Which VLE platform should we use?

[J_Worth]

Hello everyone,

 

We currently use Studywiz at school which everyone (teachers and students) dislikes due to its clunkiness and illogical way of working. We are just wanting a view as to what platforms other schools are using as their VLE.

 

We are going to install Moodle 2.x onto an old (physical) server (pre-virtualisation!) and have a play with it to see how we could set it up in the best possible way. We are going to use LDAP authentication for user logins. How easy is Moodle to use, navigate and maintain? Also, how can we export classes and students assigned to those classes out of SIMS into Moodle?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

J.Worth

[kernewek-sam]

We're in the progress of migrating to Moodle 2.3, the advice we were given by an outside company was to run it on a LAMP server, we didn't and its going ok on win server 2008 r2. It takes some getting used to, and you need to remember there is no support option with it so, forums and Moodle guides for when you have issues. Staff will need to be trained in using it. Having a play with on a VM is a good idea as it will let you get a feel of whether you think it will be suitable.

 

Edit: we currently run Moodle 1.9

Edited July 12, 2012 by kernewek-sam
additional info

[witch]

We currently run moodle 2.2 and the IT co-ord does all the work for it. It is fine until there is a problem and then the support isnt brilliant and you have to be pretty good at this sort of thing to sort out problems.

In our case, mrwITch, bless him, will look at problems at home in the evenings but without him we just wouldnt have the skills in-house.

Having said that - problems are fairly few and far between

[mthomas08]

Frog here.

 

We too was actually very tempted to go moodle but as @witch and @kernewek-sam said support unless your willing to pay is Forums and community help. In the end it depends exactly what you want out of the VLE and how much time you have to make it work.

 

Frog though does cost but with what it currently has and especially coming in FrogOS4, Single Sign on, Exchange/Eclipse MLS Integration we are getting more happier at our choice of VLE. To us it was stay as we are instead of going moodle our current VLE guy built a SQL based VLE but only he knows what he is doing which is why development was slow. We didnt want to stick to this route.

 

If you are not willing to spend and you have the time, know how - Moodle for sure is the way to go and with all the other free bits and bobs (google APPs etc) you can make a good VLE. For us though Frog is the best choice.

[CyberNerd]

There are plenty of companies that offer paid support for moodle.

If you want to go this route it can still work out cheaper than some of the commercial offerings.

SchoolsICT | SchoolsICT – SIMS or Facility CMIS integration with

Moodle is simple to install and use! for example will tie in your SIMS to moodle and provide support.

[knightrider]

We use TALMOS and have been working with Core Education. Great support & great product built on sharepoint.

[cpjitservices]

Moodle! It's easy - everyone uses it! easy to install and configure and customize!

[Oaktech]

we use moodle as a SCORM player and a repository of resources, we will be using it more completely in the new term as we have a number of students who will be away from school for extended periods as part of our elite sports academy tutoring program. We also use edmodo, which gets used mainly by ICT, who love it. We are looking at a way of creating a single sign on on our website, which will use ldap to link to moodle and relevant website resources, and pass through details to edmodo.