The Web Space service has been available since 2006 to pedagogical staff in the college network for the creation of pedagogical websites. However, with the coming into force of the Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information (Bill 25), it proved to be more appropriate for Collecto to support the college network’s pedagogical staff in their appropriation of environments deployed by their institution, such as Microsoft 365 or Moodle. This is coherent with the security requirements to which institutions are subject, such as security audits and the upgrading of their security measures.

What’s more, Web Space no longer met minimum standards for cybersecurity and the new regulations in this area. In addition, a number of institutions have expressed the desire to take responsibility for local security measures for pedagogical sites created by their pedagogical staff. All these factors led Collecto and the MES to jointly decide to end the Web Space service.

After December 31, 2024, the server hosting the Web Spaces will be shut down. It will no longer be possible to access your pedagogical site or obtain a copy of it.

It is important to copy your content hosted in your Web Space before requesting the archive of your pedagogical site (in ZIP format), if you wish to migrate it to another WordPress. Once the archiving request has been completed, your Web Space will be deleted.

Before requesting the archive of your site, it is very important to copy all text content into a Google or Word file. Save all video files, audio content and images on the medium of your choice.

Once you have copied the contents of your Web Space, you can request the archive (in ZIP format) of your Web Space [in French]. Two files will be sent to you:

1. your site’s database
2. the directory of your WordPress site, including all the elements you need to migrate your site to another WordPress site

IMPORTANT

Your Web Space will be permanently deleted once Collecto has sent you the files (in ZIP format). Furthermore, the files will only be useful if you wish to migrate your site to a new WordPress host. Collecto will not offer any support for the migration of sites to external hosting providers other than those offered by institutions.

Please note that Web Space files (in ZIP format) will be sent on a monthly basis.

How will I receive the files of my site?
The files (in ZIP format) of your Web Space will be sent to you via a script. The script is a backup of your WordPress site and database. To access your Web Space script, an SFTP username and a randomly generated password will be sent to the e-mail address associated with your Web Space. With these credentials, you’ll be able to retrieve your Web Space database and directory using Filezilla or WinSCP.

Please note that the backup sent via SFTP will only be useful if you wish to transfer your current site to another WordPress instance. It is therefore very important to make a copy of all text content and to save your images, audio files and videos on the medium of your choice.

Teachers who have created questionnaires on the Netquiz platform hosted in their Web Space will be able to migrate them to the new online version Netquiz Web+ offered by the Collegial Centre for Educational Materials Development (CCDMD).

In order to migrate existing questionnaires, a number of steps must be completed before the closure of the Web Space service.

1. In your Web Space, you must export your Netquiz questionnaires in XML format by December 31, 2024.
2. To obtain an account in the new version of Netquiz Web+, complete an account request form with your institutional email address.
3. Once your account has been accepted and created by the CCDMD, you will be able to import your XML questionnaires into the new version of Netquiz Web+.
4. Once the questionnaires have been imported, review your content. There are minor differences between the 2 versions of the Netquiz tool. It is therefore important to check that your content works properly in the new Netquiz Web + version.

A video tutorial is also available to help you import and export questionnaires.

A number of institutions in the college network have expressed the desire to take responsibility for local security measures for pedagogical sites created by their pedagogical staff. With this in mind, the Collecto pedagogical team suggests you explore the Moodle or Microsoft 365 platforms.

To that end, our team is offering training sessions on Microsoft SharePoint and Moodle in a pedagogical context during the week of May 27, 2024. These training sessions will be announced in our newsletter. They will also be repeated in the fall of 2024.

An asynchronous Moodle training course, “Learning Moodle with Moodle” [in French], will be rolled out in June 2024.
 
If you’re considering maintaining a WordPress site, we invite you to discuss it with the members of your college’s Information Technology Services. They will be able to advise and guide you on the best platform to adopt, in compliance with the Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information (Bill 25).