As I was exploring which social networks to use next year, I tried out WordPress MU with Buddypress to complement Moodle, my course management system, on the advice of Christopher Rogers. Another teacher, Colin Matheson, and I both wanted to implement this but we also required a single-sign on, if possible, . . . → Read More: How to Authenticate Users From Moodle Into WordPress MU]]> Introduction

As I was exploring which social networks to use next year, I tried out WordPress MU with Buddypress to complement Moodle, my course management system, on the advice of Christopher Rogers. Another teacher, Colin Matheson, and I both wanted to implement this but we also required a single-sign on, if possible, between the two so that we could have an easier time managing users and it would be less that the kids have to remember. After much research and experimenting, I figured out a solution that works for me. It may or may not work for your particular requirements.

What I was able to do is relatively simple. I set it so that I create student accounts in Moodle and disabled user registration. This will keep the course to only my students. When student accounts are created in Moodle, identical accounts are created in WPMU. Students accounts in WPMU are created as subscribers and they can then choose what to call their blogs in WPMU. Creating an account does not create an account in WPMU because I want students to be able to make a blog at http://blogs.jasontbedell.com/[title] as opposed to http://blogs.jasontbedell.com/[StudentName]. Account information is only editable in Moodle. I currently take the first name, last name, email, username, password, and description from Moodle and import it immediately into WPMU. It is not a true single-sign on since students have to sign on to both separately. I simply use the Moodle database and only create users there.

Step 1

You need to mirror your WordPress administrator account on Moodle because WPMU will not look at it’s own accounts once we’re done. So, if your WPMU username is Administrator and your password is securepassword, you nee to setup an administrator account on Moodle with the same credentials.

Step 2

You need either direct server access or ftp access to your Moodle installation. I use Filezilla on Windows and Linux. Cyberduck works great on Mac. Whatever you use, go to the main folder of your Moodle installation. Download or edit your config.php. Write down the following fields:

• dbhost =
• dbname =
• dbuser =
• dbpass =

You will need those fields for WPMU to gain access to Moodle’s database.

While you are in config.php, you need to turn off password salting. This is somewhat risky because you are removing an extra security layer, but I believe it should not be issue. There are 3 lines you need to edit. Find the line that begins with passwordsaltmain. There will be a very long, random text string. You need to edit out this line.

Beginning:

$CFG->passwordsaltmain = ‘xl&JnOK,~56tgdfyytd6/hhT.)u7uH,’;

End

/*

$CFG->passwordsaltmain = ‘xl&JnOK,~56tgdfyytd6/hhT.)u7uH,’;

*/

Now, you need to put that text sting in passwordsaltalt1 which should be the next line and make a new line called passwordsaltmain (Remember, you are editing php code. By adding */ and */ around a line, you basically make it invisible.) and leave it empty. So, the code should look like this in the end.

• */
• $CFG->passwordsaltmain = ‘xl&JnOK,~E;&SRi8NzpgHT.)uj0H,’;
• */
• $CFG->passwordsaltalt1 = ‘xl&JnOK,~E;&SRi8NzpgHT.)uj0H,’;
• $CFG->passwordsaltmain = ”;

Save your config.php and upload it to your Moodle server.

Step 3

It is best if you are starting with clean installations of Moodle and WPMU because this step will take less work. Go to you PHPMyAdmin. If you are using a database other than MySQL, it will be slightly different. Go to the user table in your Moodle database, probably mdl_user. You need to take your administrator password, go to this website, and run it through their MD5 hash generator. Take the output and put it in place of the password field of the administrator account in the database. This will make sense in a few steps.

Step 4

We are done with Moodle for now. Log into your WordPress or WPMU installation. You need to install a plugin called External DB authentication.There’s more information here: http://www.ploofle.com/tag/ext_db_auth/. Download, install, and activate the plugin.

Step 5

Under Settings on the WPMU administration page, go to External DB Settings. You should have all the info you need written down. For the External Database source fields, you should be able to get all of them from PHPMyAdmin. Make sure you choose MD5 as the password encryption method. What I used was:

Final Thoughts

This works well for me. I would like to get password salting working again. There is an option to use other for the password encryption and provide php code. We need to set $password2. $password2 = $password ; was in as an example. I thought that the following code would work.

• $password2 = md5($password);
• $salt = ‘xl&JnOK,~E;&SRi8NzpgHT.)uj0H,’;
• echo $password2;
• echo $salt;

I also tried it without the echo statements to no avail. I get odd errors on the page about unexpected “=” on line 1. I would love some help if anyone has any ideas. Thank you.

