openSIS Preps for Release of Moodle Integration

Last week, I previewed the final beta of the openSIS Moodle integration and my first reaction was "Wow, that is really cool!" I have seen some other SIS systems integration, which typically amounts to an automated user login and then the display of the Moodle application, typically in an iFrame.  To me, this does not really represent integration, which I define as a robust exchange of data and functionality between two different applications.  So what does "integration" really mean for openSIS and Moodle?  Let's review:

openSIS ==> Moodle

• User Integration - When you create new users, teachers, staff, etc., in openSIS, these users are automatically created inside of Moodle.
• Students Integration - When you create new students, they are automatically created inside of Moodle.
• Courses - Courses created in openSIS are automatically created in Moodle.
• Course Periods/Sections - Like courses, individual course period/sections and the enrolled students are all automatically created in Moodle.

Moodle ==> openSIS

• Assignments - Once created inside of Moodle, assignments are created in openSIS grade book
• Quizzes - Just like assignments, quizzes are automatically created in the openSIS grade book
• Tests - Just like assignments and quizzes, tests are automatically created in the openSIS grade book
• Grades - Grades given in Moodle automatically transfer to the openSIS grade book for the given assignment.  

Other benefits include the ability to:

• manually create users and students in Moodle,
• include Moodle grades in final grade calculations or 
• exclude Moodle grades from final grade calculations.

It is really amazing to see it happen in real time and know that openSIS is the only SIS company that has truly integrated with Moodle providing bi-directional data exchange and deep functionality truly making it easy to deploy and effectively use Moodle in conjunction with openSIS.  The integration has a key benefit of making the teacher's tasks easier and less time-consuming enabling them to spend more time doing the important things, teaching that is.

Are you a Moodle hosting client?  This next piece will be interesting to you.  Final testing is being done now to ensure performance across a wide area network with integrated versions of openSIS and Moodle.  What does this mean for you as a Moodle hosted customer?  You can install and use openSIS locally while integrating to a remote hosted Moodle instance.  How much easier can it get?

openSIS is on the move and continues to add functionality further enhancing the solution and offering real usability for a very low cost.  It has been exciting to watch the growth of this dream and even more exciting to think of what the future holds for openSIS and OS4Ed.  Stay tuned to the openSIS website as we release some videos in the next couple of weeks showing it in action.

openSIS on the Move

openSIS has just deployed it's first 1 click state reporting module here in the US. One state down and three to go for this school year. Now users in the state of New Hampshire can, with only one click, generate all of the required CSV files for state reporting. This is really exciting news for this open source SIS solution that just keeps getting better and better.

Other development news includes the scheduled release of a beta Moodle integration by Thanksgiving 2010. Bob Ghosh, OS4Ed co-founder, is personally overseeing the development and is confident the final integration will be released in January 2011. Schools and districts entering their budget cycles for the next school year should have time to download and evaluate the openSIS solution to determine if it fits their needs and can be a replacement for more costly solutions.

openSIS is growing recently signing a Vermont school district, St Vincents and Grenadines and multiple other independent schools and colleges. Many of these clients are using the new cloud offering where clients can purchase a hosted solution online and have a production instance deployed for use in minutes.

Congratualtions to the community of clients and the hard work by the folks at OS4Ed for making all of this a reality and a great product. Cheers!

openSIS #2 on Eduforge

Check us out and help make us #1! https://eduforge.org/project/stats/?group_id=298 With version 4.6 we continue the march towards alternative SIS based on free and open software and standards. Join the cause and help us create a thriving community!

openSIS 4.6 Available for Download

Open Solutions for Education (OS4Ed) has released version 4.6 of the open source student information system, openSIS. Version 4.6 completes the full migration to a MySQL database, numerous fixes and several new features that continue to establish openSIS as the leader in open source student information systems for the K-12 and high ed markets.

For full information on the release notes, click here.

openSIS is designed to meet the needs of small and medium school districts using free and open software. Full support options are offered in variety of levels to fit the budget of every school or district. The openSIS community is growing every day and one can find answers and community support at the openSIS forums.

Check out this great offering that is free to download and use and requires no commercial software.