I have a teacher who is teaching a class to 3 different groups of students. She would like them to share resource material so she is not uploading the same files into 3 different classes. Is this possible?
That same teacher would like to share those same documents with another teacher covering the same material in her moodle classes? Is this possible?
There are so many new modules I am not sure which ones to try to use to accomplish this.
Any help out there or maybe a better plan?
AFAIK it's not possible to share resources among courses. The workaround which I sometimes use is (as an admin) to upload the files which are to be shared into the files area of the site. They will then be accessible from within any course on the site (in fact, also from outside of the site, if somebody knows the url). Then I give the urls of those resources to the teachers of the courses where those resources should be available, and they can embed the resources in their courses as if they were external webpages.
The downsides of this solution are that
The downsides of this solution are that
- You have to do it as an admin
- The files are not protected from being accessed from outside of the courses. If someone knows the url, they will be able to open the resource.
Another option would be to create a course, then backup the course (excluding user data) and restore it to the other course that need to share the same information.
Little time consuming, but you wouldn't have to worry about placing files in a site wide accessible folder.
Jeff
Little time consuming, but you wouldn't have to worry about placing files in a site wide accessible folder.
Jeff
This is a frequently asked question. Although the other methods mentioned in this thread work quite well, the "best practice" is to create a metacourse and make the three courses children of the metacourse. Put the shared resources in the metacourse, and they will all be available in the child courses. Please search the forums for additional details!
Thank you both! I will pass your suggestions on to the teachers. Thanks!
Hi John
Thanks for this. We have 22 papers and many of the handouts can be used for several papers. I have been wondering how to set this up so that in future I don't need to do repeated uploads.
Thanks for this. We have 22 papers and many of the handouts can be used for several papers. I have been wondering how to set this up so that in future I don't need to do repeated uploads.
So is this a design flaw in the sense that the general requirements of the end users problem domain were not analysed well enough to identify the need for this feature, is it by design (for some reason I can't appreciate), is it an identified but unfulfilled requirement or is it an implementation problem?
Is it or will it be addressed? I started trying to set up Moodle 2 days ago and as a complete novice ran straight into this issue as my first real problem. As I imagined (and this is supported by the other posters here) I am not alone. I don't want to waste time uploading the same file to several locations and I don't want to waste valuable web space. It is also poses a maintenance problem when a file that has been uploaded to several locations needs to be updated.
Is the use of a metacourse a workaround or is it by design? At this stage I am now beginning to doubt whether using Moodle is a good idea. I will have to start looking around the site for information about other "frequently asked" about limitations. Maybe this is one of very few glaring ommissions but it's disappointing that something so obvious to the end user (ask any classroom teacher about the problems of sharing resources) has not been identified or addressed by the system developers.
Is it or will it be addressed? I started trying to set up Moodle 2 days ago and as a complete novice ran straight into this issue as my first real problem. As I imagined (and this is supported by the other posters here) I am not alone. I don't want to waste time uploading the same file to several locations and I don't want to waste valuable web space. It is also poses a maintenance problem when a file that has been uploaded to several locations needs to be updated.
Is the use of a metacourse a workaround or is it by design? At this stage I am now beginning to doubt whether using Moodle is a good idea. I will have to start looking around the site for information about other "frequently asked" about limitations. Maybe this is one of very few glaring ommissions but it's disappointing that something so obvious to the end user (ask any classroom teacher about the problems of sharing resources) has not been identified or addressed by the system developers.
You make an excellent point about requirements. This is a fundamental requirement, and I don't understand why it has not been addressed (except for the shortage of developers), and I really wonder how the large institutions are coping. You might want to read this parallel discussion and also the comments on MDL-9036.
John, you suggested a method of sharing resources between more than one course.
I tried this and was unable to access the resource in the non-meta course from the meta-course that inherited students enrolled in the non-meta-course. How do I get this to work?
I created a non-meta course "YearXPupils" and enrolled some pupils. I also added some resources.
I created a meta course "Subject1" and added resources. I clicked on "Child Courses" and added "YearXPupils" - the pupils enrolled in that then became enrolled in the course "Subject1" but the resources in "YearXPupils" were not visible to me in "Subject1" when I tried to add a resource by linking to a file.
I also checked that in "YearXPupils" I could not access the resources added in the "Subject1" class.
Am I doing something wrong?
regards
Neil
I tried this and was unable to access the resource in the non-meta course from the meta-course that inherited students enrolled in the non-meta-course. How do I get this to work?
I created a non-meta course "YearXPupils" and enrolled some pupils. I also added some resources.
I created a meta course "Subject1" and added resources. I clicked on "Child Courses" and added "YearXPupils" - the pupils enrolled in that then became enrolled in the course "Subject1" but the resources in "YearXPupils" were not visible to me in "Subject1" when I tried to add a resource by linking to a file.
I also checked that in "YearXPupils" I could not access the resources added in the "Subject1" class.
Am I doing something wrong?
regards
Neil
Neil, this may or may not be of help to you. Have you looked at this metacourse documentation?
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Metacourses
It outlines the ways you can use metacourses.
~A
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Metacourses
It outlines the ways you can use metacourses.
~A
New issue created: MDL-9134 "Need a good solution to the problem of sharing files and resources among courses." Please vote.
A simple idea to solve the problem is to use one class, and use groups to separate the classes. I use this in some of my courses. I can separate grades, assignments, forums etc.
As well you can use the exclude feature in the gradebook if you need to exclude a whole class.
To share with other teachers we simply use the backup feature.
As well you can use the exclude feature in the gradebook if you need to exclude a whole class.
To share with other teachers we simply use the backup feature.
Groups can be used when you have multiple sections of the same course AND you are able to keep the sections completely in synch. At course level, set group mode to Separate Groups and Force = yes. Then define a group for each section. The gradebook will now offer a drop-down-list box allowing teachers to view grades separately for each group.
However it is often desirable to share resources across different courses. For example, two teachers might want to share material. There is no easy way to do this.
Backup/restore is not a solution to this problem. Can we all please agree that copying is not sharing?
However it is often desirable to share resources across different courses. For example, two teachers might want to share material. There is no easy way to do this.
Backup/restore is not a solution to this problem. Can we all please agree that copying is not sharing?
What we have done is set up our subject courses with homeroom boxes and a resource section. The students report in to the box that is their own homeroom, but all students and all teachers of theat subject build and share the resources area in the boxes at the bottom.
To see what I mean, take a look at the courses we have set up. Please not that several of these are currently in development for fall 2007.
K to 3rd Math Meeting at http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/course/view.php?id=21
has homeroom designations for each grade level and can even have more than one homeroom in each grade level.
Chemistry at
http://www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/course/view.php?id=30
Phonics and Phonics Intervention at
So you avoided the problem of "sharing resources among courses" by combining all related courses into a single course (such as "math") and using topic blocks to separate class-specific content ("homeroom") from common resources. I can see how this might work in a small school with just a few courses and teachers, but it would definitely have problems scaling in a larger school. I think students would easily get lost in such a structure.
here is what I do in this situation:
I make the file that I am going to use in multiple courses in googledocs, and then publish it, from there i just link to it from the multiple courses.
agreed this should have been something that should be included (or likely is now that i realize i am the first to post here in almost 4 years)