Catalog of C3MS bricks

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Definition

This is Part 4 of the TECFA SEED catalog

C3MS bricks

We use the term "C3MS brick" for a component that takes care of a specific task, can be easily separated from others, can be configured and administered, can be combined and orchestrated with others. Usually such bricks are available through the main portal environment. Thus most bricks described in the>[#catalogc3msbricks Catalog of C3MS bricks]are modules that exist in standard C3MS portals or can be plugged in. Portalware like PostNuke is sometimes called a "Content Management System" (CMS) because it is a container providing many little, but powerful tools to manage smaller bits of information and that allow the community to contribute with comments and sometimes votes. In addition, various applications provide self-ordering and awareness mechanism to the users, e.g. what is new, what is popular, etc. Therefore such portals are particularly useful to manage informally generated knowledge, e.g. the result of educational activities. Portals usually have incorporated search engines, some have functionalities for rating information, so that good information "floats" to the top. For more structured information, e.g. web links, hypertexts etc. there exist special applications that allow users to make quick updates (instead of going through the process of editing HTML files and uploading them). A simple C3MS brick usually offers insert - categorize - annotate - evaluate - sort - search functionality as the figure shows. Such features define the core of a "living documents" and knowledge management system and are essential to support student activities engaged in complex pedagogical scenarios.

A C3MS platform is not limited to the kind of simple tools we describe above, there are just predominant and relatively easy to develop. Other applications like complex forum systems or educational special purpose tools like computer-supported collaborative learning applications do also exist. E.g. our team developed "ArgueGraph" (Chakroun 2003), a Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) discussion tool according to a model developed by Dillenbourg. The major advantage of embedding such applications into a portal is to have a central access point for scenarios and to profit from existing libraries (e.g. for user and permission management) and from all the other C3MS bricks.

Most of these activities can be performed with and adapted to teenagers (lower and upper high school) having variable degrees of autonomy and basic knowledge. Some activities can be led a upper primary school level or at university level. The role of the teacher in helping them performing their tasks and the length of the activities will thus vary accordingly and are not precisely defined in this first version whose aim is primarily to generate ideas and provide a framework for imaginative uses of portals.Moreover, most of the activities may be performed with different levels of technical support according to the available resources. They may also be adapted to diverse situations: interactions can take place between the individuals of an online community whose members are disseminated all over the world, between classes located in the same city, country, between the individuals of a same class, or even by isolated individuals.

Catalog of C3MS bricks

Introduction

Information and communication portals, which we call C3MS (Community, Content, & Collaboration Management Systems), are made of numerous bricks that can be assembled in several possible ways and can be used to compose the scenarios such as those described in this document. In this section, we provide an inventory of these "bricks" in order to underline their functionalities. When possible, we will also define the potential of each one in an educational scenario. We wish to provide support to any teacher or actor in the educative sphere for freely designing their own scenarios and use portal technology as a pedagogical tool or simply as platforms dedicated to generating and sustaining of communities of practices.

C3MS bricks and software modules

C3MS systems are nurtured by a strongly competitive and innovative open source environment and can be adapted/combined/configured according to specific needs and to different scenarios of usage. These systems have a modular architecture based on different components. Most of the information and communication portals (especially the ones that we adopted for our school networks) already include in their default installation several kinds of such components that take care of specific tasks (e.g., a collaborative story/news/journaling system, a links manager, etc.) and are called "modules". Moreover, there are other available "modules" that can be easily added to the core system of such portals. An example of such a third-party module might be a "Weather block", a Glossary, a Photo Gallery, etc. So, we can say that there are two kind of modules: "core" and "3rd party" ones. For many portals, there exist documented APIs for programming these modules.

For this project, we have chosen to work with the PostNuke system (http://postnuke.com) and most modules refer to this environment. In the chapter >[#topic-installation Selection and installation of portalware] we provide in addition to a short description of PostNuke descriptions of alternative environment and give a few hints regarding the selection of portalware.

The Tecfa SEED team developed some of their own PostNuke modules and we hope that over time, a lot of modules specially made for educational purposes will "appear". Many web-applications that existed beforehand as stand-alone applications (e.g. Forums and Wikis) are adapted (or being adapted) for integration into portals like PostNuke. Finally, there exist several interesting Internet applications that can not be easily integrated, i.e., Virtual environments like MOO, but which we still list in this catalogue. These systems are not C3MS bricks in the usual sense, but they are technical bricks that can enhance pedagogical scenarios and this is why we list them here.

"C3MS bricks" are generic modules and applications. A "C3MS brick" is a kind of component that takes care of a specific task, can be easily separated from others, can be configured and administered, can be combined and orchestrated with others and all these through the main core portal environment (with the exception of a few). For each kind of C3MS there may exist several implementations from which you may choose. We call thes implementations "software modules". In this catalog we often provide several software modules for one C3MS brick among which you may choose.

As most development communities for these open-source environments are rather large, there is a prolific production of new external "bricks", we can have several new modules every new month! That's why we would like to note down that the inventory that follows in the next chapter, is not complete and the official and support websites should be consulted for the latest ones.

Inventory of C3MS bricks

The following entries refer strongly to the "PostNuke" portal software that we have chosen to use for most of our activities. Similar "bricks" exist for other portal software and we may add them later. We have to note, though, that the "software bricks" collection of PostNuke is probably one the richest and most modules are relatively easy to install. We judge also important to inform that all this C3MS technology is in it's infancy steps, so bugs should be expected (in particular with some 3rd party modules that is not endorsed by the makers of the portalware). Also be aware of certain "skins" which are called "themes" and which are often done by beginners that have low HTML/CSS skills and that can break on certain Web browsers. Therefore, in some cases, some technical expertise with MySQL/PHP will be needed to install and configure various modules.

We describe each C3MS brick in general terms and we summarize a few of its characteristics. We then describe a selection of available software, including functional and technical details. Sometimes in the future we also may provide an evaluation based on usability and technical criteria. Before downloading and installing modules, please make sure that the module is made for the kind of environment you have (e.g. a PostNuke 7.2 system) and that it is reasonably stable. Usually, author's are quite frank about its development state (alpha, early beta, good beta, release, etc.)

In order to help users of this catalog, we also maintain a database of interesting modules in the downloads section of our TecfaSEED portal: http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/. We even made copies of some bricks that are difficult to find (however they may not correspond to the latest version

Explanations

Below is an example of a C3MS brick entry and a Software Module entry with explanations in place of contents. Note that not all fields are always used.

In principle, you should find most of the entries in the downloads section of the TecfaSEED Portal.

Name of the Brick

C3MS bricks are described in generic terms, i.e. as a kind (or class) of software. Specific software (e.g. modules for the PostNuke system) are separately desribed as "software module")

Alternative names
Often there exist several possible names for a type of software, e.g. "Photo galleries" can be called "Image galleries" or "bitmap repositories"
Functional description
This is summary of which functionalities the type of software describes
Pedagogical interest
This entry provides a few ideas on how it might be used in pedagogical scenarios
Activities support
This entry provides pointers to supported elementary activities....
Community Support
This entry concerns more general community-support functions.
Other miscellaneous informations {|

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Name of the Module

Type
Defines the environment it runs in (e.g. PostNuke)
Description
General description
Functions
What it does
Technical details
Some technical details
Download
Where you can find it.
Administration
Tips for using it as administrator/teacher
Installation
Installation hints

Awareness tools / Community building

Awareness tools usually interact with some other tool, e.g. >[#cms_bricks Content Management] modules.

Headlines

Alternative names
News Syndication
Functional description
News syndication - Import/export headlines with other portalsFunctions : Import, export, configure
Pedagogical interest
Community building with other similar portals, dissemination of results to other interested parties, resources, get the web spirit (web culture)

PostNuke RSS blocks

Type
Standard PostNuke Block
Administration
Go to Administration/Blocks. Add an RSS block (you need to know the URL of the RSS feed.

PostNuke RSS feed

Type
Standard PostNuke functionality
Administration
Headline from the news engine are exported as "http://your.portal/backend.php". Extra modules may also offer RSS feeds.

