Glossary as a Resource - Copy Hassles

Glossary as a Resource - Copy Hassles

by Blair F. -
Number of replies: 3
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It seems that the majority of our faculty use the Glossary module as a resource and not an activity. They take the time to build a glossary, and often use link the crossword from the Games module to the glossary. 

When it comes time to requesting a copy of the course, we go ahead and make it for them (not knowing it contains a glossary) and then hear back from them later that their glossary is empty and have to go through the hassle of using Sharing Cart, or redoing the course copy with enrolled users and then resetting the new copy. I suppose would could make our default workflow to copy with enrolled users and then reset the copy, but that's definitely extra work when dealing with hundreds of shells.

I realize that the data isn't copied because it's an activity and therefore tied to users. But, it would be nice if maybe there were a Glossary activity and a Glossary resource so that the resource could just be copied normally and remain intact like any other resource. 

I'm wondering what others' experiences, opinions, and tips are on this.

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In reply to Blair F.

Re: Glossary as a Resource - Copy Hassles

by Dave Sherwin -
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You are correct that the Glossary activity in Moodle is for students to work collaboratively learning the vocabulary for a concept. We also have teachers that want to build their own glossaries. So we recommend to those teachers to export their glossary and save it either on their computer harddrive or their Moodle Private files.

Then when the new course is created, just simply Import glossary entries file into the blank Glossary activity. It's still a hassle, not sure if it would save time. I notice that once an item has been added to the sharing cart and if the user does not delete it from the cart, could copy it into courses year after year.

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In reply to Dave Sherwin

Re: Glossary as a Resource - Copy Hassles

by Blair F. -
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Thanks, Dave. Those are good suggestions. Our problem is anything that requires an instructor to read and follow instructions is problematic. Ironic, I know.

Because we are a trades school, we have a lot of instructors who are subject matter experts (and often temporary) but don't have a lot in the way of tech skills, so "simply" importing becomes an ordeal that we end up having to do for them. Of course, only AFTER they tell us that their glossary is empty. It's all just a headache.
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In reply to Blair F.

Re: Glossary as a Resource - Copy Hassles

by John Provasnik -
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One thing I've done to try and help was added a Folder resource into all courses in a teacher-only section. At the end of a class, teachers are expected to export their glossary entries (places an xml file on the desktop) and plop that file into the Folder resource (and if there is one in there already, it will overwrite it with the newest version). This way, once my team resets classes or copies classes for a new semester, we can open the Glossary, click import entries, and pull the file directly from that Folder activity using the "System" section of the file picker. Has made things run much more smoothly for us and no more finding downloading/uploading xml files for my team.
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