CloudSource Solutions

Cloud Software we use at CloudSource Solutions – Part two

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:59:45 +0000

I thought it would be a good idea as we get moving in 2012 to do a quick follow up post to my article from April 2011 about the ‘Cloud Software’ we use at CloudSource Solutions, to compare the shifts we have made through 2012. The great thing about using cloud based web apps is that generally the subscriptions are ‘month to month’ so it’s very easy to switch between solutions as your requirements change.

Yuuguu – simple app to share your desktop for product demo’s We have been using GoToMeeting from Citrix form the past 6 months and love it. Yuuguu was great initially but we found it’s VOIP capabilities were limited and we needed a heavier duty solution. By far the two highest rated systems are GoToMeeting and WebEx an after a trial of both we settled on GTM as the most robust solution. It’s around $40 a month but completely worth it. Great audio, screen share and now has ‘HD faces’ for great webcam chat. I use it to deliver online training and product demos several times a week.
Evernote – I use this for everything from storing business cards of people I Meet to my bookmarks service While we still use Evernote to be honest it’s pretty occasional now.
Google apps – This just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Hopefully ‘hangouts’ from Google+ will be integrated with Google Apps soon for group videoconferencing
Coursedirector – Great news: Google now has opened up the API’s on the free edition of Google Apps so CourseDirector works there now as well. Now being used by colleges such as Rutgers in the US and Middlesex University in the UK.
Zoho – Great simple and functional CRM, free for up to 3 users – We still set up Zoho for may clients and are a Zoho partner
salesforce.com – As a salesforce partner we set up and maintain 1000’s of salesforce user accounts and are experts in the system. We have re-started using salesforce again internally in one division of our business
NEW Highrise – If you see my previous post about 37signals and my admiration for their business philosophy I mentioned how we did not actually use any 37signals products. I’m happy to say this has now changed and I can highly recommend Highrise as a simple, super easy to use CRM. It’s not good for complex workflow solutions but if your sales cycle is pretty simple it’s great.
MailChimp – Can manage an email list of up to 1000 users for free. We’ve expanded our MailChimp usage and now have almost 8000 subscribers on our list and still growing. It’s worth noting that you can now have up to 2000 subscribers on the free plan!
Linode – great hosting service, UK And US based servers and we use both depending on our clients location – We still use and recommend
Godaddy – This is the only service I use regularly that I feel strained to recommend. Incredibly spammy interface - We still use and I wouldn’t say we recommend but ‘it’s functional’
AgileZen – Great project management tool - We still use. This is based on ’scrum’ methodology and is only really useful if you are adopting an ‘agile’ development cycle of quick release and then rapid product iterations, as we do with our ‘CourseDirector’ App.
NEW Dropbox – We set up Dropbox for many clients and with the new team edition it is pretty much at the level where a smal or medium sized business can ditch their file server and move to a simple and cost-effective virtual Dropbox solution.
NEW AmazonS3 – Bulletproof virtual servers. We use them from everything to hosting applications for clients to setting up online file servers for larger clients

You can contact me at info at cloudsourcesolutions.com We are experts at setting up and supporting cloud-based solutions to reduce your costs and simplify your company operations!

The Google Apps Education Marketplace turns one

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:23:05 +0000

On January 25th 2012 the Google Apps Marketplace will be one year old. It’s been an amazing journey for what has become one of the most disruptive trends in EdTech and here is a brief overview of the marketplace and my predictions for where it is going.

Firstly what is the Google Apps Marketplace? Essentially it is an ‘Apps Store’ for Google Apps. The terminology is probably misleading as a typical app store is focused on mobile and the Apps Marketplace is a platform to allow third party vendors to create web-based PC focused applications that integrate with Google Apps. Most applications can be automatically added to a domain by an administrator using the ‘Add it now’ button.

The original Google Apps Marketplace launched back in March 2010 and it was a full ten months before Google launched a dedicated Education (EDU) category. The original category launched with twenty applications and it has grown at a fairly consistent rate to around forty applications today. In terms of the breakdown the Apps are a mixture of free and paid applications and roughly 50% are free applications and 50% are paid.

