Neverfind, I found may answer here.
It really is too bad that we couldn't simply share resources.
Here is my issue with metacourses. Eventually, I would like all of the teachers in the school to use Moodle. Each of my students have 8 classes every semester. If "Student A" has 8 classes, and 4 of them have metacourses, then the student will potentially have 10? courses on their "My Moodle" page. Doesn't this seem excessively confusing??
Patrick Malley
Posts made by Patrick Malley
Thanks, Anthony.
Perhaps I am confused about how the metacourses work. Let's say I had three sections of U.S. History all taught by different teachers.
If I gave each teacher their own course that was under the same metacourse, then enrolled students into the individual courses (that are hidden), my teachers could add content to their individual course and have it appear on the metacourse page when that page was visited by one of their student?
Then, anything added to the metacourse would be available to all child courses?
If so, this would be fantastic!
Perhaps I am confused about how the metacourses work. Let's say I had three sections of U.S. History all taught by different teachers.
If I gave each teacher their own course that was under the same metacourse, then enrolled students into the individual courses (that are hidden), my teachers could add content to their individual course and have it appear on the metacourse page when that page was visited by one of their student?
Then, anything added to the metacourse would be available to all child courses?
If so, this would be fantastic!
I'm not sold on the idea of metacourses - seems to me that it might confuse my students. I currently structure courses into categories that correspond to departments. If we ever get to the point that teachers are creating content that should be shared, then we'll simply duplicate that content (backup, restore, import, etc.). Or, perhaps I'll find a need for metacourses yet ....
Mike,
I have been working with Moodle for the past couple of years and have recently been charged with enlarging the scope of my school's Moodle installation to include mandatory use by our social studies department. With that said, I have a few thoughts on structuring your Moodle.
Organization for the long-term is key. I will use my AP Psychology course as an example, because I know nothing about math. My AP Psychology class covers 14 units. Therefore, the first thing that I did was set my course page to display 14 sections (using Topics format). I labeled each section to correspond to a different unit. Then, I opened up my course "files" and created 14 folders, each corresponding, yet again, to a different section (also named after the unit). Then, I opened my "questions" and created 14 categories, one for each unit, as well.
Everything I teach in PowerPoint is saved in both .swf and .pdf format. If I give a handout to my students, it is also saved to .pdf format. I then uploaded these resources, as I created them into one of three files within their unit "parent" directory. For example, .swf files went into a file I created named "/unitname/slideshows/", .pdf files went into a file I created named "/unitname/notesheets/", and handouts & homework went into a file I created named "/unitname/resources/".
As I moved from one unit to the next, I added three "directories" to the respective unit's section on my course page under the heading "Resources:". Those directories were for "slideshows," "printable notesheets," and "resources." Of course, they pointed students to the file directories created in the previous paragraph.
As my students moved through the year, they grew accustom to this structure and knew precisely where to look for class resources.
As I spend time with my colleagues this summer, I will encourage the same type of organization from them - thus keeping things consistent across courses.
If you were asking more about structuring courses specifically, you may want to consider "teams" of teachers being responsible for the same course, with students within that course divided into groups. (However, I find that one person ends up doing the majority of the work if this is done.)
I think the amount of work that I have done in structuring my course the way that I have was tremendous! Nevertheless, the payoff is that I should never have to do it again - from now on I will have to do nothing more than update the resources that are there. This is true, in part, because my structure has been so solid.
I have been working with Moodle for the past couple of years and have recently been charged with enlarging the scope of my school's Moodle installation to include mandatory use by our social studies department. With that said, I have a few thoughts on structuring your Moodle.
Organization for the long-term is key. I will use my AP Psychology course as an example, because I know nothing about math. My AP Psychology class covers 14 units. Therefore, the first thing that I did was set my course page to display 14 sections (using Topics format). I labeled each section to correspond to a different unit. Then, I opened up my course "files" and created 14 folders, each corresponding, yet again, to a different section (also named after the unit). Then, I opened my "questions" and created 14 categories, one for each unit, as well.
Everything I teach in PowerPoint is saved in both .swf and .pdf format. If I give a handout to my students, it is also saved to .pdf format. I then uploaded these resources, as I created them into one of three files within their unit "parent" directory. For example, .swf files went into a file I created named "/unitname/slideshows/", .pdf files went into a file I created named "/unitname/notesheets/", and handouts & homework went into a file I created named "/unitname/resources/".
As I moved from one unit to the next, I added three "directories" to the respective unit's section on my course page under the heading "Resources:". Those directories were for "slideshows," "printable notesheets," and "resources." Of course, they pointed students to the file directories created in the previous paragraph.
As my students moved through the year, they grew accustom to this structure and knew precisely where to look for class resources.
As I spend time with my colleagues this summer, I will encourage the same type of organization from them - thus keeping things consistent across courses.
If you were asking more about structuring courses specifically, you may want to consider "teams" of teachers being responsible for the same course, with students within that course divided into groups. (However, I find that one person ends up doing the majority of the work if this is done.)
I think the amount of work that I have done in structuring my course the way that I have was tremendous! Nevertheless, the payoff is that I should never have to do it again - from now on I will have to do nothing more than update the resources that are there. This is true, in part, because my structure has been so solid.
I can currently only promise this theme as 1.7.1 material - which is the istallation that the theme was created on.
With that said, Mauno points out above:
I have tried this on my test server, which is running 1.8 now, and it appears to be working just fine without any irregularities. You may want to check it out and compare what is different between my installation and yours.
I plan to rework the Autumn theme first thing this summer (when the academic year is over and I am free from my teaching responsibilities), but have no time to do so any sooner.
Good luck.
With that said, Mauno points out above:
changing $THEME->standardsheets = true; in theme config.php made your theme 1.8 compatible
I have tried this on my test server, which is running 1.8 now, and it appears to be working just fine without any irregularities. You may want to check it out and compare what is different between my installation and yours.
I plan to rework the Autumn theme first thing this summer (when the academic year is over and I am free from my teaching responsibilities), but have no time to do so any sooner.
Good luck.