Learning more about accessing Moodle

Teaching with Moodle

Overview In this blogpost, you will see Moodle discussed as "Free" as in "Free Kittens." As you know from the Learning more about Moodle page, Moodle is open source and can be installed on a server without a license fee. An infrastructure is needed - both technical and administrative to support such an endeavor.   In this activity you will learn more about various options for accessing Moodle in your own teaching situation.   Objectives identify the infrastructure needed to support Moodle preview both free and fee-based Moodle hosting services identify other free VLEs

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Resources

What are the benefits of Open Souce (no license fee)?

• No license fee
• Autonomy
• No per user or course fees
• Limitations only imposed by infrastructure
• Reallocate funding previously spent on license feels
  • Professional development
  • Classroom technology
• Growth of internal knowledge base
• Hosting can be provided affordably

Challenges of Open Source

• Stability is somewhat dependent on you or your organizations' knowledge base
• Requires active problem solving, research, and networking if you encounter errors or bugs
• No tech support phone number but a large user community online

What kind of infrastructure does an organization need to implement Moodle independtly?

• Administrative Support

  Identify learning outcomes, Connects resources and infrastructure

• Teachers who are willing

  Internet comfort a major plus

• Professional Development for teachers

  Time, Professional Learning Community, Philosophy

• Site Administrator(s)

  Manages Users, Courses

• Server Administrator

  PHP, mySQL, databases, installing modules, themes

Who is already hosting Moodle in New Mexico?

• Check out the Moodle Administrators of New Mexico wiki to find out what schools around the state are using Moodle.

What kind of hosting options are available?

• Official Moodle Partners (http://www.moodle.com) run approximately $1 per user per year.
  • Moodle Rooms
  • Remote Learner
  • Classroom Revolution
• Free or trial Moodle hosting options for educators
  • Ninehub (http://ninehub.com/)
  • e-Socrates (http://www.e-socrates.org/)
  • Global Classroom (http://globalclassroom.us)
  • ezeeMoodle (http://ezeemoodle.com/) 

Alternative Free Virtual Learning Environments

• Think.com (http://www.think.com/en/)
• WizIQ (http://www.wiziq.com/)
• Edu 2.0 (http://www.edu20.org/)
• A Tutor (http://www.atutor.ca/)