So, Do You Want To Moodle?

No, that was not a lewd comment.... Maybe you've only heard of Moodle, maybe you've even seen it at QTL's Teacher Central Website and just want to know more.  Today's discussion will get you started. So, what is Moodle? From http://moodle.org: "Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities."  I hope to help you accomplish the following items:
So... how do you install Moodle without LAMP? It all starts with a simple project called The Uniform Server (http://www.uniformserver.com/) to create a WAMP (Windows Apache MySQL PHP/Perl) install. This collection creates a single folder on your USB and/or HDD which allows you to run an Apache web server complete with PHP and Perl. A simple click allows you to start a MySQL server and it even includes a version of phpMyAdmin so that creating MySQL databases and database users is a snap.

What I've attempted to do is to combine this magical collection of programs (Only 10 MB... there's got to be magic in there somewhere) with a slightly stripped down version of Moodle. Very slightly - I've only removed most of the extra languages. I kept English (obviously) and Spanish, but, removed the other languages. This was only to decrease the amount of time it takes to unzip the package. These languages can be easily added back in later.

So, go ahead and download my moodlin.exe file and use it to complete a Moodle install and see whether or not you think it's worth the effort involved to install it on a real server. This file is a 12.23 MB self-extracting archive which contains The Uniform Server and a recent version of Moodle (http://moodle.org). The next page will go through the instructions to install and configure Moodle through the Uniform Server.

Next: Installing Moodle in the Uniform Server

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