeping recurring cost low. KTS will help us in analysis of that system.
5. You have said: After registration process is complete it will become a non-profit organization" When this will happen?, where it will be, in the US, India, etc????
A) It will be in India. At present I cannot give a time frame. There are many formalities that need to be resolved, this will take time.
6. You have said: "They (users) should use services by Key To School at their own risk. We don't make any commitments." I understand that on a free service you cannot expect a lot commitments. But at least there must be a commitment to privacy of our personal data, and other basic commitments.
A) Yes, absolutely. Privacy of your personal data and content is important. I think you have only read privacy policy and not our program policies.
7. In your profile you state that 20% from all donations will be donated to Moodle Trust, I have reviewed the donations to moodle and have not seen your name or keytoschool even in the $10 Dlls donations. Does this mean that you havent received any donations?
A) We have received two donations till now. $38.14 from Francisco Suarez and $9.31 USD from Antonella Elia. It is a hassle to donate back to Moodle after every transaction. We will donate when the amount becomes little big. We do understand that we need some stats (with history) for donations as well. This feature is in queue.
8. Finally, with 1000 users, 2.5GB HD, 50 GB of bandwidth per month, unknow number of courses, FTP all for free, I am sure not many teachers and even small and medium schools will reach this requirements, so many Moodle Partners will not be happy. For example Moodlerooms Basic Academic Package has almost the same specs and will cost $1000 US Dollars for a whole year.
A) We don't limit on number of courses. Yes, I am also feeling that many MP are not happy with KTS. Any way to make them happy? No, we can't shutdown KTS ;)
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Don Hinkelman གིས-
Thanks again, Jai, for your patience and openness in sharing your program. I wholehearted support it and all other efforts to help teachers get started using Moodle.
As you have stated, this service is intended to give support, hand-holding and easy setup for new people learning how to add online tools to their classes. It is also for those pioneers in a school who have not used e-learning and want to try but have no budget.
KeyToSchool, Ninehub and other free providers are no threat to Moodle Partners, because when a school really commits to Moodle, they will need professional, paid services to handle the load and manage the operation. I believe this will expand the market for everyone.
As you have stated, this service is intended to give support, hand-holding and easy setup for new people learning how to add online tools to their classes. It is also for those pioneers in a school who have not used e-learning and want to try but have no budget.
KeyToSchool, Ninehub and other free providers are no threat to Moodle Partners, because when a school really commits to Moodle, they will need professional, paid services to handle the load and manage the operation. I believe this will expand the market for everyone.
In reply to Don Hinkelman
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Julian Ridden གིས-
Don, I think you have worded your response very well. But the concerns on identity continue to shroud.
Any company that feels a need to hide their identity will forever be treated with a degree of mistrust. The sooner you can do this the better.
Like Don, I recognize that many teachers/facilitators have a ned for a free host to help them in at least a proof of concept. Hopefully they would then move to a more formal level of service for reliability. With so many companies out there like NineHub, GlobalClassroom, KeyToSchool and more popping up every day, there certainly seems to be a string interest in this field
What would make me happiest is for Jai to make contact with MartinD or at least Moodle.com and reveal their intentions there. What is the worst that could happen? They say no and you go ahead anyways? Well in many ways that is what you are doing now so no loss there. But the best that could happen is so much more beneficial.
Best of luck
Any company that feels a need to hide their identity will forever be treated with a degree of mistrust. The sooner you can do this the better.
Like Don, I recognize that many teachers/facilitators have a ned for a free host to help them in at least a proof of concept. Hopefully they would then move to a more formal level of service for reliability. With so many companies out there like NineHub, GlobalClassroom, KeyToSchool and more popping up every day, there certainly seems to be a string interest in this field
What would make me happiest is for Jai to make contact with MartinD or at least Moodle.com and reveal their intentions there. What is the worst that could happen? They say no and you go ahead anyways? Well in many ways that is what you are doing now so no loss there. But the best that could happen is so much more beneficial.
Best of luck
In reply to Julian Ridden
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Jai Gupta གིས-
Julian said "What would make me happiest is for Jai to make contact with MartinD or at least Moodle.com and reveal their intentions there. What is the worst that could happen? They say no and you go ahead anyways? Well in many ways that is what you are doing now so no loss there. But the best that could happen is so much more beneficial."
