Hey,
I'd like to put together a website that would be 90% static content with course content integrated in to particular sections. Alternatively, a user would be able to log in and view all courses for which they're registered or assigned. What's the proper way to be going about this? Ideally, it'd look and function pretty seamlessly.
Static or CMS (Worpress) front end with themed/skinned Moodle section? Is this possible through any commercial themes or plugins within Moodle's framework?
Thanks in advance for any help pointing me in the right direction.
I am not sure what you seek. It seems to me that at this point, I would just say "use moodle."
Can you state a specific problem that you are having (given this "use Moodle") suggestion?
I apologize. My experience with Moodle is pretty limited so I may not be asking the right questions. My understanding of Moodle is that it doesn't handle content like an informational website would. It cannot act like a CMS and create pages with parent/child relationships (as far as I know).
Here's and example of how I'd like to set up the site (in an ideal world):
- Home
- Section
- Multiple Sub-pages
- Section
- Multiple Sub-pages
- Sub-page with locked course content
- Section
- Sub-page with locked course content
- Section
All pages with the exception of the bolded course content pages would be public html content (text, images, video, etc...). A login should be available in the header to allow users to log in and access assigned course content at any point.
In essence it is a portal/website containing a collection of information regarding training programs which are mostly links to external sites. However the site also hosts it's own course content which it develops and manages.
I'd like to create the site using wordpress and skin based on client branding requirements. Where course content is required it would take the user to domain.com/moodle (skinned identically to site wordpress using same header, footer, and styles). The moodle section shouldn't have it's own home page, but rather a login/signup and then operate like moodle does.
Is this a typical approach? or is there a better option to making a site with integrated moodle course content and functionality?
I'm not sure what you mean by "it cannot act like a CMS" since Moodle is in fact a CMS. Moodle can pretty much do anything you want it to do.
There's a bit of a difference in "setting up a site" versus setting up a course. You mentioned client branding requirements-do you want Multi Tenancy (i.e. one Moodle site that organizes and manages several clients under one roof) or you just want to have 1:1 ratio of Moodle site per client? Iomad as a Moodle version that is built for multi-tenancy.
You also mentioned a portal site and in theory you can create your own password protected 'site' or page with php by creating a valid session based on credentials (ID/PW) that then grants access to the rest of the site as long as the session is valid. It's not hard to do but ideally you would need a back end database for ID and PW storage. Which means if you are going that route, why not already use any platform like Moodle which sets that up for you....
As for actual courses.....
I think what you are getting at for webpage content is that instead of using multiple Page resources (i.e. create a page 1, page 2, page 3 and have them arranged in sequence (or simply linked to within each page) that show up in the Moodle shell, you want a single "item" that internally has multiple pages, navigation, and is self-contained. You can easily accomplish this with the Lesson Activity (and even the Book activity). Moreover, using stealth activities, you can have everything linked together in 1 page and simply have the other resources invisible to the user but function the same way. You can also create dependencies so that X activities must be completed first before a subsequent resource becomes available to the user.
Otherwise you can simply create links to your content that are normal HTML pages hosted elsewhere where Moodle is the hub for all of those individual pages. This is often a much easier way to update and develop content without having to build the complexities of a site, while getting the best of the organization/navigation/administration that Moodle has.
If it's not any of these, I don't quite understand what you are trying to accomplish with a handful of "locked" resources. By logging into to Moodle, you are already having them as verified users
Curtis, just like William, I am still a little confused.
I am not sure if you have already done this, but have you considered getting a free MoodleCloud account so that you can experiment with your course and see how Moodle is used? Like William, I don't know what you mean by "locking" items.
In my Moodle, everything is "locked" except to students who have the "rights" to access the course.
There are a variety of ways to lock certain students out of certain course activities by using groups. But I am not sure if this is what you are after.