[LON-CAPA-admin] No Cloning for ...

[Stuart Raeburn]

> There seems to be some extra checking now done when creating a   
> course. If I try to create a course
> owned by one user and try to clone off a course owned by another   
> user, it does not allow this.

Correct.

With 2.9.0 comes the ability for LON-CAPA users to request the  
creation of courses (if a domain has allowed this for certain  
populations of its users, or indeed specific named users).  As part of  
the request, the requestor has the option to indicate that the new  
course should be created by cloning a course for which he/she has  
rights to clone (set via "Modify Course Configuration" by a CC in the  
course being cloned; active CCs and course owners always have rights  
to clone their courses).

Checking of cloning rights also applies to traditional course creation  
by the Domain Coordinator.  (The same code is used in both places).

> I understand this from a user standpoint, but as DC I'm not allowed   
> to override directly in the creation.
>
> The current workaround looks to be either:
>
> * create the course under the same user that was the course owner of  
>  the cloned course and then
>   remove their role and add the proper CC once the course is created
>
> * or head into the course and list it as cloneable by the new CC,   
> then go in as DC and create the new course.
>

The second of these approaches seems the most appropriate.  That way  
the course owner of the course being cloned will have a record that  
permission has been granted to a colleague to have the course cloned  
on their behalf.

Another new feature of 2.9 is access to course creation logs.  The  
first of the two suggested approaches would result in potentially  
confusing log information, when reviewing course creation history in  
the future.  In addition to adding the CC role for the proper CC, the  
owner should also be switched to the "proper" owner.

> ... as a DC I'm not allowed to override directly in the creation.

Courses may contain items uploaded directly to a course, or "simple  
pages" or "simple problems" created within a course.  When it comes to  
sharing of published resources, LON-CAPA provides a mechanism for  
authors of those resources to determine who may reuse those materials.

The same logic applies to some extent to unpublished items within a  
course, whereby cloning rights can determine which other courses may  
use them.  One difference is that once a course is cloned, the Course  
Coordinator(s) of the new course can then set cloning rights on that  
course (and rights to reuse any "unpublished" course contents therein,  
some of which might have originated in a course belonging to someone  
else).

The aim with 2.9 has actually been to reduce the administrative tasks  
which a Domain Coordinator must perform, by devolving responsibility  
for course creation to the faculty who will be teaching the course.

In the future, this trend will continue by making cloning more  
granular, and also making cloning something that a Course Coordinator  
can do directly into a course that has already been created (see:  
http://bugs.loncapa.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6039)

Stuart Raeburn
MSU LON-CAPA group


>
> There seems to be some extra checking now done when creating a   
> course. If I try to create a course
> owned by one user and try to clone off a course owned by another   
> user, it does not allow this.
> I understand this from a user standpoint, but as DC I'm not allowed   
> to override directly in the creation.
>
> The current workaround looks to be either:
>
> * create the course under the same user that was the course owner of  
>  the cloned course and then
>   remove their role and add the proper CC once the course is created
>
> * or head into the course and list it as cloneable by the new CC,   
> then go in as DC and create the new course.
>
> Later,
> Mark
>
>
> --
> Mark Lucas 								email: lucasm at ohiou.edu
> 252D Clippinger Lab						phone: (740)597-2984
> Department of Physics and Astronomy		fax: (740)593-0433
> Ohio University
> Athens, OH 45701
>