Moodle for the masses

Moodle for the masses

by Marc Dastous -
Number of replies: 2

Good morning all;

My 6-8th middle school is finally starting to listen to me and may actually approve the implementation of Moodle to support our curriculum next fall.  Now, I have a couple of questions...

  1. I have read many postings about importing text files for the mass upload of students.  However, how would the user names be created?  Ideally, I would like for the user names to be firstname.lastname and the passwords to be blank, or TEMP" until the student edits their profile.  Can this be done?
  2. Can anyone tell me from experience how much space you would alot for 1200 students and 67 staff?  I have about a GB now, but I'm thinking more in the area of 3-5 GB.  What is realistic?
  3. How secure would it be to authenticate to our existing dbase?  Our MIS department is going to give me a lot of grief if I approach them about this.  What are some arguements that will support my position to utilize this vast resource?

Thank you for any other comments you can throw my way on this topic.  Please share your experiences also, it would help immensely.

Have a great day!

Marc

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In reply to Marc Dastous

Re: Moodle for the masses

by Zbigniew Fiedorowicz -
With respect to point 1, here's a link to the latest version of the help file for the bulk import script: https://webwork2.math.ohio-state.edu/moodle1_2test/moodle/lang/en/help/uploadusers.html. You should be able to construct user names satisfying your specifications using a spreadsheet, save the result in csv format and use that as input for the bulk import script.
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In reply to Marc Dastous

Re: Moodle for the masses

by W Page -

Hello!

I would suggest this for the "initial" password - the students initials and date of birth.

For Example,

  • STUDENT NAME:  Sally Green
  • DATE OF BIRTH:  January 14, 1977
  • USERID:  sallygreen (based on what you described)
  • PASSWORD:  sg011477

This will help to keep their accounts secure until they can signin and change their passwords.  Would also suggest trying to get into a computer lab and go through the sign up process at that time with the entire class allowing them to sign in and make changes at the same time while you are there to help.  This will cause less of a security problem with the passwords (less chance for students to try to sign into others accounts once they know the relationship between the username and password) and allow you to help them and be aware of login problems early on.

BTW,  Zbigniew Fiedorowicz thanks for the bulk upload.  I used it the other day and it was smooth although I did not add the groups field to it.  The help file in MOODLE v1.2b needs to be upgraded to include the groups field.

Hope this helps Marc.

WP1

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