Deploying MoodleBox in a hybrid Internet/LAN environment

sluke

Use case scenario: I am working in a developing context where some schools have regular, reliable access to the internet. Other schools do not. The ministry of education manages a Moodle-based platform (v 3.11.6) to provide professional development for teachers. Teacher accounts are synced with info from a database managed by the ministry. There is interest in exploring a LAN-based approach for those schools that do not currently have internet access. If this is possible:
1) What is the best way to replicate the ministry's existing installation of Moodle on a LAN-based system?
2) Is there a way to maintain the ability for teachers to log-in using credentials associated with the "live" system?
3) Is there a way to sync analytics to the central server if the LAN systems are provided with temporary internet access (e.g., via a mobile data connection?)
Thank you for any input or resources to support this use case!

Ratna

sluke To be honest, I investigated a "luxury" solution myself and concluded that it can not be done with the resources I have. See https://discuss.moodlebox.net/d/27-a-pool-of-moodleboxes-an-idea.

If you don't need all that, there are poor man's solutions, like content transfer through https://docs.moodle.org/en/Course_backup and https://docs.moodle.org/en/Course_restore, as already discussed in this thread.

Depending on your understanding of Moodle internals and how much resources you can put in to its development, anything is possible. What I haven't discussed is the return path. Something needs to come back from the the sites to the hub, right? See for example "How to replicate in moodle?" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=373346#p1505235 or "NGO in South Africa considering using Moodle" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=362646 and many more on moodle.org.

As Linus Torvalds once put it, "Fork is not the problem, merge is!"

Nicolas

For clarification before to try an answer: is MoodleBox a requirement? Or do you just want to host a local (i.e. not Internet-accessible) Moodle instance on your LAN, with any server infrastructure?

sluke

Nicolas thank you for your response. To clarify, MoodleBox is not a requirement. Currently there is no infrastructure in the schools we plan to serve.

Nicolas

In this case, I suggest you ask about this in the (much bigger) Moodle community, so you can get more insight about your needs, and help not specifically tied to MoodleBox.

sluke

Nicolas Thank you Nicholas. In fact, I did ask there, and was pointed me here :-)

Nicolas

OK, I read it.

What do you mean by "replicating" an installation? Can you be more explicit?
This could be possible: it's called SSO (= Single Sign On) and for this you should really ask the Moodle Community
This is at best very very difficult, at worst impossible to do, since, as @Ratna told you on moodle.org, the databases of the two Moodle instances quickly grow and diverge. Look for "Moodle synchronisation" at moodle.org to get some forum discussions about this.

sluke

Basically we want the teachers working in the LAN-based environment to have access to the same content as teachers accessing in internet-connected schools. I'm not sure about the most practical approach to achieving this. Then, once implemented, updating the LAN-based instances with new modules and content as they're developed at the central ministry level.
Thank you, I'll explore this there.
It's good to be aware of this challenge. Perhaps it best not to ask for the impossible :-) We'd need to think a bit more clearly then about how the central ministry can monitor and recognized progression along a continuous professional development pathway for those accessing learning modules via the LAN instances.

Finally, just to say I greatly appreciate your guidance!
-Steve

Nicolas

sluke Basically we want the teachers working in the LAN-based environment to have access to the same content as teachers accessing in internet-connected schools.

This is totally feasible, e.g. it is done with MoodleBoxes in France, several penitentiary centres, to enable prisoners to follow University courses with no Internet connection. See https://moodlebox.net/en/news/caen-detention-centre/.

The idea is to export the Moodle courses from the "central" Moodle, and to import them in the "remote" one, taking care of the logins. If the "remote" platform is not connected to the Internet, you won't be able to use SSO.

sluke

Nicolas Thank you again Nicolas -- very helpful and much appreciated.
-Steve

krause

Yes, it is no problem to copy the content of any moodle to many servers. All these new servers will start at the same point … with the same plugins, the same settings, the same content, and the same users. But after a short time of using the servers will be different. And Moodle has no predefined process to sync the servers.

Ratna

krause For those who are also new to Moodle, the process is called https://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_migration. Yes, a "migration" from one server to the other. Or you can think of it as taking a https://docs.moodle.org/en/Site_backup of the original and https://docs.moodle.org/en/Site_restore in to the target. Yes, all these are generic Moodle instructions, pl. visit its main site https://moodle.org/.

Ian

Steve, we face a similar problem. We have nearly 50 remote sites and one internet site offering the same courses. Because we cannot track progress live we have to update manually (students receive certificates of completion and they are sent via whatsapp to a central point)
This works for us becauee of the remote nature of our sites but it would be a nightmare if we had many sites (as in a national school environment)
Have you considered using the moodle app to update laptops once a week or so?
This would allow you to sync to one site and keep everything neat and tidy.

Ratna

Ian This discussion is informative: "Moodle Offline" https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=324050#p1301443.

Yes, everything points towards moodle.org.
;-)

sluke

Thank you all for this helpful input -- I very much appreciate each of you taking the time to respond.
-Steve

Ratna

sluke

You're welcome!

In case you've found a solution, please report here. There are more than one person, who is interested.
;-)

danmcguire

Yes, I'm aware that this discussion is rather old, but I would still like to reply. I've just joined the Moodlebox world and have been browsing through the discussion. I think that the problem/scenario expressed by SLuke is one that is rather very common.

My suggestion would be to not focus on finding a technical solution, a solution dependent on a particular configuration of devices and software, but to focus on what is the purpose of the proposed scenario. What information and participant activity needs to be collected and reported to where or to whom. For instance, what data/documents does the Ministry produce and what do teachers do and produce.? Getting the results of what teachers do and produce back to the Ministry may not need to happen within Moodle.

This is a problem common to educational organizations of all kinds. It's the problem of keeping track of who knows what and who is doing what. I've noticed that educational bureaucracies too often strangle themselves with systems and jargon that they've created.

Maybe focusing on 'what report do we need?' and then 'how do we get that report to where it needs to go?' should be the focus.

Ratna

danmcguire You are absolutely right. If one could separate the LMS as the full thing from the derived data for a SiS and reporting, and the data that should return to the center belongs to one of the derived things, the solution will be much simpler than sending back the full thing!

Ratna

danmcguire Do you have experience in SIS? The moodle.org community is waiting for Recommendations for student record system/management that integrates with Moodle?