I'll be honest, I'm not sure where to post this question, as it seems to cover so many topics. But here it goes anyway...
How are K-12 instituions managing access to media files, especially very large files? I ask becuase we are continutally running into issues backing up a few courses because the size of a few courses is using a lot of memory to back up, timing out, faiiling to backup, etc. You can read the specifics about that here, if you are interested: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=140438#p613013
We serve grades 9-12 and the media is worthwhile but the size is the issue. YouTube would be a great solution except that most schools we work with block YouTube. So I wonder, we can't be the only K-12 institution using Moodle that runs up against this, so how are you all solving this?
Thanks!
We have run into the same problem! We bought a repository last year, but sadly it has yet to be connected to our Moodle server. I am hoping this summer that will come to fruition. In the meantime, we have also been looking for alternatives. One thing we stumbled across just last week, was playing with Google Docs. They now have the ability to upload any file type. We were able to take a 2.5gb avi file, use format factory (a free program) to convert it to a 52mb wmv file and upload it to Google Docs with out any problems! We then made the link public, so other (principals- people w/o a google account) could view it. You have the option to open it or save it. Worked like a charm.
You are not alone in this one Tiffany,
There is a option in 1.9.7 to split the backup into manageable chunks. It's experimental.
Almost everything at my end is done on the net, we do distance/open/parent teacher blended. Our initial response to this was to store as much media off site as we could. Our design took into account slow links and we can always point to the off site or student connection as being the problem.
However we now have two additional sites that have (shudder) Live Students (unshudder) and our method A is pushing the data bill up.
Part of the solution is to use a Darwin Server of our own. Stream our own content and give the ISP more $$$.
We also use internally Gallery2 as a share point for photos and such. This take some pressure off the servers but imposes additional network load. We can just manage on our LAN with 120 clients on a giga bit LAN the round trip times at peak slow to the same as a 1.5k broadband connection.
I think the key is to spread the resource so at backup time the Moodle only archives links and text.
John
There is a option in 1.9.7 to split the backup into manageable chunks. It's experimental.
Almost everything at my end is done on the net, we do distance/open/parent teacher blended. Our initial response to this was to store as much media off site as we could. Our design took into account slow links and we can always point to the off site or student connection as being the problem.
However we now have two additional sites that have (shudder) Live Students (unshudder) and our method A is pushing the data bill up.
Part of the solution is to use a Darwin Server of our own. Stream our own content and give the ISP more $$$.
We also use internally Gallery2 as a share point for photos and such. This take some pressure off the servers but imposes additional network load. We can just manage on our LAN with 120 clients on a giga bit LAN the round trip times at peak slow to the same as a 1.5k broadband connection.
I think the key is to spread the resource so at backup time the Moodle only archives links and text.
John