I Have a colleague who has asked if it is possible to export a course as a PDF so that they can distribute the course as a sort of booklet.
Any thoughts on this would be gratefully received.
I've not seen anything to do that.
It would be very complicated because of all the different resource and activity types.
It would be very complicated because of all the different resource and activity types.
This path, digital to paper, seems to be the wrong path in modern educational times, where even publishers are starting to eliminate their "paper" textbooks. It seems to be like someone saying, "Can you make your company's website be printed?" Or, "Is there any way to print everything on my smartphone?" Yes, there are examples where if one doesn't want to watch a movie, they can read the book, but these are two different experiences.
I am rambling on a little. I have seen people ask if they can print a Quiz from Moodle. Again, wrong direction. If one wants printed quizzes, why not go back to the old ways of "typing" quizzes on paper.
Having said all of this, I understand that some folks might ask for printed things.
I am rambling on a little. I have seen people ask if they can print a Quiz from Moodle. Again, wrong direction. If one wants printed quizzes, why not go back to the old ways of "typing" quizzes on paper.
Having said all of this, I understand that some folks might ask for printed things.
Rick
I disagree with you on a couple of points.
> This path, digital to paper, seems to be the wrong path in modern educational times, where even publishers are starting to eliminate their "paper" textbooks.
If the world has been a one-way street like that! You know that others are already back-tracking to books. We had / partly still have "On-line books". Everybody love it. Nothing to carry. But their purpose, learning, was vastly inferior. The human short time memory is very limited!
> It seems to be like someone saying, "Can you make your company's website be printed?" Or, "Is there any way to print everything on my smartphone?"
True. But a company's website is not a learning resoure, it is just a ordered collection of facts.
> Yes, there are examples where if one doesn't want to watch a movie, they can read the book, but these are two different experiences.
Very good analogy. The film is for entertainment. The book for learning!
> I have seen people ask if they can print a Quiz from Moodle. Again, wrong direction. If one wants printed quizzes, why not go back to the old ways of "typing" quizzes on paper.
Wrong: There was demand for nicely printed MCs right from the beginning. I remember ETH Zurich had a high-quality plug-in for that. Unfortunately dead to my knowledge.
> Having said all of this, I understand that some folks might ask for printed things.
That is indeed the case. The caveat is, they should have thought of it before creating the course. Should have come up with a work-flow that produce the on-line and off-line versions from one original. Trying to reconstruct off-line version from a finished on-line version is the wrong end of the stick.
I disagree with you on a couple of points.
> This path, digital to paper, seems to be the wrong path in modern educational times, where even publishers are starting to eliminate their "paper" textbooks.
If the world has been a one-way street like that! You know that others are already back-tracking to books. We had / partly still have "On-line books". Everybody love it. Nothing to carry. But their purpose, learning, was vastly inferior. The human short time memory is very limited!
> It seems to be like someone saying, "Can you make your company's website be printed?" Or, "Is there any way to print everything on my smartphone?"
True. But a company's website is not a learning resoure, it is just a ordered collection of facts.
> Yes, there are examples where if one doesn't want to watch a movie, they can read the book, but these are two different experiences.
Very good analogy. The film is for entertainment. The book for learning!
> I have seen people ask if they can print a Quiz from Moodle. Again, wrong direction. If one wants printed quizzes, why not go back to the old ways of "typing" quizzes on paper.
Wrong: There was demand for nicely printed MCs right from the beginning. I remember ETH Zurich had a high-quality plug-in for that. Unfortunately dead to my knowledge.
> Having said all of this, I understand that some folks might ask for printed things.
That is indeed the case. The caveat is, they should have thought of it before creating the course. Should have come up with a work-flow that produce the on-line and off-line versions from one original. Trying to reconstruct off-line version from a finished on-line version is the wrong end of the stick.
"The film is for entertainment. The book for learning!"
When I was a teacher (about 4 years ago), I used to tell my students that by the time they were my age the only place you would find paper would be in a museum/archive library.
I cannot tell you why the lecturer wants to output the course as PDF. Perhaps we should consider that not everyone has fully interactive courses with quizzes, lessons etc. Some courses are just flat objects that have a series of information items in each topic block.
But please don't shoot the messenger just because the message seems a trifle odd to you.
But please don't shoot the messenger just because the message seems a trifle odd to you.
Sometimes if something is clearly going to be difficult or impossible - as seems to be the case here - it's worth taking a step back to see if there is some other way. Understanding the need for these PDFs being the step back.
Of course, such help is not always required or welcome - and that is absolutely *not* meant in a passive-aggressive way
Of course, such help is not always required or welcome - and that is absolutely *not* meant in a passive-aggressive way
Hi Paul - I just wanna know if you received an answer to your colleague's question? I am also interested to know if this is possible. Thank you.
If your course can be reduced to a PDF why you took Moodle the first place?
I take your point but I am not entirely unsympathetic. There is, for example, a plugin that simply dumps all the file resources in a course. That might actually be all you need in the (let's face it, not uncommon) situation of a Moodle course being mostly a file repository.
For a special (not uncommon) category of Moodle courses which are just file repositories, Yes. But the person who uploaded those files needs just an office program for the task, why so complicated through Moodle.
If I read the OP's enquiry "to export a course as a PDF so that they can distribute the course as a sort of booklet", it is the other way around. You start with that booklet and make a course for the delivery. If the delivery has been given up, you still have the booklet!
P.S. I estimate this will be an interesting topic in "Teaching with Moodle" or even "Moodle research".