ShortNews

Type
Nuke module adapted to PostNuke
Description
Meant for sites which don't create own news content. ShortNews lists remote articles with a 'short' abstract of the 'news' and links against them. Users who read the abstract may click on a 'more ...' link and get redirected to the article on the remote (or even local) site.
Functions
Add content, inform...
Download
http://nuke-modules.gading.de/

My Headlines

Type
Adapted for different CMS and even exists as standalone
Description
Content syndication at its finest. MyHeadlines allows each of your users to subscribe to many headlines from the DB of over 1000 sources. As an added bonus this version includes a Stock Ticker that lets your users monitor their portfolio performance.
Functions
Customize headlines, find information sources
Download
http://www.jmagar.com/
Administration
Very user-friendly and a clear navigation. Each user can administrate his own headlines

Member Profile and groups

Alternative names
Home Page, YourAccount, Your Own Page
Functional description
Description of each user (usually on his portal "home page"). Some entries are user defined (e.g. URL of home page, interests, address, etc. Other information is dynamically created by the portal (e.g. shows submitted stories, comments made, forum entries, etc.)Functions: Edit, browse
Pedagogical interest
Ask students to present themselves in an interesting way (ex: speak for their nationality, their country, their town) or present another student the way that they see him. Also for community building (as a side-effect in pedagogy) since having a portfolio provides identity. A teacher can also get a quick overview of various portal activities of a student. Students can find resource persons among portal users by looking at what these did, etc.
Complementary with other portal functionalities like "Members List", "New Users" blocks, etc. and >[#BEJEBHHE Top List]. {|

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pnAddress Book

Type
PostNuke module
Description
pnAPI/pnHTML compatible address book with lots of features, inspired by the Palm Address Book. Easy to install, multi-language, with administration.
Functions
Provide information on members or persons related to a project, depending on the context
Download
http://www.smiatek.com/

GuestBook

Type
Nuke module adapted for Postnuke
Description
This guestbook is based on Guestbook 0.9b by Nexia from postnuke (nexialys at mac dot com), based on the NukeBook, and corrected from the nukeAddon version. There are no changes in the look and feel of the last version, but many changes were made in the code and some features have been added.
Functions
Comment, give one's opinion
Download
http://www.smiatek.com/

pncGroups

Description
Addon that allows users to subscribe to groups defined by the administrator and gain the permissions created for this particular group.
Functions
The pncGroups AddOn gives the possibility to the registered users of your site to subscribe to a given group. Users subscribing to a group gain all permissions an administror gives to this particular group. Easy interface.
Technical details
Tested version: 0.1b. Languages english and french. pnAPI compliant.
Download
http://dev.pnconcept.com
Administration
Nice Online manual. The administrator of the site must make a group Public to enable this possibility. BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL ! If you change the Admins group to Public, anybody will be able to register as an administrator. Functions: Modify a Group Information-Removing a User from a Group-Making a group invisible.
Installation
Postnuke Standard. No installation READE file.

BSCI permissions

Description
Overrides the default system for group permissions.
Functions
Every Block has visible/hidden for all groups per group. Every Module has visible/hidden for all groups per group. Missing: Module overview/read/add/moderate/admin/edit/ (etc) for all groups per group.
Technical details
The current version of the module is designed to use Xanthia and pnRender. There exists one without Xanthia. Tested the one without (BSCIpermissions-no-xanthia-1.0.4). This version contains the modified includes/pnMod.php file as there is a bug in the pnAPI that causes the NS-Comments to not work properly with this module. ATTENTION: Replaces some core files: index.php, modules.php and includes/pnMod.php.
Download
http://noc.postnuke.com/projects/bscipermissions
Administration
Easy interface for end-users, still to do advanced stuff, the default is more powerful.
Installation
Read the installation guide as even though it looks like a Postnuke standard installation you have to be careful with some details (see technical details above). ATTENTION: If you don't follow the intsructiona carefully you risk to be locked outside of your site!

Rating

Functional description
Rate an information entity in the portal. A lot of tools have an integrated rating facility.
Pedagogical interest
Motivate peer interactions by having them look at entries and provide ratings (and comments). Make students participate in knowledge management of resources (they decide what was useful)
Activities support
>[#BEJBFCHE ShowBest]
See also >[#annotation Annotation]. This functionality is typically (same as annotations) underused. If you want students to make use of it, you have to integrate the task into some activity, e.g. "please look at 5 entries of your choice, annotate and grade them" or "let's rate all our productions and the discuss the 3 best and the 3 lowest ones". {|

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Shoutbox

Shoutbox {|

|}

Alternative names
Shoutbox
Functional description
Synchronous or asynchronous manifestations, little commentaries (blurbs) Functions : submit, read
Activities support
>[#BEJBIJDB BrainStorm]>[#BEJCJDHH Moderate]>[#CoEdit CoEdit]>[#BEJGBIEC DistributeTasks]
Complementary to "Who is Online". Some shoutboxes allow to add "smilies" {|

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ShoutBox

Type
PostNuke module
Functions
The persons online can write little sentences that everyone can read and add smilleys that reflect their mood
Technical details
This is a block. (TODO add link for save shoutbox hack)
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door
Installation
Once the modules regenerated, must be activated in the Blocks menu in the administration panel

User statistics

Alternative names
stats
Functional description
Allows to have a general idea of what's going on on the portal, can also be an element of motivation to encourage users to participate by attributing them points according to their contributions.
Pedagogical interest
Allows to know who are the most active participants, what browser they use, the amount of pages viewed, etc. The teacher can thus have elements to adapt his teaching.
Community Support
Members are less anonymous...

pnProdAct

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
List productions of selected users and groups
Functions
User Interface : Detail On/Off for individuals users and/or groups
Technical details
This module has been developed at Tecfa by Olivier Morel and it has a plugin architecture. To make it work with other PostNuke modules than the one we provide, you can write additional plugins. This module has Beta status (Aug. 2004)
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/
Administration
Installation
Postnuke standard. This module needs the new PostNuke templating engine (Xantiha) !! Tested with PN 0.73x and higher.

commArt

Type
PostNuke Module made by Vivian
Description
Information visualization tool. A simple module to see contribution to News with articles and comments by the portal's community and situate a specific user in it.
Functions
It creates the list with all the users and once the user is chosen it generates an "artistic" picture with all contributions.
Technical details
Uses SVG so a plugin is needed. pnAPI compliant.
Download
http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/vivian/
Administration
No administration in current version.
Installation
Postnuke standard.

pncUserPoints

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Attribute points to users according to their contributions to the portal and view interesting summaries of these.
Functions
User Interface : Detail On/Off
Technical details
(Tested version: pncUserPoints ALPHA 0.13) Has a nice block with progress bars per user with the most active users, but there are still unimplemmented parts.
Download
http://dev.pnconcept.com/ (Several other modules also here like pncSimpleStats for evaluation)
Administration
Administrate Plugins (Add, Remove, Activate, points, language define), Exclusions by Usernames, Exclusion by Groups, Reset Table Activity
Installation
Postnuke standard.

pncSimpleStats

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Little child of the pncUserPoints that shows count of news, comments, reviews and posts for each user.
Functions
Count of news, comments, reviews and posts per user.
Technical details
(Tested version: pncSimpleStats 1.1) Has a block that creates a problem when pncUserpoints is also installed.
Download
http://dev.pnconcept.com/ (Several other modules also here for evaluation)
Administration
Very simple, just limit the results
Installation
Postnuke standard.

Statistics module

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Latest version of the statistics module, which is a replacement for the Stats and Referer modules. The statistics module is faster, has more features and is easier to extend than the modules it replaces.
Functions
Collect information on users
Technical details
This module has a small bug
Download
http://www.mtrad.com/
Installation
A code line has to be added in the pnAPI file. Everything is explained in the Readme file provided. An error arrises when the portal is not set to english

NS-User_Points

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Distributes points according to user activity. Possible to change the amount of points distributed and to modify the parametres, such as the name of the forum in the portal
Functions
Motivate, collect information on user activity
Technical details
This module is an older version of >[#pn_userpoints pncUserPoints] (verify!)
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door

Top List

Alternative names
Top List, Top 10, Top 5 [of various things]
Functional description
Display top x listings. This functionality can be available in the form of blocks visible to all users or as a module that user has to select.Functions : View, browse, configure
Pedagogical interest
Motivate by appreciating students input according to several criteria (the best rated works, the most commented ones, etc.). Associated with tools used for resources (e.g. links) it can be a navigation aid.
Activities support
>[#BEJBFCHE ShowBest]
This functionality is integrated with various tools, for some portals (e.g. PostNuke) one can download and install special blocks for extra functionalities. {|

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Who is online

Alternative names
Who is Online Module
Functional description
Awareness block for users on line and for individual authentication. Function : Be aware
Pedagogical interest
Presence awareness �%Gâ�%@ important for community building in communities of practice.
Complements with a "Chat/Shoutbox" {|

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i-lastX user seen

Description
Allows to have hints on the last users who connected to the portal
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch
Installation
This is a block to be set in the blocks section of the admin panel once the modules have been regenarated

i-lastX registered user

Type
PostNuke Block
Description
Last registred users block.
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/
Installation
This is a block to be set in the blocks section of the admin panel once the modules have been regenarated

i-members online

Type
PostNuke Block
Description
Displays the name of the users online
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/
Installation
This is a block to be set in the blocks section of the admin panel once the modules have been regenarated

pnBloodhound

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
pnBloodhound is an open-source Postnuke module that tracks users on your website by displaying their username and location in a block.
Functions
User tracking via block, configurable module correlations for display, error tracking, pnAPI compliance (pn v.726)
Technical details
(Version tested: pnBloodhound v0.5) pnBloodhound is licensed under the GPL. It is mainly a block.
Download
http://www.pnaddons.com/ (Registration is needed.)
Administration
Modify Module Name Correlations, Edit pnBloodhound Configuration.
Installation
Postnuke standard.