So what type of applications are currently found in the marketplace? I performed a brief review of all applications back in September that can be found here. The three broad categories that make up the marketplace are ‘Learning Management Systems’, ‘Learning aids’ and ‘Student and admin tools’.

Learning management
The marketplace features a variety of LMS/VLE and SIS systems, ranging from lightweight systems to full school administration systems

Interest in the Google Apps Marketplace has grown hugely with the entry of Pearson OpenClass to the Google Apps marketplace. In November 2010 Pearson, the worlds largest Education Company launched an LMS to compete with CourseDirector, the most popular incumbent LMS in the marketplace. OpenClass is currently free and Pearson are rumoured to be introducing paid content in the near future. Other LMS systems in the category include Docebo and Class.io. LearnBoost: an all-in-one gradebook and lesson plan software is also popular.

Learning aids
The marketplace features learning aids so teachers can help student learn more effectively with web-based learning aids. Examples include BrainPOP, the first App in the marketplace and arguably still the most popular. Also SlideRocket, a collaborative presentation system, is becoming increasingly popular.

Student and Admin tools
Software in this category includes EasyBib: an automatic bibliography composer that helps students format sources quickly and accurately to cite in papers. Other student and admin tools include Aviary, Edutone Sakai Connector,Edutone Moodle Connector, Leveled Library and Rcampus e-Portfolio

So what will year two of the Google Apps Marketplace bring? Based on the current growth trajectory it should reach eighty Apps in 2012 but I predict a slowing as certain systems get established in each category, and also as aplicaitons get more mature and feature rich the barrier to entry becomes higher. I predict the main growth will come from established EdTech software providers including a version of their software in the Marketplace.

Dan Taylor is Google Apps EDU Certified trainer and expert at delivering training to educators and administrators at schools and colleges. He is a Director at CloudSource Solutions and the creator of the CourseDirector LMS.

CourseDirector presentation from LogicWing

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:00:09 +0000

Below is a CourseDirector presentation from our Gold Partner ‘LogicWing’ from New York. LogicWing are highly recommended not just for CourseDirector support but also for any schools in the N.E. US looking for Google Apps training, set-up and support

CourseDirector news New Year 2012

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:15:08 +0000

Firstly and most importantly “Happy New Year” from Dan, Mike, Aleh and all at CourseDirector and to say here’s to a successful 2012 for all! When we launched CourseDirector in the Google Apps Marketplace back in March we couldn’t have imagined that we would get to work with educators across the world, from London down to Nairobi, and from Bangkok across to Anchorage. It’s been a great journey and we’re excited about where we can take CourseDirector in 2012 to continue our mission to develop a simple to use LMS with the highest possible integration with Google Apps.

With the growth of CourseDirector we have started to build up a great network of EdTech professionals at forward thinking schools and colleges and we’ve had a lot of requests for introductions to other CourseDirector admins. To facilitate this we have created a closed Google group for CourseDirector admins to connect with one another and to share things like course templates and tips with each other. All CourseDirector admins will receive an invite in January and CourseDirector staff will actively participate in the discussions.

Now available for Google Apps Standard Edition

We are delighted to announce that CourseDirector is now available for Google Apps ‘Standard edition’, not just the ‘Business’ and ‘Education’ editions. The reason for the delay in releasing this is that Google restricted the API’s on the free ’standard’ version of Google Apps, but have now opened them up which is great news for us. It will allow small companies and institutions to use CourseDirector, as well as allowing educators to evaluate the system on their ‘Standard edition’ test domain. To expand this further we are working on making CourseDirector allow you register students who are not set up on your domain via their individual Google Account.

Customise the look and feel of CourseDirector

A lot of schools have requested the ability to customise the look and feel of the main screen so we have listened and rolled out several customisation options for admins this week. All the changes below can easily be made in the admin screen:

Firstly a lot of schools have requested the ability to have their own logo on the CourseDirector screen instead of our logo, so we have added this feature now. It’s also now possible to disable the links to help and pricing etc. so students don’t see them.

