15 November 2010, 3:56

Hi,

I hope that I am asking this in the right place and I aplogise if the question has been answered elsewhere.

Is it possible to stop students from uploading new files (or replacing  files already uploaded) after a given date? 

I don't  want to expire the account because I would like  students to have access to their portfolio but I need to lock the account for a couple of months to facilitate marking and also because we have to wait for an external examiner.

I am using Mahara 1.3 on Apache2 and my database is MYSQL.

Many Thanks

Sean

15 November 2010, 5:43

Sean:
       I know of no way to prevent users from changing the various artefacts (including files) they manage through "My Portfolio." Since the system is intended to be user-driven, with the possibility of delivering multiple portfolios to varying teacher observers pulling from a dynamic collection of artefacts, the system isn't designed to support what you describe.
       However, views submitted by student members of a  "Course" type of group are "frozen" (cannot be modified) until a "tutor" in the group releases it. That at least gives you a fixed portfolio for evaluation. Not exactly as you describe...

15 November 2010, 6:18

Hi Jeffrey,

Is it accurate to say that when a file is being used in  a view the version of the file in that view is unchanged, if so that is fine.

15 November 2010, 9:43

We haven't actually been using the course groups, so I don't have hands-on experience. But it looks like it. Here's the Ver. 1.3 release notes, it specifically mentions that.

20 November 2010, 23:05

Hello Sean,

Yes, it is correct. Since version 1.3, views that are submitted to a course group (you must be institution / site staff / admin to create such a group), are more locked down than previously.

Here's how it works:

1. You create a course group and either have students register for it or you can also put them in it yourself (might be the fastest).
2. When a student created a view that needs to be marked, he submits it from his "My Views" overview page where there is the dropdown box "Submit this view". He can't edit the layout, blog posts and files anymore that are displayed in this view.
3. You can give feedback on the view. It stays locked down until you release the view again.

Cheers

Kristina