Database activity settings

Adding a database activity

Give your database a name and a description

To add a database activity:

1. Click the "Turn editing on" button at the top right of the course homepage.
2. Select Databases from the "Add an activity" dropdown menu.
3. Give your new database a name and a description.
4. Select the general options (see below) and the common module settings.
5. Click the "Save and display" button at the bottom of the page.
6. Define the fields or use a preset.
7. Define the templates.
8. Add one or two same entries then edit the templates as appropriate.

General options

General options for the database activity

Available from/to

The dates the database is visible to students.

The database will also be open for data entry, provided we are not within the date range specified by the "read only from/to" settings.

Read only from/to

The dates the database is available for viewing, but not open for data entry.

The "available from/to" settings override the "read only from/to" settings. So if a database has "read only from" 1 January, and "available from" 1 February, students will not be able to view its content during January.

Required entries

The number of entries each student is required to enter before the database activity can be considered complete. The student will see a reminder message if s/he has not submitted the required number of entries.

Entries required before viewing

The number of entries the student needs to submit before s/he can see entries by other students. If the student has not submitted the required number of entries, s/he will only see the entry page and not the list or single view pages.

Note: If entries are required before viewing, the database auto-linking filter should be disabled. This is because the database auto-linking filter can't determine whether a user has submitted the required number of entries.

Maximum entries

The maximum number of entries the student can submit before s/he is blocked. This prevents people from spamming the system, either in the hope that one entry is good enough or, on a public site, as a way of advertising.

Comments

Enables commenting on entries. The comments field appears on the single view template when this is enabled.

Require approval?

Allows you to require each entry to be approved by someone with the appropriate role before other users can view it.

RSS articles

Enables you to publish an RSS feed of entries in the database. The option here sets the number of entries available in the feed.

Note: RSS feeds need to be enabled by your system administrator.

Rating a database

Rating a database

Lets you allow posts to be rated, which will enter a score in the gradebook for the students' submissions in the database. The grade is set using the dropdown menu below this option.

Common module settings

See Common module settings for more information. Essentially you can set how different Groups in the course see or interact with each other and set an ID for grading purposes in this area.

Site administration settings

The database activity module has additional settings which may be changed by an administrator in Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Database.

Enabling RSS feeds

RSS feeds must first be enabled in Settings > Site administration > Advanced Features

Database activity capabilities

• Approve unapproved entries
• Write comments
• Export all database entries
• Export a database entry
• Export own database entry
• Manage database activity comments
• Manage database activity entries
• Manage templates
• Manage all template presets
• Rate entries
• View all raw ratings given by individuals
• View presets from all users
• View total ratings that anyone received
• View entries
• View the total rating you received
• Write entries
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