Private/individualized student files

Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -
Number of replies: 21

Hello all,

Excuse the newbie question. My new school from September is using a very old version of Moodle (I think version 1) and I will soon upgrade this asap when I start there to the latest version.

I want to be able to provide each student an individual document which is private to anyone else to provide them feedback on their current work. The document will need to be updated by the teacher only and preferably viewed on their homepage. The document needs to only be editable by the teacher. Each student will have their own feedback document.

I am guessing this has something to do with my private files but was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction to achieve this

Thanks

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Itamar Tzadok -

You can try the Dataform module. You can create a form with various fields, add an entry for each student such that each student can view only his/her own entry but cannot edit it, and the teacher can view and edit all entries. Students can access the feedback from the activity link on the course page. You can also display the feedback in a Dataform view block on the course page or on my moodle page. hth smile

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Thanks Itamar,

Will a dataform module allow me to create a form in any layout I wish? I like the idea of when a student logs in there is a block on their homepage with a link to their feedback in.

From the dataform notes I have read, does this need to be installed as a module?

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hello there and welcomesmile If your new school is the one in your email then yes, it is Moodle 1.9, a very old version. The documentation for the latest version is here - docs.moodle.org and is worth bookmarking if you haven't already.

Private files is not the way to go, because they are private to each individual user and others cannot access them. I suggest one way is to give your feedback via the Assignment module in a course. 

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Thanks Mary,

I have created an assignment for a year 7 course and assigned a test student to it. Can the feedback form be edited?

I am trying to create a form with the following column headings to provide multiple feedback entries for students work:

- date, topic/work, feedback/how to improve

I would also like to have 2 entries at the top of the page with their target and current grades on


Many thanks

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

My old high school used to have standard feedback (like yours) for assignments as tables which they pasted in to the text editor,adapted for each child. Because assignment feedback is in a text editor (like this one) then that is fairly straightforward to do, although that said, I like Itamar's dataform suggestion -but it is  a contributed module which you have to install.

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

I am trying both methods to see what would be easiest for other teachers to easily use. 

I have managed to install the dataform module and am just trying to set up an individual form for each student.

I am also looking at the assignment option you suggested but am struggling to edit the settings to create a feedback form in the same format as what I am trying to achieve

To add:

I suppose all I am really trying to create is an individual form/page/table for each student to give them feedback on their work. A simple word/pdf style document which is editable via Moodle and can be displayed on the home page of Moodle when the student logs in

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

I am going to have to give up soon as I have been on here for an hour now trying to work it out with no luck!

If you have any instructions on how to create this feedback form/sheet that would be appreciated

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
MIke:

Don't give up!

 I think Itamar is in a different time zone from us so when he is awake I am sure he will be able to help you with the dataform module.

 In terms of the assignment module, if you go to http://school.demo.moodle.net/mod/assign/view.php?id=190&rownum=1&action=grade and log in with username "teacher" and password "moodle" then if you scroll down to the feedback comments section you can see that you can edit the feedback in there - or paste in a table. (This is  a demo student assignment from http://school.demo.moodle.net/ so you can do whatever you like with it; it's quite safe.

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Will keep going!

I have however found another method that could work well where you create a basic word document on Google Drive and then link that document to the student/user via the web page option in the profile settings.

On the home page when they log in they can click on their profile block and access their web page which is in this case a Google Drive document. There they can view their feedback etc

If a tablet is being used by the teacher, they can provide feedback instantly using the Google Drive app.

I have created a document with some screenshots to show this to my new faculty members:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3YYgOXNKaWiVzcyd3lDck5MT3M/edit?usp=sharing

Let me know what you think...

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Yes I like it! That said, it's an amount of work initially but then you wouldn't need to access Moodle to update the google drive docs afterwards. If you were thinking of making a lesson of them accessing and updating their profile you could actually get them to add their own link at the time (maybe make each one a custom tinyURL to keep them short) Just a thought, although  I don't know if it would save you any time! At my old school we did similar with the students' individual Mahara pages.

