decoupling outcomes and scales

decoupling outcomes and scales

by Nancy MacDonald -
Number of replies: 4

Is it possible to add outcomes at the site level but allow teachers in multiple courses to define their own scales as appropriate for their courses for particular outcomes. The contexts in which students are developing competencies vary widely and I'd like teachers to be able to have scales that address the developmental successes over time and in varying contexts that a single scale/outcome cannot do.


For example: An outcomes for a key stage Grades 4-6 states "Student will demonstrate respect for the privacy and intellectual property of others, maintain their personal privacy and safety."

It would be expected and appropriate for students in grades 4-6 and various subjects  and contexts to exhibit developing demonstrations of growing competence that are hard or impossible to capture in a single, Moodle wide scale.

In reply to Nancy MacDonald

Re: decoupling outcomes and scales

by Andrew Davis -

You can definitely define scales at both the site level and within a particular course. If you go to Site Administration -> Grades -> Scales you're at the site level. If you go into the gradebook within a course and select scales from the gradebook navigation drop down you can create course specific scales.

But do you mean you want to define a single site level outcome and have different courses use different scales for that single outcome?

In reply to Andrew Davis

Re: decoupling outcomes and scales

by Nancy MacDonald -

Thanks Andrew. Yes, we want to add in our Ministry of Education learning outcomes but not provide a scale associated with that outcome. It looks as if to add a site wide outcome(s), each outcome must also have a scale.

We would like to be able to enter site wide learning outcomes. Have teachers select the outcomes applicable to their activities, and select/add the scales they will use to assess development of students toward those outcomes. As well, we would like to be able to associate outcomes with resources. Again, leaving the single scale out of the requirement at the site level.

In reply to Nancy MacDonald

Re: decoupling outcomes and scales

by Andrew Davis -

Looking at the database structure it seems that outcomes can have 1 and only 1 scale. They cannot be decoupled with altering both the code and the database structure. Those changes would probably be fairly invasive as I'm guessing that the assumption of a 1 to 1 relationship is pretty well embedded throughout the code.

Have you considered simply making copies of the outcome? Not ideal I know.

In reply to Andrew Davis

Re: decoupling outcomes and scales

by Nancy MacDonald -

Thank you Andrew, My basic premise isn't supported by the database structure. Given the number of learning outcomes, scales, and resources that I'm dealing with, I don't think it's likely a fair expectation of the system.

Thank you for the clarification Andrew.