Language Learning Communities

Website developer/Moodle Specialist | Bright World

megabrady — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 18:27:58 +0000

General Overview of Company:

We are an Arlington, Virginia-based start-up company that provides online language learning. Among other things, our service will include (1) self-paced online courseware (2) live virtual 1-on-1 and group tutoring sessions with a live instructor who students can see on his or her webcam, (3) the ability for students to chat with each other by text, audio, and possibly video, and (4) social networking features.

We need a contract web site developer, Moodle specialist and a graphic artist to help us create a web site that would have the functionalities described below.

How the Site Works: Our site will largely consist of two main components: the “main” or “company” page that users are directed to when they come to our site. The other component is the “online school,” where members are directed to once they login to their account (our Moodle site). The steps that a user might progress through would basically involve arriving at out site, becoming a member by enrolling in the 7-day trial (or joining outright), and creating a username and password and entering their credit card information. Their credit card will be charged the monthly fee if they do not cancel within 7 days, and will continue to be charged until they terminate their membership. Once users are members, they will gain access to the “Online School” (Moodle site).

LMS:
We are looking to customize Moodle to serve as our LMS that would include the majority of the features described below. We would like to customize this Moodle part of our site to match the main page of our site. Within our Moodle area of the site we will be incorporating: Auralog’s Tellmemore software as a SCORM package licensed to each user; Virtual Classroom software (likely dimdim), which will be used for group lessons as well as 1-on-1 tutoring; Scheduler (possibly Moodle Scheduler, though likely another more robust option); Social Networking Site (such as Elgg); Other learning tools that we may be developing (TBD).

Content Management System
The design of our site should include the use of a CMS, such as Plone, Joomla or Drupal. This CMS must integrate with all areas of our site.

Languages
Web site should be able to detect the user’s interface language and deliver all content in that language (for certain languages). The web site should also provide on every page the ability for user to select their native language.

Calendar Function
User needs to be able to search a database of instructors by a variety of factors and view their calendars, as well as view calendars for available courses in the virtual classroom. We anticipate that this calendar function could serve purposes for both the virtual classroom as well as the 1-on-1 tutoring sessions.

Social Networking site
We want to integrate an already-existing social network platform “branded” into our web site so that it has same look and feel as our website (i.e. users are unaware that they are actually leaving our site and working through another social networking site). Currently we are considering using Elgg and several others. We want to customize the features/menu of the selected platform to our site to the extent possible. We want for users to be able to search for other users based on a variety of criteria.

Virtual Classroom- Group Classes
The virtual classroom (using a program such as dimdim) would provide a place for group lessons available to all members and accessed from the main student page within our Moodle site.

Tutoring
In addition to the self-paced lessons and the virtual classroom group lessons that will be available to students, private tutoring will also be available. As part of this tutoring feature we anticipate needing three major elements: tutor profile page (available for both nonmembers and members), scheduling options for students to schedule sessions with a tutor, and a virtual classroom (like the same as the technology used for the group classes).

E-Commerce
Users must be able to sign up and pay for course(s) online. Monthly membership payments will be made as well as additional payments for 1-on-1 tutoring as requested. When a member joins, they will sign up and their credit card will be charged for the monthly fee. Their credit card will be continued to be charged each month until they cancel the service (we would notify them of this charge).

Self-Paced Custom Study Plan through Tellmmore.com Software Use- By joining our site, students are issued a license to this self-paced software accessible through our Moodle site as a SCORM package. When users sign into Moodle, this will be a single sign on with the Auralog Tellmemore software. We will be branding this software to match our site.

Guided Tours (Captivate)
On the main page of Bright World, we would like to include a guided tour that we will produce ourselves.

CRM Integration
User’s information should be captured in a CRM, such as SugarCRM or Salesforce.com.

Please send brief responses to the following questions, as well as your past project experience (including work samples) to: megabrady@gmail.com

Questions:
What experience do you have in doing Moodle integrations and customizations, including customized interface designs?
Which social networking platforms do you have experience with, and to what extent has your experience involved customization of the platform for a website?
What Content Management Systems do you have experience with?
What is your experience with E-Commerce in web site development?

Language Learning Communities

Drupal and Education at the Drupalcon'08 in Szeged

bohemicus — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:25:41 +0000

I just submitted a session/BoF/panel proposal for DrupalCon in Szeged suggesting ways of helping Drupal make greater inroads in the education sector (including research): http://szeged2008.drupalcon.org/sessions/what-does-education-sector-need.... Any feedback is appreciated.

I thought I'd start a thread where we could discuss what else the Drupal in Education/Drupal in Academia and Research crowd can do in Szeged. Please post comments with suggestions/ideas for other sessions, BoFs, or just let each other know who's coming.

