[Moodle] Moodle on Netspace

[Roland Gesthuizen]

well spotted Chris .. moodle is best for the classroom and yes, there are
other tools around that could be used to build a www or school information
website. I am interested in CMSmadesimple although others are exploring
Mambo etc.

Here is a link to our school AWS located above the file server room. It
didnt survive the  Nov 2006 VicSmart migration as we used FTP to publish the
data. I have to figure out WebDav over the term break.  :-)
      http://dewey.westallsc.vic.edu.au/weather

Regards Roland

On 20/12/06, Chris Ellis <ellis.christopher.l at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:
>
> Hi Keith,
>
> The reason it looks so different is that the school website is no longer a
> moodle site. By start of term our moodle it will be accessible by
> www.lornep12.vic.edu.au/moodle. Currently it's in-house on another server
> and I haven't found the time to migrate it to our webserver.
>
> For the main website I am using Expression Engine (EE) from
> www.pmachine.com. Expression Engine is an open source/commercial hybrid.
> There is a free EECore and a licensed full version (about $150 for 12
> months
> with free upgrades and access to professional support as well as forum
> support).
>
> My year 11 son, Narada, has built the site for me so far. The school
> agreed
> to pay him for his hours. He's a self-taught wiz with php (and he was one
> of
> only 5 students in the state to get a 50 study score for VET Multimedia so
> I'm a very proud Dad!)
>
> EE runs with php and mySQL. It's a blogging engine with a difference. You
> can have as many blogs as you like with all the usual things like
> categories, comments, user administration, antispam, lots of third party
> plugins and extensions (you can also write your own). The EE functions are
> php files which are invoked within html by the use of simple tags and
> parameters. You can create your own html from scratch or use templates and
> style with css. On the school site Narada has created the html and css
> from
> scratch based on a five column layout grid.
>
> EE blogs are functionally data containers for content management. You can
> use them like blogs or you can think of them as content. You can store the
> html for static pages in a blog. EE is therefore very flexible and
> powerful.
> The pro version comes with a built in Gallery and wiki and you can
> purchase
> a forum module. If you check out some of the showcase site linked at
> pmachine you will find some amazing examples. It has it's limitations
> (like
> all these things) but I heartily endorse it. And if there's something
> missing you can roll your extensions and plugins because it's all open
> source.
>
> If you check out the pMachine forums, you will find pro web-developers
> using
> it for most of their commercial work with comments like "I can do in a day
> what used to take a week, and provide almost anything a client wants and
> quickly."
>
> If you have any questions for Narada, I'm sure he'd be happy to answer and
> I
> can provide his email address.
>
> As much as I love Moodle, I wasn't entirely satisfied with it as a school
> portal so I looked at other options. To learn how EE worked, I created a
> website for the band I play in www.highandlonesome.com. I've managed to
> get
> the RSS feeds happening, both in and out of the site, plus podcasting and
> links to iTunes, so I'm pretty happy with its flexibility.
>
> As with Moodle, it will take a few years to build the culture within the
> school and community to really bring the school website to life. I want as
> many staff and students involved with it as possible so that content is
> always changing. Being in Lorne, we're looking at plugging in a digital
> weather station and eventually a surf-cam - all part of trying to create a
> site that people will come back to again and again.
>
> I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season and new year.
>
> Cheers
>
> Chris
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:
> moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Keith Richardson
> Sent: Wednesday, 20 December 2006 3:53 PM
> To: The Moodle Users' in Schools Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [Moodle] Moodle on Netspace
>
> Chris - I just visited "www.lornep12.vic.edu.au." and have one question
> - HOW DID YOU CODE THE PAGE HEADER? I am used to doing coding, and I do
> extensive work in Moodle, but I want a quick and straightforward access
> point to adjusting the Moodle appearance please. Can you provide me with
> a pointer or two?
> Cheers, Keith
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 15:33:14 +1100, "Chris Ellis"
> <ellis.christopher.l at edumail.vic.gov.au> said:
> > As a total beginner, my research suggested that Ubuntu was the rising
> > star
> > of Linux. I also like their ethos. And the desktop PC on a CD concept is
> > fantastic and free!
> >
> >
> >
> > So far Ubuntu has been good. The biggest challenge initially was working
> > out
> > Linux RAID and Logical Volume Management.
> >
> >
> >
> > As I'm using it purely as a web/web app server I didn't want any GUI
> > desktop
> > stuff and the flashing white cursor took me back to early DOS days.
> >
> >
> >
> > Meanwhile I've managed to upgrade the OS - took about 15 minutes (try
> > that
> > with Windows Server & IIS), installed Webmin to provide a gui interface
> > for
> > configuring etc.
> >
> >
> >
> > The school web site is up and under construction using Expression Engine
> > www.lornep12.vic.edu.au <http://www.lornep12.vic.edu.au/> . I've setup a
> > couple of mediawiki sites for some yr 7/8 projects. I've figured out
> some
> > apache aliases for organising the web root.
> >
> >
> >
> > There is a way of using Webmin through normal port 80 using reverse
> > proxy,
> > but the documentation isn't clear so it's not working yet (all server
> > work
> > has to be done at school).
> >
> >
> >
> > With report season etc, I haven't had the time to configure email and
> ftp
> > services yet either. I'm planning to host a community arts project
> > website
> > that the school will be involved in so I guess that means setting up a
> > virtual host in Apache and maybe a local DNS service using BIND if
> > necessary.
> >
> >
> >
> > Big learning curve, but I enjoy that kind of thing. It just takes time.
> > Overall, the experience has been great. It's so easy to add, remove
> > applications, upgrade etc - once you get the hang of how these things
> are
> > done.
> >
> >
> >
> > Maybe we need an Ubuntu list?
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> >
> >
> > Chris
> >
> >
> >
