[Offtopic] Ultranet .. request for tender

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

An ICT person at a Victorian school writes:

We are already using a colloborative, intuitive e-learning system that is
under constant development and improvement. We use it for VELS and VCE
courses. It is free, open source and can be tailored to local needs. It is
written in PHP and uses a free backend database. It is called Moodle. Does
the state need to spend $M60 to implement an untried alternative?

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/ultranet/

"The Ultranet will fundamentally change Victorian government school 
education by linking whole school communities, parents, students and 
teachers, enabling them to collaborate to improve student learning 
outcomes in a way not previously possible. It will bring together the key 
processes involved in the day-to-day running of a school and a classroom, 
and become an indispensable part of school practice and culture."

http://www.tenders.vic.gov.au

The Department of Education is aware that some schools are using learning
management systems such as Moodle.  Please refer to section 8.1.20 of the
Request for Tender specifications below:

8.1.20 Learning Management Systems A few Victorian government schools have 
made investments in third party learning management solutions. Solutions 
include (but are not limited to) Edumate, My Classes, Scholaris, Studywiz, 
Moodle, Blackboard and other custom developed intranet solutions.  The 
solutions are implemented within schools' curriculum network environment. 
DoE is in the process of conducting an extensive survey of existing 
applications in use at schools to assist in formulating the data 
conversion and change management strategies.

Learning management systems, however, are only one component of the
Ultranet.  The other components include:

 Strategy
 Learning and Teaching Management
 Administration
 Collaboration
 Student Information
 Staff Information
 School Information
 Reporting
 Productivity Tools
 Architecture
 Security
 Standards
 Change Management
 Development and Implementation
 Service Hosting, Operational Support and Maintenance

The Ultranet Request for Tender was released publicly on 1 August 2007.  

You can the Ultranet RFT from the Victorian Government Tenders web site at
www.tenders.vic.gov.au
--

Cheers, people
Stephen Loosley
Victoria, Australia