Using Moodle 1.7, have two sittings of an exam, want to selectively release exam to students for their sitting only - is there a way I can do this?
thanks
I would think that you could create 2 groups and assign the students to one or the other and make the exam not visible for those that you don't want to do it yet.
That trick, using groupings, only works in 1.9 onwards.
I haven't used groups "in anger" before. (That expression I had never run into before, in the meaning, I've deduced: "in practice". Must be British 
)
I just experimented (on my old 1.8) to see if maybe I could make a forum post that only was available to one group and in that give a link to a hidden quiz. Which only worked until they arrived at the quiz and get "that activity is unfortunately hidden".
So 3 cheers for the blessings of 1.9!
How about setting a password on the quiz and just giving that to the first group?
) I just experimented (on my old 1.8) to see if maybe I could make a forum post that only was available to one group and in that give a link to a hidden quiz. Which only worked until they arrived at the quiz and get "that activity is unfortunately hidden".
So 3 cheers for the blessings of 1.9!
How about setting a password on the quiz and just giving that to the first group?
groups 'in anger'? Never heard of it!
The phrase seems to be "Used in anger" and seems to mean "used in practice". I saw Tim use it in another forum (PHPtal) today. I had to look on the web to see it was misspelled or a private joke, but it seems pretty common.
I just woke up from a dream in which I suddenly realized that the strange expression I ran into and commented here in the forums, "use in ****", actually was a common one that meant "use without it working" but embarassingly 
I hadn't recognized it. I spent a few minutes thinking "Should I just let it pass, Oooh how embarassing." Then I suddening realized that in the dream the expression had became "use in vain" and that here in the forum it was "use in anger" which STILL is a new aquaintance for me.
Does anyone else "dream Moodle forums"?
Does anyone else "dream Moodle forums"?
er, yes. Perhaps we should start a self-help group. On Moodle, of course 
Yes - I also "think" words soemtimes and "type" them into the keyboard that exists only in my head.
We are sad . . .
We are sad . . .
Jeff,
That strategy is a positive stroke of classroom management genius! It's so simple, I'm wondering why I never made that connection before. A number of Moodlers have been experimenting with putting some class readings, etc. in a visible topic beyond the allowed number of topics on the course and using internal links to get to them (ie. you have seven unit topics/weeks in your course and put some materials in a topic eight, then set the course so that it only has seven topics; since topic eight is set to visible, the materials are available through the back doors), but for some reason, I never thought of applying this principle to a set of quizzes I needed to make different for different sections. I only thought about it as a way to reduce front page clutter on my part by having too many posted resources.
That said, there are some drawbacks to the different approaches. Here is what I did in 1.6.5:
I simply set the passwords and the open/close times to match each section as they came up to the time when the quiz was applicable to them in the curriculum path. This meant a lot of setting and resetting--and sometimes I would forget that I hadn't opened the quiz again from the previous day. Still, it worked pretty well, excluding my human error tendencies. This method allowed for one quiz to serve for all sections.
Then, if I needed a quiz to be completely different and for only one or two of my sections, I would label it "4th Hour Retake" or whatever, and only give the password to my 4th hour.
The problem with that, though, is that as of 1.6.5--and 1.7, too, I think, the gradebook didn't allow for grade exceptions, so the 4th hour quiz showed up in my gradebook total for all sections. Not a big deal for me as my school required a different gradebook system anyway, and I only used the Moodle gradebook as a reference, but it would be a big deal for someone relying solely on the Moodle gradebook.
Now, back to your proposed strategy: Forums can be set for group visibility only. If you don't want the quiz visible via the front doors for your students until it's time for them to take it, you make a forum that is set to separate groups; then you make a post for each group that contains the link to their quiz which is contained in "topic eight." Still label the quizzes by group in case students find their way to a back door list of quizzes and don't know which quiz was theirs, but for the most part, you have much more control over which quiz they see when. Yes, this strategy is a little bit of work on the teacher's part, but the groupings issue was not yet solved in 1.7--sorry. Also--do know that if you ever need to backup and restore your course to a different server or site location, those internal links in the forums won't survive. You'll need to reset them the next term.