Communication

Various forms of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools are described here. Note that " synchronous communication" is a relative term, e.g. the internal messaging system could be used for instant communication. See also the >[#c3msbrick_shoutbox Shoutbox] which we defined primarily as a community tool. See also the section on >[#cscl_bricks CSCL and structured discussion]. Finally, we are aware that every act of writing is communication :)

Chat

Chat {|

|}

Alternative names
Chat, IRCchat, Webchat
Functional description
Synchronous discussion (chat) Functions: Submit, Read
Pedagogical interest
Synchronous discussion, group building, community building, guest book, reminders
Activities support
>[#BEJBIJDB BrainStorm]>[#BEJCJDHH Moderate]>[#CoEdit CoEdit]>[#BEJGBIEC DistributeTasks]
It is now possible to save a discussion from the chat, which could be interesting for further analysis in a pedagogical perspective {|

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sChat

Functions
Stores private and public messages exchanged in every rooms and enable a users to retrieve them.
Technical details
You can use a hack developped at TECFA to access past conversations and keep trace of the activities in WebChat (http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/fabien/projects/schat/index.html)
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door

SPChat

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Quote: "SPChat is a multiuser chat system for PHPNuke and Postnuke Systems.The application is written in PHP with Javascript portions and uses your MySQL database to store messages and users. This module contains nearly all functions like a professional chat application"
Technical details
Tested at Tecfa dec 2003, works fine
Download
http://www.spchat.org/

Private Messages

Alternative names
messenger, online messenger
Functional description
Allows to communicate inside the portal on a private message space. Some modules allow to send pop ups to other users and reach them instantly
Pedagogical interest
Useful for cummunity members to exchange ideas without getting out of the portal

Online Messenger

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Instant Messenger Module, allows to see and hear new mails incoming, see and hear incoming and vanishing members and to identify user by his or her avatar
Functions
Every user can customize his own messenger, depending to his own prefers, internet browser and connection performances, SPChat detection, go directly in chat with a user
Download
http://mods.postnuke.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2081
Installation
The version tested does not work together with private message

Feedback

Alternative names
Feedback Module
Functional description
HTML form that acts similar to a guest book and allows to give a feedback to the portal by it's users. Functions : Submit, edit, delete, moderate
Pedagogical interest
Feedback to projects, activities, grading, suggestions to teachers by students or other teachers, etc.
See also >[#BEJGEBFA Rating], >[#BEJJFJJC Forums], >[#BEJIJIHI News engine], {|

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Feedback

Description
This module allows users to send an email to the administrator to report errors and make comments
Download
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pn-modules

Forums

Alternative names
Bulletin Boards
Functional description
Classical discussion forumsFunctions: Submit, comment, moderate
Pedagogical interest
Discuss, argument, contribute, debate
Activities support
>[#BEJBIJDB BrainStorm]>[#BEJGABII CreateForum]>[#BEJIAFJH IntroWork]>[#BEJGEFIC SendFeedBack]>[#BEJJFEGE SubmitStory]>[#BEJBCBGH SubmitComment]
Read carefully first other users comments to see that there is no significant bug and choose according to several criteria: (a) one that fits your needs, (b) ergonomics for your target population, (c) integration with PostNuke, (d) ease of installation. We found out that most children and teachers have trouble using the format of today's popular forums, so we sometimes use the >[#BEJIJIHI News engine]instead. {|

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PNphpBB2

Type
PostNuke Forum (also available as standalone server)
Description
This is a PostNuke Integration of one of Internet's most popular Forum software. Reliable and many features.
Functions
Communicate
Technical details
At the time of this writing, postnuke groups are and permissions are not integrated into postnuke and you need to recreate groups within the forum. Do not use phpbb2pnmod wich is not supported anymore but use pnphpbb2
Download
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pnphpbb2/
Administration
Administation link in the forum (not in postnuke administration page)

Xforum

Type
PostNuke Forum (also available as standalone server)
Description
Widely used forum. Used in most PostNukes deployed by TECFA. At the time when we made an evaluation, it was the best overall choice. Now you have other alternatives.
Functions
Communicate
Technical details
Simple and easy to use.
Download
http://www.trollix.com/
Administration
Administration link in the forum (not integrated in postnuke)
Installation
Not a standard postnuke installation but still easy with web interface.

Mailing Lists

Alternative names
Mail Users Admin
Functional description
Mail all/individual usersFunction : Submit
Pedagogical interest
Inform, give a feedback, stimulate. Mails and similar tools are mostly useful for regulation. Note: if you want to make sure that students use a mailing list instead of individual mail, never answer individual mail
Activities support
>[#BEJGEFIC SendFeedBack]
Professionally run mailing lists, usually require special server software, that your institution already may provide to you (inquire!). Unfortunately, some portals like postnuke will not allow to send E-mail only to specific subgroups of users. For the moment, one can mail individuals or all the members. See also >[#BEJJFJJC Forums]as an alternative. The advantage of Forums is that information does not clutter mailboxes and always remains available (though true mailing lists servers also provide archives). Forums (or annotation mechanisms) are a better choice for organizing structured discussion around different topics, since students can more quickly go through all the arguments. {|

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pnTresMailer

Description
Newsletter module with rich functionalities.
Functions
A growing collection of Plugin Modules allow the collection of data from many sources, the Newsletter is multi-part mime which allows both HTML and text-only postings, previewing generated Mailers allows checking for problems, and hand customisation
Technical details
(Version tested PnTresMailer 6.0.2) pnTresMailer 6.02 stops multiple subscriptions to the same e-mail address, to prevent a possible Denial of Service attack. No pnAPI compliant?
Download
hhttp://canvas.anubix.net/The original developer, Foyleman at www.modsonline.com, is currently not working with Postnuke. He has therefore wished to let others take over and has kindly let this group continue where he left.
Administration
Rich interface and complicated functions to satisfy several needs. Can send to 1, several or all users (for all users you need to run a file to inlude them all automatically otherwise you need to do it manually one by one). Missing: to send to groups.
Installation
Postnuke standard but read the installation guide and follow the instructions.

MultiMailer

Description
Newsletter Module. Module for managing unlimited mailing lists.
Functions
MultiMailer is a pnAPI compliant PostNuke Module for managing Unlimited Mailing Lists. MultiMailer allows you to communicate with your site members and customers in a more flexible way by allowing you to break down your email subscriber list by interest categories. Email recipients also have the option to select their own interest categories from a sign-up form. FEATURES: i) Publish and and manage unlimited newsletter categories, ii) Import and unsubscribe people to your newsletter, iii) Supports for Plain Text and Rich Text(HTML) format.
Download
http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/23438.html http://corpnuke.com Disappeared!
Installation
pnAPI compliant.

WebCam

WebCam {|

|}

Alternative names
MyLivCam
Functional description
Live web camera Function : Observe
Pedagogical interest
Observation, community building (net meeting)
Needs also a web camera {|

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Content Management

See also >[#awareness_bricks Awareness tools / Community building], many of these bricks extract information from CMS bricks.

