Mitch, If you want something you don't have to worry about I would recommend Google Apps for Education. Google maintains the server infrastructure so you don't have to worry about file corruption, hackers, or even any complex setup. With the "Google Docs" portion of Apps teachers will be able to upload, share, and edit traditional office files. The "Google Sites" portion will give each user access to their own website tool. Plus you can control access to Google Chat, Google Video, and several other components.
There is no "Moodle" type of offering, but I don't believe you will get that with Sharepoint either. Google Apps for education much to my disappointment does not have any true education applications (per March Tech Coordinators Google Presentation) but licenses are Free to Schools (They do verify all school accounts). Also there is an option to remove all the adds at no charge as well. If you do decide to host something yourself, speaking from experience, you will want a full understanding of the web server and all components for the site. Hackers are continually crawling the Internet looking for any sites with holes they can exploit. My most recent issue is that most of the Moodle sites were hacked with imbedded URL links to 100's of sites to boost Google rankings. I have also had sites where I missed locking down a specific folder and the hackers were able to imbed Trojans on several sites. The best advice is know the software, keep it patched, verify your file security settings and keep backup copies of your sites so that when your site gets hacked you will not loose everything. Google Apps for Education http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/ Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRYRbPCHTck From: Mitch Mueller Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 7:37 AM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [info-tech]Looking for some more help Well I downloaded the trail last night so I will spend today working with it. If I do like it and can get teachers to use it would it be worth the purchase you think? Also how does that work with licensing? How would I purchase them. Mitch Mueller Network Administrator Emmetsburg Community Schools Emmetsburg, Ia 50536 [email protected] P: (712)852-2966 C: (712)298-0596 The best computer is a man and it's the only one that can be mass-produced by unskilled labor.