If I read the OP's enquiry "to export a course as a PDF so that they can distribute the course as a sort of booklet", it is the other way around. You start with that booklet and make a course for the delivery. If the delivery has been given up, you still have the booklet!
P.S. I estimate this will be an interesting topic in "Teaching with Moodle" or even "Moodle research".
Again - as you say - would only make sense if the course consisted of a bunch of files and the PDF export would be a "convenience". It's not a completely ridiculous requirement.
I don't say "Don't do it"! The idea sounds like reverse-engineering to me. If somebody has this situation and have the resources, don't wait for me!
Actually, looking at the Moodle mobile and PC app there is a "Course Downloads" feature of sorts. I've never tried it, but perhaps I should take a look.
It did actually occur to me too though, that students might like to have a kind of "keep sake" from the course, Meaning they could download the course with only that which is applicable to them, a bit like to "migrate" to portfolio feature.
It did actually occur to me too though, that students might like to have a kind of "keep sake" from the course, Meaning they could download the course with only that which is applicable to them, a bit like to "migrate" to portfolio feature.
Hi Paul
"keep sake"! So, we've come a full circle. In the analog world we bought a (spiral bound) book and files the (solved) work-sheets in office files and collected them in the book shelf. Well, the real keep sake was supposed to in the brain but those artifacts gave us a security. Now, to the digital (virtual) world. The fundamental question is, do we need a substitute? Or, "all is in the Internet", isn't that enough?
Obviously you and your team are in need of a substitute - in the form of a PDF. What about the interactive lessons? All the videos, animations, kahoot and the whole palette?
Forgetting all that, once a course is spread out the virtualsphere, it is too late to put it together in to a document. As Nebil mentioned in this sub-thread https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=388132#p1604446 the final result should go in to planning. You "author" the course in a more universal format, independent of Moodle. From that original you generate Moodle as well as the final keep sake, in PDF of some other less sophisticated format than Moodle.
"keep sake"! So, we've come a full circle. In the analog world we bought a (spiral bound) book and files the (solved) work-sheets in office files and collected them in the book shelf. Well, the real keep sake was supposed to in the brain but those artifacts gave us a security. Now, to the digital (virtual) world. The fundamental question is, do we need a substitute? Or, "all is in the Internet", isn't that enough?
Obviously you and your team are in need of a substitute - in the form of a PDF. What about the interactive lessons? All the videos, animations, kahoot and the whole palette?
Forgetting all that, once a course is spread out the virtualsphere, it is too late to put it together in to a document. As Nebil mentioned in this sub-thread https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=388132#p1604446 the final result should go in to planning. You "author" the course in a more universal format, independent of Moodle. From that original you generate Moodle as well as the final keep sake, in PDF of some other less sophisticated format than Moodle.
Hi @Howard! Thanks for actually answering the question and not just criticize it. Do you know what specific plugin should we look for and where to find it? I appreciate your response.
Not passing judgement or anything like that ... a question though ...
IF ... IF one could make a PDF of a course front page, or any Moodle page, the PDF would contain clickable links that go back to the Moodle. Is that correct?
IF that is correct ... and a link ... oh say in the breadcrumb trail of navigation in a course would require user to login to the moodle ... even if course was set to guest?
IF the course had a link to a video or just displayed the video in a label ... wouldn't clicking send user to the Moodle to play the video?
Just thinking out loud here!
'SoS', Ken
A number of teachers use Moodle simply as a form of repository. It may seem far fetched, but I even had a group of young students last semester who (a) had never used Moodle before and (b) preferred the active directory system to downloading files from Moodle.
It is not always ours to question why lecturers or students want things in a different format to that in which we present them. But given everything these days is measured by "customer" satisfaction surveys rather than learning outcomes, I've long given up challenging my colleagues.
It is not always ours to question why lecturers or students want things in a different format to that in which we present them. But given everything these days is measured by "customer" satisfaction surveys rather than learning outcomes, I've long given up challenging my colleagues.
Just found this:
https://moodle.org/plugins/local_downloadcenter
From description of plugin ...
"The Download Center plugin (local/downloadcenter) enables all users to download all files, folders as well as all documents of student folders of an entire course as a ZIP archive with a clear folder structure."
'SoS', Ken
i think that the design of the course determine if this is possible or not
course with rich videos and animation , or based on an interactive learning , or something that make moodle the best choice , can not converted to pdf without a major loss of functionality or value
but course with a reading nature , and even the interaction is done at classroom or , this ok to go for pdf
another issue is you as a teacher should take your student and train them to use LMS more and more and paper less
(note : i still enjoy reading from paper , still love the smell of new book 😋)
course with rich videos and animation , or based on an interactive learning , or something that make moodle the best choice , can not converted to pdf without a major loss of functionality or value
but course with a reading nature , and even the interaction is done at classroom or , this ok to go for pdf
another issue is you as a teacher should take your student and train them to use LMS more and more and paper less
(note : i still enjoy reading from paper , still love the smell of new book 😋)
A good point, but at our institution it's more that the lecturers need to be trained to use Moodle.
The problem is that many of them do not understand what the platform is about: we really do have a problem with resources and strategy at the top.
The problem is that many of them do not understand what the platform is about: we really do have a problem with resources and strategy at the top.
yes , you are right ,especially for arabic teachers , no good arabic videos available
even mooodle youtube video fails , just they see a different them , get lost
so i have do many thing for teachers , hope i find enough time to train them
even mooodle youtube video fails , just they see a different them , get lost
so i have do many thing for teachers , hope i find enough time to train them