I am a university instructor and I have used moodle in one of the universities I am teaching. In my other university I am teaching, they are not using moodle and I would like to set my my own moodle so I can use it im my class. How can I set up my own moodle and how can my student enroll in my moodle courses. I will not have the support of the university IT so I am doing this on my own. Can you assist me with this ? Thank you.
Dick
Where can I get all of these things. Can you show me how to install it step by step
Diosdado,
Depending on the technical level you are at I may be able to walk you through the setup of a new Moodle application. I am not a techy but have been able to get a 2.0 set up from start to finish including the domain name, hosting, SQL, etc. If that would do you any good let me know. I would probably need to know were we are at from a technical level first if you are interested. Are you familiar with obtaining a domain name, hosting that domain with a third party?
My thoughts are that if you or anyone else out there is interested I could do a series of screen captures of the process. The catch would be that I would like to actually create a Moodle application that we could then all communicate on and take everything for a test ride including the Forums, wikis, video embeds etc. Let me know if interested.
I am not a technical person. DO I need to get a domain to install Moodle ? Where can i get a domain ? Do i have to pay for it ?
The question is what do you want to do with it? For your personal use? It will fit on your computer. For your employer's intranet? Use their server. For your own Web site? It is like every other web site, get a domain name, find a host willing to host a Moodle and go for it. Just do what you need to do for your own purposes - and that is what Moodle allows you to do, no matter what those purposes are.
Hi,
If you are not a technical person, then I have to say in all truth, that the idea you have, that of creating an online course to share with your students, is very praiseworthy, but without technical help, you will be struggling as there are many things you need to know. I am surprised you have not approched those at Pheonix University Information Systems personel to help you.
To find answers to all the questions you are asking you must do some research of your own on the subject.
A few of us here have already answered many of your questions, but you don't seem to be reading them.
Mary
Hi Diosdado,
I use SimplyNames and have done now for 12 years. They have a special deal on at the moment which allows you a FREE domain name, and a website with one database facility where you can upload Moodle 1.9.10 in 2 minutes. It's one of the easiest setups I have ever come across. The cost is about £25 for one year.
If you register online you get your website set up within the hour, in some cases almost instantly, but it take up to 48hrs to resolve the DNS for the site name to be recognised web-wide.
For a troublefree start you can't go wrong.And there's alwasy people here to help with Moodle when you start to creat your courses.
Best of luck,
Mary
Dagwan,
My take on your question is that much will depend on your knowledge of such things as HTML, MySQL, PHPmyAdmin etc. To get an idea of what level you will need to be at you may want to visit a number of the basic forum posts. If the answers to the questions involve going to MySQL and tweaking something or maybe to your cPanel to edit a line in the .ini file are latin to you then, in my opinion, it will be a little tough to do your own application. I am about 3 weeks into my first Moodle app and have had to perform many of the functions just mentioned. I am not a techy but fortunately had a semester of HTML, CSS and have been toying with websites, Dreamweaver and host a couple so familiar with cPanel stuff. It has been a real learning experience but lucky I had no deadlines or anyone waiting to log in on the other end. If you find you are not familiar with the terminolgy and solutions used in the forums then I would suggest teaming up with a student or friend that does. If, when you do then this might be a starter for you:
In the end it will be worth it. Moodle is an unbelievable application and there is a huge support group out there to help. There are also tons of videos on YouTube. Again, try a few of those to see if you are familiar with the terminogy used. If you are then go for it.
Mike
Dick,
I am not a technical person, but I did what you wanted to do around 3 years ago. Here's my method.
1) Open a basic account with GoDaddy. Get a domain name and privacy. This costs around $20 US per year.
2) Buy their basic hosting, around $5 per month (or less). Get their linux server package.
3) They have an install button for Moodle. Click it, and Moodle installs.
4) There are a few setup things that you need to do to make your Moodle installation a little safer. Folks here in Moodle.org can help. I read the book "Moodle 1.9" by William Rice. It was helpful.
That's about it. Yearly cost around $20 + (12x4) = $68. Could be cheaper with longer committments.
You can visit my site (www.rjerz.com/moodle), but you will only see my frontpage.
By the way, one advantage you gain is that you become your own administrator, and can set your own policies. Also, I am a professor and not a network administrator, but it has been working for me for over three years. I have had around 450 students in my moodle, and I have run around 30 courses so far. Not as much experience as others, but you CAN do it. At least a good start. Also, much better that Blackboard.
I am not subscribed to this forum, I just stumbled upon your post and saw it was recent. But you can find me by visiting my website.
Rick's method is one method teachers can use to avoid their networks (network administrators, rules, regulations and assistance) and have complete control. There are a huge number of webhosting services where you can install a Moodle and have a domain name. I have worked with 4 different hosts similar to Rick's. I have not worked with a Moodle Partner but that might be another option
My college and most others in our university system uses the higher priced LMS (with one recent Moodle exception). I know of a few teachers who dislike the higher priced LMS so much they paid for their own personal web sites that have Moodle and other stuff.
A word of caution to teachers in some states/countries, I would be careful teaching a college (or any school) course using your own site to teach your college's students. You are probably subject to rules and regulations that will still apply to you, as well as your college, even when you are on "your own" Moodle. For example, in the US this might involve FERPA and your employment contract with your college.
There are lots of non-www options as well. Just a matter of comfort level. The 5 US dollars a month site is an excellent option and offers an opportunity to learn some new skills. Just do not gamble with what you can not afford to lose.
Chris
Chris,
Thanks for seconding my idea. Quite honestly, I first move my website to a low-cost provider because of some silly rules that were being tossed around my university, and to see what one could do for under $5 a month. Well, I found out that I could do a lot, my webpages were always alive, and I didn't have to live with the school's silly rules.
It was later that I learned that I could run Moodle from my account. Blackboard was giving me problems, and I was looking for a better solution. While investigating using a Wordpress blog, I stumbled upon Moodle. Moodle solved a number of problems for me.
Yes, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to be an LMS administrator, but I was willing to give it a try.
I have always been concerned about FERPA, and am very careful about my Moodle site. It's a tough call. My guess is that my Moodle site more secure than the school's site, but just my guess. I think the issue could be on grades... that Moodle is not secure enough for maintaining grades. Well, do I keep an accurate (and capable) gradebook in Moodle, or do I use Blackboard and go back to keeping my grades in Excel?
Over the last three years, I have asked my students (end of semester survey) to comment on Moodle versus Blackboard. So far, I have had only one student say "it doesn't matter." Everyone else has favored Moodle.
So, do I do something that is better for students, or better for administration?
At this point, I hope to be able to continue running Moodle.
Dear Rick
> I have had around 450 students in my moodle,
> and I have run around 30 courses so far.
>
Surely you're not getting a good performance with $68 per year to cater to the load of 450 students and 30 courses right?
May I know what type of hosting you're using with the current setup of number of students and course that you now have?
Are you using Shared hosting, Virtual Private Server or (wow!) Dedicted Server?
I am asking because I just subscribed to a local (Malaysian-based) web host, using shared hosting. I'm not too impressed with the performance (maybe it's my college's Broadband line that's the limitation) even with a computer lab session size of only 20 concurrent users(!). I wish I could subscribe for a dedicated host, but the monthly cost is beyond me...unless of course all my colleagues get onto Moodle and are willing to share the annual dedicated server hosting costs.
Frankie Kam
Melaka, Malaysia
http://www.moodleace.com
