email: info@cloudsourcesolutions.com

 

Cloud Software we use at CloudSource Solutions - Part two

 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!
 

CourseDirector news New Year 2012

 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

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.

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.


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!
 

CourseDirector Newsletter 19 November 2011
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
 

CourseDirector Newsletter 11 October 2011
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.
 

Comparison of CourseDirector with Moodle

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.
 

CourseDirector Newsletter 03/10/2011
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!
 

CourseDirector Newsletter 8/9/2011
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.

 

Press release from our Dubai partner LAPT Educaiton

Date : 27th July 2011


LAPT Education has entered into partnership with CloudSource Solutions to offer consultancy and IT solutions for organisations operating in the education sector. CourseDirecor the LMS system developed by CloudSource Solutions is best suited for this region as it builds on the powerful features of Google Apps for Education the most recent revolution from Google.


Sami Baig, Managing Director, LAPT Education commented : “This is the right time to enter this region as more and more schools are moving towards innovative online methodologies to supplement learning process in schools. We have joined the partner program announced by CloudSolutions to work together and provide education technology solutions to educational institutions in the Middle East region”


CloudSource is a specialist Google Apps consultancy with clients across Europe and worldwide. The services cover set-up, data migration, training and support, implementing Google Apps ‘Premier Edition’ for businesses and ‘Education edition’ for schools and Universities. For information about us go to the CourseDirector site at www.cdapp.info


LAPT Education Middle East is an executive solutions company operating in the K-12, professional and higher education segment of the education ecosystem. We offer educational solutions including setting up of institutions by acquiring necessary approvals and partnerships with various US/UK and Asian Universities, quality assurance and development, manage HR & Business Development functions to turn around businesses within a short span of time. Our partnerships with renowned universities, international awarding bodies, content and technology providers worldwide that enables us to offer the most relevant & advanced education and training solutions in the region. For more information please visit www.laptedu.com

 

 

CourseDirector Newsletter 27 July 2011

Get ready for the new academic year with CourseDirector

Just a few quick updates about the new developments at CourseDirector, the simple to use 'Learning Management System' tightly integrated with Google Apps for Education. Many school IT Managers who we work with are now starting to think about setting up systems for the new academic year so if you need any assistance in doing a quick set up of your courses in CourseDirector please contact us at any time.

Google Calendar integration rolled out

We have had great feedback on our Calendar feature which is now rolled out to all CourseDirector customers and gives administrators and teachers the ability to create a calendar for each course. Class times, rooms, important dates and events can be then be directly added to the course calendar and shared with students.

Students can then view each course calendar separately or view them all together in one integrated view, giving them their complete timetable in Google Calendar along with all important dates.

For full information on using the new calendar function please click here.

Just a reminder to admins that to activate this feature you have to click the “Manage this Domain” option on the top right of your screen when you log in to your Google Apps email account. Then scroll down the page until you see the CourseDirector App listing and click “View and grant access”.

Create online tests in CourseDirector

We are excited to announce a great new feature in CourseDirector being rolled out this week; the ability to create online exams, tests and quizzes in CourseDirector. As with everything we do our two driving principles are simplicity of use and Google Apps integration, so we have built this solution around the fantastic 'Google forms'. Teachers or Administrators can create an online test for a class with one click from the course, creating a test using google forms, which is automatically shared with all the students in the class.

CourseDirector partner network news

Our partner Gabriel Crivelli based in Argentina has produced a Spanish version of the CourseDirector website. Gabriel is an experienced CourseDirector consultant and a great option for clients in South America looking for help or assistance with CourseDirector and Google Apps for Education in general.

For clients in the US we are partnered with a number of Google Apps Experts, all of whom are Google Apps EDU Certified trainers as well as CourseDirector partners. For the EastCoast we work with Google Apps Experts LogicWing based in New York State and also EdTech Team  covering the West Coast and based out of California. We are also delighted to work with Bjorn Behrendt, renowned Google Apps guru and creator of the fantastic Google Apps resource askbj.net and also GluePrank Solutions covering the state of Arizona.

CourseDIrector now truly multi-lingual


CourseDirector is now available in English, Spanish, Portugese, Russian, Czech and Slovak with French language coming soon! Just a reminder that you can set the default language for your school but in addition let all users choose to then set their preferred default language individually.

Google Workshop for Educators in Prague

Just a final reminder about the 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

The event is being held at the world class facilities of the International School of Prague and there will be some great social and networking events in the beautiful city of Prague. The course is being led by Google experts Ken Shelton @k_shelton and Wendy Gorton @wendygorton. Any questions or help needed with flights, accommodation or anything else please email me

Contact us

As always if you would like to request an online demo or help session, suggest a feature or language translation or anything at all please contact us and we'll get straight back to you.

15
To Posterous, Love Metalab