Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by Richard Gent -
Number of replies: 15
I've begun to investigate converting my existing educational websites into a CMS. There are a few popular names cropping up in my initial searches: Joomal, Moodle, Drupal, etc.

How do I narrow my choice?

I need a PHP programmer I use to be able to work with the platform.

I need it to be flexible and robust.

I need it to support subscription / access systems.

It needs to be capable of reducing cross browser compatibility issues.

It needs to have flexible style sheets / templates.

It needs to sync well with forums and other social networking options.

It needs to cope with podcasting.

It needs to be able to communicate with LMS / SIMS.

It needs to cope with huge user rates and very large content management.

It needs to offer tried and tested WYSIWYG interfaces.

It should be able to cope with multiple authors / content managers.

And...

* Dynamic form builders
* Business or organizational directories
* Document management
* image and multimedia galleries
* E-commerce and shopping cart engines
* Forums and chat software
* Calendars
* Blogging software
* Directory services
* Email newsletters
* Data collection and reporting tools
* Banner advertising systems

I need to be able to access expert support relatively swiftly and easily.

I'm sure there are loads of things I'm over looking...

Any advice would be FAB! Many thanks. smile.gif
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In reply to Richard Gent

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by Ger Tielemans -

Funny that you name Drupla, Joomla and Moodle in one breeze.

They are all so different:

  • Joomla if you need a frontend,
  • Drupal if you need community publishing on the web
  • Moodle if you need a student centered education arena

I think you need all three, so Joomla+Moodle+Drupal

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In reply to Ger Tielemans

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by Richard Gent -
Interesting... presumably I have to choose just one though...

There must be one of them which can do what I need. Any suggestions?

Kind regards, Richard
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In reply to Richard Gent

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by ramon lazo -
hello,

the difference between an LMS and a CMS is basically that the LMS has a component that will allow assessment of the work that is done on the site -- a gradebook, test metrics; a cumulative total for test scores completed by a student during the course. Moodle and other LMS have this as the critical function for it's existence.

a CMS, such as Joomla, Drupal or Wordpress DOES NOT have an assessment feature as the critical function. basically these CMS store, present and allow you to develop content for your website but none of them have a gradebook/score keeping assessment function at their core.

I have used all of these CMS and believe that if what you want to do is to present an online course which must have a grading system, then you must use Moodle (or another LMS like Sakai, Angel, etc...). However, if you are looking to have greater flexibility in terms of types of functionality within your site (for example, easier page styling, more robust social networking modules, more robust contact management, SEO...) you must also use a CMS.

quick example: a school needs web presence and requires the new system to host online learning and also be a front-facing portal for it's corporate message AND a place for staff/vendors to congregate for online meetings, etc...

just Moodle alone will not be able to accomplish this in the best way possible. in this scenario you must use Moodle for the online learning and another CMS (my recommendation is Joomla because it is the easiest to use and has tremendous worldwide popularity and support) for the corporate/adminisrative function.


Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to ramon lazo

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by Richard Gent -
Hi Ramon

How very kind of you to take the time to reply in such cogent detail. Thank you.

Your response is exactly what I was looking for. It's cleared my mind a good deal! smile

There's one other issue I'm rather ignorant about and that's this... If I have Joomla as my front end. How do I integrate Moodle as the LMS so that the two work together and maintain the aesthetics of the site as the user passes from one area to the next? i.e. from Joomla to Moodle...

It would be great if you were able to clarify this for me too.

Kind regards, Richard
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In reply to Richard Gent

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by D LA -
The site below used to make joomla / moodle combo themes that would make you site "look" the same. There are also some people working on a single log in for both systems. http://www.themegurus.com/ Good Luck.
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In reply to Richard Gent

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by Ger Tielemans -

I agree: Joomla front-end + Moodle VLE.

The weakest point of Moodle on this moment is the missing content repository with version control and librarian functionality: the developers are working hard on this part.

In the meantime I tested DOOR, but fall back to the datadirectory of course number 1 as a temporary solution for big file management.

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In reply to Richard Gent

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by karim faid -

Hi,

You may want to try promoodle (http://promoodle.com)

A little bit tricky, but will provide a nice integration between joomla (either 1.0 or 1.5 version) and moodle. You can have either the moodle or joomla registration as the main one, and you can set up moodle in an iframe too...

Neat one.

