mark100 Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 We are planning to move away from our current Moodle as our college VLE to Wordpress ready for the new term in September. The move should provide an new, up to date/modern experience and provide students with a blog. I'm currently evaluating three different wordpress plugins/themes to help create courses and content manage. Namaste! LMS: Leaning Management System For Wordpress WordPress - Academy - Learning Management Theme | ThemeForest http://www.woothemes.com/products/sensei/ Has anyone done this or used these products and can offer advice?
gshaw Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 Wordpress as a VLE? That's an interesting move...
Bradlys Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 Wordpress as a VLE? That's an interesting move... Wordpress isn't meant to be one for a reason, making a weird move...
penfold_99 Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 It would be good to understand why your moving away from moodle? The reasons to move will help you evaluate the wordpress plugin. Are you a primary or secondary school? Wordpress plus a course management plugin doesn't make a VLE. The biggest issue you will face is if you have any scorm resource as I don't believe any wordpress currently supports them.
GREED Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 Agree with these points. What were um you using Moodle for before, and what are you trying to achieve with it now? It is certainly an odd move unless you are purely using it as a hosting and basic website.
mark100 Posted February 18, 2014 Author Posted February 18, 2014 Wordpress as a VLE? That's an interesting move... it is a very weird move I know Moodle isnt used to its full potential here and lecturers are still printing out reams of paper, we'd like to get away from that and have a fresh start. Already we use wordpress.com as a blogging platform for students to use as an online portfolio. Moving away from moodle to wordpress would consolidate the systems we use. Moodle is currently more used as a document store from than a traditional VLE
Bradlys Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 it is a very weird move I know Moodle isnt used to its full potential here and lecturers are still printing out reams of paper, we'd like to get away from that and have a fresh start. Already we use wordpress.com as a blogging platform for students to use as an online portfolio. Moving away from moodle to wordpress would consolidate the systems we use. Moodle is currently more used as a document store from than a traditional VLE Why don't you make them all look similar? Rather than have a bunch of different platforms which will only confuse matters more? Wordpress is AWFUL for making a VLE, it would require a LOT of custom coding and the plugins really won't be that useful, the support won't be there forever and if it becomes outdated you'l have a security problem. 1
seawolf Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 it is a very weird move I know Moodle isnt used to its full potential here and lecturers are still printing out reams of paper, we'd like to get away from that and have a fresh start. Already we use wordpress.com as a blogging platform for students to use as an online portfolio. Moving away from moodle to wordpress would consolidate the systems we use. Moodle is currently more used as a document store from than a traditional VLE If you're going to do something so radical, why not consider using Sharepoint as a VLE instead (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ukhe/archive/2008/10/02/using-sharepoint-as-a-vle.aspx)? At least you'll have something that is scalable, flexible, and widely supported, and that will integrate with Office natively. Using a blogging platform as a VLE - whew. Hey if it's blue sky thinking for VLEs, maybe even Confluence or DocuWiki should get a look. Or, if you wants something familiar and intuitive maybe Edmodo. 1
synaesthesia Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Don't tar wordpress with "blogging platform" any more please, that's no different to calling your mobile phone a device solely for making telephony calls. 2
seawolf Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Don't tar wordpress with "blogging platform" any more please, that's no different to calling your mobile phone a device solely for making telephony calls. What, you want me to call it a CMS or something? It's a blogging platform that tries it's best to be a CMS - but it ain't. That's not what it was designed to be. It was designed for blogging.
seawolf Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 ...that's no different to calling your mobile phone a device solely for making telephony calls. You mean kind of like a blackberry trying to be a smartphone?
synaesthesia Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 It's far more of a general purpose tool (cms would suit maybe?) than it is just a blogging device now. It may have started that way, but clearly it isn't just that any more. Not that I'm condoning it's use as a "VLE" although the definition of VLE is fading somewhat as I think the majority of us suspected. It may well be more efficient to cut down something described as a VLE to the bits that are used often. As above, Sharepoint is probably a better bet, or look at the likes of Edmodo. It's not a VLE although people seem to market it as such, but it'll do more besides. 1
seawolf Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 It's far more of a general purpose tool (cms would suit maybe?) than it is just a blogging device now. It may have started that way, but clearly it isn't just that any more. Not that I'm condoning it's use as a "VLE" although the definition of VLE is fading somewhat as I think the majority of us suspected. It may well be more efficient to cut down something described as a VLE to the bits that are used often. As above, Sharepoint is probably a better bet, or look at the likes of Edmodo. It's not a VLE although people seem to market it as such, but it'll do more besides. OK, fair enough I can go with that.
