Durupal 6.8
Hello, I need help on reorganizing my site for my classes before the new semester begins in a week. I have bought Bills book (thank you Bill for responding to my questions), joined Drupal Edu group, installed OG and accompanied modules, looking around for answers for a few days but I am not finding the solutions. To tell you the truth, I am so confused myself I even don't know if I can make clear questions here.
Last semester, I built a Durupal 6 site for a class I taught which has 4 sections - 4 groups of classes on one subject. I didn't have OG. I simply tagged students by sections with profile module.
This coming semester, I will be teaching the same subject for 2 sections, plus a new class with brand new subject. Before too late, I have to reorganize the site. OG seems to be the only way but it hasn't worked well for me yet.
First, I need to re-categorize Fall 2008 students aside, which I did with profile module. The list of the former students won't be updated so I don't need to worry about them right now, but what's next for the new students is unclear to me.
There will be 3 classes: Class_1 Section A Class_1 Section B Class_2
I guess Class_1 is one OG, and Class_2 is another. What is the best practice to organize the students? One very confusing part of OG is that OG is based on content type. I don't know how to separate Section A and B in OG even after installing og_subsection module. Or may be I don't need to separate them? Should I separate them with profile?
Next, but a bigger problem: How do I make existing nodes into OG? I haven't been able to find the answer. Help!
I need to reuse the pages - class plans, assignments, review for exams - for the same class subject. There are quite few things I need to update, however. This is due to updated Syllabus. This means I need to leave the ones I created for last semester intact because the former students still access them.
I hope this was clear, and someone comes to rescue me soon :-)
-- - Hiro
Hiroaki Honshuku, A-NO-NE Music, Greater Boston http://a-no-ne.com http://anonemusic.com
Hello, Hiro,
Some quick thoughts here (I'm currently working on a project with a quasi-looming deadline, so this is more concise than perhaps is needed -- apologies in advance).
A-NO-NE Music wrote:
Durupal 6.8
Hello, I need help on reorganizing my site for my classes before the new semester begins in a week. I have bought Bills book (thank you Bill for responding to my questions), joined Drupal Edu group, installed OG and accompanied modules, looking around for answers for a few days but I am not finding the solutions. To tell you the truth, I am so confused myself I even don't know if I can make clear questions here.
Last semester, I built a Durupal 6 site for a class I taught which has 4 sections - 4 groups of classes on one subject. I didn't have OG. I simply tagged students by sections with profile module.
This coming semester, I will be teaching the same subject for 2 sections, plus a new class with brand new subject. Before too late, I have to reorganize the site. OG seems to be the only way but it hasn't worked well for me yet.
First, I need to re-categorize Fall 2008 students aside, which I did with profile module. The list of the former students won't be updated so I don't need to worry about them right now, but what's next for the new students is unclear to me.
You could either set these accounts to blocked, or create a role with limited rights and assign them into that. FWIW, I rarely assign rights into the authenticated user role for exactly this reason.
This assumes, of course, that these students will not need to access/interact within the site.
There will be 3 classes: Class_1 Section A Class_1 Section B Class_2
I guess Class_1 is one OG, and Class_2 is another. What is the best practice to organize the students? One very confusing part of OG is that OG is based on content type. I don't know how to separate Section A and B in OG even after installing og_subsection module. Or may be I don't need to separate them? Should I separate them with profile?
If you don't need to separate them, then I'd advise keeping one group. If the classes are distinct, and the success of the classes is predicated on distinctions between them (different lessons, different pacing, etc) then I'd make them distinct groups. The simpler you can keep things, the better.
Next, but a bigger problem: How do I make existing nodes into OG? I haven't been able to find the answer. Help!
I need to reuse the pages - class plans, assignments, review for exams
- for the same class subject. There are quite few things I need to
update, however. This is due to updated Syllabus. This means I need to leave the ones I created for last semester intact because the former students still access them.
Okay -- now I think I understand this: make your existing curriculum into a book. Then, install the Book Manager and the Book Copy modules (possibly you will only need Book Copy). As the name implies, this will allow you to copy entire books, or sections of books. Clone your existing course material, and edit as needed. This leaves your original material intact.
However, I don't know of any way to mass-assign nodes into groups (with the obvious exception of direct db inserts, but that path leads only to sadness and heartache).
I hope this helps --
Also, at the risk of stating the obvious, set up a test site to try these various methods on -- setting it up will take a little time, but as you work on your site you will also have the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your primary site is secure. Creating a test site is covered in Chapter 15 ;)
Cheers,
Bill
I hope this was clear, and someone comes to rescue me soon :-)
--
- Hiro
Hiroaki Honshuku, A-NO-NE Music, Greater Boston http://a-no-ne.com http://anonemusic.com
On 09/01/03(土), at 2:03, Bill Fitzgerald wrote:
Hello, Hiro,
Some quick thoughts here (I'm currently working on a project with a quasi-looming deadline, so this is more concise than perhaps is needed
Hi Bill, Thank you so, so, so much for your continuous help. I will try to make this quick as possible :-)
This assumes, of course, that these students will not need to access/interact within the site.
At this point, I would like to try having former students posting if they are into helping the new students. This might be a bad idea, but I think I would like to try.
