While using Moodle 2 I found the navigation menu's 'Course administration' section a bit confusing. I was looking in there for 'add/edit courses'; I thought 'course administration' meant, administration of courses, rather than, administration for this specific course.
I suggested changing it to e.g. 'CF101 administration' (i.e. include the shortname of the current course). However Helen has pointed out that it always used to be called course administration (which I hadn't realised, I thought the block was just 'Administration' before, obviously not paying attention), so probably it ought to stay that way and it's just me... Then again there might be a genuine argument for changing it still because now due to the expanding admin tree you can do a wider range of non-course-things on the course page (so things that are related to the course benefit from being identified)... Or not.
So in other words it may have just been me and not a usability problem.
Any opinions, post here or comment/vote on the bug MDL-22493. If nobody else likes the idea I'll close the bug in a couple days. (Hopefully, assuming I remember.)
--sam
Hi Sam,
Actually I was wrong in saying that the block has always been called course administration - you're right, it was just 'Administration'. I guess I was thinking of the places in Moodle Docs where it is referred to as the course admin block as opposed to the site admin block.
Actually I was wrong in saying that the block has always been called course administration - you're right, it was just 'Administration'. I guess I was thinking of the places in Moodle Docs where it is referred to as the course admin block as opposed to the site admin block.
But the course administration block only appears when you are in a course - and so although I wouldn't have an issue with it being renamed courseshortname administration, I don't think it's confusing at all - you would expect only to be dealing with issues within that course in that block- and you wouldn't expect it to take you out of the course into a place where you could add/edit other courses - indeed, that would only occur to you if you were an admin or had certain course admin rights; a regular teacher would only be concerned about their own course.
but I am an admin and I do have course admin rights and I can add/edit other courses from that page. 
You're right, it probably isn't a problem for teachers, but admin usability problems are still usability problems.
(If it is a problem at all other than in my head! Which still remains to be determined.)
--sam
(If it is a problem at all other than in my head! Which still remains to be determined.)
--sam
I sort of know what you mean but I don't think it's Course Administration that's the problem. If you are an admin I think there's a bit too much stuff in that block. It requires a bit of searching about to expand the Site Admin menu and then find the functions you need.
I'm still clicking the breadcrumb to go back to the home page to find the Site Administration menu. It's probably just a matter of habituation.
I was a bit unhappy with these menus collapsing a bit too readily but I think that might have been imoproved.
I'm still clicking the breadcrumb to go back to the home page to find the Site Administration menu. It's probably just a matter of habituation.
I was a bit unhappy with these menus collapsing a bit too readily but I think that might have been imoproved.
Sam - yes I know as admin you can access other admin areas from within the course but if you were in one course and wanted to check out other issues like other course adding/editing/deleting then that's a site issue not a course-specific one and so to me it still makes sense that that the natural place to look would be the collapsed site administration link menu and that if you were only interested in your current course you'd look at the course administration block - I still don't see it as confusing - but I think maybe I am just too easily satisfied
It's just a wording thing. I read 'Course administration' and thought 'Well that obviously means administering the list of courses, adding and removing courses, moving things between different categories, and that sort of stuff'. Probably it is just me, though... assuming nobody else agrees by tomorrow I'll close the bug.
--sam
--sam
Amen Howard. I find I still go back to the breadcrumbs to get to the homepage. But I am slowly getting used to scrolling down or looking down to the settings block and site administration.
"Settings block" has a lot in it for an administrator. Once in the habit, it is one click from anywhere to expand the site administration menu and jump there. But any course for an administrator also show up there in collapsed form.
I have not really played with the "Settings block" as a teacher for very long. I started to for MoodleDocs then had to do some work in the real world.
Chris
"Settings block" has a lot in it for an administrator. Once in the habit, it is one click from anywhere to expand the site administration menu and jump there. But any course for an administrator also show up there in collapsed form.
I have not really played with the "Settings block" as a teacher for very long. I started to for MoodleDocs then had to do some work in the real world.
Chris