wiseoldowl Posted February 18, 2014 Posted February 18, 2014 Hi Mark Have you thought about what teachers will actually use and disable access to the remainder of the resource and activity types? For example, under Activities disable Assignment, Chat, Choice, Database, External tools, Glossary, Lesson, Quiz, Survey, Wiki, Workshop and just leave them with Forums and SCORM. Under resources disable Book, IMS Content Package and leave everything else. The idea is to tailor Moodle to what you think your teachers can cope with and would find easiest to transition their existing skills to. A few simple guides on how to do things would be useful for them. From that basis you can then develop the site to suit your teachers. If you move to WordPress it sounds like your teachers don't know how to use that either and you are also removing the place where they keep their files. Moving to something completely different like SharePoint is all well and good if you have the drive and training budget behind you otherwise you're going to be back where you started. I'd stick with Moodle and figure out what you can do with it to suit your teachers and take it from there. Evolution not revolution!
nickjelly Posted February 28, 2014 Posted February 28, 2014 You mention wanting a fresh look. Have you seen the new wave of Moodlle responsive themes that are rapidly being developed? Yes it's still Moodle but they provide a fresh, modern experience for users now. Wordpress would not provide you with the pedagogical toolset that Moodle has out of the box - Book, Workshop, Lesson, Wiki, Glossary, Assignments, Quiz, Conditional Activities, Badges... I could go on. If your Moodle was being used primarily as a document resource I think it's more to do with the community's approach to it than the platform itself.
pcstru Posted February 28, 2014 Posted February 28, 2014 it is a very weird move I know Moodle isnt used to its full potential here and lecturers are still printing out reams of paper, we'd like to get away from that and have a fresh start. Already we use wordpress.com as a blogging platform for students to use as an online portfolio. Moving away from moodle to wordpress would consolidate the systems we use. Moodle is currently more used as a document store from than a traditional VLE It might be useful to investigate the detail of why (and how) moodle 'failed' before throwing another solution at the problem. Moodle is eminently capable of being crafted into a successful VLE. If something that is designed to do the job is failing, it's perhaps unlikely (but not impossible) that a product aimed at something else will succeed.
DaveMurphy Posted March 16, 2014 Posted March 16, 2014 The LMS plugins look quite good for Wordpress from the initial post however even though it has a nice simplistic look - how easy is this for dear old Ms Smith in Maths who's near retirement age or John Smith who's computer illiterate? Would they spend the time going through adding all the information in? Even though it looks good - in reality I think its a bit complex to be used in a wider area to engage learning, SharePoint within Office365 would be good with this or Frog VLE.
Landerson Posted January 14, 2015 Posted January 14, 2015 Coming here for advice seems to have been a bad move. Install the BuddyPress plugin and you have all the features of a VLE almost instantly. Read here to see what others say about using WordPress as a VLE. WordPress as a VLE or CMS? | Technology Enhanced Learning Blog Read here to see what plugins you can use for a VLE with WordPress: https://www.cite.soton.ac.uk/the-top-15-wordpress-plugins-for-academia/ Hope this helps
antlear Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 Hi this is an interesting read. I build custom websites for people and have generally chosen to use wordpress as a CMS. Would I use wordpress as a VLE probably not but then it all depends on time and budgets. Both wordpress and moodle are a php database system. Each has been designed to work differently though. From an ease of use and plugin point of view wordpress has thousands and in theory you can turn wordpress into a VLE and it will work then comes the BUT.... You need someone to manage it and look after it and develop it. Moddle once built and setup and configured and made to look pretty will generally work fine and can be left but wordpress is not a native VLE. It's a bit like projectors they have a native resolution, they will do others but they work best in their native one and this is the same. From a cost and setup quickly wordpress works install plugins and off you go but unless it's a major plugin support will not be great and when something goes wrong your system can crash. A large issue and will always happen is people will use it for 5 minutes and then it will not get used. What ever VLE u have if it is not pushed and kept updated and developed staff will not use it. I have seen schools pay loads on frog and share point and unless teachers use it dies
synaesthesia Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 Coming here for advice seems to have been a bad move. Install the BuddyPress plugin and you have all the features of a VLE almost instantly. Read here to see what others say about using WordPress as a VLE. WordPress as a VLE or CMS? | Technology Enhanced Learning Blog Read here to see what plugins you can use for a VLE with WordPress: https://www.cite.soton.ac.uk/the-top-15-wordpress-plugins-for-academia/ Hope this helps Of all the ways to start a post, perhaps that isn't one of the best. There are many reasons you shouldn't be using Wordpress as a VLE, and the biggest I can think of is cross compatibility with anything else. What happens if it's not good enough? What happens if you wish to transfer content? SCORM? Content packs? I'm absolutely sure with the correct planning, application and use, it could be made to be excellent, however it will never, ever have the support levels you get with Moodle and the likes.
synaesthesia Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 Incidentally, having re-familiarised myself with this (older) thread, we had our Moodle refreshed last year by OvernetData, providing a fully responsive theme on our design cues. Very happy with the results and could be worth a visit.