Now, I skipped from 1.6.5 to 1.8, so I'm afraid I'm not too sure about when grade exceptions became possible. If having multiple quizzes in the gradebook that may or may not apply to the course total grade for all students in the course is an issue, this won't work for you if exceptions are not possible in the gradebook.
In that case, you would be back to having to manually control open and close times and/or changing of passwords.
This post is much more complicated than I intended it to be, but I hope some of the strategies in it make sense to you and give you an idea for what you might want to do in your situation, Sally.
That strategy is a positive stroke of classroom management genius! It's so simple, I'm wondering why I never made that connection before. A number of Moodlers have been experimenting with putting some class readings, etc. in a visible topic beyond the allowed number of topics on the course and using internal links to get to them (ie. you have seven unit topics/weeks in your course and put some materials in a topic eight, then set the course so that it only has seven topics; since topic eight is set to visible, the materials are available through the back doors), but for some reason, I never thought of applying this principle to a set of quizzes I needed to make different for different sections. I only thought about it as a way to reduce front page clutter on my part by having too many posted resources.
That said, there are some drawbacks to the different approaches. Here is what I did in 1.6.5:
I simply set the passwords and the open/close times to match each section as they came up to the time when the quiz was applicable to them in the curriculum path. This meant a lot of setting and resetting--and sometimes I would forget that I hadn't opened the quiz again from the previous day. Still, it worked pretty well, excluding my human error tendencies. This method allowed for one quiz to serve for all sections.
Then, if I needed a quiz to be completely different and for only one or two of my sections, I would label it "4th Hour Retake" or whatever, and only give the password to my 4th hour.
The problem with that, though, is that as of 1.6.5--and 1.7, too, I think, the gradebook didn't allow for grade exceptions, so the 4th hour quiz showed up in my gradebook total for all sections. Not a big deal for me as my school required a different gradebook system anyway, and I only used the Moodle gradebook as a reference, but it would be a big deal for someone relying solely on the Moodle gradebook.
Now, back to your proposed strategy: Forums can be set for group visibility only. If you don't want the quiz visible via the front doors for your students until it's time for them to take it, you make a forum that is set to separate groups; then you make a post for each group that contains the link to their quiz which is contained in "topic eight." Still label the quizzes by group in case students find their way to a back door list of quizzes and don't know which quiz was theirs, but for the most part, you have much more control over which quiz they see when. Yes, this strategy is a little bit of work on the teacher's part, but the groupings issue was not yet solved in 1.7--sorry. Also--do know that if you ever need to backup and restore your course to a different server or site location, those internal links in the forums won't survive. You'll need to reset them the next term.
Now, I skipped from 1.6.5 to 1.8, so I'm afraid I'm not too sure about when grade exceptions became possible. If having multiple quizzes in the gradebook that may or may not apply to the course total grade for all students in the course is an issue, this won't work for you if exceptions are not possible in the gradebook.
In that case, you would be back to having to manually control open and close times and/or changing of passwords.
This post is much more complicated than I intended it to be, but I hope some of the strategies in it make sense to you and give you an idea for what you might want to do in your situation, Sally.
Thanks for the info. Turns out I had the wrong Moodle version - we're using 1.8.6 not 1.7 - any applicable info greatly appreciated! IT advice is to create different versions of quiz and then set roles for each so that only group of students for each quiz has the appropriate role.
Just want to make sure I didn't miss something: You want to give the same quiz, but give it at different times to the different groups. Right? ("different versions of quiz" made me uncertain)
In that case I think my suggestion of changing the password for the different times and just giving the the password to the group you want to do it (possibly though a group forum post) ought to work, but I haven't done it in practice.
In that case I think my suggestion of changing the password for the different times and just giving the the password to the group you want to do it (possibly though a group forum post) ought to work, but I haven't done it in practice.
Yes, want 3 groups of students to write at different times without sharing! The p/w suggestion should work - I could include an instruction on entering the quiz to check email for a p/w, and then change it as soon as everyone has signed in.
thanks!
thanks!