Julian, you have an impression that we have not contacted Moodle.com but in fact we contacted them back on 11 Mar 2008 with details about our plans. We started our internal development process only after approval. We took permission again from Moodle.com on 10 Mar 2009 - the day before our official launch. I hope this makes you happy
Julian, you have an impression that we have not contacted Moodle.com but in fact we contacted them back on 11 Mar 2008 with details about our plans. We started our internal development process only after approval. We took permission again from Moodle.com on 10 Mar 2009 - the day before our official launch. I hope this makes you happy
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Russell Waldron གིས-
In reply to Russell Waldron
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Don Hinkelman གིས-
Hi Russell,
I think Jai has done much more than needed to verify this project. I suggest you try ninehub.com, if you need a site now. Otherwise wait until June 15 or whenever the appropriate time is they can give further disclosure. But actually it seems silly to me to pester this point because it is all free. Use the site completely gratis, make regular download backups of your courses (which you should do anyway) and you are completely covered. If you have strict government and institutional requirements to satisfy, you shouldn't be using free sites anyway.
Cheers,
Don
I think Jai has done much more than needed to verify this project. I suggest you try ninehub.com, if you need a site now. Otherwise wait until June 15 or whenever the appropriate time is they can give further disclosure. But actually it seems silly to me to pester this point because it is all free.
Cheers,
Don
In reply to Russell Waldron
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
jesse barnett གིས-
You guys seem desperate for contact info like Diego Delgado from the movie Blow. Almost makes me skeptical of your motives?
In reply to jesse barnett
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Frankie Kam གིས-
I am one satisfied user of KeyToSchool (KTS).
You site has enabled me to host my IT classes in ways I couldn't imagine years ago.
My only "complaint" is Nanogong still can't be enabled for KTS because it will mess with the core code of Moodle. Same for Nanogong 4 released a couple of weeks ago?
Thanks for a great free and advertisement-less service anyway!
Frankie Kam
Melaka, Malaysia
boonsengkam@gmail.com
http://scm.moodlehub.com
P.S., keep up the good work Jai! You and the parent company are up there with Bill Gates, his wife and his Foundation, AND Warren Buffet...in terms of generosity and giving back to the public.
You site has enabled me to host my IT classes in ways I couldn't imagine years ago.
My only "complaint" is Nanogong still can't be enabled for KTS because it will mess with the core code of Moodle. Same for Nanogong 4 released a couple of weeks ago?
Thanks for a great free and advertisement-less service anyway!
Frankie Kam
Melaka, Malaysia
boonsengkam@gmail.com
http://scm.moodlehub.com
P.S., keep up the good work Jai! You and the parent company are up there with Bill Gates, his wife and his Foundation, AND Warren Buffet...in terms of generosity and giving back to the public.
In reply to jesse barnett
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
mckenzie Coulombe གིས-
I think this new project is great just follow what you think and you'll be fine.
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Kent Stewart གིས-
I just found this site, and from what I have read, I cannot wait to use it. Being that our school, while having so much technology to use, still wishes to keep us in the dark ages sometimes, I cannot wait to develop mine into a working online course.
And sometimes, I think we need to accept this as what it is - finally someone giving BACK to education...instead of taking from us..
So from me to you..
THANK YOU!!!
And sometimes, I think we need to accept this as what it is - finally someone giving BACK to education...instead of taking from us..
So from me to you..
THANK YOU!!!
In reply to Jai Gupta
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
elena fortunato གིས-
Hi, I'm new, here. Ehm... sorry for my English...
I've just finished a moodle course at university and I'd like to build up a moodle site for the school where work. Some students told me that KTS was great respect to Gnomio (too many ads) or ilbello.com (limit upload 6MB)but there were too many requests, so long time to wait.
After one year waiting, I eventually received a welcome mail from KTSsupport and a link to their portal home, but ... what I can't find the link to my free moodle hosting.
While studying at Univ. we had been asked to create a moodle test-site, in Gnomio, which is a free moodle hosting, too, but they sent me all the links.
Have I misunderstood their message: "FREE Moodle Hosting" ?
freewasp
In reply to elena fortunato
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Ashutosh Taunk གིས-
Hi Elena,
Well I feel this is a brilliant thing to have for all the learners and administartors. Even i am interested to get access to free hosting so that we can try all the settings and configurations before moving to live environment.
I am going to follow this post now .... Thanks for letting me know this elena!
Ashutosh
In reply to elena fortunato
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Don Hinkelman གིས-
Hi Elena,
I believe KTS is moving to a paid service, because donations were not sufficient to support it. I gave a donation twice but noticed they were getting very few other donations. It is very difficult to maintain a free/donation-based site because most users are beginners and have lots of demanding or newbie type questions. Have you tried Ninehub, a nice-looking, ad-supported site that is free to teachers?
In reply to Don Hinkelman
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The content of this forum post has been removed and can no longer be accessed.
In reply to Deleted user
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Eric Millin གིས-
Have you looked at setting up your own server on AWS, Amazon's cloud service?
