I would like a very simple resource, not unlike an assignment, that is not visible to the students and allows me to submit my notes before, during or after, the lesson.
In the same way a students submits a assignment, I want a resource strictly for the instructor. It is to be an option listed in the week, and others in every week, in which the lesson occurs.
I certainly hope this is not totally obvious in the list of resources...
If it is, please be nice,,,,,
All of this is passive and that is the problem. It looks as if I have to have all this set up before hand. Then if I want it to work it, I have to go into edit mode and open it to place my notes.
I would like a scratch pad, or an interactive assignment-like resource, for example that I could keep it open, conduct my class, take notes, and drag in/out a file. and do this on a per class basis. A new notepad entry for each class. This way, I could go back next year and see what I did and modify it accordingly.
Come to think of it, it would be useful if students had this too. They could take notes right into Moodle and go back to them at any time.
I ramble...
Expecting snow tomorrow.
Have you ever had your students take notes in Moodle?
Probably the easiest approach would to use the Page Resource and add it below each lesson. Then simply Hide that Page Resource with your notes and the students will never see it. The other teachers will see it and can read the notes.
" The other teachers will see it and can read the notes."
But will anyone be able to write to the notes on-the-fly? I do not need another stagnant operation that has to be installed the night before. This is neither my style nor my purpose.
I need an interactive resource.
i tend to have "multi tabs" open. "right click any web link, and then left click open in a new tab". some times a new window. at moment i have 3 firefox windows. 1 with about 10 tabs, another, with 4 tabs, and another with about 15 tabs (different web pages on each one).
at this moment... i am replying (typeing up text), and i re-arranged another firefox window right beside it, viewing another forum on moodle.
when i get done chatting to the kids.. errr letting the pups out for potty time. i will come back, finish out my reply to you, and submit it to your thread.
and then i will go back to the other firefox window. and browse that forum.
EDIT: i let the dogs back in... i am still viewing the other firefox window. and i have this thread open in another window beside it still. and i am on the fly typing up text. "end edit". now i am going to save this post. like a book, or label that has been hidden, but the description is being displayed. so teachers only can see the notes.
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i could easily do what others are talking about. and have a "real live quick note taking" simply by either clicking on different tabs in the browser. or to another browser window all together.
if above is the issue, and you simple do not know how to multi task with different tabs / windows. say so, and will make up some quick pictures. and some notes.
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if you are wanting a more personalized note taking. google "annotation" and click over on images. were you see folks taking like a pen/pencil / markers and just doodling all over inside a old text book. then annotation more likely what you are looking for. i want to say there is a plugin in block www.moodle.org/plugins. but i have not went looking for something like this in some time. there maybe some firefox / chrome extensions that might do the same thing.
Just like Ryan, I typically have four to five Firefox browser windows open with multiple tabs in each. The new auto save feature in the Moodle editor makes this much safer to do than it used to be.
I also use different browsers, Chrome, Opera, Safari and log in as my fake students for testing from student viewpoint, at the same time as I have all my usual FF's open. At one point today I was juggling four browsers, with at least 15 Moodle pages open in three different Moodles, while administering a quiz, reading Moodle.org forums, and doing some development work. Dual 23 inch monitors help.
The only other thing I think Steve might find helpful would be something like Smart Notebook, which is the software that came with my Smartboard. I use it like a chalkboard, adding new pages as needed. At the end of the day, I convert each handwritten page using handwriting recognition. This is handy for classroom instruction and I also use the software sometimes, from my Surface Pro tablet when I am making notes I don't want the students to see.
I wonder how effective all these suggestions are going to be for me. I need Moodle to track my notes where they all get stored by date and time by being a resource to which I can enter my notes. I have tried these external techniques and given up or lost my notes by misplacing them not being able to track them. Besides, they take too many brain cells to maintain, brain cells that I would rather use to assist students.
Let me try asking this a different way: Can I use something, as an instructor, that will allow me to submit a document in the same way that a student can into an assignment?
If it is a document that could actually be typed/created in a Moodle editor window, then I would suggest using the Journal activity. Teachers get to submit/edit/redit the same as students do. You can even give yourself a grade on it if you so desire. I do that and mark in a way to clue me in as to whether or not I still need to work on/refine my own entries. Note: Journal does NOT have any type of upload capability.
If the document is something that needs to be submitted, you can do it via a database activity. They can be set up so that the teacher can also submit. You have the added capability of letting students see or not see entries other than their own, if you want it that way.
Both of these will allow you to keep your notes directly with the assignment so they don't get lost.
A third way, which I also do, is to have your own student account. With it you can submit to any type of activity a student can. My workflow is to always use Firefox with my teacher account, then I also open my student account in Chrome. Doing it this way lets me check to make sure everything is working as expected for the rest of my students. Before I started doing this, I embarrassed myself more than once by trying to have students do something in Moodle that was just not setup right for student access. These types of student capability checks are especially important if you are using activity completion tracking and and access restrictions.
-I see that the database can work. Too bad there is so much wasted space at the top of the screen. Does the information transfer when I copy the Moodle over for next semester?
-For a different task, can I create a database for each student?
-I do not see a Journal entry. Does that have to be enabled?
-I tried the zombie student route, too many keystrokes to be useful,
If you do a course reset to start a new year/term, the database information will be lost. So be sure and make a backup/copy somewhere else first. I have another, hidden course where I save these type of backups/copies and I use the Sharing Cart (an ad-on) to move them WITH the data. So, it's not really a backup, just a copy.
Yes you can create a database for each student. Better yet, one database set so that students cannot see anyone other student entry without approval from the teacher. Then never approve.
Journal is an add-on that would need to be installed.
Let me try asking this still a different way:
Can I use something, as an instructor, that will allow me to submit a document in the same way that a student can into an assignment? It also needs to survive year to year.
