[LON-CAPA-users] cloning is a good thing

[Jim Maxka]

Hi Lars -- I concur with Ray.  Cloning works really well and is a good 
practice. I just keep forgetting the click the box, clone course.   !jim!
Lars Jensen wrote:

> Hi Guy,
>
> Thanks for the answer - perhaps I just need to be a little more 
> careful getting things right when cloning. And Ray seems to be extatic 
> about cloning ;-) so I probably just need to look more careful.
>
> Lars.
>
> Guy Albertelli II wrote:
>
>> Hi Lars,
>>
>>
>>>>> Is there a quick way to wipe out all discussions in a course. 
>>>>> (This is useful when re-cycling a course for next semester.).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> We generally suggest that one use the 'clone course' feature to create
>>>> a new course that is setup like an old course. (Clone copies over all
>>>> of the included materials, and parameters etc.)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Overall this is a significantly better idea then trying to 'clean ut'
>>>> and exisiting course and trying to use it again.
>>>
>>>
>>> I see the advantages of setting up a clone, but there are also 
>>> advantages in using the same course: For example I post the same 
>>> messages (with minor modification) each semester, and I set the same 
>>> parameters in PARM. If I re-use the same course, it is very easy to 
>>> re-post the same messages since they are easily accessible,
>>
>>
>>
>> What kind of messages do you mean? (Broadcast email? Calandar
>> announcements? Discussion messages?) What makes it easier to get to
>> them?
>>
>>
>>
>>> and it is easy to remember which PARM settings to set.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cloned courses start with all of the same parameter settings as the
>> original course. Date parameters are warped forward in time to
>> hopefully be somewhere near correct...
>>
>> And in fact there is a screen in PARM specifcally meant for quickly
>> modifying the parameters of a cloned course. This is the 'Course
>> Assessment Parameters - Overview Mode' button.
>>
>>
>>
>>> Also from the admin point of view, there is less support needed if 
>>> instructors can re-use: Instructors can handle editing changes, but 
>>> are uncomfortable with "new entries" in the PARM area.
>>
>>
>>
>> Aye that is why we clone the parameters.
>>
>>
>>> For this reason, it would be nice tyo have a button to wipe out all 
>>> prior discussion.
>>
>>
>>
>> The main problem I have is I really really really don't like deleting 
>> data.
>
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