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Schools - Training Providers - Colleges - Charities - Not-For-Profit Organisations - Councils - Companies - Workforce Investment Boards - Careers Centres - Community Groups
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ALISON can be accessed and used successfully from anywhere in the world, even where there is only dial-up internet access.
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When an ALISON 'Proxy' is in use, only the first time a course topic is accessed will there be any delay while it downloads to the learner’s browser. From that point onwards, all ALISON learners connected to the network will see the topic load almost instantly! This is because the topic is stored on and accessed from the local server. An internet connection with the ALISON server is still necessary for all of the dynamic content and learning management features of the service, but you won’t need broadband to use ALISON!
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| ALISON provides learning to organisations across the world via a proxy. From well-known English public schools, to remote IT labs in India, this is the way to receive our high-quality interactive multimedia, making our free learning truly accessible on a global basis!
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How ALISON via Proxy Works
ALISON via Proxy allows for the downloading and storing of the ALISON website and all learning content to a local server. If using a narrowband or dial-up connection, this initial download will take some time. Once saved locally however, the interactive multimedia is immediately available to all users accessing ALISON through the proxy. An internet connection must be maintained while learners are studying; otherwise their progress will not be recorded by the ALISON learning management system (ALISON Manager) on the online server.
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ALISON via Proxy can be used without help from the ALISON Support Team. No one need inform ALISON if they want to use it or to find out how to set it up! All that’s needed is to download and install a piece of software called a proxy (1) on a computer in the local network. We are happy to advise any IT administrator how this is done. Most organisations require some technical help on-site to set up ALISON via Proxy (2).
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More information about proxies and recommended proxy software can be found here.
In order to maximize the use of the proxy the following details need to be checked. Depending upon the kind of proxy and operating system that is in use, this information is subject to change:
- Minimum and maximum file size limits for a file to be cached (this depends on the number of learners and the bandwidth of the internet connection).
- Maximum amount of files cached in the proxy (this might also be limited by the operating system or the proxy server).
- Maximum cache size of the proxy (this is also limited by the hard-drive capacity of the proxy server).
- The IP addresses from where you want to access the proxy (This is a security issue so please evaluate carefully).
- Ensure caching is enabled for http://alison.com (Generally the more websites you enable, the more hard drive space you need to make available within the proxy).
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(1) There is a wide range of both free and commercial Proxy servers. Our recommendation would be to use “Squid” (http://www.squid-cache.org/) in a Unix/Linux environment.
(2) This can be done by setting up a transparent proxy, or by providing each browser on each computer with the necessary information.
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