> >   _____
> >
> > From: moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au
> > [mailto:moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> > On Behalf Of Roland Gesthuizen
> > Sent: Tuesday, 12 December 2006 3:04 PM
> > To: The Moodle Users' in Schools Mailing List
> > Subject: Re: [Moodle] Moodle on Netspace
> >
> >
> >
> > Interesting Chris .. what do you think of the Ubuntu LAMP server?
> >
> >
> >
> > I was fascinated to read why a Linux hard disk drive doesnt need to be
> > fragmented and its technical advantage over a Windows NTFS formatted
> hard
> > disk drive. I had suspected as much .. this page explains the details
> for
> > lay users like me. :-)
> >
> >
> >
>
> http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org/index.php/2006/08/17/why_doesn_t_linux_need
> > _defragmenting
> >
> >
> >
> > Regards Roland
> >
> >
> >
> > On 12/12/06, Chris Ellis <ellis.christopher.l at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Ian,
> >
> > I was using the Netspace Netspace Virtual Classroom moodle for about a
> > year.
> > It was great to get going with.
> >
> > But as with the rest of Netspace, quality of service is not really good
> > enough - we've had no less than half a dozen ACS/Filter proxy issues in
> > the
> > last week, and this has been going on for months.
> >
> > Having invested all my coursework into the NVC moodle my classes were
> > stuffed when it was off the air - probably 3 days down time over the
> > year. I
> > also ended up with a forum posting issue that was never resolved. The
> NVC
> > support process is take a ticket and we'll get back to you over the next
> > couple of days. Often time I had to put in a personal call to Mike
> > D'Monte
> > to get support action happening in a timely manner.
> >
> > In frustration, I installed Moodle on the local file server using XAMPP
> > under windows and it worked a charm, although only available on the LAN.
> >
> > Meanwhile I've bought an ACER 530 server, installed Ubuntu LAMP server,
> > had
> > DE&T allow it as a webserver and will be migrating Moodle to it before
> > the
> > end of the year (yikes). The webserver has 2 network connections - one
> > for
> > the wide world, and the other for the LAN. There is a simple php config
> > for
> > Moodle which serves the Moodle locally over the LAN (to avoid IP
> traffic)
> > and still allows web browsing from outside of VicSmart. Must remember to
> > get
> >
> > VicSmart to add out Moodle to the Edulist for free traffic for the admin
> > network.
> >
> > Under this setup, Moodle will still work regardless of having internet
> > access functioning.
> >
> > Hope this helps. The short answer is - if you don't have the tech
> > skills/support at school and Netspace aren't charging for it, give it a
> > go
> > while you introduce Moodle culture to your staff and students. The more
> > dependent you become on it, the more you will need a more reliable
> > service,
> > whether local or hosted commercially.
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Chris Ellis
> > ICT Coordinator
> > Lorne-Aireys Inlet P-12 College
> >
> >
> >
> > Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If
> > received
> > in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening or
> > using
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> > not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files
> > our
> > liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any
> > representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual
> sender,
> > and not necessarily those of the Department of Education & Training.
> > _______________________________________________
> > http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
> > Moodle Mailing List kindly supported by
> > http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
> > Authority
> > and
> > http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology
> > Teachers
> > Association Inc
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
> > http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au
> >
> > "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
> > change
> > the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
> > _______________________________________________
> > http://www.edulists.com.au  <http://www.edulists.com.au> - FAQ,
> > resources,
> > subscribe, unsubscribe
> > Moodle Mailing List kindly supported by
> > http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au  <http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au> - Victorian
> > Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
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> > Information Technology Teachers Association Inc
> >
> >
> > Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If
> > received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before
> > opening or using attachments check them for viruses and defects.
> > Regardless of any loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the
> > negligence of the sender or not, resulting directly or indirectly from
> > the use of any attached files our liability is limited to resupplying
> any
> > affected attachments. Any representations or opinions expressed are
> those
> > of the individual sender, and not necessarily those of the Department of
> > Education & Training.
> Keith Richardson
> Leibler Yavneh College
> Elsternwick Ph (03)9528 4911
> keithcr at fastmail.fm
>
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
> Moodle Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
> and
> http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers
> Association Inc
>
>
>
> Important - This email and any attachments may be confidential. If
> received in error, please contact us and delete all copies. Before opening
> or using attachments check them for viruses and defects. Regardless of any
> loss, damage or consequence, whether caused by the negligence of the sender
> or not, resulting directly or indirectly from the use of any attached files
> our liability is limited to resupplying any affected attachments. Any
> representations or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender,
> and not necessarily those of the Department of Education.
> _______________________________________________
> http://www.edulists.com.au - FAQ, resources, subscribe, unsubscribe
> Moodle Mailing List kindly supported by
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority
> and
> http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers
> Association Inc
>



-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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