FAQs and Recs – Miravoy.com

FAQs and Recommendations

FAQs

Are there additional charges?

Miravoy does not have any hidden charges. We are keeping this as simple as possible because it is not our intention to make this a primary business. We are providing these services for companies or organizations that cannot afford proprietary LMSs.

However, there are Moodle plugins and add-ons that you may add to your instance that may cost extra – you will pay them directly, not Miravoy. Moodle has a large developer network who create plugins for functionality. Miravoy does not benefit nor warrant any plugins or add-ons used in Moodle. We just provide the Moodle vanilla box for you to build as you need.

Why Moodle and not other open source LMS systems?

We chose Moodle as our open source LMs for several, simple reasons:

We have experience with PHP, MySQL, and Apache based systems.
Moodle actively updates security and feature sets for their base product.
Moodle has a very active and robust plugin development network.
Moodle is easy(ish) to set up and update.
Plenty of other technical and functional reasons.

There are other open source LMS systems, but we chose Moodle because they were the easiest to integrate and add to the hosting systems we have experience with. We investigated a number of them and some were very impressive, but they required additional training and experience with web technologies we don’t have experience with. So, we stick with what we know.

Do you limit the size of files I can put in my LMS?

No, there is not a limit to the size of the file you can upload other than your disk size. However, if you have a large file to upload, you may be better off uploading it via File Manager or FTP rather than using the Moodle file upload system.

Moodle will show a limitation and, depending on how we are hosting your site, changes may need to be made to Moodle and server settings.

One thing to note: if you are new to creating training materials, there may be ways to reduce the file size and increase the speed of functionality of your training program. Please check our Recommendations section for more info.

What kind of files can I upload?

Moodle allows a wide variety of file types to be uploaded, including SCORM packages. For more information on file types, please go to the Moodle website for their documentation.

Who owns the content I post to my LMS?

You own everything you post to your Moodle instance, we do not keep anything. If you decide to close your account, you can take all of your content with you anywhere else. Once of the advantages of using Moodle is that they do not use proprietary authoring tools to create training.

Can Miravoy help me develop training for my organization?

If you need custom training designed and created, Jacobs, et al, can provide the full range and scope of training needs you may have. Jacobs, et al, will help you develop a strategy that includes hosting in a Moodle LMS all for one complete package.

Recommendations

eLearning with videos embedded.

If you intend on hosting eLearning with embedded video, the files will be huge and can slow down a server not designed for streaming video. While Moodle can host these, and Miravoy servers can stream video, there are tactics you can use to reduce server strain, training lag times under heavy use, and reduce file sizes.

The best solution is to set up a YouTube channel to host your videos. You can set the videos to “private” to prevent people from randomly finding them, then embed the link within your authoring tool as a web object. Your video will appear in your eLearning and look like it is integrated within it, but will use the power of YouTube streaming services to deliver the best possible experience.

Always have more than one admin.

You should always have at least two administrators with equal access to your LMS. That way, if you have a change of admins, you are not limited to their specific access. Always set up at least two super admins, and then create differing levels of control of your courses as you see fit.

Cull your users on a regular basis.

While we do not limit the number of users or their access to your site, purely for managing data and database size and complexity, you should set a regular schedule of purging users from your database.

If you are planning on tracking user access and activity, set your purging schedule to be after you pull your data, then store the data in a spreadsheet. It will make it easier to manage data and users over time.

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