submission, I don't see it as "all things to all people". I'm happy if
teachers use it for instruction!=20
Everyone has a network share on our server for file storage and every
department and some courses have shared directories, which are backed up
nightly but are not accessible off campus. Our school calendar is
handled by Postman, our website is focused on institutional development
and handled by that office, we use Edline for posting grades (linked
with GradeQuick Web) and course requests. Next year we will be using
Microsoft's Live@edu for student email & file storage (replacing
Gaggle), this may develop into shared file storage, which is an option
on Gaggle, but not much used.=20
Sometimes I think it would be nice if everything were combined (grin)
but not enough that I want to trying pushing those square pegs into
those round holes! We just liberally use hyperlinks to facilitate
navigation among all the pieces.
Judith Claire Robison
St. John's Catholic Prep
Director of Technology=20
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Adrian Bica
Sent: Thursday, May 07, 2009 12:20 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: In-house file servers vs online course management solutions
Hi all...
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.
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
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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