A lot of it surrounds the purpose and concepts of My Moodle. I am transcribing elements here (indenting gets lost, so you lose the threads... Look at the wiki page for threads):
I don't see the need for CONTEXT_MYPAGE. I think it is fine if all of My Moodle is in the user context, just like all of the pages of the forum module are in CONTEXT_MODULE.
Of course, different capabilities for whether different bits of My Moodle are visible to a given user makes perfect sense.--Tim Hunt 18:54, 9 October 2009 (UTC)
- With an extra context level, one could assign different roles to different sub-pages. If we just used the user context, then the permissions would apply to all of a user's My Moodle pages. It could also add the possibility of applying permissions to "'locked' pages that would always be the same layout for all users" ("sticky" pages?), which would not be associated with a specific user context. (Though I'm not sure if this is how Mike was planning on implementing that feature.) --Hubert Chathi 20:35, 9 October 2009 (UTC)
- Yes, you could do that, but why would you want to? Give me some use-cases expressed in the user's vocabulary.--Tim Hunt 18:54, 10 October 2009 (UTC)
- Assuming we want to do this with block functionality as much as possible (and I assume we do), then you would want to be able to restrict the editing of some subpages to specific roles. For example, the course listing page you will want to always display the course listing information. This would be by pre-configured blocks. You would not want the user to be able to remove this block from that subpage. On the other hand, the home page subpage you would want to give the user free reign over what blocks would be displayed there as well as how they are ordered. I can't think of any other way to do this except through contexts for the My Moodle pages. --Mike Churchward 14:40, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
- Should we move this discussion to the My Moodle forum? Anyway, I disagree. This feature is called My Moodle. Not 'the teacher's Moodle' - that is the course page - nor 'the admin's Moodle', that is the site front page. This is a space for user's to create their personal dashboard. If they don't want the My courses list, they should be able to delete it. If they suddenly regret deleting it, it should be really easy for them to add that block back. At most, the admin should be able to control the default layout for new users.--Tim Hunt 21:05, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
- Moving it to the large forum would probably be a good idea. While it is called "My Moodle" one of the main purposes of it is to provide information that user-centric rather than course-centric. It has the dual purpose of providing a customized personal experience as well. Unfortunately, I know that a lot of institutions will want to provide non-customizable pages that pertain to the user - that is the reality we see of the clients we service. That doesn't rule out the customizable bits; just allows for both. The front page is not typically seen as a user-specific page, rather a generic site page. My Moodle is a more natural experience to display information that pertains to the user only. --Mike Churchward 12:52, 14 October 2009 (UTC)
- One example is that the admin creates a global "Local News" page, and allows certain people to add content (add RSS feeds or other various blocks), but doesn't want those users to the global "Site News" page. --Hubert Chathi 14:42, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
- But surely what you really mean is that the admin will configure a Local News block. And blocks already have a context. In fact, see the OU's newsfeed block, I think it is in contrib.--Tim Hunt 21:05, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
- No, I do mean a "Local News" page, in which certain people may have permission to manage the blocks on that page, and add, remove, or manage content (e.g. a new local news site opened up, so someone can create a new RSS feed block. Or someone with the right privileges can rearrange the blocks on the page). --Hubert Chathi 21:16, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
- Err, OK. What has that got to do with My Moodle though? If you want that, create a special course, give some people editing teacher access, and add whatever blocks you like there. This threaded discussion really would be easier in a forum.--Tim Hunt 21:55, 13 October 2009 (UTC)
At the heart of this, I believe, is the purposes of My Moodle. While I see it as a place where users have their own customizable Moodle space, I think its original intent should also be maintained - that is, a place where information that is pertinent to the particular user is provided. This means information that may not be customizable by the user, but is only relevant to the user visiting it.
What does everyone else think?
mike