We also went one step further for our power users and it’s now possible for admins to completely customise the look and feel of CourseDirector with CSS!

CourseDirector welcomes…

We are delighted to welcome the London Academy of Management and Business to CourseDirector. LAMB is part of the University of London system and offers programs ranging from short courses through to Masters degrees and has training centres in Russia and China.

In K-12 we are really happy to be starting cooperation with the Babylon School District in New York. We are working there together with our partner company LogicWing who are an expert Google Apps consultancy and highly recommended for any schools on the East Coast looking for any help with any aspect of training, set up and support on Google Apps.

New services

We have also expanded our general Google Apps services for schools making the initial move to Google Apps, providing low cost set-up and data migration of email and other data from all legacy systems.

As we are a company founded by Google Apps EDU Certified Trainers we are now expanding our service to schools by offering an ‘enhanced support package’ with many additional features to assist schools with all aspects of using and administering Google Apps. Of course all our existing clients looking to take advantage of this additional service will receive locked in reduced pricing.

Finally for our trial customers just a reminder to sign up before the end of January for permanently locked in discounted pricing, the same as for our initial clients. Once more a great 2012 for all!

Posted via email from email: info@cloudsourcesolutions.com

CourseDirector Newsletter 19 November 2011

admin — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:01:03 +0000

Hello from CourseDirector, the number one LMS/VLE/Gradebook in the Google Apps Marketplace, that allows you to run your entire Learning Management System through Google Apps for Education.

New Google Sites course templates

This week we are delighted to roll out some great new templates which you can use as a basis to make even more engaging courses in Google Sites. When you install CourseDirector the new template gallery will appear giving you a choice of site templates customized for K-12 and Higher Education institutions. For our existing clients we will share the templates with the CourseDirector Admins so that you have access to them.

Sign up to CourseDirector by February 1st to fix existing pricing

As a thank you to our initial CourseDirector customers we will be fixing the current price ongoing for all existing customers, and also all trial clients who sign up for CourseDirector before the end of January. We are rolling out our new pricing in December but as a special thank you to the schools we have worked with initially the early low price will stay the same.

What our clients are saying about us:

The best thing about running CourseDirector has been the ability it has given us to work with and learn form some amazing educators, and also to help them run their institutions at a lower cost and maintenance overhead. On this newsletter we wanted to publish some of the feedback we have received.

"Course director is a well thought out and well executed tie-together for Google Apps in the education and training environment. The software is great, but it's still software. What makes Course Director unique and very much a sound investment is the quality of the people behind it, and the earnestness with which they support their customers. You guys, like a handful of other teams I've had the opportunity to work with, truly do go above and beyond. You have managed to link a solid and unique (I have not found anything like this elsewhere) piece of web software with an equally solid and uniquely engaged group of people supporting it. Thank you for all you do!" - US Coast Guard Auxiliary Service

"I work for a Theological College in the UK where we wanted to find a way to run a VLE wholly within Google Apps. Having completed our trial period with Course Director, we are moving ahead very enthusiastically in partnership with them. CourseDirector is incredibly easy to use and does what we need it to do. Where we have made requests and suggestions CourseDirector have moved with remarkable speed to meet them and have done so efficiently and successfully. Dealing with the CourseDirector team has been a pleasure and I am very to recommend them to anyone looking for a flexible platform through which to deliver education and training. The price isn't bad either." - Oak Hill College

"We have been using CourseDirector at Nairobi International School for a month now and it's great. We were using straight Google Apps for Education for 6 months before discovering CourseDirector. It has greatly eased using GAE for both teachers and students, but the best thing is the support. Issues are resolved within 6 hours, and feature requests are implemented in five days after confirmation of implementation by CourseDirector support. If you're looking for something stable, fast that fully utilizes GAE for a school, this is it." – Nairobi International School

Posted via email from email: info@cloudsourcesolutions.com

Why there’s no such thing as a free LMS

admin — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:07:49 +0000

Given the announcement from Pearson PLC that they will be introducing a free LMS into the Google Apps Marketplace we have been asked over the weekend for our thoughts on this and how we see it affecting our business model as an LMS in the Google Apps Marketplace. It’s important to say that the Pearson LMS is as yet unreleased so of course we are unable to comment on any specifics of the Person LMS features.