If you don't need to separate them, then I'd advise keeping one group.
I think so too. I made one group with sections by OG taxonomy. This should work for separating students group, right? One problem is Registration Key. I don't think I can assign a key per taxonomy. I guess I have to create a mandatory profile field on the reg page. Another question is if I won't get any problem mass-emailing per section? I haven't explorer notification module yet. I just wanted to make sure if notification will work fine this way down the road.
Okay -- now I think I understand this: make your existing curriculum into a book. Then, install the Book Manager and the Book Copy modules (possibly you will only need Book Copy).
Wow! Cool! It just so mazes me people on this forum knows a lot of useful modules, those which are pretty difficult to find for user like me. The good news is, everything is contained in books.
However, I don't know of any way to mass-assign nodes into groups (with the obvious exception of direct db inserts, but that path leads only to sadness and heartache).
Ooops. Hm. Can it be done manually without hacking the db? At least I need to separate/hide Class_1, which I already created tons of contents last semester, from the Class_2 group I am about to create. This is most scary. What can I do to solve this issue?
Also, at the risk of stating the obvious, set up a test site to try these various methods on
Yup. I do have dev env on my MacBook Pro. I do local dev for my other sites (shown in my sig), but not for this site for my classes. The problem is that this particular ISP won't let me upload db. This is what you get when you get cheap. Moving along OG, I got so confused that I was afraid it won't be possible for me to reproduce the local settings on my live site so I started to do it on the live site. Yes, I should change my ISP. I know :-(
-- - Hiro
Hiroaki Honshuku, A-NO-NE Music, Greater Boston http://a-no-ne.com http://anonemusic.com
A-NO-NE Music wrote:
At this point, I would like to try having former students posting if they are into helping the new students. This might be a bad idea, but I think I would like to try.
I would create a separate role for your existing students -- this way, from an admin place, you could filter new from existing students based on role.
If you don't need to separate them, then I'd advise keeping one group.
I think so too. I made one group with sections by OG taxonomy. This should work for separating students group, right? One problem is Registration Key. I don't think I can assign a key per taxonomy.
Using OG Reg Keys, there is no way to separate by taxonomy. If you need that level of separation, then possibly separate groups are the way to go.
I guess I have to create a mandatory profile field on the reg page. Another question is if I won't get any problem mass-emailing per section? I haven't explorer notification module yet. I just wanted to make sure if notification will work fine this way down the road.
If you can get away with using core OG email functionality, I would try to just use that. First off, it will help you avoid module bloat; and second, it will be less complex to set up. Core OG supports mailing all members of a group.
Ooops. Hm. Can it be done manually without hacking the db? At least I need to separate/hide Class_1, which I already created tons of contents last semester, from the Class_2 group I am about to create. This is most scary. What can I do to solve this issue?
I would recommend checking out the Views Bulk Operations module -- it let's you process large groups of nodes in one fell swoop: http://drupal.org/project/views_bulk_operations -- I literally just used it (in conjunction with Workflow and Workflow Access) to set up a mechanism where editors can mass-approve (or demote) content. While getting into setting up workflow might be more time/effort than you want to expend at this point, Views Bulk Operations is probably the cleanest way to manage batches of nodes via the administrative UI -- unless, of course, you wanted to unpublish last terms nodes using the core content management UI at admin/content/node
Also, at the risk of stating the obvious, set up a test site to try these various methods on
Yup. I do have dev env on my MacBook Pro. I do local dev for my other sites (shown in my sig), but not for this site for my classes. The problem is that this particular ISP won't let me upload db. This is what you get when you get cheap. Moving along OG, I got so confused that I was afraid it won't be possible for me to reproduce the local settings on my live site so I started to do it on the live site. Yes, I should change my ISP. I know :-(
Glad to hear you have a test site; sorry top hear about the limitations of your ISP. RE OG: Chapter 12 in the book goes through the core OG config options in a fair amount of detail. If you're wrestling with setting up OG, it could be a good place to start.
Cheers,
Bill
On 09/01/03(土), at 4:38, Bill Fitzgerald wrote:
I would create a separate role for your existing students
Done!
If you can get away with using core OG email functionality, I would try to just use that. First off, it will help you avoid module bloat; and second, it will be less complex to set up. Core OG supports mailing all members of a group.
For the life of me, I haven't been able to find how to email to the members of a group. There is nothing like "Create Group Notification" I can find. I was also unable to find it in the OG documentation section. Any pointer would be appreciated.
But it sounds like I won't be able to send out notification per section of a group? If that is the case, I probably need to create 2 groups per sections for 1 class.
I would recommend checking out the Views Bulk Operations module
Will do. Thank you.
OG: Chapter 12 in the book goes through the core OG config options in a fair amount of detail. If you're wrestling with setting up OG, it could be a good place to start.
Believe or not, I read the section 3 times before I sent you a message :-) I think my problem in general is that Drupal is aimed at social networking, while my usage is static at my end. I have bought many Drupal books, but my impression has been that all the focuses are collaborations between members, and this is usually where I get confused from my needs.
-- - Hiro
Hiroaki Honshuku, A-NO-NE Music, Greater Boston http://a-no-ne.com http://anonemusic.com
-
A-NO-NE Music -
Bill Fitzgerald