A blog is is web lingo for a web log, or online journal. Judging by the media, blogging has been overtaken by microblogging, such as brief status updates in Twitter or Facebook. However, judging by the number of quality blogs that I read daily and that I know of, . . . → Read More: Blogging – Should You Jump In?]]>

A blog is is web lingo for a web log, or online journal. Judging by the media, blogging has been overtaken by microblogging, such as brief status updates in Twitter or Facebook. However, judging by the number of quality blogs that I read daily and that I know of, I do not believe that to be the case. For example, almost all of the teachers that I follow in Twitter also have a blog. Most are excellent. I find blogging to be both an excellent creative outlet and a teaching tool. This post will hopefully convince you to find some blogs to read regularly (if you aren’t already doing so), and possibly start your own, either a class blog, a professional blog, or a personal blog. If you do decide to create a blog, let me know if the comments and I’ll add you to my Google Reader.

Why should you use a blog as a teacher?

Teaching is one of the most time-intensive jobs on the planet. Combining that with meager salaries sometimes leaves teachers feeling like there isn’t time or motivation to add something else to an already overflowing plate. However, blogging is not just 1 more thing that we have to do. Blogging is both fun and rewarding. As I was discussing on Twitter with @lasic a few weeks ago, writing helps you to figure out what you really think and blogging helps you to write responsibly and articulate your feelings properly. It is both fruitful and rewarding to use blogging as a reflective tool; it is good professional practice and can help you to see what worked well and what needs more fine tuning.

In addition, teachers as a whole are very giving. While there are those who hoard their ideas so that they can be the only “smart” teachers around, I find that most teachers are more than willing to share. Blogging is a way to give back to the teaching community. We all have successes and failures; both we and others can learn from both. When you publish something online, it is there permanently as a testament to what you have done. You open yourself up to critique and relationship with a gigantic potential audience. My highest volume day is 47 unique people. My average is between 0 and 10. Anyone that I can help or reach through the blog is someone that I most likely would not have been able to otherwise. People have actually looked at this blog from as far away as Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Australia (look on the left side of this page for a map of this blog’s visitors). It sounds less impressive when I say that it is only 1 person from each of those countries, but these are still people who I would not otherwise have been able to communicate with otherwise; I feel honored when someone takes time out of his or her day to see what I think about something. It is both humbling and encouraging.

Why should you use a blog with your class?

Blogging with your class is a great way to increase communication, productivity, moral, and student accountability. I consider having a class blog as about halfway between not having a website and having a full blown course management system, such as Moodle or Blackboard (these let you supplement your existing physical class with an online course component).

There are a number of ways you can approach a class blog. A teacher this year decided to replace his journals with a class blog. He posts the questions or prompts weekly and has the students respond and reply to each other. The mere fact of having a potential audience of both peers and anyone on the Internet will often cause students to spend more time on their work and take greater pride in it. Having other students respond or politely offer constructive criticism can improve the sense of community in the classroom. Students need to realize that the lack of a physical presence does not imply lack of normal boundaries, but you just train students early and reinforce as needed. I have used discussion forums online and various online publishing tools with all of my classes and never had a major problem.

You can also allow the students to write some or all of the main entries that are published on the front page. This gives the students more creative control and shows the students that you have confidence in them, both in their ability and their judgment. I have seen this model work well, but it does take a lot of forethought about the policies that will govern the blog and the procedure that you use to get the students from idea to publishing. Do you assign ideas or give them liberty to do so? Do you have to approve the final draft before they publish or no? Can they change the blog’s settings, such as layout or theme, or is that your decision? There is no right and wrong to these questions; it is simply preference and what you believe would work best with your students.

How do I get started?

First, you should definitely go to http://google.com/reader. You will need a free Google account if you do not have one already. Google Reader is an online RSS reader. What is does is take all of the blogs that you read and puts them in one place. I read between 20-30 blogs on a daily basis. I probably needs to trim it down some because it gets out of hand quickly if I don’t keep up with them. When you find a site that you like, you just put the URL in where it says Add a Subcription. It will from then on take every post that the website publishes and brings it to your Google Reader for you to read. Here is a screenshot on the education blogs that I follow with my Google Reader (Yours don’t have to be alphabetized – I’m a librarian so I can’t help it).

There are numerous free online applications that will let you have your own blog for free. This blog is based on WordPress, which is easy to use, powerful, and open-source. The following are some popular sites that let you run a free blog:

• WordPress – This is both simple to use and powerful if you want more advanced features.

• Edublogs – Edublogs is based on WordPress but designed for teachers so even the most restrictive school firewalls should let you have access.

• Blogger – Blogger is Google’s blogging platform and you can start one without having to create another account if you already have a Google account.

What has your experience with blogs been? Please leave your story, questions, or concerns in the comments.