That's elegant. Which raises more questions I'm afraid:
Do you use snapshot then in order to keep updating the DSK of areas? I was imaging setting the DSK on the year it was created, but then updating the portal module when the year changed so it knew to now show 2011/12 stuff etc.
Are you (Malcolm and Sandra) making your own 'My Courses' portal modules? Would love to actually have one of yours to play with to save me re-inventing the wheel.
Thanks
Katie
-----Original Message-----
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of MURRAY M.R.
Sent: 09 March 2011 14:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Seperating current courses from archived
We do the same thing at Durham, which has worked fine for the last 5 years, with increasing refinement.
We use a very specific DSK naming convention that is used to differentiate between user, course, enrolment and any other DSKS.
For courses we have 5 DSKS for each department, for Goegraphy they begin COURSES_GEOG.... for Physics COURSES_PHYS... etc. That allows us to order/group the resulting courses by Department - handy if your module codes (courseId Strings) are as cryptic/varied/imaginative as ours.
Then we have a four letter suffix that indicates whether the courses
are:
FUTR: to be taught in a future year
CURR: current course
PAST: taught out, but students may still want to access it e.g. a 1st year course, where the students are now in 2nd or 3rd year
ARCH: Course with no live enrolments - ready to be archived
DEAD: course that has passed some sanity checks and will shortly be removed using an irreversible process.
Thus we have a custom module that only shows courses where the DSK (course, not enrolment) ends in CURR for "My Courses" another for FUTR - "Next Year's Courses" - only visible to staff, and a third for PAST courses.
HTH
Malcolm.
---
Dr Malcolm Murray
Learning Technologies Team Leader - IT Service Honorary Fellow - School of Education
Durham University
-----Original Message-----
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Katie Piatt
Sent: 09 March 2011 14:16
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Seperating current courses from archived
Thanks for the pointer - have found your ppt and it's very useful (for the code especially!), and I hadn't thought of using DSK as the identifier.
I was imagining using the academic year in the identifier - so maybe SITS10, SITS11, SITS12 etc and then I can display students their academic profile year by year on the Archive tab.
Katie
--
Katie Piatt
Senior Learning Technologies Developer
University of Brighton
-----Original Message-----
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sandra Stevenson-Revill
Sent: 04 March 2011 12:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Seperating current courses from archived
We have done exactly that at Derby I presented a paper on the how to do this at last years bb conference at Swansea, it's on the connections site I think. I used DSK as the determining factor for the split.
Sandra
Sandra Stevenson-Revill
Information Services
University of Derby
[log in to unmask]
Ext 2368
-----Original Message-----
From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Joseph Gliddon
Sent: 04 March 2011 11:38
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Seperating current courses from archived
Interestingly I have just been giving this very thing a bit of thought.
The other week George Kroner from blackboard visited our Uni (well worth speaking to him if you are thinking of Blocks or other development work) and gave a pretty inspiring demo. So when our techy guys set up a development area and IF I get some time, im going to try experimenting with making some blocks.
So idea is that a Blackboard course is created for each cohort every year for each degree unit that we run (normally the content is copied over from the previous year).
Most students are doing a 3 year course with 8 units. Currently they only see the "live year" so this means 8 units in their "My Courses"
module.
However it would be really useful for a number of students to be able to refer back to old units (ie 2nd year units may well build on knowledge developed in 1st year units). So what we might do is keep the old courses available to students as support materials (I know some Uni's already do this).
The big problem is that this means Students will see 24 blackboard courses in their final year (more if longer courses). So they may click on the wrong course.
And the situation will be even worse for staff.
There are 2 solutions
1) low tech - Do a handout and video guide that explain to students (and
staff) how they can hide courses on "My Courses" and heavily publicise this. Then rely on staff and students to keep only what they need to see visible.
2) Building Block "This Years Courses" is put on the home page just above the normal "My Courses"
Building Block "This Years Courses" module The block would take the "My Courses" functions and extend them so that it contained the SQL logic Where data_source_key = "whatever number you are using for this year"
OR
Where course_id like '%AY10_11'
Now depending on how much effort each takes the building block would either just hard code the variable and compile it each year to make it work for the current year OR have the variable something you could change in the properties of the module.
So that's what I want, I think a lot of other Uni's would also like it.
I might even try to make one myself, but my coding skills are a little rusty these days and its not a priority for my current job so I would be doing it as a weekend project so it might never get done.
Still - someone else on the list might see this as something they want to do.
Joseph Gliddon
--On 03 March 2011 15:58 +0000 Tyrone Knight <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Hi Dominic
>
> I think one thing to ask here, to give a better response from us, is -
> What is it they need to see separated? e.g. content available, own
> work submitted etc.
> So what are the factors they are not likely about the current process?
>
> As I may only be speaking for myself, but a lot of colleges /
> universities have so many little different ways of doing things that
> it is difficult to picture your current methods, which could be so
> different from my own.
>
> For example, Where I am based we have cohort courses on Bb which equal
> our MIS system each year, so each year there is a new version, but
> potentially same content. As well as modules which equal more than one
> related cohort, for different reasons.
>
> I hope this is clear
> Regards
> Ty
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Blackboard/Courseinfo userslist
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dominic Gore
> Sent: 03 March 2011 15:29
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Seperating current courses from archived
>
> Hi All,
>
> I am wondering if anyone has developed and is willing to share a
> building block that allows seperation of modules for current year and
> previous years delievered. At UCB we have had feedback from students
> suggesting that it would be good if we could have the My Courses
> module just display current years delieverd modules, and a seperate
> blackboard module for previous/archived courses.
>
> I am aware that this is a similar request to the one not so long ago
> about course console, but if anyone knows of a solution or has
> implemented this i would be very interested to hear.
>
> many thanks
>
> Dom
>
>
> This message contains confidential information and is intended only
> for the individual named. If you are not the named addressee you
> should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. Please notify
> the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by
> mistake and delete this e-mail from your system. E-mail transmission
> cannot be guaranteed to be error-free or secure as information could
> be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, or could arrive late or
> incomplete, or the email may be affected by viruses. The sender
> therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the
> contents of this message, or viruses, which arise as a result of
e-mail transmission.
> If verification is required please request a hard-copy version.
> Northbrook College Sussex, Littlehampton Road, Goring-By-Sea,
> Worthing, West Sussex, BN12 6NU. Tel 0845 155 60 60
Regards
Joseph
----------------------
Joseph Gliddon
e-Learning Implementation Officer
Education Support Unit
University of Bristol
[log in to unmask]
_____________________________________________________________________
The University of Derby has a published policy regarding email and reserves the right to monitor email traffic. If you believe this email was sent to you in error, please notify the sender and delete this email. Please direct any concerns to [log in to unmask]
The policy is available here: http://www.derby.ac.uk/LIS/Email-Policy
___________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by MessageLabs' Email Security System on behalf of the University of Brighton.
For more information see http://www.brighton.ac.uk/is/spam/
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by MessageLabs' Email Security System on behalf of the University of Brighton.
For more information see http://www.brighton.ac.uk/is/spam/
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by MessageLabs' Email Security System on behalf of the University of Brighton.
For more information see http://www.brighton.ac.uk/is/spam/
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by MessageLabs' Email Security
System on behalf of the University of Brighton.
For more information see http://www.brighton.ac.uk/is/spam/
___________________________________________________________
|