It’s also important from the beginning to state that this has often been misreported as a joint venture between Google and Pearson, whereas in fact Pearson are adding a product to the EDU Marketplace like any other, although clearly a company with Pearson’s reach will have a far larger impact.

The ‘Free LMS’, of course, is not a new concept. Currently within the Google Apps Marketplace are several free systems with many LMS features and in addition there are many free ‘cloud based’ LMS systems outside of the Marketplace. For example Moodle is offered via free hosting from several providers and there are numerous other free cloud based LMS systems available from providers such as NineHub and of course ‘CourseSites’ from Blackboard was introduced in February this year.

So how does this tie-in to my original proposition that “There’s no such thing as a free LMS”? Well effectively if a company is offering an LMS for ‘free’ they generally have one or more of three broad business models in mind:

1. Advertising supported – Adverts and sponsorships on pages of the LMS provide income to the provider
2. Building up a large user base in order to (a) Introduce a paid model in the future (accepting that this will lead to a high attrition rate), (b) Introduce paid premium features in the future (see below) or (c) Be on the radar to be acquired by a larger eLearning company due to the large user base
3. Have a free version and on top of this sell premium content or premium features. Effectively some variation on the ‘freemium’ model

It seems fairly clear at the moment that Pearson is following the third option, using it’s captive audience to sell its online courses and other premium content to schools. None of this is of course intended as a criticism of Pearson, theirs is a business model like any other. But it is important to be clear that it is a business model, not a display of altruism.

So back to our approach. As a company founded by Google Apps EDU certified trainers we do a lot of work with schools for free to promote the amazing Google Apps for Education platform, but in terms of our approach at CourseDirector we plan to keep a pay model, charging a very low cost per user, typically meaning an average school will pay a maximum of $499 per year. Within this our focus is on no additional costs or ‘up-selling’ to the school; providing free support, making custom changes for free and focusing on exceptional customer support.

With this approach we won’t be the right LMS for every school but our keys point are clear: Our goal is to help schools who require a simple LMS with the highest possible integration with Google Apps. For schools who want the most tightly integrated LMS with Google Apps, where for example courses are created in Google Sites and coursework is submitted to Google Docs, we hope to continue to find many schools to partner with.

It’s important to say in conclusion that we welcome the arrival of Pearson in the Google Apps Marketplace. The immense interest in OpenClass will bring many additional visitors into the Google App Marketplace, and lead to some schools adopting systems from other vendors as well. Additionally it will help promote Google Apps as the great learning platform it is. As Google Apps EDU certified trainers we work with many K-12 schools and colleges and promote various technologies other than CourseDirector and for some schools this will be the best solution.

CourseDirector Newsletter 11 October 2011

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:11:46 +0000

Hello from CourseDirector, the number one LMS/VLE/Gradebook in the Google Apps Marketplace, that allows you to run all your courses through Google Apps for Education.

Just a quick reminder for new schools that if you would like to trial our way of working natively with Google Apps, but are not yet ready to roll out CourseDirector across all your casses you can sign up to the 50 user version initially for only $199 a year, then if you are ready to adopt CourseDirector more widely we can just move you up to the plan for your school size.

Upcoming CourseDirector features:

We have two great features coming soon to CourseDirector by popular request from our partner schools:

Firstly ‘Course Discoverability’, allowing your students to sign-up from a course catalog, is almost completed and we are really excited about this feature.

Secondly for K-12 schools ‘Parental Access’, allowing parents to sign on to view grades, attendance and report cards from an external Google account is in development and we will announce the release date shortly for this.

