[Moodle] Moodle and Maze

Thu Nov 12 13:37:45 EST 2009

Hi,

Thanks everyone for contributing your method of authentication and
enrollment.

With respect to LDAP I had set up a test MS2003 server with ADAM. But I
hadn't got as far as making Moodle bind to it. Before I went much further
I  wanted to see if there were more efficient or simpler ways of
synchronizing the info in our current school admin system with Moodle.

At this stage even if we went with self enrollment from using the class
names as course keys we will use the authentication built into Moodle.
Perhaps later down the track we could investigate using LDAP more
extensively.

I have read some NSW Moodle group members had successfully synced with
Maze by commissioning a NZ company called Catalyst IT who deal with Open
Source projects. When I sent some information to Catalyst they were
interested in writing the php module. But that is as far as I have got.

regards
Paul

> Hi Stephen,
>
>  Yes indeed LDAP does simplify life and is used extensively here at Forest
> Hill to simplify management. In fact we run up to 16 servers with Win
> 2003, Novell and Linux and LDAP makes life so much easier when we develop
> new solutions eg. parent teacher interviews on line , and general access
> to resources or new SQL and MySQL databases.
>
>
> Take Care
>
>
> Kevork Krozian
> Digital Learning Manager
> Forest Hill College
> k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
> Tel: 0419 356 034
> ________________________________________
> From: moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au [moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au] On
> Behalf Of Stephen Bloomer [sbloomer at stpeters.vic.edu.au]
> Sent: Thursday, 12 November 2009 9:39 AM
> To: The Moodle Users' in Schools Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [Moodle] Moodle and Maze
>
> When we started our Moodle we used self enrolment with a College email
> address required for the confirmation.  We had two problems with this.
> 1.      Students could enter their own name.  They would regularly enter
> inappropriate words instead of their name.  LDAP method sucks in the
> students name from AD and then locks it so it can't be changed.
> 2.      Students set their own password.  They would then get confused
> with their network password and would need us to reset it for them (Yes
> Moodle has the ability to do that without assistance but at least 25%
> had issues with this)
>
> We have a policy of trying to reduce the number of usernames and
> passwords a person must remember. Using LDAP we now have all students
> and 90% of staff down to just one username and password for everything
> to do with the school.
>
> Worth thinking about as once Moodle is a main part of the schools
> infrastructure it can be hard to change the way it works.
>
> Stephen Bloomer
> sbloomer at stpeters.vic.edu.au
> Network Manager
> St. Peter's College
> Cranbourne-Frankston Road
> Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3977
> Phone  +61 3 5996 6733
> Fax      +61 3 5996 8277
> -----Original Message-----
> From: moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Laurie Savage
> Sent: Thursday, 12 November 2009 8:46 AM
> To: 'The Moodle Users' in Schools Mailing List'
> Subject: RE: [Moodle] Moodle and Maze
>
> This seems an overly complex solution to a simple problem. We've been
> running Moodle for about 4 years now. I initially imported all the
> students
> by way of a csv file that I cooked in a spreadsheet. All enrolments
> since
> then have been done by the students themselves. I lock down the email
> verification system so it will only work with legitimate college email
> accounts. When a student creates a new account a confirmation email is
> sent
> to them, so the account must exist for them to verify their enrolment.
> The
> only checking I need to do is the occasional scan of the users' file to
> see
> if they have kept to our naming policy. It's stress free.
>
> Laurie Savage
> PVGC
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au]
> On Behalf Of Paul Maxted
> Sent: Wednesday, 11 November 2009 9:26 PM
> To: The Moodle Users' in Schools Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [Moodle] Moodle and Maze
>
> Hi Stephen,
>
> Thank you for taking the time to reply.
>
> We are still looking at all our options but I think we are settling on
> Maze (MSSQL) exporting a csv file of student name, ID, course1, course2
> etc (same with teachers) once per day. Cron will run a proprietary php
> script to pick up the csv file and import it into Moodle's MSSQL dB
> updating any differences i.e. students who have changed courses. At
> least
> that is my understanding...I might be quite wrong :)
>
> I did float the idea of self enrollment that Julian proposes in one of
> his
> YouTube videos but our ICT committee was concerned that students will
> get
> the course keys from other students and start to muck things up.
>
> I also floated the idea of putting more student info in the LDAP server
> to
> not only authenticate the user but also get the personal info.
> Hmmmm....silence.
>
> So I am back to internal authentication for the time being and trying to
> sync Moodle and Maze via csv files.
>
> regards
> Paul
>
>
>
>
>
> I think we are
>> We do not use Maze so I can't help with that, but I think the main
>> question will be what do you want as your final result?  Does maze
> give
>> you your class enrolments or is this just to identify users?
>>
>> If this is for authentication then I believe the best way to go it
> link to
>> Active Directory.  When a user logs in to Moodle for the first time
> Moodle
>> sucks the information from Active Directory to create the account and
>> populates all information required, username, first and last name and
>> email address etc.  When this is set up correctly you will never have
> to
>> create a new account again.  All I do is log in about once a year a do
> a
>> search for people who have not logged on for more than 180 days and
> delete
>> their account.  This is just to clean up old students as when students
> are
>> removed from Active Directory it automatically prevents them accessing
> the
>> Moodle site.
>>
>> For class access we use the enrolment key system.  This is especially
> good
>> at this time of the year.  Courses for junior years might not start
> until
>> Jan but the VCE subjects are already looking at giving out work for
> the
>> Christmas period so they can enrol their students now.
>>
>> Hope that helps.
>>
>> Stephen Bloomer
>> sbloomer at stpeters.vic.edu.au
>> Network Manager
>> St. Peter's College
>> Cranbourne-Frankston Road
>> Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3977
>> Phone  +61 3 5996 6733
>> Fax      +61 3 5996 8277
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: moodle-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Paul Maxted
>> Sent: Wed 11/11/2009 8:51 PM
>> To: moodle at edulists.com.au
>> Subject: [Moodle] Moodle and Maze
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> About 4 months ago we installed Moodle 1.9.5 on a server in our own
> server
>> room at school. We connect to it via SSL and it is accessible for
> teachers
>> and students from within the school intranet and from home. We are now
>> committed to rolling out Moodle to the whole school community next
> year.
>>
>> At the moment I have been exporting students from our Maze v8 database
> via
>> a pdf, converting that to a csv file and importing that into Moodle.
> This
>> has been successful but clearly not a long term solution for 1200+
>> students.
>>
>> Have you or do you know of anyone who has been able to synchronize
> Maze
>> with Moodle?
>>
>> thanks
>> Paul
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ICT Coordinator
>> De La Salle College
>> (03) 9508 2391
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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
>
>
> --
> ICT Coordinator
> De La Salle College
> (03) 9508 2391
>
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> _______________________________________________
> 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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
> _______________________________________________
> 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
>

-- 
ICT Coordinator
De La Salle College
(03) 9508 2391

PLEASE NOTE:  This Email and any attachments may be confidential and, if
you are not the intended recipient, you must not disclose or use the
information in this mail.  If received in error, please notify us
immediately and delete the email and all copies.  De La Salle College does
not guarantee that this Email is virus or error free.  The attached files
are provided and may only be used on the basis that the user assumes all
responsibility for any loss, damage or consequence resulting directly or
indirectly from the use of the attached files, whether caused by the
negligence of the sender or not. The content and opinions in this Email
are not necessarily those of the College.