Garry Clum Jr., Network Manager at St. Paul Academy and Summit School posted
a question about "How do your students turn in assignments electronically?"
(thanks Garry!)
His school migrated from Novell NOS (network operating system) to a Windows
and he was thinking of creating DropBoxes for the students on the new
system.
While there are very effective ways to achieve this on different NOS-es many
responders suggested using online course management solutions: e.g. moodle,
Blackboard, etc... (I see a big trend towards "cloud computing")
I guess the bigger question here is:
Are online course management solutions mature enough to make in-house file
servers obsolete?
What is your opinion and why do you favor a solution over the other.
===============================================
Here is my opinion:
File servers:
Pros:
- large file transfer
- transfer rates
- more organic to the machine (no transfers through Web interfaces)
Cons:
- separate training for how to use the system (I know it is not much but
still an added layer of complexity)
- user management
- permissions
- requires NOS specific knowledge (e.g. Novell vs Windows vs Unix - MacOS
included here) therefore needs trained personnel.
My overall take: machine centered
Online course management (in my case: Moodle)
Pros:
- ease of use
- architecture designed around course content delivery (teacher,
student-centered)
- flexibility in presenting a variety of types of material (media)
- accessible from anywhere (only need a browser)
- integral training
Cons:
- hosting issues (I host mine with a webhosting provider): available space,
transfer rates
My overall take: user(teacher and student) centered
As an educator I do favor the Online course management.
This does not necessarily mean that the two cannot co-exits but do we see a
trend here?
--
Adrian Bica
Director of Communications
and Educational Technology
Saklan Valley School
1678 School Street
Moraga, CA 94556
Tel: 925-376-7900
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