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

I'm thinking that I can create their Google accoutns with Google Apps for Education to which we need to use AppInventor in the year, email them the links to which they can edit plus also make their own avatar using a free online avatar creator

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Itamar Tzadok -

Not sure that an extra system for this activity is necessary. System transitions usually create more confusion than clarity. With the Dataform it should be very very simple to create the application within Moodle. The entries could be as simple as 1 textarea field (with editor enabled). You can create two views, one for a summary list view where the teacher could view in a glance multiple entries and when they were last modified, and the other full content. The latter view you can populate to a block in the student profie page or my moodle page. smile

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Hi Itamar,

I have been desperately trying to create this dataform but with not much luck!

In one of my courses I have added a dataform resource and set it up as tabular with some simple headings (text type) (date, topic, grade/level and feedback). The idea being that this table would gradually build up with comments for each individual student to gather feedback on a variety of their work.

I also like the idea as you suggested of when the student logs in they have a link in a block to their feedback on their home page - this is exactly what I am looking for!

However, I have created the dataform but it will not let me add a new entry to actually provide feedback etc

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Itamar Tzadok -

Which Moodle version do you have?

The Dataform versions are aligned with Moodle versions so if your Moodle version is 2.6 then you need Dataform 2.6 and if 2.7 then Dataform 2.7 and so on.

To begin with, try to create a very simple Dataform and add entries. For that you only need to create 1 default view. So:

  1. Add a Dataform instance, save and display.
  2. Go to Manage | Views.
  3. Add a tabular view, save changes.
  4. In the Views index, click the icon in the Default column to set the Tabular view as the default view.
  5. Go to Browse.
  6. Click the 'Add a new entry' button. This should open a new entry form. Since there are no fields there will be no input boxes.
  7. Click 'Save' to add the entry.
  8. You should be able to see the new entry in the view.

If that works you can try again and this time before you add the view, add a textarea field. Then when you create the view it will include the field and when you add a new entry it will display the input box.

When this simple scenario works you can start taking it to the next level.

smile

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Hi, currently using latest version 2.7

I am getting there thanks. I have finally managed how to get the entries working as it does them a little backwards! I had to create the fields first then create the tabular view. If I did this the other way around, the fields would not show in the view!

I have created 2 dummy test students and using the button under tools to create entries for them at once and then edit them accordingly which works well. 

When they are displayed however the tabular view is not working too well - I have attached a screenshot to show you

I then tried to complete the final piece of the puzzle which is essential for me using dataform which is to have the dataform block on the students homepage so they can always get straight to their work feedback

I downloaded the plug in from here: http://docs.moodle.org/27/en/Dataform_view_block

Uploaded it into blocks and then tried to install in site admin but I get an error saying "missing version.php" file - screenshot also in attachment

Many thanks

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Grid or aligned view are working a lot better which has sorted the first problem out

A shame tabular not working

Now to sort the datform block!

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Itamar Tzadok -

The display of the view is a matter of styling. You can adjust the style by adding preferred styles to the table either directly in the html or via the editor controls.

According to the screenshot of the block installation problem, it seems that you tried to install the dataform module under blocks. The block plugin is called dataform_view.

smile

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Also realised that the filters are not working. As soon as I add a filter I get an error reading from the database

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Mike Wills

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Itamar Tzadok -

The filters have passed acceptance testing although it is possible that these tests are not yet comprehensive enough. If you post a detailed description of how you set up the filter and what error message you receive, I can look into that. smile

Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Many thanks,

I have finally got the dataform block to install - i downloaded from GitHub this time and seemed to work??

I am not sure if it is practically going to work though now that I am looking at it and see what it does. 

A particular student could/will be studying over 10 subjects/courses so to fit them all in to a dataform block probably would not work

I am now thinking that it would be easier and cleaner for the student to access their feedback by clicking on their particular course (Computing, Eng, Maths, etc) and then accessing their feedback from the dataform link at the top of the course.

Possibly an HTML block linking the student to each feedback dataform for each subject would be easier?

Average of ratings: -
In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Private/individualized student files

by Mike Wills -

Steps I am taking for setting up a filter:

- click on manage and then filters

- click on add filter

- called filter "sort date descending" - so latest feedback to students is at top of form

- under sort options > sorted by date content by descending

- save changes

- checked default button

- click on views and apply filter

- click on browse tab to check and get the error msg "error reading form database"

- I can then not view any entries until the filter is deleted

Average of ratings: -