If you're comfortable working from a command line, then it's very easy to set up. They have a tier that's free for the first year. After the first year, it's very inexpensive, especially if you go ahead and reserve a server instance for 1-3 years--that way you get a major discount on the metered rates.
In reply to Deleted user
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The content of this forum post has been removed and can no longer be accessed.
In reply to Deleted user
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Stuart Mealor གིས-
In reply to Stuart Mealor
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Stuart Mealor གིས-
We have recently launched a completely free Moodle hosting option.
You can visit http://www.freemoodle.org and have a look around the documentation, read about why this has been created, its aims, and then join the community area.
One of the few conditions is that your course should be open for others, and you can't charge for the course. So it's free Moodle hosting, for courses that are free for others. You can however separate your own students from the public by using Groups and Groupings (an example might be for using Assignments).
This service does have some (understandable) conditions, but does come with the full backing of a Moode Partner (so it's not going to disappear overnight!), and no catches. We think this is a really important development, and are looking for people who want to help too
Check it out ! (and maybe get involved?)
Stuart Mealor (Managing Director of HRDNZ, Moodle Partner)
In reply to Stuart Mealor
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Glenys Hanson གིས-
Hi Stuart,
Your proposition sounds very attractive. But I'd like to know what exactly are the "some (understandable) conditions". I could have some courses to contribute but I use some "contributed modules" in 1.9 such as QuizPort, Questionnaire, Checklist, Participant Pix... would I be able to use these on your platform?
----
Something quite different. You seem to have the Word Censorship filter on.
When I click on the black rectangle I see "pute" ("whore" in French) .. teenage titters all round .. Is it really what you want?
Cheers,
Glenys
In reply to Glenys Hanson
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Stuart Mealor གིས-
Hi Glenys
There are conditions we have to consider on a free site such as the maximum file upload size. There is some documentation on the site for teachers that discusses these issues. And for example the only non-standard module being included at this stage is Certificate (and Feedback is available). Mainly this is to ensure teachers could take backups if they wish, and transport them easily to other sites - we think they should have that level of control
That said, there may be other extremely safe Blocks or Filters for example that could be added - that's going to be a community discussion / decision. Participant PIx is a good example (although not for Moodle 2.1 yet), because if it broke during an upgrade it wouldn't really have a major impact.
That's interesting about the Filter, because I don't see that on my screen - must be an OS/browser/Theme thing... I've switched that Filter off on the Front Page now - thanks!
In reply to Stuart Mealor
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Samer Faissal གིས-
Stuart,
That's a good project indeed. However, one of the few drawbacks of similar projects is that users might need customized help such as adding their upload limit or getting more priviledges. I liked the idea of adding several languages but you can add even more Good luck.
Samer Faissal (Human Logic, Moodle Patner)
In reply to Samer Faissal
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Richard Oelmann གིས-
Hi Samer,
I agree there are limitations to Stuart's system and to other similar ones - but I think that for a free systme, this is to be expected and is perfectly reasonable.
Where users need more customisation, then it may be time for them to consider whether these free hosting solutions are the right way forward for them, or that they have reached the stage where they actually need to have a more dedicated setup for their needs.
The great thing about moodle is that there is so much support both from moodle partners and the community, that finding a setup to match an individual/institutions needs should be possible in most circumstances.
Richard
In reply to Samer Faissal
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Stuart Mealor གིས-
Hi Samer - thanks for your input
"users might need customized help such as adding their upload limit or getting more priviledges."
Well, the first thing to say is really what Richard Oelmann has added - that people who have 'unique needs' can download and install the world's best LMS completely for free and then do whatever they want! lol
The file upload limit is set for the moment, but that could change to a higher level in the future - at the moment we are understanding what people need, and balancing that with what we can provide.
I'm not sure what permissions a Teacher would need other than the permissions in a Teacher role already (as FreeMoodle.org is generally going to be used by individual teachers, or even better by teachers collaborating - completely outside of local, regional, or institutional restraints).
All the languages available in Moodle are available. We're also happy to add most of the new Moodle 2.x Themes and have done this But there are other things we can add such as Filters, or Blocks that would be useful for everyone for example. This is something we would like the active users to start discussing in the community area.
But we also want to keep this environment as 'standard' as possible - so teachers are at liberty to Backup their course, and Restore it on a different Moodle site if they wish without problems.
Stu
In reply to Stuart Mealor
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Dom London གིས-
I'm curious. I stumbled upon this thread - but it never seemed to resolve.
Jai's profile has disappeared from the site, and I dont know what happened to the whole thing especailly in relation to the community. Is it free? it looks like the mystery owner is KeyTo Moodle
Would have been interested to know how this thread ended (as it seems to have ended offline somewhere!)