Research and academia

Drupal Developer | Dentsu America, Inc.

Dentsu — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:53:35 +0000

Drupal Developer

Ad agency looking for a detail-oriented person interested in joining our online team to work on a wide variety of projects. The opportunity emphasizes hands-on development along with strategic and tactical interaction with senior management. The Drupal Developer will participate in all web-related projects, including site architecture, maintenance of all web content, forums, newsletters, blogs etc. Develop and build applications in a fast-paced environment.

Experience/Required Skills

Platform is LAMP using a Drupal CMS.
Required skills include, PHP, HTML/XHTML, CSS, Browser script (DHTML, Jscript, Javascript, ECMAscript, and so on), RDBMS programming and SQL queries.
4 years experience in developing community based websites
Strong background and experience with CMS (Specifically Drupal), Knowledge of Apache, Webtrends, Salesforce, Basic experience with PHP 5 and XML, Proficiency in HTML/XHTML, CSS2, JavaScript, SQL , Experience with cross platform browser support, Experience with AJAX-based web development
Experience with SEO

Schedule: 1 month contract

Salary: DOE

Education: A Bachelor’s degree is much preferred; however, professional and on-the-job experience will be considered.

To apply

Please send you resume, and/or work samples to monashemtoub@dentsuinteractive.com and please put “Resume-Drupal Developer” in the subject of your email.

Language Learning Communities

Benkyou - A Japanese Language Learning Module for Drupal

vaelen — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 01:18:47 +0000

I'm currently developing a language learning system for Japanese on top of Drupal. This is actually the fourth iteration of this same tool for me. (First in Java/SWT, then C#, then C++/QT, and now web based with Drupal.) However, the Drupal version will have many more features than my previous attempts (which were basically flashcard apps specialized to Japanese). The site will include vocabulary, grammar, and kanji (Japanese written characters) flashcards, but it will also do things like adjust the kanji shown on the page to fit how many kanji characters you have learned so far. I plan to give content creation privledges to Japanese teachers from the high school and university levels, as well as some other native speakers. The site will be geared more towards someone who is taking a Japanese language class in a traditional settingl, but it will also work for students who are not currently enrolled in a class. (Although an actual set of lessons is certainly lower on the priority list than flashcards, reviews, and quizzes of existing lesson materials.) Flashcards will be able to contain images, video, audio, part of speech info, and example sentences, as well as the word's written form (in a mix of kanji and kana that adjusts based on the user's list of known kanji characters), the word's pronunciation (written in kana), and the word's meaning (at first in English, but later I will add support for multi-lingual translations.)

I would be glad to hear any thoughts that the community has on my project, and if anyone is interested I could use some testers once I get a working demo up and running, which is still several weeks away at least since this is something I'm doing in my spare time.

Language Learning Communities

Are you storing your Drupal sites or configs in a version control system? If so, which?

Chris Charlton — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:12:02 +0000

Workflow

Language site Bohemica.com now running Drupal

bohemicus — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 12:20:54 +0000

Finally, almost a year later than I'd hoped, I moved http://bohemica.com, the website for students of Czech language and culture over to Drupal 5.1. It is built primarily using CCK, Views and Panels (but Amazontools, Gallery, Paypal, and others are also an important feature). I did use the quiz module in one place but it's not quite what I need (http://www.bohemica.com/quizes/aboutczechsandczechrepublic/essentialczec...). I was hoping I could convert the old exercise system (see http://tuit.glottalstart.com) into a Drupal module but didn't have the resources. Feedback welcome.

Dominik Lukeš
http://www.dominiklukes.net

Language Learning Communities

an experimental platform

Bèrto ëd Sèra@drupal.org — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:37:47 +0000

You might be interested in an experimental platform based on Drupal 5.1 that we are making for small linguistic entities. Basically it delivers the capability of speaking, along with reading, by introducing an added MP3 vocal file to all nodes and comments.

The english version is at http://eng.i-iter.org a first running example in the piemontese language is at http://pms.i-iter.org

We look for volunteer developers and translators to localize the platform into other languages, so feel free to add requests to join the alpha stage. Bear in mind that alpha really means alpha...

Social Networking Sites

TuiT Screencast - Presentation of a language learning system

bohemicus — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:35:20 +0000

I released the TuiT system that powers Bohemica.com as an open source app. But mostly I'm hoping that others will join in the effort to port it to Drupal. To find out if it's worth the effort you can see a screencast on http://tuit.glottalstart.com where you can also download TuiT's sourcecode. Any comments and assistance are greatly appreciated.

Language Learning Communities

BarCamp presentation uploaded

bohemicus — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:32:38 +0000

I finally got around to uploading my presentation at BarCamp Brussels. You can find it on http://www.dominiklukes.net/drupalcon06.

Language Learning Communities