Moodle or Wordpress?

Moodle or Wordpress?

by joseph zabrosky -
Number of replies: 8

Hi,


I set everything up for Moodle to work on my computer via my bluehost account, but I need to know if Wordpress would be a better choice than Moodle for my application. Allow me to explain.

1. An eleven chapter course that will have 2 videos in each chapter. One video approximately 10 minutes and a second about 3 minutes. Each Chapter will have numerous footnote links to other sites.

2. There will be 10 questions per chapter, facts section, quotes section, case law, expert dialogue section in each chapter

3. I will need unique IDs and passwords for people who purchase the course and a cart or some way for members to purchase.

In light of all of this and the need to market the course as effectively as possible do you believe wordpress with all it's plugins would be a better choice than moodle in terms of having the most stealth system that can handle multiple users at one time with the amount of video explained above, and the search engine friendly aspect wordpress has with google? I don't know enough about moodle in terms of how it compares with wordpress relative to what I seek to do. I am using bluehost.

The other question would be do you think it wise in this situation to have a dedicated server from bluehost rather than a standard server used with others?

What in your opinion would be the hardiest system for what i seek to do?

Thank you for your help!

(Edited by Mary Cooch  to clarify content- original submission Sunday, 5 April 2015, 4:43 AM)

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In reply to joseph zabrosky

Moodle or Wordpress?

by Usman Asar -
Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Joseph,

first to start with asking for a Dedicated, I wonder why you haven't mentioned something in between? Like VPS or Hybrid. That all depends on how many registered users and concurrent users you have on site, if you are expecting huge numbers of users using the site, even then Dedicated is way out of question, a mid-level VPS would do the job. Whilst with bluehost, you can start with their PRO packages (starting from $19) that will set you up for serving 30-40 (or more) active users at one time, and I dont expect more than that number for 1 course as you mentioned. should your requirements increase, BlueHost always will be happy you to switch to higher servers (VPS, Dedicated) and will even do the switch for you.

Now regarding use of CMS, like you have told, WordPress (academy theme) would be able to do the job, but then you are limited to content presentation, (like you want to have few more things presentable in some different format), this is where WordPress will lack support (surely there are few other plug-ins), and just like when viruses are created, the creator thinks of first platform as windows (due to market share), same does for the WordPress, their sites are prone to get attacked more than others. Whilst SEO is concerned, you can always use a blog with your Moodle (based on Blogger), that will boost your SEO for the site without you spending a penny.

(Edited by Mary Cooch -to clarify content original submission Sunday, 5 April 2015, 8:51 AM)

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In reply to Usman Asar

Re: Moodle or Wordpress?

by joseph zabrosky -

Hello Usman,

Thank you very much for your response! I now understand much more. A few more questions. I think I will use Moodle for the course, but would like your opinion regarding the following

1.  For optimal SEO I was thinking to use a Wordpress capture page which will lead students into the moodle course. Your thoughts?

2. Was going to stream my videos in the course via Youtube as they have really good quality. When using a youtube embed code in moodle there would be no heavy load on the moodle platform correct?

3. It's my understanding that when using moodle I can set up a back office for teachers of the course? If this is true, can you direct me to information regarding setting up the back office for teachers?

4. If I use a wordpress capture that leads to the moodle course I would use the Blog to lead people to the capture page, correct? That would be the only necessity of using a blog correct?

Thanks again,

Joseph

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In reply to joseph zabrosky

Re: Moodle or Wordpress?

by Usman Asar -
Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

Sorry I must have missed your questions, if it wasn't Visvanath pointing to this forum from other post, I would have missed it completely.

1: Fine, you can do that, using WordPress as landing page, but for your understanding, the level of SEO that WordPress will give for one page, Moodle may be able to give you even better than that.

2: Once page loaded at user's end, the API loads from its  respective servers, so if you have embedded YouTube, FaceBook etc, it will be their servers serving the content, without even effecting your Moodle...........but not to mention, using YouTube will take away the professionalism from your courses being a free service. Current streaming technologies (popular ones) will allow use of HTTP protocol, and no other method required, so even your current BlueHost server will be good enough to send video to user. But YouTube has its own charms (ABR, 4 qualities, and so on)

3: I am not sure I grab this question correctly, elaborate a bit further, unless Visvanath or Mary has already answered. 

4: Blogger actually Boosts SEO, based on the URL's that are used in blogs (containing the title of the page in URL), that is one of the  important factors in SEO ranking,s, and I had recommended blogger to be used as a blog for its Google's product and Google puts its products at high rank without you doing anything about it must as when compared to WordPress.

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In reply to joseph zabrosky

Do I need Moodle or stay with WordPress?

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hi Joseph

This is a routine question which is not easy to answer as it may sound: a) One needs to know Moodle well b) Also needs to know WordPress and the proper plug-ins c) Have to understand your current needs and their future. The regulars here are good at a). You seem to know b) WordPress well and the best person in the world on c) ! So my initial answer is, since you have clearly written down what you need, and know how to achieve that in WordPress, just go ahead. Moodle is the specialist on interactive teaching. It has a huge repertoire of features which you may not need, and will be couter productive - at least initially. If you think, you might need them one day, then better explore Moodle. But get ready for a big investment, in terms of learning.

BTW, the normal place for this question is the "Comparisons and advocacy" forum https://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=2784. You might want to go through past discussions and/or search through it. Hint: There is an Advanced search, https://moodle.org/mod/forum/search.php?id=5, which is a tiny link below the Search forums box in Moodle english https://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5, which easily overseen.

The "other question", about hosting solutions, apear every other week. The proper place is the "Hardware and performance" forum https://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=596. The hint above is valid here too.
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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Do I need Moodle or stay with WordPress?

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Just moving this to the Comparisons and Advocacy forum ;)

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In reply to Visvanath Ratnaweera

Re: Do I need Moodle or stay with WordPress?

by joseph zabrosky -

Thank you Visvanath! I have copied and pasted your recommended links. I will use moodle for the interactive teaching and wordpress for a capture page that leads to moodle course. 

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In reply to joseph zabrosky

Re: Do I need Moodle or stay with WordPress?

by Visvanath Ratnaweera -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Translators
Hello Joseph

I think that is a sensible solution, provided that you are ready to climb the "learning curve". I am not sure what the best starting place is. In addition to the Advanced search I already mentioned, here are some random pointers:
- https://docs.moodle.org/en/Table_of_Contents
- https://moodle.org/demo/
- http://school.demo.moodle.net/
- https://moodle.org/demo/
- https://moodle.net/

May be there is a compilation somewhere.
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