Landerson Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 Of all the ways to start a post, perhaps that isn't one of the best. There are many reasons you shouldn't be using Wordpress as a VLE, and the biggest I can think of is cross compatibility with anything else. What happens if it's not good enough? What happens if you wish to transfer content? SCORM? Content packs? I'm absolutely sure with the correct planning, application and use, it could be made to be excellent, however it will never, ever have the support levels you get with Moodle and the likes. I know what you mean, I was pointing out all the large universities using WordPress as a VLE and it's a great way to engage with students and staff. I am also referring to WordPress.org self hosted sites, not the standard WordPress.com blog. With WordPress you can recreate any website platform available on the web and it's the third most used web service in the world above Twitter. It's been massively underestimated on this thread.
Landerson Posted February 13, 2015 Posted February 13, 2015 Historical quarterly trends in the usage of content management systems, February 2015 [h=1]Historical quarterly trends in the usage of content management systems for websites[/h][h=1]This report shows the historical trends in the usage of content management since January 2012. [TABLE=class: hist] [TR] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center]2012 1 Jan[/TD] [TD=align: center]2012 1 Apr[/TD] [TD=align: center]2012 1 Jul[/TD] [TD=align: center]2012 1 Oct[/TD] [TD=align: center]2013 1 Jan[/TD] [TD=align: center]2013 1 Apr[/TD] [TD=align: center]2013 1 Jul[/TD] [TD=align: center]2013 1 Oct[/TD] [TD=align: center]2014 1 Jan[/TD] [TD=align: center]2014 1 Apr[/TD] [TD=align: center]2014 1 Jul[/TD] [TD=align: center]2014 1 Oct[/TD] [TD=align: center]2015 1 Jan[/TD] [TD=align: center]2015 13 Feb[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]None[/TH] [TD=align: center]71.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]70.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]69.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]68.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]68.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]67.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]68.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]65.7%[/TD] [TD=align: center]64.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]63.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]62.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]62.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]61.7%[/TD] [TD=align: center]61.5%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]WordPress[/TH] [TD=align: center]15.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]16.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]16.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]17.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]17.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]17.5%[/TD] [TD=align: center]18.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]20.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]21.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]21.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]22.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]23.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]23.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]23.4%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]Joomla[/TH] [TD=align: center]2.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.7%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.8%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.7%[/TD] [TD=align: center]3.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]3.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]3.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]3.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]3.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]3.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.9%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]Drupal[/TH] [TD=align: center]1.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]2.0%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]Blogger[/TH] [TD=align: center]0.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]Magento[/TH] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center]0.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.9%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.0%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]TYPO3[/TH] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.7%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.5%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]PrestaShop[/TH] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center]0.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.5%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.5%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.5%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]Bitrix[/TH] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]vBulletin[/TH] [TD=align: center]1.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.2%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]1.1%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.7%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.6%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.5%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.5%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.5%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TH=align: right]OpenCart[/TH] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.3%[/TD] [TD=align: center]0.4%[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE][/h] - - - Updated - - - WordPress consists of 23% of the total internet.
Bradlys Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I know what you mean, I was pointing out all the large universities using WordPress as a VLE and it's a great way to engage with students and staff. I am also referring to WordPress.org self hosted sites, not the standard WordPress.com blog. With WordPress you can recreate any website platform available on the web and it's the third most used web service in the world above Twitter. It's been massively underestimated on this thread. I don't think it's being massively underestimated at all. I've been writing plugins and whatnot for Wordpress for a few years now. It's really not got the structure to be a VLE. Even adding Buddypress won't fix that. When you have a platform that's so heavily modified from it's original state, it becomes questionable as to whether it would have been better to just write it from scratch. Surely it'd be better to have a VLE and add a Blog/CMS like structure to that than viceversa.
synaesthesia Posted February 23, 2015 Posted February 23, 2015 I'm sure it is one of the most used "CMS"'s out there; it's why we use it for our website, and I love it for that. It certainly has come a long way from being just a blogging platform. And yes, we self-host ours. However I'm not sure where your tables have any relevance. Why shop at Halfords for car parts when you can go to Asda? Yes they both sell air freshners, oil and hub caps but it's still not going to be high on your list for anything more specialist. Exactly the same applies to Wordpress and VLEs. Important thing to note. CMS != VLE. They may, can and do cross, but neither one is a direct replacement for the other *in most circumstances*. There is no way in hell our VLE setup here could be replicated in Wordpress.
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