Bulletin board

Preconfigure when item will be shown/hidden

Tue, 29 May 2012 08:55:21 GMT

by Admin User.

There are two new fields, Show from and Hide from, in the settings page of all resources and activities.
So now, if an item is hidden, you can set the date at when it will be shown.
Conversely, if it is visible, you can set when it will be hidden.

New 'Copy from HiLearn' and 'Display a directory' options

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:52:21 GMT

by Admin User.

In an attempt to solve the sluggish response and 'scroll of death' in courses with very many files, there is now a choice of Copy from HiLearn options:

Just copy files
Just copy files (using file titles)
Build compact course
Build expanded course

In addition, the course can optionally first be Reset.

Build expanded course builds the course page, including all directories and files, as in the past. (Or rebuilds it, if Reset is selected.)
Just copy files just copies the files to the Files area, as in the past.
Both options preserve the HiLearn filenames.
(Filenames are what you see in the Moodle course Files area.)

Build compact course builds the course page, including only directories. (Or rebuilds it, if Reset is selected.)
Just copy files (using file titles) just copies the files to the Files area. However, both options also:

Change the Moodle filenames to the HiLearn file titles
(The HiLearn file titles are what you see in the expanded course page .)
Preserve the HiLearn file ordering
Preserve the HiLearn file visibility

As a consequence, the Display a directory resource is much more informative and useful.
In fact, the compact course, together with its Display a directory resources, shows exactly the same information as the expanded course.
Caveat 1: The Moodle filename is actually changed to the HiLearn file title plus HiLearn filename extension. The Display a directory resource is configured not to show file extensions.
Caveat 2: In the expanded course, the Resources listing now shows the HiLearn file descriptions. (It didn't in the past and no-one complained.)

Following are the new features that were implemented in the Files area (and that are used by the Display a directory resource):

Filenames can now include any characters whatsoever. Characters that are not usually allowed in filenames are converted to Unicode variants.
Files can now be ordered alphabetically, numerically or manually
Files and directories can be hidden (in addition to being restricted to course participants or authenticated users).

In addition, there is a new option in the Display a directory settings:

Strip file extensions

File ordering

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:50:33 GMT

by Admin User.

You can now control the order of the files in the Files area.

Choose between regular Alphabetic ordering, Numerical ordering and Manual ordering.
Manual ordering gives you full control over the order (except that directories are always listed before files).

Hopefully, this will encourage using Display a directory resources instead of lists of Link to a file resources.
This will make the course page shorter, clearer and faster to load.

Coming soon: New Copy from HiLearn option:

Build course page as a tree of directories

New HTML editor

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:14:43 GMT

by Admin User.

Moodle now has a new, more advanced, HTML editor.

You can choose to use it as follows:

Click on your name at top or bottom of window
Click on tab Edit profile
Set value of field Preferred editor to Advanced (HTML)
Click on Update profile

The new editor automatically saves every 50 characters and/or 60 seconds and whenever the page unloads (such as if the window is closed, or you change language).

To restore the saved contents simply click on the lifebelt icon in the top row of icons.

Groups

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:27:46 GMT

by Admin User.

Many courses have Shiur, Targil or Lab groups listed in the Shnaton.
As soon as students are registered through Minhal Talmidim to a group, a parallel Moodle group is automatically created.
The Moodle group continues to be maintained i.e. students are automatically added to and removed from it.
At any time, the teacher can choose stop automatic maintenance so that he can from then on maintain the group manually.
For more information, see FAQ question What about Shnaton course groups?