Force Academy

As you all know, the Force Academy turned 20 years old in 2018. We just passed 1 year at our new .us site.

It's time to get srs, as the kids say. We didn't have the time a year ago, due to the urgency of the move, but we do now.

I would like to open up this thread to a blue sky discussion of what people want here. Don't think in terms of the tech just yet or any specific site, but what would add to your experience here? What have you seen, on Facebook or some other social website, that you thought was useful and kept you coming back? What have you thought this site needed?

We will be discussing and working on FA2020 through 2019, will something new around January 2020. Let's make it a good one.

I know we've discussed a few ideas on discord. A better profile setup would be nice, as well as a "wall" type thing, like Facebook for instance.

Agreed. Something that allows people their own page like Facebookesque would be fantastic. Microblogging sharing of thoughts there would be great.

Another thing that came to mind is something that allows for the easy creation of Special Interest Groups (SIGs). I don't mean "create another forum", I mean a Facebookesque group that has posts and texts and uploads and images, etc etc. Custom theming them would be a plus.

The Shadow Council has a YouTube channel. Currently only council member can add to it, but it would be easy to add other shadows who have youtube accounts to that channel to upload content (I posted the ski video there). We as a group aren't actively using it, but it's another way to create a space for content and ideas.

I like the idea of each Aspect utilizing Moodle for official classes. The LA could figure out a way to move this idea forward with Armonia’s workbooks. The DA has a working system. But I think if we really wanted to move on this idea, it only truly works if the SA also has a program.

We can certainly alter the existing Moodle installation to accommodate the other aspects, even to the point of completely different theming. I don't think we need to require the Shadow to have anything huge, as Moodle can easily just offer a small area if that's what people want.

Let me work on a sample site so you can go in and check things out with all the admin functions available so you, Sotunus, and Raven can see what can be done there.

I don't mind building up the program. I have ideas floating around in my head.

I've been feeling out the current Shadow Student body to see what I might build.

I've never played with Moodle so I need to look around a bit.

Awesome.

After a lot of using Moodle, I can say that is is very overpowered for what I think we use it for. It's something that entire universities use. However, you don't have to use everything, and what I've done is picked a few of the features to use that meet my needs and just ignore the rest. The server it free, it's hosted on the same site everything else is hosted, so it hurts nothing to under-use it.

I would be glad to set people up with test areas on the existing installation to try things out from a manager/teacher view at your own pace.

That would be wonderful.