Note: You are currently viewing documentation for Moodle 3.1. Up-to-date documentation for the latest stable version of Moodle is probably available here: Sharing Cart.

Sharing Cart

From MoodleDocs
  • Block: Sharing Cart 1.9 release 1 - 2008.10.15
  • Block: Sharing Cart 1.9 release 2 - 2009.02.19
  • Block: Sharing Cart 1.9 release 3 - 2009.03.16
  • Block: Sharing Cart 1.9 release 4 - 2009.04.14

Purpose

The Sharing Cart is a block that enables sharing of Moodle content (resources, activities) between multiple courses on your site. You can share among teachers or among your own courses. It copies and moves single course items without user data—similar to the “Import” function in Course Administration. Items can be collected and saved on the Sharing Cart indefinitely, serving as a library of frequently used course items available for duplication. It is viewable only by teachers, course creators and administrators. For further information, see General Developer Forum postings.

Requirements

  1. Moodle version 1.9
  2. Topic, Weekly or Project Course Format: The Sharing Cart now works with three formats. Topics and Weekly format are now supported as well as Project course format.
  3. Javascript: The Sharing Cart needs a browser with JavaScript enabled even if you are not using AJAX. AJAX turned on is recommended but not required.

Installation

  1. download latest release from CVS Contrib, older releases available from: englishforum.sgu.ac.jp/downloads
  2. unzip the package
  3. using FTP, open your blocks folder in your moodle program folder on your site
  4. place the folder "sharing_cart" into the blocks folder
  5. go to "Notifications" in your site admin area, database tables will be automatically generated
  6. inside any course, "Turn editing on", go to Blocks "Add...", and you should see "sharing cart" in the list of blocks in the menu.
  7. if you are going to share Quiz Questions, add a new system role called Question Creator (see note below)

Operation

  1. Turning On and Off: With editing on, add the Sharing Cart block from the block menu. After adding the Sharing Cart block, you will notice the block stays "on" and follows you whereever you roam courses across a site. Click the "X" icon to turn "off" the Sharing Cart, although the contents of the Sharing Cart will remain there when you turn it on again.
  2. Copying to the Sharing Cart: You will notice a small "Copy to Sharing Cart" icon which appears after each resource or activity in the center column of a Moodle course. Click on that icon to send a copy of that resource/activity into the Sharing Cart. User data will be removed, only the activity itself will be cloned.
  3. Copying from the Sharing Cart: Click "Copy to course" icon in Sharing Cart, then the resource/activity is copied into the first section of current course. And the page transits to module placing mode directly. So, if you want to cancel copying completely, the module copied into the first section needs to be removed manually.
  4. Making folders inside the Sharing Cart: Click the "move" icon on a course content item and an input box will appear. Input the name of the target folder there. To move an item into a folder, click the "Move to folder" icon in the Sharing Cart, then a drop-down list appears, and select the target folder. If you click the “Edit” button, you will replace the drop-down list with an input box.

Roles

Generally, the Sharing Cart will duplicate any activity in any course that a teacher has access to. However, quiz questions have another set of permissions independent of site roles. Therefore, we recommend if you wish to share questions, make the following changes:

  1. Add a new role--Question Creator: Make this role in Site Admin >> Users >> Permissions >> Define roles, and assign all teachers to this role (in addition to other roles they already have). This role should be given at least the following rights (set permissions to "Allow") under "Course": Manage Activities, Manage Files,Add new questions, Edit all questions, Edit question categories, Move all questions, Use all questions, View all questions.
  2. Set questions to System Question Category: If you set questions to course or activity level categories, you may not be able to share them.
TIP: ...Possibly add another role--Question User: If students are unable to view questions, make this role and assign all students to this role. Set to "Allow" the following permissions: Use all questions, View all questions.

Known Issues & Roadmap

Unknown Issues

  • Moodle 1.9 has a sophisticated system of permissions for the Question Bank. Question categories can be limited to certain teachers. The Sharing Cart operates on the assumption that sharing of questions is desirable and little control is needed. We do not know all possible results that may happen if questions are copied and duplicated. If the question was originally limited to a "Course" category, will it share perfectly to other courses and students? Please report to us any problems you find concerning this question. At the moment, we are recommending sharing questions with the "System" level question category.
  • Finally, if your administration wishes to have a high degree of control of questions and activities, the Sharing Cart may be too easy-to-use. In terms of site user polity, we believe sharing permissions should be broadly applied not just to administrators, but to all teachers. Your policy on sharing depends on your institutional culture and values.

Maintainers

This block was programmed by Akio Ohnishi and Tomonori Maruyama at Version2 Educational Web Development and released under GPL. The designers and maintainers of this block are Don Hinkelman and Andy Johnson. Funding is provided by Sapporo Gakuin University and we welcome other contributors. For issues and suggestions, please contact Don on the Sharing Cart forums or directly (hinkel at sgu.ac.jp).

See also