It’s important to stress that like all or features these are options for the admin to activate so schools who wish to continue working the current way can of course continue to do so.

CourseDirector at Middlesex University:

We are delighted to be working with the Middlesex University Institute for Work Based Learning to power eLearning in this innovative faculty at Middlesex. We are already working with Oak Hill College, an associate College of Middlesex so we are delighted to be increasing our cooperation with one of the UK’s largest Universities.

Also a warm welcome to Riverside High School, Marymount School and the other K-12 schools we have partnered with this past week.

Comparison of CourseDirector to Moodle:

Due to Moodle being the most widely used LMS globally we are often asked to provide a comparison of the

CourseDirector LMS with the Moodle LMS so this post will attempt to do that briefly.

Posted via email from email: info@cloudsourcesolutions.com

Comparison of CourseDirector with Moodle

admin — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 10:02:33 +0000

Introduction:

Moodle, the open source LMS, is the clear leader in the ‘Learning Management System’/'Course Management System’ market with an estimated 55% of the market share. Due to Moodle being the dominant LMS we are often asked to provide a comparison of the CourseDirector LMS with the Moodle LMS so this post will attempt to do that briefly.

Simplicity of use/functionality:

It is important to say from the beginning that CourseDirector is fundamentally a far simpler, lightweight system than Moodle. Due to this, training and time getting up to speed with CourseDirector for teachers/faculty and students is minimal. Teachers can create and maintain their courses using only the in-line help and FAQ’s and students can quickly access their courses with no assistance required.

Integration with Google Apps:

The big advantage of CourseDirector is integration with Google Apps. With Moodle there is limited integration, generally single sign on (SSO) and some embedding of GMail, Calendar, Docs etc. into Moodle. With CourseDorector students and staff work natively in Google Apps, so for example course sites are created in Google Sites, coursework is submitted to Google Docs etc.

Cost of set up/use/support:

In terms of cost CourseDirector is far and away cheaper than Moodle, but it is important to quantify this. Our pricing is fixed at $499/year for up to 450 users and $999/year for up to 1000 users. We don’t charge extra for set-up, support, customisation, and any training sessions for key users if required (we generally deliver these online via ‘gotomeeting’) In terms of custom features required we are developing CourseDirector using ‘Agile’ methodology based on the needs of our existing clients, so we push enhancements through on a weekly cycle (any new features are always optional so as not to change the user experience). As CourseDirector is cloud based there are no server costs.

The cost of Moodle cost can vary widely depending on many factors, such as: (1) The version of Moodle (2) The amount of features enabled (3) If Moodle is hosted on your servers or virtually (4) If you have Moodle expertise in-house or need to engage consultants for set-up and support contracts (5) If you need to pay for custom enhancements to Moodle. Typically Moodle will cost $16/user to set up and customise initially and the annual fee per user will have a huge variation based on the factors listed above. CourseDirector pricing is fixed at $1 user/year with no up-front set-up charges.

Its important to say finally that our system is modular, so admins can quickly turn on and off any features they wish to use. Also to mention that you can initially try $199/year plan for up to 50 uses so you can pilot CourseDirector in your school to see if you wish to use it further (which of course we hope you will) and to see the quality of our support and developing enhancements for you.

Posted via email from email: info@cloudsourcesolutions.com

CourseDirector Newsletter 03/10/2011

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:48:52 +0000

Just a brief update from CourseDirector, the number one LMS/VLE/Gradebook in the Google Apps Marketplace. Hopefully the start of the new school year is going well for all of you and things are approaching ‘normality’. Our focus recently has been on drastically improving our Gradebook, with enhanced grading, attendance and report card functionality. When we started CourseDirector we were focused on being the most integrated LMS in the Google Apps Marketplace and we have expanded this goal to be the most integrated gradebook as well.

Summary of CourseDirector features:

With all the growth of CourseDirector over the past months we thought it would be good to give a quick review of the CourseDirector key features, together with their integration with Google Apps. If any of the features below is new to you and you’d like an online demo please just email us the best time and we’ll send you a ‘gotomeeting’ invite straight away. A link to our help documentation and FAQ’s is here.

