Advice getting started with MOODLE

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Barbara on June 1, 2007 at 9:33pm

I know Remote Learner and find them to be a good company. The other company is unknown to me so someone else will have to weigh in there. One thing I do know from experience is that you need to think through your intended uses... the area were we ran into trouble on our first go round was that we did not have enough dedicated server space to allow us to do synchronous testing which was important to us.
Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Deb on June 3, 2007 at 5:34pm

Thanks for your reply Barbara. Did your school use Remote Learner? I'm just starting to find out about the Moodle so I may not have a complete understanding. I thought that they provided the server space. I'd be interested in any details you can give me.
Deb

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Permalink Reply by Miguel Guhlin on June 13, 2007 at 4:28pm

You might try the Dave Cormier and Jeff Lebow (http://edtechtalk.com/)...I believe they provide Moodle hosting. Also, Jennifer Wagner (technospud@gmail.com) might be another contact for you.

Best wishes,
Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.net
http://mguhlin.net

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Permalink Reply by Dennis O'Connor on August 9, 2007 at 9:36pm

Deb, sorry I didn't find this post sooner. I've been using Moodlerooms for about three years. (They started at Thinking Distance.)

I'm very please with the value and service I get from Tom & Gina at Moodlerooms. I have the standard 500 plan. In fact I have two of these plans, one for UW-Stout and my personal projects at: http://wiredinstructor.us
and another for my work with the 21st Century Information Project: http://21cif.mrooms.net. Both sites have some guest access.

Moodlerooms is backed by Martin Dougimas (the author of Moodle) who is on the board and a stock holder. That means they get Martin's programming expertise and are usually ahead of the curve when it comes to patching moodle and moodle upgrades. They just when to a massive new server set up in Baltimore that can hadle huge loads.

Clearly I'm pleased!

Dennis O'Connor
Wiredinstructor.net

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on August 10, 2007 at 7:50am

I'm in need of some "moodle" advice also and this seems like the place.

Where I currently work, there is no "English" internet accessible courseware. I work for a large training institute in Seoul, Korea and we have a staff of 9 English teachers plus about 6 Korean supervisors. We service and train Korean English teachers for the largest school board in the world.

Since I got here, I've been promoting technology and getting this dinosaur up and running in the new world. Korea is very high tech but there has been resistance. Anyways, I will be experimenting with courseware to promote the program to teachers and to promote networking also. I have deciding on moodle after some research and will experiment/set up this fall and get ready for a beginning school year official site, in March.

Will I be able to get the Korean tech person to install this onto our institute's server easily? So I can then use it and set up the moodle for us instructors? Any wrinkles in doing so, especially overseas? Is it as simple as getting the tech person to install on the server and then me gaining access and setting it up as an administrator?

If anybody can clarify the procedure to set the moodle up, it is much appreciated. I've seen some fine examples I'd like to emulate.

David
http://eflclassroom.ning.com
www.ddd.batcave.net

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Permalink Reply by Dennis O'Connor on August 12, 2007 at 8:46pm

David, when you said this I had to grin: "Is it as simple as getting the tech person to install on the server and then me gaining access and setting it up as an administrator?"

In my experience, getting a tech person to install anything on their server is a long hard road. (LOL)

Moodle.org: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Installation This is the official installation info for Moodle. It will give you the best idea of what's involved. You'll want to join moodle.org as well. They have the biggest community supporting the product.

Admin on Moodle is like learning to run an Australian submarine. It keeps out the water even at great depth, but you've got to learn where the switches and valves are.

I stayed away from Moodle early on because I didn't want to set up a server. Then I found a great hosting company and took the plunge. I've taught with most of the major CMS systems. Moodle is now my favorite.

Den

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Permalink Reply by Sharon Betts on September 7, 2007 at 7:48pm

Hi,
I don't know if you have already selected your host, but we use NPV to host our installation. http://npv.com They are a member of MoodleRooms and have been very good for us. Their cost is in the same ballpark as what you quoted (perhaps a little less).
You can see our installation at: http://moodle.msad52.org

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Permalink Reply by ddeubel on September 10, 2007 at 5:13am

Dennis,

glad I made you grin! Yeah, understand it is a little more "involved" (I prefer that word...) but good to know that you like moodle and that alone is a selling factor - quality. Sharon, Thanks for the links. Checking them out now as I continue to decide and will repost.

David

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Permalink Reply by Rich Kiker on September 11, 2007 at 12:12pm

There is a great, FREE, solution already out there at www.hotchalk.com. It is an online learning environment that provides resource sharing, online grading, calendars, etc. It works great, check it out!

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Permalink Reply by Ian Carmichael on October 9, 2007 at 6:33am

How have you used it _ for what groups and resources?

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Permalink Reply by Marielle Lange on October 9, 2007 at 8:19am

Another free alternative (service + hosting):

elearning community

Offers many tools similar to the ones in Moodle (classroom, modules, questionnaires, messaging).

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Permalink Reply by Joseph Thibault on October 24, 2007 at 1:57pm

Deb,
We're new to the game but I thought I would add us to the list. We host custom Moodle sites as well, but there are no limits to your schools bandwidth, storage or support. Our annual cost is also $500 dollars (but we include free training and a number of other benefits).
Additionally, for districts and schools that don't wish to offer Moodle at all (or just want to try it out); we host public Moodle sites for every State in the US. If you're interested in checking us out visit http://globalclassroom.us and click the Teacher Registration button at the bottom right (or drop me an email).
Best,
Joe

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