Karim

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In reply to karim faid

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by Richard Gent -
Excellent feedback. Cheers Karim.

Does promoodle solve the dual registration issues? I need my clients to use a single login for both.

Could you qualify 'a little bit tricky'... for me? smile

Kind regards, Richard
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In reply to Richard Gent

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by karim faid -

Hi Richard:

If you use the promoodle components, yes you can have a single registration, either that of joomla or that of moodle. If you chhose the joomla registration, you will need to have the authentication for moodle set as external database.

the "tricky" part depends really how familiar you are with both joomla and moodle internals... There is really nothing difficult at all...

Karim

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In reply to karim faid

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by ramon lazo -
hi,

i went to the promoodle site after reading your post. i am impressed with this module. i haven't tested it yet on this end with a combo Joomla/Moodle installation -- using a module like this will solve the initial registration issue for an academic/staff portal website --but i do think it is lacking something:

how many databases does it truly access -- i'm guessing it is two: Joomla dB and Moodle dB. and this module does the trick of having one registration point at Joomla (using Community Builder login) and somehow setting up a very basic login to Moodle -- after registering login with Joomla and clicking on the Moodle link, i had to fill out additional information for the Moodle database.

so...what does this mean for updating/deleting users?

tricky question and something that i will pose the promoodle people. because Joomla and Moodle dB are dense (lots of tables and many interactions during the course of even one day), i imagine that trying to merge both dB's would be a difficult if not prohibitive endeavour for fear of breaking pre-existing installations.

ThemeGurus is a good place to get themes that will work in Joomla and Moodle but you must purchase two themes separately for each system and contend with what i imagine would be minor differences in the styles on each system.
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In reply to ramon lazo

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by karim faid -

Ramon:

The nice thing about this component is that both installations (joomla and moodle) remain intact (no core files modified) so it will be much easier to upgrade when required.

As for the databases, I guess that you meas tables? I believe that the only table that is accessed by moodle is jos_users, to extract the usernames and password (when using joomla for the registration). In moodle 1.9 (and probably in earlier versions too) there are a couple of settings where you can choose how often the users are updated, etc...

I don't think that there is any other "interactions" between the two databases except for the users table...

Karim

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In reply to karim faid

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by ramon lazo -
yes.

this is what the promoodle said. apparently it is only just the one entry from the Joomla dB that is used to login to Moodle. after that, nothing else is changed. this means that in order to integrate Moodle and Joomla, one would have to design the entire website so that both systems can fulfill the requirements of the site.
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In reply to Richard Gent

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by ramon lazo -
the responses you've received since your last post that offers links to sites which facilitate this is a good place to start.

the key to your endeavour is planning.

think about it: you are taking two different web sites system and combining them so that they drive the mission of your organization. in order for them to work together on a minimal level they must:

  • have similar look and feel (themes and styles)
  • function with a single login for access to both sites
  • have functions within one system that is not duplicated in the other
  • have the ability to update and delete user information that is self-service in nature -- this means ease of use for the end user and 'minimal' administration by the web admins
  • recognizable characteristics so that the user knows which side is 'admin' and which side is 'learning content'
  • promote a sense of transparency so that the user can seamlessly transition from the admin side to the learning side without errors
  • be able to organize large amounts of content at the proper sections of the website the natures of which are extremely different from one another
admittedly, i am making these points extemporaneously and i'm sure you could add more to this list. the point is integration and this means having a thorough understanding of what each system is capable of bringing to your website.

i think that Joomla and Moodle are excellent and each system is good at what they are designed to do but not necessarily good at what the other excels at doing. for example, Moodle gives quizzes, grades quizzes and keeps student academic records and Joomla simply does not do this type of thing well at all because it is designed to be primarily a presentational system, although there are new functions that will extend this system to support more CRM and e-Commerce.

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In reply to Richard Gent

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by ryan sanders -
thread is almost a year old and same wants.

moodle, drupal, joomla sounds about right.

still unsure how to go about it all... i need to get something up and going here soon.
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In reply to ryan sanders

Re: Moodle VS Other Open Source CMS

by Frank Ralf -
Hi Ryan,

You might find some useful information in this thread from the Language Teaching forum:

"How can Moodle be more of a social networking site?"
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=83963

Or this one from the CMS Extensions and Integrations forum on

"Moodle integration with Drupal"
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=119857

hth
Frank
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