Review - Books

Review - Books {|

|}

Alternative names
Reviews, Books
Functional description
Books reviews and/or recommendations with rating, comments, suggesting of books. Books may have images, descriptions and affiliate links to online bookstores. Not only focused on books, but any catalogue-driven-theme. Functions : Submit, edit, delete, moderate, rate, comment
Pedagogical interest
Develop critical mind, argumentation, motivation to read books
Activities support
>[#BEJGCAGF KeepReference]>[#BEJGCAGF KeepReference]

Books

Type
PostNuke module
Description
Integrate books recommendations into your site. With rating, comments, suggesting of books. Books may have images, descritpions and affiliate links to online bookstores. Not only focused on books, but any catalogue-driven-shop
Functions
It is possible to order a book by transfering the user to an online bookstore such as amazon.com, lehmanns.de or equal. With an affiliate agreement with these bookstore, they will give you money for every book that was purchased from your recommendation.
Download
http://pn-mod-books.sourceforge.net/
Administration
Administration of the books is very easy.
Installation
Just send the "books" folder in the modules folder and the rest is done through the administration panel

FAQ Manager

Alternative names
Frequently Asked Questions Tool
Functional description
Submit Frequently Asked QuestionsFunctions : Post, answer, comment, edit, delete, rate, moderate
Pedagogical interest
Knowledge base / online help. Can be either used to reify highlights from Forum Questions/Answers. Can also be used as mail tool to give the opportunity to students to ask questions and share the answers
Activities support
>[#BEJDFJIH SubmitQuestion]>[#BEJIIHED SubmitAnswer]

PostNuke FAQ Module

Type
Standard PostNuke Module
Functions
Allows to define a flat list of different FAQs. Users can post questions, administrators will see the question in the "Incoming box" and can reply. Admins can also directly post/answer questions.

News engine

Alternative names
News, Submit News, Story Submission Module, Topics, Newsletter, News Portal
Functional description
The "news engine" is a kind of Content Management System. Administrators can organize contents into different topics (subject areas) and decide who can post news, look at news, annotate news, moderate news, etc. Frequently the portal is configured to show on the entry page the last stories received. Users usually can submit news (editors with special rights can approve it), display the news on the index page, browse through the topics (click on "topic icons" associated with each story), search through all the contents, annotate contents (i.e. each story has an associated forum). This is a core module of most portals, for some portals there exist also some 3rd party ones with special features.Functions : Submit, comment, edit, delete, rate, search, browse, moderate
Pedagogical interest
Interact by providing new information (to start a story, a project, an activity), comment information made by others (e.g. student work or articles found on the web), organize asynchronous debates, present an expert's view on a theme.
Activities support
>[#BEJBIJDB BrainStorm]>[#BEJIAFJH IntroWork]>[#BEJGEFIC SendFeedBack]>[#BEJJFEGE SubmitStory]>[#BEJBCBGH SubmitComment]
See also: >[#BEJCDJHB CMS]and >[#BEJJFJJC Forums]{|

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PostNuke News Engine

Type
Standard PostNuke Module
Functions
Organization by topics and by language. Submit/Post/Validate News. Administrators can edit contents (but not comments in 7.2x versions). Users can annotate (provided they have permissions). Contents are searchable, special blocks in the portal can show randomly selected old news, most popular news of the day, etc. On each user's home page contributions to this module are listed.
Administration
By default the module appears on the index page. With user permissions, one can give rights to individuals or user groups to annotate or selectively view certain topics or articles. Topics can be defined within the Administration/Topics Manager. By default the is a special awareness block (called "Incoming" in the Blocks administration) that show "pending entries" to administrators.
Installation
By default the module is included

Search Portal

Alternative names
Search, Find, Search engine
Functional description
Search information in various modules, e.g. reviews, stories, FAQs, forums, etc.Functions : Submit, advanced submit, browse
Pedagogical interest
Learn how to search information in the portal. Treasure hunt inside the portal
Activities support
>[#BEJBDFFC HandsOn]>[#BEJDECAD SearchWeb]

PostNuke Search

Type
Standard PostNuke Module
Description
This incorporated search engine allows to do a full text search of certain module contents, e.g. news, FAQs.
Functions
Usually a theme (skin) is configured to have a simple search box. Somewhere in a menu users can get access to "advanced search" and decide which modules to search through, whether to use exact words or not, etc. Some third party modules (e.g. various CMS modules), may add additional choices
Installation
Installation is by default. However if you wa nt some third party modules to be searchable, you have to follow manual instructions for these (if available)

Search Web

Alternative names
Google search, PN DMOZ Search, Web search
Functional description
Search the web according to different criteria. Some portals may integrate a user interface to external search engines.Functions : Submit, advanced submit, browse
Pedagogical interest
Resource-Based learning in information age - Gather resources, learn how to search information, learn how to use search engines
Activities support
>[#BEJDECAD SearchWeb]
Complementary to >[#c3msbrick_search Search Portal]and >[#BEJFEHBI Web Links]{|

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Web Links

Alternative names
Web_Links, Links Manager, Yahoo-like, DMOZ-like, Yellow Pages
Functional description
Submit web links that can be classified into categories and sub categories, for which a small description is asked. More powerful engines allow link aliases. Links can be searched, viewed by category and submission date. Ratings (automatic or by users) and annotation functionality can exist.Functions: View (several parameters), submit, edit, delete, rate, moderate, create/edit/delete category or sub categories
Pedagogical interest
Resource-Based Learning, classification, information visualization. Students/teacher: Gather resources for project based work, mostly at the beginning. Teacher: prepare resources for teaching (both core resources and extra information)
Activities support
>[#CommentLinks CommentLinks]>[#BEJDAJGE CreateCategories]>[#BEJCJBGB RateLinks]>[#BEJCEIBC SubmitLinks]
Community Support
A nice library of links is of interest to any sort of community of practise. It will also be appreciated by occasional visitors you may get
Smaller links collections can also be quickly organized with a >[#BEJFFJFB Wiki]{|

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PostNuke Web Links

Type
Standard PostNuke Module
Functions
Administrators can define categories (but no aliases, so it's a hierarchic tree). There is "broken links tester". Users can submit links including Title, URL, description and name/email of the submitter. Submitted links can be added/edited by administrators. Users can browser through categories, by popularity (visits), rating, etc. They also can give a rating from 1-10 and add a comment to each link.

dp-Elinks

Description
This module allows to manage eLinks from eMule/eDonkey/Overnet. You can create Categories and SubCategories, waiting content, votes, commentaries, users can send elinks .... Includes 6 blocks: Last elinks, top elinks, search in Jigle, waiting content (only for admins), Stats and random elink. It's fully compatible (with "Import elinks option") with other modules of the same type like PH-elinks. Moreover, it is possible to add images according to the categories chosen for the links
Functions
Classify, rate, organize, inform
Download
http://thebix.com/Article1403.phtml

Gallery

Gallery {|

|}

Alternative names
My eGallery, Image Gallery, PN Imagery, Screenshots
Functional description
Photo and Movie Gallery Functions : Browse, submit, comment, edit, delete, moderate
Pedagogical interest
Co-construct documents around a specific theme
Activities support
>[#BEJIEFJC EditGallery]
Most produce the thumbnails needed for the browsing {|

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PhotoShare

Description
This is an image gallery that allows to upload your images into your photo albums and then share them with others using the access control system that allows you to specify read/write access to specific PostNuke users or groups, as well as making it public for everybody.
Functions
Runs on PostNuke systems with SAFE_MODE and OPEN_BASEDIR enabled (this allows Photoshare to be installed on sites with quite restricted PHP access). You may create albums and place albums inside other albums, images can be uploaded into albums and rotated online, thumbnails are created automatically, albums may be shared with specific PostNuke groups or users, the image viewer works as a slideshow where the user may browse through the images
Technical details
Simple hack needed if GD<2.0 (see http://www.elfisk.dk/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=9&pid=3)
Download
http://www.elfisk.dk/

Photoshare combined with PageSetter

Description
The only things added are htmlArea 3.0 support in Photoshare and the ability to select how an image should be pasted into Pagesetter. The last option allows you to paste album links, popup links, and thumbnails in various combinations
Functions
Insert images in a page setter document. Various options are available (popup link, thumbnail, ...)
Technical details
Just install the two modules
Download
http://www.elfisk.dk

My_eGallery

Description
A photo gallery
Download
http://noc.postnuke.com/projects/myegallery/
Installation
Create a category in the administration panel. Then you can start uploading pictures

Coppermine

Description
Coppermine is a multi-purpose fully-featured and integrated web picture gallery script written in PHP using GD or ImageMagick lib with a MySQL backend.
Download
http://coppermine.sourceforge.net/

Gallery

Description
A very good gallery module wich is a standalone program capable of postnuke light integration.
Functions
Image management (rotate, move), vote, upload pictures, ...
Technical details
Postnuke permissions systeme do not work. You'll have to set them through this module
Download
http://gallery.menalto.com/