Online Courses:

Online courses to share information with students in ‘Google Sites’
Student coursework submission to ‘Google Docs’ (Includes a new option for ‘blind submission’ to hide Student name form teacher/lecturer)
Online exams, tests and quizzes in ‘Google Forms’ (You can create multiple online tests for each course)
Discussion group for each course in ‘Google Groups’
Timetabling in ‘Google Calendar’

Gradebook:

Grading. (New features to create categories just released)
Attendance. (Now much more customizable including creating your own categories)
Report cards (Also you can export the students report card as a pdf)

Admin:

Bulk import and export of courses
Create student groups to more easily add students to courses
Automatic reset for forgotten student Google Apps passwords
Easily enable or disable whichever CourseDirector features you want on the admin screen
Disable semesters (If you do not use the semester system)

CourseDirector and Religious Education:

A big theme since our last newsletter has been the increasing use of CourseDirector in Religious Education schools on both sides of the Atlantic. We are now delighted to be partnering with Oak Hill College, a Theological College in London and associate college of Middlesex University. In the US CourseDirector is powering eLearning at Lancaster Seminary in Pennsylvania and we are thrilled to welcome our first Islamic School, Tawheed Prep School in Virginia.

Google Workshop for Educators:

The first official European Google Workshop for Educators at the International School of Prague was a great success with attendees from the UK, Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland. Kicking off the event was the CourseDirector sponsored drinks night on Friday at the Potrefina Husa Bar and restaurant. Google Certified Teacher Wendy Gorton did a great job of delivering a super engaging day and ISP IT Director John Mikton was a great host

Here are some write ups from GWE attendees Patrick Green and Glen Kantz

If you would like us to host a Google Workshop for Educators or Google Workshop for Administrators at your school please contact us. In addition many people have requested information on getting their staff through the prestigious Google Apps EDU Certified trainer qualification. CloudSource Solutions now have a program to guide your staff through the entire process including application, exam and registration so please email or call us for more information and start getting your staff certified!

Posted via email from email: info@cloudsourcesolutions.com

CourseDirector Newsletter 8/9/2011

admin — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:07:07 +0000

New improved Gradebook

Our main focus in the past three weeks at CourseDirector has been on improving our gradebook functionality, which we have given a huge overhaul. We feel we already have a simple to use and highly integrated LMS, but many of our customers wanted more advanced grading functionality so we responded.

We have now rolled out report card functionality, and the ability to calculate grades. We are conforming to US and international standards and will be rolling out further improvements on our weekly update cycle. Our aim is to get our gradebook so as even schools with complex grading needs don't feel any need to use a stand alone gradebook form the Google Apps Marketplace or elsewhere.

As always to our clients please email aleh@cloudsourcesolutions.com with any changes to the functionality you require and we'll get straight back to you.

CourseDirector getting big adoption in International schools

Over the past month CourseDirector is becoming increasingly used in International Schools; schools following the IB, British or American systems. We are delighted to welcome many new schools this month including the International School of Nairobi in Kenya, the International Community School in London, American School of Bangkok and Marymount School Rome amongst others. We originally launched CourseDirector at the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) Conference in Frankfurt and its great to be making new friends and colleagues in this community

New CourseDirector features and coming soon

'Course discoverability' – allowing your students to 'self sign-up' to courses they are interested in from a course catalogue in CourseDirector is almost competed. Again it's important to stress this feature will be an option, so schools who wish to work the standard way with admins assigning students to courses will of course still work this way.

Google Workshop for Educators

We now have just four places left for the fantastic Google Workshop for Educators in Prague taking place on Saturday September 4th. The event is an official Google training course organised by CUE and covers all aspect of using Google products in Education. It is a great opportunity to network with other educators from across the world and really ramp up your knowledge of using Google in the classroom. Any questions or help needed with flights, accommodation or anything else please email me.

Posted via email from email: info@cloudsourcesolutions.com