One of the issues we face is the appropriate use of student pictures. Students can upload their own pictures but do not always truly represent themselves. In large classes it's difficult for instructors to place the names with the faces and we used to have a hack in WebCT to do this.
I have access to the student ID photos and could upload them but it appears this would violate our privacy laws and freedom of information rules as now everyone on the site would see the images and we would have to create a special release form for students to sign.
My thought is to create a separate mysql table tying the ID with the pictures. (moodle/mysql stores the images in a separate directory listed by ID). Then add an additional column into the gradebook with the appropriate pictures. The reason for the gradebook is that it is for instructors only which then lessens our privacy problem.
Has anyone else looked at this or might be interested? I'm in the middle of looking at the sql searches, the appropriate php pages (I think), and the directory structures.
Thanks
Doug
In reply to Doug Baleshta
Re: Additional Picture field in Gradebook to identify students
by Robert Russo -
You could always modify the print_user_picture function in weblib so that only instructors can see pictures and then disallow students from uploading their own photos.
I have attached our version of the function for 1.9.2 which hides photos from anyone except from the user themselves or those with user:viewdetails priveleges.
Please use this function as a starting point for writing your own as this has only been tested in 1.9.2. We have been using it for a full semester and it works wonderfully.
I have attached our version of the function for 1.9.2 which hides photos from anyone except from the user themselves or those with user:viewdetails priveleges.
Please use this function as a starting point for writing your own as this has only been tested in 1.9.2. We have been using it for a full semester and it works wonderfully.
In reply to Robert Russo
Re: Additional Picture field in Gradebook to identify students
by Robert Russo -
You could even add a capability called user:viewothersphotos and use that instead of viewdetails and then add a system wide preference allowing admins to turn this feature on/off based on your institution's rules.
Hmm... Maybe this should be in core?
Hmm... Maybe this should be in core?
In reply to Robert Russo
Re: Additional Picture field in Gradebook to identify students
by Doug Baleshta -
Robert, we applied your print user patch to our test server 1.9.6 and it works well. I also agree that this could be a core feature. We're worried about breaking the thing as the upgrades roll-out and have no idea what 2.0 would do to it. What do you think about requesting this?
Doug
Doug