CMS

Content Management Systems {|

|}

Alternative names
Functional description
A Content Management System allows users to edit contents of a Web Server. There are stand-alone products like large commercial systems or usually smaller open source products like SPIP. C3MS Portals like PostNuke have several smaller 3rd party modules with lesser functionalities. Administrators usually can create a menu structure and sometimes form input. More sophisticated systems have workflow capabilities. Users are allowed to enter and modify contents though the web according to a permissions systems. These contents can be associated with a navigation structure (menus).
Pedagogical interest
Knowledge production by students, e.g. learning by writing, project reports, etc. Preparation of teaching materials of various sorts by teachers.
Activities support
>[#CoEdit CoEdit]>[#BEJHIDCG CreatePage]
Instead of using a CMS, one also could use a >[#BEJFFJFB Wiki]or a traditional Web Server (students simple manage their own "html space". {|

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Content Express

Description
If you have content you want to add to your PostNuke site that doesn't fit neatly into the standard categories ("news", "articles", etc.), just install this module and you can add regular full-sized html pages, and create menus to navigate them. It's a great all-purpose content manager for PostNuke.
Download
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/xexpress
Installation
Warning: we found a bug in this module (which one ?) that is a bit disturbing

EZCMS

Description
If you have content you want to add to your PostNuke site that doesn't fit neatly into the standard categories ("news", "articles", etc.), just install this module and you can add regular full-sized html pages, and create menus to navigate them. It's a great all-purpose content manager for PostNuke.
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door

PageSetter

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Pagesetter is a page creation module that allows PostNuke administrators to create their own publication types containing any set of relevant data fields. The long term goal is ultimately to be able to implement all of the simple database dependent ideas that normally require separate PostNuke modules. A nice discussion concerning "Pagesetter Versus The Others" in order to help you choose the right CMS can be found at http://www.elfisk.dk/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=7&pid=23
Functions
Create dcument of different tye (news, ...) each type can have different fields, use.
Technical details
Good install tutorial ca be found here :http://www.elfisk.dk/index.php?module=pagesetter&func=viewpub&tid=7&pid=33. Needs pnRender. Cannot write in the news-teaser area with mozilla. Need to investigate
Download
http://www.elfisk.dk/ and http://themes.postnuke.com/

PagEd

Type
Postnuke, eNvo and MDpro module.
Description
Page/News editor. PageEd is not a fully visual page editor where all content items can be moved around or placed where you wish. For this it's probably better Content Express, another Postnuke module). Included features: Article and news creation with images and layout, menu building, topic organizing, layout templates, image resizing, news time programming and a permission system. Allows the user control over color and size of page titles, subtitles, text and links. Images can be uploaded and placed to the left, right or alternately left end right of text. A maximum image size can be set, and images larger than this size will open in popup windows.
Functions
PagEd allows the user control over color and size of page titles, subtitles, text and links. Images can be uploaded and placed to the left, right or alternately left end right of text. A maximum image size can be set, and images larger than this size will open in popup windows. Additional settings let you add a Printout icon to your page as well as a date stamp added when a page is saved or updated. As with single pages, all these settings are also globally configurable. Once a global template is set, users can either chose to apply this ready-set template to new pages, or define individual layout. Layout for tens or hundreds of pages adherring to the global template can thus easily be changed simply by altering the global settings. Once pages are created, they are accessible in Page Manager, from where content and layout can be edited, or pages can be deleted.
Technical details
(Version tested: PagEd 0.91b2 January 27a) Works with eZcomments, Photoshare, Advanced serach, pnTresMailer...
Download
http://canvas.anubix.net/(where you can find several interesting modules)http://www.portalzine.de
Administration
Very rich functionalities (|New page | Page manager | Topic manager | Template manager | News manager | Menu manager | Permissions | Backup Manager | Module settings | Control Panel . Advanced system for permissions for the same module. Very good usability for such a complicated module but still not fully tested as we don't find how to show the pages created!!!
Installation
Postnuke standard but adds also some files in other directories apart from modules/ and need to chmod some directories to 777, but the installation is made nicely so even if you don't do it correct it reminds you and does the necessary checks. No pnAPI compliant but it works also with eNvo and MDpro portals.

Glossary

Alternative names
PN Glossary, Dictionary, Encyclopedia
Functional description
Produce a thesaurus of words like a glossary or a dictionary. Some tools have linking (or even autolinking) facilities Functions: Submit, edit, delete, moderate
Pedagogical interest
Co-construct glossaries like knowledge bases (a scenario can be to ask the students to search for the definitions of several terms)
Activities support
>[#BEJDGCDH EditGlossary]

Encyclopedia

Type
PostNuke Module
Technical details
Worked fine. but not updated since July 2003, see also pnEncyclopedia.
Download
http://orodruin.sourceforge.net

pnEncyclopedia

Type
PostNuke Module
Functions
1) Multilingual content. 2) Autolinking between terms in the definitions and related terms fields. 3) Users (not only Editors/Admin) can provide terms and amends. 4) Suggestion-Approval model (all content by Authors must be confirmed by Editors). 5) Extended statistics about terms/Authors/Editors (temporary off). 6) More vivid notion of terms (new and pop dynamic marks)
Technical details
Tested at Tecfa (late beta in dec 2003).
Download
http://www.politlab.org/download/

pn_glossary

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Glossary module for PostNuke with user submissions and admin queuing. Written for PostNuke 0.703, but should also run on 0.721.
Download
http://www.digix.de/jan/postnuke.php
Installation
Need to add MySQL tables by hand (with phpMyAdmin for example)

Semantics

Description
This is a multi dictionnary, a little more sophisticated than >[#CIHFCCEE pn_glossary] but less than >[#pnEncyclopedia pnEncyclopedia] since it allows to create categories in which terms and definitions can be entered but doesn't allow to create links between related terms
Functions
Users can provide terms, can be used to create all sorts of dictionnaries since terms can be classidied in categories
Download
http://www.ivory-tower.net/

Annotation

Alternative names
Comments
Functional description
Users can annotate a given text, e.g. a news article, a web link, a photo, a poll question etc. Most portals allow users to annotate many different kinds of entries.
Pedagogical interest
Annotation is useful in collaborative scenarios, where each student has to comment on other's work. It is also helpful to train learners to annotate resources they are using and therefore provide extra information useful to all. Teachers can use this mechanism to provide direct feedback (e.g. to articles written by students).
See also: >[#BEJIJIHI News engine]. The News Engine (articles + the annotation mechanism can also be used as a forum. Younger learners have much less trouble using the threaded mechanism of a news engine than the "boxed" model that most popular Internet Forums have. Empirically tested with our "Terre des Hommes" portal ! {|

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Internet File Repository

Alternative names
Upload/Download, Repository, Knowledge Base
Functional description
File Repositories allow user to upload/download files. Files are usually accessible though either a portal or a traditional web server. Portals usually have special modules that allow annotations of files (e.g. keywords and short descriptions), search (at least through annotations), and insertion into a menu structure. Functions : Submit, ask to download, browse uploads (several parameters), moderate
Pedagogical interest
Students can work with file formats. Document sharing (like upload of essays, summaries, etc.), peer interactions.
Activities support
>[#BEJJJDBI EditMenu]>[#BEJJFEGE SubmitStory]>[#CommentLinks CommentLinks]>[#CoEdit CoEdit]>[#BEJHIDCG CreatePage]

UpDownload

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Download module with extended upload features. If you need a filemanager you'd better user ew_filemanager (much easier for permissions settings)
Functions
Upload , download
Download
http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/jens.goebbert/

ew_filemanager

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Module designed to manage file and directories inside directory given by site admin. This is FTP-like module. You can create directories, upload, edit and delete files through module interface. If you have co-admins or sub-admins on your site but cannot (don't want) share your FTP account, this module could be solution for you. Especially it can be useful if you use Subjects module on your site. EW FileManager can bring additional functionality to this great module.
Functions
Users can create subfolders, upload files, modify them (text files only) remove files, ...
Technical details
Version 1.0 needs a hack to fix permissions (see http://mods.postnuke.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2145) and another modification to be able to download files easily (STEPHTODO : document this hack on tecfaseed)
Download
http://home.postnuke.ru/

Steel KB

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Steel KB is a sort of light-weight CMS. Users can upload files and insert them into previously defined Categories. Each file can be annotated with a subject line and a description
Functions
Fields: keywords, summary, article, author, last modified by, last modified date, article id, categories; Global user and group permissions using PostNuke groups; Article specific permissions; Multiple categories per article; Unlimited sub-categories; Article approval (based on author); Searchable by all fields; Limit search to specific category; Browse by category, date, summary, author, or number of views; Tracks number of times an article is viewed; Attach files to an article; Print article functionFile upload/download with a permission system.
Technical details
Module v 3.0 seems to be PostNuke 72x API compliant. Tested and judged operational at some point, but currently not used at Tecfa because the tested version had a bug: Failed to load module SteelKB3.0 (at function: "main")
Download
http://www.chucksteel.com/ (Author's web site, see the downloads section)
Administration
Users and Categories are managed through the modules administrator tool.
Installation
Installation is easy . Copy contents of SteelKB folder to your PostNuke modules folder. Initialize the module. Activate the module. Change permissions of the modules/SteelKB/attachments directory to "write all" or better give it to the user id of your web server.