I read a lot of good suggestions here but they seem to all be for the organized mind and they will not work for me. I might go with them for a few months but then they will simply fade away.
I might be leading to the development of a new type of resource and I would like to call it a "Lesson Development Tool". Although it can be populated ahead of time, it needs the capacity to be modified while the class is in process and it should not lose its content term after term.
The reason I am continuing to write about this is to be sure that it does not exist in Moodle already.
*chuckles* i gotta mess with ya some Steve, you want your cake and eat it to!
joking aside...i am not familiar enough with moodle, so i will ask this...
does the "backup" of a course. allow you to select certain activities/resources to backup, and select certain teachers and/or student data to backup?
if you due a full course backup. does the restore option allow you to only restore certain activities with data attached with a particular teacher and/or student data attached to the activity?
this way steve can make a database one day for note taking, an assignment the next day for note taking, use some labels the next day for note taking, upload a couple files that he made notes in another day, etc.. etc.. then come time for next year. he can backup and then restore his course cleaning out all the old students. but still able to select himself. and certain activities / resources that holds his personal note data?
if not for steve. i could see this useful for myself. if i was a teacher.
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or are you asking for a specific activity and or resource type. say a "block" "left or right hand side of the screen" were the other menus are. were you can jot down information day in and day out? and some how tag information for a given activity / resource type?
last minute thought...
are you looking for a "text editor" just like the reply box you type in to post a message to this forum. but visible directly on the course like a activity/resource. and no need to click into the any activity / resource. you simply need to type information in. and it saves the data. ((with a little submit button for non javascript users)) ?
EDIT: this idea maybe hard to pull off, and may need to be added to the "header" or "footer" of moodle / website. so it is always visable through out moodle. the easier approach for programming is via a "block" and able to hide/show it in different places that may not want students to see, say during test taking, and it is a closed book (not able to go back and view stuff). for a teacher though it would be no big deal.
I am a Moodle Mope where the backups are done by the Moodle Mavin so I may not have much control as to how the backups are done.
Not a left or right side block. I would like an entry right there, first line in every week.
I want my cake. I want to eat it. I want it my way.
I am old enough and I deserve it! (-:
(It felt good saying that...)
so you want a activity/resource, that you can add any place within the course. that shows up something like below. directly within the course layout such as (topics, weekly, etc..)
EDIT: i forgot to add the "move symbol" and give it a name like "private notes"
Looks good, It should work. I wonder if it could be sent to a database for safe keeping. Either way, a simple file would be just as good. Maybe as a file, it would survive summer break.
It could happen....
so now you want a "editor" that shows directly in course. by itself as a single resource/activity.
and you also want a separate resource / activity that directly displays in course for a "file upload"
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and opening in a new window... ((example shown is)) forum -> add new discussion would not work huh?
if so. it is to much for my plate to take on. would suggest creating a new "tracker issue" for a "new feature" https://tracker.moodle.org and see if someone might pick it up and create it.
if you make a tracker post the tracker number here for it. and i will vote for it.
Sorry, I guess I have to get out of fantasy mode. Drop the idea of an uploaded file, For what I am doing a type-in and a simple copy/paste into an editor would be just fine. My plans are not all that complex. Files can always be a reference to my Filezilla account.
Also, I thought you were just in sorting-out-mode rather than considering a full effort to build it. I really appreciate that and thanks for your tolerance,
as i said make a new tracker issue for a "new feature request"
honestly, i just needed a brake, and figuring out what you wanted worked good for me (kill 2 birds with one stone per say). but beyond that it would be to much for myself. so hope was to get ya to push a bit more and see if someone would pick it up and have it come reality. with you creating the "tracker issue" you would be notified. if someone picked it up via email. have seen a few threads of folks during there course project for say collage class or like, and picking up some "feature request" in the tracker.
I may have cured this with a resource already in Moodle: The Forum.
I created one, called Lesson Plans.
It is dedicated to a group called Me of which I am the only member.
Place a duplicate in every week and set them to hidden.
I can update the thread as needed and add comments.
I can upload files.
There is even an e-mail message as a reminder,,,,
I can place a grade as a self evaluation on the success of the lesson.
If the lesson carries for another day, I copy/paste the noted into the next lesson plan.
There may be a fluke or two but so far, it seems to be a workable idea.
Thoughts appreciated.
Updating with a progress report.
I now have a single user (me) forum called lesson plans and have one for each day of class. IT allows me to set notes for the activity and install files to use in the lesson. At the end of the lesson, I can update the description, note is it filled the time requires, how well it worked as well as saving any new files developed in class.
Draw back: It would be nice if I could have it open in the edit mode instead of all the extra clicks to open the single-entry thread. (I am redefining the original design of the forum here).
Concern: Apparently the contents of this forum/lesson plan will not be contained in a back up for next semester. Is there a switch or will I have to rely on copy paste until a Lesson Plan resource is invented?
Generally, it is working well for me though. It certainly organizes things for me.
Hi Steve
I'm coming rather late to this discussion, but it triggered off a thought which has been brewing for a while.
If I understand you correctly, you are looking for something which would allow you to append notes to an activity/topic/module? Do you mean something like the notes that can be added to a student's profile? I would certainly love to have a feature like that which could be applied to activities or topics.
For me, it would seem clear that the creator of any content should have the ability to add notes to that content, whether it be reminders, feedback or ideas for improvement in the future - this really should be a feature that's available as standard.
This is more of a single user forum and I will be the only one to see it or modify it. The reason I choose the forum is that it seems to offer the best available remedy and so far I can make ti work. Either there is a better way to do it or maybe a new resource may come out of this.
If I could set up a private Assignment that at would allow me to edit the description and drag in/out files easily during the class time then it would be easier.
