25 June 2012, 13:00

Hi all

First post on these here forums. New convert to Mahara (been using Moodle for years) but am loving what it can do. Great stuff.

Our college want learners to submit their portfolios to Moodle for assessment. I've asked my IT guy to install all the necessary, which he's done.

Two things:

1. I created an assignment in Moodle and could see my portfolios. I submitted one portfolio, then another one. I then went to Mahara and could see that both of these portfolios now had the editing option removed (as it had been submitted). However, I didn't have Outcomes switched on - and now they seem permanently locked! Any ideas how I can 'release' them? I've now deleted the assignment (hoping it would solve it).

2. I'm not sure how much we need Outcomes, yet I know they have to be switched on in order for work to be assessed and then edited after assessment. Has anyone got any practical uses as to how they've used Outcomes? We grade various assignment criteria (such as writing a piece of music to various requirements) using a whole overall grade (Pass, Merit, Distinction) - what Outcomes could we associate with that?

Thanks in advance,

Dan

25 June 2012, 14:51

Hello,

You are not alone with this bug. if you find in the forums here you will find some information about it. I was quickly browsing my email before leaving home, so no time yet to do the search for you. Will do it later if you don't find the information about this. Maybe a start is here (https://mahara.org/interaction/forum/topic.php?id=4136)

I think that the only solution yet is to change info in the database.

The plugin is third party so it is more difficult to get fixes when bugs appears.

Read the docs about Moodle Outcomes (http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Outcomes) to decide if you need them. But if you have clear skills in you syllabus that students must reach, it is certainly a good thing to use them (we do in my institution)

Good luck

Cheers,

dajan

26 June 2012, 4:03

Thanks dajan

Will definitely look into Outcomes some more.

Previous for submissions we had learners export their portfolios as zip files, but this just seems to be a bit silly if the two can link up.

Let's hope it gets fixed!

dan

26 June 2012, 5:46

Could someone perhaps move this to the Moodle/Mahara integration section?

29 June 2012, 23:37

Hello Dan,

Sorry, we can't move forums topics to another forum. It's fine where it is.

As for the outcomes, I thought a developer had fixed that issue last year in the latest code of the plugin (for Moodle 2). Sorry that you have issues.

Cheers

Kristina

30 June 2012, 4:48

Hi Kristina - thanks for the reply.

We're using 1.9 - maybe the 2 version has had more support.

Now that all work is submitted and the site is deathly quiet, I've gone in, turned Outcomes on and had a play.

Happy to say it all seems to work! I submitted a Page, assessed it (with an Outcome and a Grade) and went back to Mahara to see that the Page was now editable again. Fantastic.

Just 2 questions thought (apologies if they are asked elsewhere):

1. is it possible to 'lock' a page once it's been assessed, to stop the learner from editing it? (I know that contravenes what I orginally wanted but if the work is done, it feels 'safer' that it's locked)

2. Can Outcomes be displayed in a Profile, for example, or are they just in that menu view?

3. I think I know the answer to this one, but at present a learner can submit more than one view just by clicking on it. If they click on two and the tutor only assesses one (I can't see how they can assess both), is the first one locked? Question is - is there a planned fix for this?

Edit: I've just tested out No 3 and - alas - the first submitted Page is locked. This could be a real problem 

Thanks for all the help! 

30 June 2012, 8:08

30 June 2012, 10:45

Thanks Dajan.

We're not upgrading to Moodle 2 until the summber of 2013, so I hope someone might do a fix for 1.9 users too!

I don't want students to be penalised by accidentally submitting the wrong Page initially and then submiting the right one. If tutors can't 'unlock' both after the Outcome has been graded, I can see this as being a big problem.

Hmmm.

I'll do some more research. :)

01 July 2012, 4:23

Hello Dan,

Thanks for confirming your Moodle version. You could see if you can apply the patch that fixed the locking issue in the plugin for Moodle 2 on the branch for Moodle 1.9.

It would certainly be great to be able to use the outcomes that are sent to Mahara in the portfolio. Unfortunately, that functionality hasn't been developed yet.

The plugin is not in active development at the moment as far as I know, but changes can always be made by anyone as the code is freely available.

Cheers

Kristina