Forms

Alternative names
HotForms Module
Functional description
Administrators can define HTML forms that users then can edit.Functions : Answer, Submit, edit, delete
Pedagogical interest
Make simple CMS tools, e.g. forms that students have to fill in after field trips.
{|

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HotForms Module

Type
PhPNuke Module (NOT PostNuke !!)
Functions
You define your HTML form by creating Form and Field records stored in the database, the builder takes care of creating the php-nuke pages to display the form, and submit the info by e-mail
Technical details
Not tested at Tecfa
Download
http://sourceforge.net/projects/tabascohotforms/

FormExpress

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
This module allows the an administrator to create user input forms with complex layouts via the admin web interface No coding required! Current backend is to send email, but will support multiple backends when pnException is available - i.e. will serve as a front end to any type of data capture requirement - Surveys, Inquiry Forms. There is currently no documentation, but the product is stable and a sample form is included to demonstrate the capabilities.
Functions
The Fetax module, which is a mail template backend. Since FormExpress handles creation and editing of online formulars and may use "plug-and-play" backends to transfer the submited data some where out on the net, Fetax has been invented as such a backend in order to use FormExpress to send templated mails, where the form data is inserted where ever the template contains a ${XXX} reference.
Technical details
You create forms and the resutlts are sent by mail.
Download
http://www.stutchbury.com/

PostContact

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
A ContactInformation/Forms module, that lets you create different forms for different users and departments inside your company. Then it is possible to contact the persons in the list by clicking on a button next to their name and filling a form. An email will then be sent to this person.
Download
http://www.postnuke-sweden.com/
Installation
Downloading only works with Internet Explorer

Wiki

Alternative names
(Simple) collaborative hypertexts, CoWebs
Functional description
Collaborative hypertext editing.Functions: Edit, browse, create new page, compare versions
Pedagogical interest
Co-construct documents around a specific theme (i.e., encyclopedia, reportage, etc.)
Activities support
>[#BEJBIJDB BrainStorm]>[#CoEdit CoEdit]>[#BEJHIDCG CreatePage]>[#BEJIAFJH IntroWork]>[#BEJGBIEC DistributeTasks]
There are dozens of various Wiki Systems. {|

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Phpwiki PN Module

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Postnuke adaptation of phpWiki.
Technical details
Need a small hack to work with apache2. (TODOSTEPH: document this hack)
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door

Swiki

Type
Standalone application (including a Web Server)
Description
An easy to use wiki.
Download
http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/swiki

Word Games

Word Games {|

|}

Alternative names
Hangman Module, Crossword module
Functional description
The know word gamesFunctions : Play, feedback, edit, delete
Pedagogical interest
Learn orthography, new terms, etc. community building

Journal

Alternative names
Blog
Functional description
Allows to gather information on a private space that can be either invisible to the rest of the community or public.
Pedagogical interest
Students can take notes and gather information they can retrieve later and transform/improve
Activities support

v4bjournal

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
v4bJournal is a journalling/blogging module: each registered user has the ability to maintain a journal. All users can browse the available journals and their contents. Journal entries consist of a Title, Text an image and a mood stamp. It is possible to decide if users/members/noone can see the entries.
Functions
Add a note, record, organize...
Download
http://noc.postnuke.com/projects/v4bjournal/

PN journal

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Site member's automatically have the option to create their own journals and post comments
Download
http://www.kuykendall.org/

pnMindMeld

Description
Knowledge base/blog. Postnuke hack to access a MindMeld knowledge base
Functions
Need to install MindMeld
Technical details
MindMeld 1.3
Download
http://www.nuy.info/

Poetry and sayings

Functional description
Possibility to have poems displayed in a certain way or have sayings randomly displayed in a block
Pedagogical interest
Motivate students
Activities support

Poetry

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Allows poetry submissions by registered users
Functions
Unregistered users may view poem titles but must sign in to view poems, user real name displayed instead of username if available, users may edit/delete their own poems, admin access required to change other users' poems
Download
http://www.ivory-tower.net/

Quotes

Type
Standard PostNuke block
Description
This module allows to display random quotes in a block. It is also possible to insert images instead

CSCL and structured discussion

It is possible to develop more sophisticated Computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) tools within C3MS Portals, although usually CSCL development teams create their environment "from scratch".

Argumentation Tools

Functional description
Argumentation tools allow a teacher to organize a structured discussion

PN ArgueGraph

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
The "ArgueGraph" is a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) tool to support a learning activity intended to make students understand conceptual issues... The key idea is to trigger individual cognitive processes through a structured discussion scenario that makes use of a questionnaire. In a first step the tool - helped by interactive questionnaires - graphically displays "conceptual" positions of group members, held in reference to a discussion subject, theory, ideas etc. As a follow-up, the participants with strongly divergent opinions may be brought together in discussion groups, who's productivity - thanks to the divergent opinions of the participants - will be enhanced. Additionally group discussion may be organized and finally students should write an individual position statement. Such a didactical procedure - in contrary to the mere presentation of knowledge by a teacher - has the advantage that the learners actively acquire the knowledge by them selves through their debates and discussions. You may read (in French) Mourad's diploma work http://tecfa.unige.ch/proj/seed/catalog/docs/ArgueGraph.pdf or and article by Jermann & Dillenbourg, "An analysis of learner arguments in a collective learning environment" http://tecfa.unige.ch/tecfa/publicat/dil-papers-2/Dil.7.3.30.pd
Functions
See above. Note: You need to prepare yourself before using this kind of module, e.g. test it with a small group of people. You only get a payoff from using this kind of complex tool, if you invest.
Technical details
This module should be API compliant. Note: All participating students have to submit their input before you can move to the "next round". In some later version, this constraint should be relaxed.
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/ (see the downloads section)

Workshop Tool

Functional description
A workshop tool should provide support for pre-workshop activities and in some ways make the workshop itself more sufficient. Look at the >[#BABIGJBA wTool]!
Activities support
>[#BEJBCBGH SubmitComment]>[#BEJCJDHH Moderate], >[#BEJDFJIH SubmitQuestion]

wTool

Type
PostNuke Module (Tecfa Made)
Description
wTool is a workshop organization and management module. The organization of a workshop can be considered as a learning event. We at TECFA ground its orchestration on socio-constructivist principles and we designed wTool as a Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) tool. Its three-step organizational framework is inspired by Laurillard's (1995) Conversational Framework which requires four steps (discursive, adaptive, interactive, reflexive) to turn learning into a shared information issue. The three sections (your answers, answers by question and answers by author) of the Workshop Tool allow the participants first to enter position statements to be reviewed, then comment and re-articulate them and eventually have a synthesis with a printer friendly output.
Functions
Teacher: Defines workshop questions. Students can answer question by question. Teacher can validate contributions by rating each question and assigning a threshold. Accepted contribution can be sorted in various ways. Annotation is possible.
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/ (see the downloads section)

Project / Course Management

In this section you will find many different sorts of tools, some can play a function in project and community management, other tools are teacher tools, still others allow the organization of larger projects and courses. Managing overall student activities can also be done by looking at overall productions, e.g. with the help of a module like >[#BCGEGEHH pnProdAct].

