Frances Bell

An interesting discussion! Plagiarism attracts a lot of attention in UK too, and one of the threads is a shift of emphasis from the student's behaviour to that of the teacher. So what can the teacher do to avoid plagiarism? set new assignments each year, set assignments where plagiarism is difficult to do rather than easy to detect. It seems to me that 'good scholarship' can be taken to be a constant, agreed 'decent behaviour' - everyone knows what one should do - whereas the context for this behaviour is changing. The principle, do original work, could remain constant but as the context changes, it becomes difficult for the student to do this in the way their teacher intended.
Every weekend, when I was about 13, my Maths teacher set us a geometry proof, and we went home and did our best to solve this. She didn't ask us to do this in the classroom setting but at home. I didn't phone my friends or IM them or share my proof with them in an online space (because I couldn't - the phone was in the hall and my parents would have thought me mad), I just got on and tried it, deriving a sort of satisfaction when I completed the proof. What would I do if it was now? I might ask for help when I was stuck, share ideas, talk through my thinking, etc. All of these would be very effective for my learning and those with whom I am talking/sharing, just different from my solitary puzzling. We are all 'doing original work' in this complex interaction, it's just more difficult for the teacher to perceive our contribution by looking at the end products.
So what is the problem in the Ryerson example (though I agree we don't know the details)? Is it about assessment, the teacher's knowledge of who did what, or what students were learning? Assessment and learning are entwined, but surely learning is more important? I would want to encourage what the Ryerson students were doing if it led to improved learning, so my challenge would be to encourage that behaviour without compromising 'academic integrity', a term that should always be put in quotes IMHO.
So the moral of the story is that while teachers can expect 'good behaviour' from students, it is their responsibility to be aware of the changing context and adapt their teaching and assessment practices accordingly, to maximise student learning and minimise damage to summative assessment. Let's not criminalise social interaction and pragmatism.

As I understand it, you are asking for personal recommendations from those who have used hosting services and consultancy for Moodle.
The custom in Moodle Lounge is for people to declare their affiliations via their profiles, when answering specific questions rather than tout for business in the forums so your questions do pose a few challenges
Maybe people could contact you directly with their experiences, unless there is some information of general interest.
Your question about consultancy is interesting. From my experience, you would need someone to host, to help you configure the system, customise themes, do training, user support, etc. Looking at what partners do gives you an idea of the range of services.
What you get them to do depends on the level of involvement you want I think.

Richard,

That article is from 2005, and google doesn't turn up anything recent. Any clues?

But your site missed the best link http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/

Done. All useful stuff, and authors can add to Docs.