Proposal/Feature Request: A new course format/layout

Proposal/Feature Request: A new course format/layout

by aggelos panagiotakis -
Number of replies: 6

Proposal/Feature Request: A new course format/layout

 


We are currently willing to change the “Moodle mess problem”(“Too much info on one page” problem) by introducing a new course format/layout.

            Here is what we want to implement:

                        The teacher would be able to add as many “Categories” as he prefers. Those areas are called Tabs.  The tabs can also be something like “Resources/Exercises/WorkShops/Quizzes/Etc”. Those tabs are placed in the top of the page. Each of these tabs when selected can and will offer the opportunity to add/show “SubCategories”. These areas are called  SubTabs and can also be a s many as the teacher preffers..Or subtabs can be date related(1st week / 2nd week etc…) The subtabs are placed in the right side of the page / or can be a moodle block I guess! The subTabs can have SubSubTabs and can be seen as a left menu  or a tree …. The main Page changes when clicking in a tab , a subtab or a sub sub tab….. and shows related information….. those info can be any currently available moodle resource or activity. The

Here is an image to help me be more understood;

tabs_view

           

Here is how the admin page can be; This is very easy to administer

 

 tabs_admin

Questions :

            1. Can this be implemented only by creating a new course layout placed inside [moodle_path]\course\format\  ? Is there some more changes in need ?

            2. How can we add admin pages for the course layout format? Data saved in the database must have specific structure?

            3. How can I start implement this great feature?

4.Any proposals ?


I have seen the moodle book module and is great but cannot add any moodle resources inside it as it is just a resource.

I have also seen the “tabbed course format/layout” but it does  not have the ability to add sub tabs and it does not have editable “tab names”.

Thanks in advance,

            aggelos

 

 

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In reply to aggelos panagiotakis

Re: Proposal/Feature Request: A new course format/layout

by Joan Codina Filba -
Yes, I like it...
Maybe in half a year I can have some students working on it... smile
And also it could be better:
Why not allow the student/teacher change the tabs from topics to Activites (maybe expanded with activities and resources) . Allowing to change the view of a course.
But now I'm a bit occupied


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In reply to Joan Codina Filba

Απάντηση: Re: Proposal/Feature Request: A new course format/layout

by aggelos panagiotakis -
thanks for the reply!
what i really want is any ideas or programming steps to start developing such a cource format.... also welcomed are any notes on problems i will encounter
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In reply to aggelos panagiotakis

Απάντηση: Re: Proposal/Feature Request: A new course format/layout

by aggelos panagiotakis -
I fount this cource format
http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=377
and i think it is really smart.... but i prefer my way /..... can it help me do what i want? anyone that knows how it does what it does? i am going to test it tomorow
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In reply to aggelos panagiotakis

Re: Απάντηση: Re: Proposal/Feature Request: A new course format/layout

by Ger Tielemans -

I have my doubts, my five cents...

  • We already have a course format with tabs
  • We already have the sorted activity overview (look there for code smile)
  • the section is (in my opinion) the most clever way of organising activities and resources around a topic FOR A STUDENT
  • two years ago I experimented with the subsection option:
    • you could click on a subsection button
    • then you saw a new section: subsection level one
    • you could click again on a subsection button.. etc
    • the transparancy became LESS, not more, from the student point of view
  • then the sidebar block and the html block came:
    • teachers organise in sections the core course around topics:
      • in this view: a section = logical taskset
    • in the side block they put more global support activities/resources
    • teachers can hide as many blocks as they wish..
    • in the past We used section zero for activties and resources which were needed in the whole course
    • Now I moved my previous activities from section zero to the first sidebar block ( = section 1000 in the database)
      I included the core forum as a link
    • then I hide section zero ("one mess less" in your words)
    • then I add "sideline" resources and activities to that sidebar block OR I create a HTML block with resources OR I hack my own block, using the very good construction manual for blocks.*)
    • I have a mess of layout versions for the course format, but went back to rule number one: for the sake of the students and the poor teachers in our 9 schools a course format must look like a modified week or topic view:
      • week view
      • topic view
      • project view
      • day view
      • one exception: CMS - newspaper/book view 
      • I gave up all the others, including forum view sad

I think the mess is more a beginners problem: So why not start with showing less, the growing user will ask for more and more screen-cues... and teach them to swith them on/off all by themselves..

By the way, what does apantese mean?  

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In reply to aggelos panagiotakis

Re: Proposal/Feature Request: A new course format/layout

by Melissa Newman -

If there was a true template system in moodle, then different skins could implemement different layouts.  The only functionality that would be needed would be sub-topics, but I already put a similair tracker into tracker under "create course unit studies".  The idea was not rejected, so it might actually get implemented.

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