Calendar/Planner

Alternative names
PostCalendar, Calendar, Events, Flash calendar, Ephemerides Admin
Functional description
Calendars can have many functionalities, .e.g event calendar and event of the day, some calendars offer group facilities. Functions : Submit, browse, edit, delete, moderate
Pedagogical interest
Organize projects, announce events (i.e., follow expeditions, field trips, etc.), reminder for activities (by using it as a shared agenda)
Activities support
>[#BEJFCCBI EditCalendar]
Calendars often installed but then not used, so don't hurry before you are sure that you really need it. {|

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Post Calendar

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Post Calendar is a sophisticated Calendar Module including an events calendar (e.g. possibility to show an awareness box with the events of the day). Some people prefer a simpler solution (e.g. just events).
Functions
Post event . Choose event visibility
Technical details
Warning.... need to change some files if used with pnrender (http://post-nuke.net/displayarticle370.html)
Download
This module was originally available at http://postcalendar.tv/ and is now integrated in core PostNuke development, available at:http://noc.postnuke.com/projects/postcalendar/

Helpdesk

Functional description
Help users and groups meeting technical problems. Can also be used for other issues
Pedagogical interest
Inform, give a feeback, solve problems. The module could be repurposed to be used for feedback in teaching and learning situations
Community Support
Members of an online community feel supported, especially if they meet technical problems
See also >[#c3msbrick_feedback Feedback]New Helpdesk version released (0.4.1) {|

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dq_helpdesk

Description
Allow users/anonymous visitors to submit helpdesk or trouble tickets. Upon submission, e-mail notification can be sent to the assigned tech/site admin/help desk group - All configurable through the module administration page. Only in english for the moment
Download
http://www.dimensionquest.net/
Administration
The administration panel is quite complex and includes a lot of parametres. It is possible to add different types of "tickets" and modify the existing ones
Installation
The folder including all the files has to be named dq_helpdesk and be sent in the "modules" folder. Then everything is to be done through the administration pannel

Project-based learning tool

Functional description
Pedagogical interest
See also: >[#ped_scenario_org Pedagogical Scenario Organization]{|

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ePBL

Type
PostNuke Module (Tecfa made)
Description
For higher education. Project-Based Learning is lately a very popular pedagogical approach, but there are several "pitfalls" and careful scaffolding is needed to achieve it's interesting results. So, the goal of this module is: (1) Scaffold students during their projects by "forcing" them to fill in their project specification (through an xml grammar), (2) Helping students write their final article, (3) Help teachers monitor easily several projects in parallel and give them feedback on time (very important to regulate students in PBL)
Functions
(1) Teachers can propose projects, accept students to make groups, can give feedback and finally evaluate projects, and monitor all projects through an advanced cockpit. (2) Students can also propose projects, join workgroups, upload/download various versions of the project products to share among their workgroup (by default at least their project specification and the final article that describes their project). See the ePBL page for more details
Technical details
Pn 72x API compliant. This module works fine, but needs some investment from the teacher ! Before installing it, look at example courses, e.g. STAF-18 at http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/staf18iris
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/ (downloads section)
Administration
See the ePBL page at http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/vivian/
Installation
See the ePBL page at http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/vivian/

pnProjekt

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Postnuke integration of PHPProjekt. Project management module.
Technical details
Not tested at TECFA
Download
http://www.nuy.info/

Pedagogical Scenario Description

Functional description
Such tools are teacher tools, either to prepare learning units, or to exchange teaching recipes.
Todo: Insert the PN syllabus tool (and find it) {|

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edu-recipes

Type
PostNuke Module (repurposing by Tecfa)
Description
Edu-recipes is a repurposing of postnuke recipes module allowing to submit cooking recipes.This module allows to submit teaching and learning scenarios and include them in categories. It is also possible to create categories and include images
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/ (downloads section)

Pedagogical Scenario Organization

Functional description
Such a tool should allow the organization of pedagogical scenarios. In the case of C3MS systems, it should also act as an integrator
Pedagogical interest
Organization of larger pedagogical scenarios, e.g. an intensive training week, a distance teaching course, a project-based blended course.
See also: >[#epbl_bricks Project-based learning tool]{|

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pScenario

Type
PostNuke Module (Tecfa made)
Description
pScenario is a tool that allows teachers to define complete and rich scenarios for various pedagogical formats (face-to-face, at distance or mixed).It is up to teacher to clearly identify needed tools and to combine pScenario with other PostNuke tools (e.g. Wiki, Links Manager, News Engine or special educational tools into a teaching portal. pScenario also could be used to administer a typical American graduate course that features readings, short exercises and a term paper. The user community will decide about the future of PESC and maybe even contribute to its evolution. This module was inspired by the Moodle pedagogical platform.
Functions
Teacher: (1) Set scenarios, define scenario with a title, instructor, description. (2) Set activities: Add, remove, edit, and order activities and sub-activities within scenarios. Students: (1) View (normal and printer-friendly) of scenarios and their activities and their sub-activities. (2) View and add feedback for each activity
Technical details
pScenario is PN 723x API compliant. Beta in Dec. 2003.
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch/door/ (downloads section)
Administration
[to be done]
Installation
Standard API Compliant. From administration do: modules'->'pscenario'->Initialize->Activate. Then add the module inside a menu block: Title: Pedagogical Scenario (or whatever you chose), URL: {pscenario}

Task Management

Alternative names
Dynamic Planning Module, To-Do List, Task Manager, Project Manager
Functional description
Project organization (planning) and specification, task distribution. Functions: Add or attribute tasks, make groups, give feedback, time planning.
Pedagogical interest
Project-Based Learning, collaboration management, teaching of project management
Activities support
>[#BEJGBIEC DistributeTasks]>[#BEJBAEIG PlanProject]
More sophisticated professional task management tools can also be used. {|

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Steel Task Manager Module

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Task Manager Module supports individual and group tasks. NOTE: administrators (e.g. teachers) can not assign tasks to individuals and groups. They have to do it themselves.
Functions
Create tasks for individuals and groups. Close Tasks. Designate certain postnuke groups as taskable. Assign tasks to taskable postnuke groups. Update task notes. Show completed tasks. Sort tasks by task or created date. Mark Percentage Complete for each task. Limited value for education, since tasks can not be assigned from "outside" the owners of a task.
Technical details
Task Manager 1.0 seems to be API compliant, V1.0 tested, but not used at TECFA
Download
http://www.chucksteel.com/index.php?page=pn_modules
Administration
User rights are administered from the PostNuke Admin menu.
Installation
Installation is easy and standard

Correspondants

Description
This module allows teachers to display a description of their classes and pedagogical objectives and to find correspondants for a specific project.
Functions
Find, describe,
Download
http://tecfaseed.unige.ch

Quizzes and Surveys

Quizzes and Surveys can be used to test knowledge (self-testing or examination). But they are also nice discussion preparation tools.

Quiz

Quiz, questionnaire {|

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Alternative names
Quizzing, Examination, Test
Functional description
Allows to enter questions with various answer formats to create a quiz. Functions: submit, edit, configure
Pedagogical interest
Allows teachers to check if students have well understood what was taught and to students to test their state of knowledge. Quizzes can also be used to prepare discussion, to wake up interest for a topic etc.

vQuiz

Type
PostNuke Module (Tecfa made)
Description
vquiz is a simple quiz engine. Easy to use and to administer.
Functions
Administrators get access to the following sort of functions: New quiz (name, no of questions, no of answers, no of trials allowed, questions, answers, feedback per answer, points per answer), Edit quiz, Delete quiz, Hall of fame of quiz (possibility to delete a user), Test quiz, Activate quiz
Technical details
PN 72x API compliant module
Download
http://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/vivian/

Exams Module

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Exams / Quizzing Module
Functions
Definition of different exams with multiple choice questions (including multimedia). Definition of different levels and categories. Results can be displayed (% of success for each exam by each user). Unfortunately no feedback
Technical details
Tested at Tecfa. We also made a french translation
Download
http://surgery.psu.edu/

pnExam

Type
PostNuke Module
Description
Quizzing module
Technical details
Not yet tested at Tecfa
Download
http://www.technikz.de/

Polls/surveys

Polls/Surveys {|

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Alternative names
NS-Polls
Functional description
Voting System ModuleFunctions: Submit, edit, delete, vote, view statistics, archive
Pedagogical interest
Rate different kind of things (ex: vote for the best story) or make surveys (for ex: to show a real example in statistics). Of course a real survey tool can also be used by student projects to collect data from a sample of a specific mother population.
Activities support
>[#BEJDBEDA EditVote]>[#BEJCADJH VoteFor]
See also >[#BEJFDIEI Quiz]{|

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PostNuke Polls

Type
PostNuke Standard Module
Description
This is a simple polling tool, usually a single question is displayed in a block.
Functions
Administrators can define various Polls and activate one. A poll is a single question with radio-buttons. Users can fill in the poll once and they can (optionally) add comments.
Administration
Polls can be defined in Administration/Polls. Each poll can be activated as a block through Administration/Blocks. Add a block of type "Core/Poll" with "New Block" and "Edit".

pnESP

Type
PostNuke Standard Module, also available as standalone application
Description
pnESP is a complex survey module
Functions
Definition and administration of multiple surveys. Different sorts of surveys (e.g. and questions. A permission systems (who can define surveys, you can take it). Data can be exported to a CSV file or results can be seen online. Administration is quite complex for this complex tool. Make sure to carefully read the documentation first !
Technical details
Use smarty template engine.
Download
http://pnesp.sourceforge.net/

Misc.

