Which way to go?

[owen1978]

Hi Guys & Gals!

 

Need some of your thoughts!

 

At the moment we have got a basic moodle site provided by Birmingham Link2ICT for my primary school. Me and the co-ordinator had a 2 hour training session.

 

It wasn't all that impressive it look very basic, and wasn't child or teacher friendly imo

it required too many click to get it to what you wanted.

 

During the BETTS show I was eager to check out the Frog stand, i was impressed liked it very much! Seems kinda what im looking for.

 

I also came across LP+ and that seemed pretty good - not as child friendly as Frog but

still good - what I like about it is that it had a pupil tracking system, assessments & reporting facilities aswell as behaviour! It had a lot of features which Frog seemed to lack (the frog guy we spoke to said these things were in development for Frog Primary)

 

So just need your opinions on what I should do, also we are a CMIS school and I heard

that Frog has problems with usernames? I haven't got time to develop the VLE which has put me off the free obne provided by the LEA.

[Tricky_Dicky]

Hi,

 

I am no fan of Link2ICT but on the Moodle front I think they have done a decent job. We implemented it last year and the take up has been really good. It is a lot more stable than Zimbra has been and when Link2ICT make your site they normally pull a load of photos and colour scheme from your website to make it look better.

 

A lot boils down to how much and what was it is going to be used. To set up the kids I just do a CSV upload which includes which courses they are enrolled in and things like that and it works really well. Adding one or two extra kids is pretty quick. At the moment it is also free which is pretty good, however how long that will last I'm not sure.

 

Downsides are the lack of LDAP, I have asked for this feature and got a very cool response from it but would be great if they could. Also, you don't have true root access and as such can't install additional features. You have to request it and then it gets done if it's possible.

 

If you want to have a look at ours and see how it all fits together just let me know.

 

Rich

[Tapiochre]

Can't speak for Frog - though it does look nice - but the LPPlus platform across a lot of schools in Northants has all of the toys that you spotted at BETT. I need to find out about CMIS integration but the SIMS link is all automated and that's great for admin staff who have enough on their plates!

 

The "child-friendly" aspect is a fair comment if you only take what's in the box but, with imagination and support from LPPlus etc. a school/pupil "site" can be engaging and interactive as well as functional. PM me for more info if I can help!

[Tapiochre]

Have identified that CMIS is integrated with LP+. Nice.