Interesting three year story - though - even if I couldnt really figure out what happened! I *think* someone said they started charging, but that doesnt seem to be the case from their website...
Oh well..
Dom
In reply to Dom London
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Frankie Kam གིས-
Hi Dom.
Here's how it ended - at least for my free Moodle site that was hosted on KeyToSchool for the past three years. KeyToSchool is now no more. KeyToMoodle - paid hosting with various packages - is.
Frankie Kam
On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 8:13 PM, Jai Gupta <jai@vidyamantra.com> wrote:
Dear Frankie,
We are hosting your website scm.moodlehub.com. We have enjoyed serving you so far.
At present due to high demand and load we are struggling with our system. Current architecture is failing to support such high demand and our budget does not allow us to add more power here.
It has been decided that we will move our system from US datacenter to our newly built in-house datacenter in Delhi, India. This move will allow us to add a lot more power and stability to KeyToSchool.com. Asian customers will see improvement in latency, latency will increase for US customers but improved performance will compensate it.
We will plan our new architecture to allow us to host a lot more Moodle sites, as we plan and build new system it will take time. We may start KeyToSchool.com again around March 2012.
From today, we will stop new registrations and from January 1, 2012 all Moodle sites will stop working. It is recommended that users of KeyToSchool.com move to some other hosting providers or move to KeyToMoodle.com.
We have created a special product for KTS customers and have offered our KTM1 plan with 50% discount. With this special plan, we will move your Moodle site to KeyToMoodle servers on January 1, 2012.
If you choose to move to some other hosting providers then you will need FTP access to transfer your files. More details about FTP is in our knowledge base. Additionally you will require database dump. You will find a file named backup_db.sql.gz in your FTP under httpdocs folder. This database dump will be updated regularly. More details about migration can be found on Moodle Docs.
We understand that this change will cause inconvenience to you but we hope you will support us as we work to grow our services.
Jai Gputa
jai@vidyamantra.com
We can also meet on our forum.
In reply to Dom London
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
April Hannaford གིས-
Yes a very interesting three year story.. I just read the whole entire thread. IF anyone had any updates, please post them... Thanks..
In reply to April Hannaford
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
Stuart Mealor གིས-
Not an update to this story, but an alternative...
We started http://www.freemoodle.org last year, and it's developing quite nicely now. Hosting is free, as long as the courses are free for others to take. You can read details on the site, and understand the motivation and aims behind this project
Stu
In reply to Stuart Mealor
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
April Hannaford གིས-
STU,
I have checked out your project and I love the idea. I have read just about every page on your site. I have several courses that I could offer for use for your project. I will contact you in a few days to set something up. Thank you..
In reply to April Hannaford
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
James Miller གིས-
Here's my update, April. The KTS site essentially went commercial, closing down and offering all those with accounts to move to a paid plan at keytomoodle. So Jai was not being truthful about this not being a commercial enterprise. It has definitely become one. If they really do bring KTS back on-line with the free hosting they previously offered, I'll have to retract that. But I'm not holding my breath.
The price for the paid hosting--at least for former KTS accounts--looked attractive. I had some private exchanges with Jai in an attempt to clarify how the transition would work. I decided to go with a paid account at keytomoodle--a decision I'm coming to regret.
First, my former KTS URL does NOT resolve to my new keytomoodle URL, despite Jai's reassurances that it would and despite it now being a month since the transition took place. I filed a support ticket through their system about two weeks in, which was met with stony silence. I wrote a follow-up note to Jai--also followed by stony silence. About a week later I filed another support ticket, marking it as high priority and explaining the issue in greater detail. That ticket, too--which, incidentally, I cc'd to Jai--has been met with stony silence by both recipients. Meantime, today is the last day I can cancel my service and get an 80% refund (per refunds policy at http://www.keytomoodle.com/refund/ ). I've just told them today of my intent to cancel and ask for the refund.
My guess is that this is an Indian way of doing business (my wife has an Indian co-worker who knows something about the "ethics" in force in the business world there). Powerful business owners have the upper hand and they respond to your issues as they so desire--which may be not at all. We in the West need to teach them that business is not done this way in the West by cancelling our accounts if we do not receive reasonable service.
As I observed, it looks to me as though Jai did, in the end, use this board and Moodle software for commercial gain, and that he was not forthcoming about his ultimate aims.
James
In reply to James Miller
Re: Moodle Hosting - What do you think about this new project?
April Hannaford གིས-
When I was reading this topic, i seen that Jai was trying to hide who the Identity of the "Parent" company. Did anyone find out who it was? And do you think his motive for the "free" site was to get prospects for his paid site?