Entries that do not fit other categories

Example

Examples and Demos are important for many purposes. While there is no such brick as "Example" we still leave it here for the moment {|

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Alternative names
A list of names or URLs that modules and associated applications and blocks may have
Functional description
Examples, if possible, should fully expose their functionalities and let the "user" play with them. Alternatively or additionally, an example could be annotated by some detailed explanation.
Pedagogical interest
Hints for pedagogical usage.
This is not a C3MS brick in the usual sense {|

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MUDs

Alternative names
MOO, MUD object oriented
Functional description
A MUD is a text-based virtual environment. The MOO architecture used at Tecfa includes a server (that includes a database mechanism and an integrated scripting language). The database includes all the objects (e.g. rooms, users, programming extensions, interactive objects, etc.) In addition, some databases like enCore MOO include a web client & server system.
Pedagogical interest
MOOs can be used for various purposes: Children can build "worlds" for some topic. A Moo is a place of virtual presence where users can develop an online identity (e.g. to support learning by apprenticeship, or other informal ways of tutoring). Moos also can be used as replacement for chats, e.g. for distance tutoring sessions.

Nubel

Description
Utility module to translate modules in several languages.

Genealogy

Description
Module to create genealogies.

enCore MOO

Type
MOO database with an integrated Web Client
Description
enCore is one of the remaining active MOO projects in education. There are two books published useful to educators. Here is the official blurb: "enCore is an online virtual learning environment system built on LambdaMOO. It comes with a built in server-side client called Xpress. enCore was primarily designed for educational use, but can also be used for other purposes. It is perfect for digital community building, online writing projects, online conferencing, distance education programs, or just about any educational endeavour that aims to incorporate a rich and versatile online presence".
Download
http://lingua.utdallas.edu/
Installation
Installation is not too difficult, but need to carefully follow instructions Important: You need to install first a MOO server also and we also recommend to use a simple text-based MOO-client like tkMOO for administratio.Follow the instructions at the enCore site)

Multimedia

Handling of various multimedia formats

Jinzora

Description
This is a Web-based media streamer, primarily designed to stream MP3s (but can be used for any media file that can stream from HTTP). It can be integrated into a PostNuke site, run as a standalone application, or be integrated into any PHP Website.
Technical details
Current version only works at inside apache docroot. Virtual directories are not supported, support is planned in the future. Streaming of media files using HTTP - generally MP3s, On-the-fly creation of playlist from any level of the application - including random playlist generation, Very Simple web-based installation - no database or external applications required, Fully Multi-lingual, Released under GNU General Public License
Download
http://www.jinzora.org/

Selection and installation of portalware

Finding an appropriate portal is very difficult. In the absence of standards for active pedagogics and given the dominance of so called "e-learning platforms", we suggest to adopt one of the following solutions:

A technology-savvy teacher interested by modern server-side technology should try to install and to run his very own portal. Possibly on a Linux-based machine that is available for his school, else with a private provider that provides the kind of technical infrastructure that is needed, e.g. a well configured Apache/Php/Mysql server.
A variant is to have it installed by someone in the organization or some Internet enthusiast that will do it for little money
Ask around if the school system supports a community portal (for schools) and use this.
Re-purpose the huge and heavy enterprise portal you may have access to (e.g. Lotus/Domino, IBM Websphere etc.). However, this entails negotiation with some central informatics department.
Re-purpose the functionalities of an e-learning platform

Currently, we repeat, there is no "off the shelf" platform for the kind of pedagogics we advocate and covers all your needs. E.g. so far, we do not know yet the full potential of C3MS like PostNuke. One major limitation of using C3MS portals seems to be the lack of provision for integration (and in particular data-flow) between applications which are required for more complex Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSLS) scenarios. Another limitation concerns management of contents, activities and people over time: How can we efficiently enough "reset" or move some of it so that fresh activities of the same kind can start with an empty slate while keeping past student production available to new students.? Some of these issues can be dealt with by careful planning of module use and naming, as well as differentiated write access permissions. In other words, handling these issues require the same sort of planning that a traditional user-driven educational site does. But certainly, things could be improved and automatized to some degree. We are also aware that C3MS portals are not the answer for more complex CSCL workflow scenarios. However, we think that there is an important need to actively support educational scenarios requiring less complex technology and that can be used for other interesting purposes such as community building. Therefore we claim that PostNuke is currently one of the best choices one can currently make, even if it is not the "final answer". However, in the next section we shortly present a few alternatives.

Selection of portals

We have examined a fair number of portals as candidates to support educational scenarios and we focused on four main classes:

Simple WebLogs
Wikis and wiki-based portals
Complex WebLogs, community enhanced CMS systems built with scripting languages, complex news systems etc., i.e. systems that grow into what we call C3MS (Community, Collaboration and Content management Systems
Large Portal Systems or Java-based modular portals

We advocate the use of portalware writing in PhP. PhP is TECFA's principal language for writing web applications. It is a powerful and relatively easy to learn scripting language despite it's syntactical inheritance from C. In addition, it has become the Open-Source most popular scripting language and there are more portals written in PhP than in any other. Technology-savy teachers can learn a little bit of PhP programming and are therefore able to make simple modifications in the source code, i.e. change a string used in display. Java, on the other hand, is a difficult environment and requires professional expertise (even for installations) but it is the technology used for more advanced developments, i.e. the Cocoon 2 framework and Portlet servers like Jahia or JetSpeed.

Here are a few recommendations of portals that you can safely experiment with, provided that you master typical linux/open source installation procedures. The list is based on what little we have learned from some testing and early field testing with some. So take these with a grain of salt. In any case, if you plan to use pedagogical modules (C3MS bricks) developed at TECFA, you do need PostNuke

The table below not complete. You can find a much larger list on http://tecfa.unige.ch/guides/portals/pointers.html:

Portal Name	Technology	Type	Comment
PostNuke	PhP/MySQL	C3MS	Very popular, many plugins and themes (of very different quality), nice user system and generally quite powerful administration. This is the portal chosen by the TECFA Seed project and for which we documented modules in this catalog
PhpWebLog	PhP/MySQL	WebLog	Extra modules : calendar, shoutbox, etc., no user system, some basic content management. Small and quick.
PhpWebSite	PhP /MySQL	Simple CMS/WebLog	Good compromise between phpWebLog and PostNuke. Ergonomic interface and good code but not very advanced system for content distribution according to authentication (user permissions)
Xaraya	Php/MySQL	CMS	CMS basé à l'origine sur PostNuke. Bonne qualité, moins de modules que PN.
Drupal	PhP/MySQL	Simple C3MS	Features a collaborative boo, WebLog per user and an integration mechanism. A good example is the Kairos portal. This portal also features several interesting modules you can take from the main site.
GeekLog	PhP /MySQL	Complex WebLog	Like phpWebSite, but features a user system. Clean coding and fast.
Jahia	Java/HSQL	Flexible enterprise portal	Implements a portlets architecture, has a sophisticated role model too. Commercial, but open source and it is made in Geneva
Radio Userlan	Frontier	Commercial WebLog	WebLog for the masses, easy Interface. Note, that there are many other available weblog systems !

The executive summary

This chapter provides a summary of tasks and PostNuke tools that can help. The idea is help both experts and beginners to wade more quickly through this catalog. Very provisional ! I will change the categoris once I know which kind of information I will have ...

Managing a course

Various Management tasks you may encounter: {|

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Multifunctional planning modules
>[#pscenario pScenario]
This is a tool that allows to describe teaching/learning units, define tasks (and subtasks) and associated tools & ressources that participants will use. If you just need this functionality, consider moodle.org instead.
Announcements and feedback
>[#pnNews PostNuke News Engine]
A news engine is like a blog. It's simple, yet powerful. Create a topic for each type of message, e.g. "Task (homework)", "Feedback", "Friendly tips", etc. As soon as a user enters the portal he will see the latest message. He also can browse messages by topic or search them.

Gathering and organizing resources

This is for both teachers and students {|

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What's going on in the world ?
>[#pn_rss PostNuke RSS blocks]
RSS feeds from various interesting site are an interesting addition to your teaching portal. And best of it: You don't need to do any manual updates. Search for "XML" buttons in portals you like and insert RSS blocks.