wiseoldowl

Good to see Overnet Data catching up! :-)

I guess, as always, it comes back to the question, "What do your users want?" unless, of course, you're solely driven by price and not teaching and learning. I have no experience of the It's Learning platform but would it suit your users? Whether or not something is good will depend on what your users think. Also, consider the costs of change if you move away from one solution to another - things like training, getting people back up to speed, speed of adoption, technical skills required, technical training required, administration costs in terms of time and money, etc. Hope this helps - much to think about perhaps.

As previously mentioned in this thread, it's not about the tool but about the people that use it. So, first step is to understand how your school will want to use a VLE. For example, is it about storing stuff or is it about enhancing teaching and learning? If it is about teaching and learning, then you'll need advice about how Moodle will fit into the wider context of teaching and learning within the school. Moodle in some ways is a 'jack-of-all-trades'. I don't mean that in a derogatory sense, what I mean is that it can be used very successfully in a wide variety of settings from primary schools in the UK to international schools, from higher education contexts to corporate training use. So, it is essential to understand how Moodle will fit into your school. Then you can tailor Moodle and configure to fit. For example, many schools setup Moodle 'out-of-the-box' without thinking about the resource/activity types that will be available to teachers. By default the choice can be very confusing to most teachers confronted by Moodle for the first time so ask teachers which tools they want and pick carefully. You can always add tools as your Moodle evolves. Typically, to get started, all you need to make available are a few resource types such as web page, labels and links to files and in respect of activity types then just assignments and/or quizzes will be a good starting point. Fundamentally, successful implementations are the result of on-boarding teachers through good training and professional development encompassing a pedagogical shift to include online learning, a culture within the school that embraces an additional approach to teaching and learning and a clear strategic plan supported and encouraged by the senior leadership team. Done correctly, online learning is a powerful adjunct to current teaching and learning practice within the school opening huge opportunities to enhance student progress and attainment but there has to be a will. Moodle is a powerful tool but you do need to know what you are going to use that tool for - it has to have a purpose. If it's just added to your system without a context or purpose identified in teaching and learning, it will fail.

Apologies for joining this discussion a little late and being slightly off topic but I think the following is very relevant if you are considering a VLE and online learning. I just wanted to correct the perception that Moodle is based around Course Management. It certainly was during Moodle 1.x days and I have seen many Moodle 2.x installs hanging onto that approach but this misses the flexibility that Cohorts bring to the party. Good Moodle 2.x management focusses on enrolments through Cohorts and the use of Groups and Groupings to manage access to content. This approach allows for far greater flexibility of management enabling, for example, Key Stage courses across year groups. This is especially useful for exam-based courses and managing access to content though cohorts, groups, groupings with the additional flexibility provided through activity completion and activity access restrictions. In Moodle 2.x a course is merely a container for content. Moodle now enables a more sophisticated approach to how teaching and learning can be managed enabling far more to be done for learners than envisaged even a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, there is a gap between understanding what can be achieved when teaching/learning online with a focus on tools and formats rather than actual teaching and learning. As the potential of Moodle is less realised the gap widens - something to address urgently for all learning platforms.

If I can make a suggestion then Boomish, check out the use of LearnDash within Wordpress. It's a really simple to use but comprehensive plugin that given the ease with which you utilise WP it might form the basis of something to get some feedback. I've often thought WP very suitable for most primary schools and Learndash would add something more VLE like as the site moves forward. Justin Ferriman has done a good job on this at WordPress LMS Plugin by LearnDash® and there is also a demo site you can use to get a feel of what could be offered. Might be something to grow into down the track.

Hi Boomish I'm sure you've asked but from your query and responses I'm not clear so the first question I'd ask is, "What do your teachers, pupils and parents want from a VLE or even an online presence apart from Homework Management?" If you use the feedback as your baseline, you will find a solution and get buy-in from stakeholders. At the end of the day, it's not so much about the product or service but how it is used by the users - if they don't use it, then ....

Micron asked, "Another Edu company in trouble?" The real question is, "Is education is trouble?" Any company supplying education has to be sure of the market they are involved in and with shrinking budgets to supply appropriate IT services to education it is difficult to understand the education market and what education actually wants from its suppliers. An observer might view the market as one that is rapidly approaching a tipping-point and secondary education being divided between those schools/academies pulling back into core services regardless of the impact on learning and those understanding the benefit of investing in IT services. However, it is the responsibility of those involved in IT services within schools/academies to reduce the total cost of ownership and find ways to improve the return on investment. Big ask I know, given that IT services are rarely in control of their budgets in schools/academies. I guess it comes down to those in control of budgets (what's left of them) understanding how these things can be achieved - not an easy task for those who trained as teachers. This is the tipping-point - do you move on or do you contract? I suspect that in the long term, those that move forward will succeed and those who contract will not.

If you're looking for an external hosting service backed up by experience, you could have a chat with the guys at LUNS – Lancaster University Network Services | E-Learning. Talk to Paul Verrall or Miles Burke. They've handled hosting for a number of our clients and always proved themselves up to the task for schools and academies.

There are, of course, other suppliers providing Moodle theming services.

I'm assuming you're a school/academy. Themes? Well, you can take your pick but I'd always suggest choose a responsive theme so Moodle can be used with tablets, etc. Configuration? Big area to cover so I'll stick with your potential user needs. You'll need to understand the skills of your teachers and then configure resource and activity types to the ones that match your teachers skills. Then as the skills base grows you can add in additional resource and activity types and provide the training to go along with them. Usually, I suggest that things like labels, pages, links, etc. all the basic stuff are available. As far as activities are concerned don't make everything available because it will be too confusing at first so stick with maybe assignments and quizzes. Whatever you choose make sure it fits with your teacher's skills and school needs. I assume you've been to Moodle.org and checked out the documentation for your version. Cheers

It is likely that it is MathJax clashing with File Picker. If you do not need MathJax disable it and File Picker will work OK. If that doesn't work, go through your plugins and disable and test to find the plugin that is causing the problem. Hope that helps.

Couldn't agree more with Matt40k and dhicks. Collecting data and how it is used will also vary from school to school but one of the key issues is to ensure the data collected for the purposes of engaging parents in their child's learning has to be subject to more than a 'here is the data' approach. In my view it needs to part of a wider context that will include policies, school culture, data cleansing and supporting parents so they understand the data being presented and how they can use it to support their children.

Interesting article Reeza, thanks for sharing. I'm not sure I would agree that effective student reporting will raise whole school parental engagement, it usually requires a little more.

You can install Moodle and WordPress on the same server and you can use an LTI connection to place WordPress within Moodle for users. This means that your users in Moodle will be able to use WordPress within Moodle and there will be no need to worry about authentication because LTI will handle that for you. Search for 'Moodle Wordpress LTI' in Google but this article by Gavin Henrick may prove useful Moodle 2.2 supports connecting to IMS LTI tools. | Some Random Thoughts.

You're right Graham! :-) Now I wonder ...