[LON-CAPA-users] Open date versus Contentopen?
lon-capa-users@mail.lon-capa.org
lon-capa-users@mail.lon-capa.org
Tue, 3 Jun 2008 11:54:19 -0400
<div>I tried what you say - sure enough, if I look at the PPRM for the prob=
lem within the page ("icons "scattered" throughout), I get the desired Open=
date and it seems to work. How bizarre that parameters do not propagate th=
rough the tree.<br><br>Since they don't propagate, wow! an awful lot of wor=
k to set open dates on a couple of hundred problems. I timed setting a few;=
in the end, I don't think I have the 6 hours it looks like it will take to=
set them all. <br><br>brew<br></div><font color=3D"#990099">-----lon-capa-=
users-admin@mail.lon-capa.org wrote: -----<br><br></font><blockquote style=
=3D"border-left: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding-right: 0px; padding-left: =
5px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 0px;">To: lon-capa-users@mail.lon-capa=
.org<br>From: Todd Ruskell <truskell@mines.edu><br>Sent by: lon-capa-=
users-admin@mail.lon-capa.org<br>Date: 06/02/2008 11:24PM<br>Subject: Re: [=
LON-CAPA-users] Open date versus Contentopen?<br><br><font face=3D"Courier =
New,Courier,monospace" size=3D"3">Brew,<br><br>Using pages does have some i=
nteresting effects. I think they're<br>starting to get used more ofte=
n now, but for a while it seemed many<br>things were not well optimized for=
pages, but I believe many of them<br>have gotten ironed out.<br><br>But di=
rectly to your issue: I ran into this a lot last summer when<br>tryin=
g to work with "Pages". I think everything below is still the<br>case=
, but I'm sure someone like Gerd or Stuart will correct me if I'm<br>wrong.=
From a LON-CAPA system standpoint, a "Page" is not any different<br>=
than a "folder" or a "sequence" except that everything appears on one<br>co=
ncatenated html page. Also, for better or for worse, LON-CAPA has<br>=
very limited cascading of parameters down through sub-folders. What<b=
r>does this mean? Assume the following course structure:<br><br>Folde=
r 1<br> Page 1.1<br> Problem 1.1.1<br> Prob=
lem 1.1.2<br> Page 1.2<br> Problem 1.2.1<br> &nbs=
p;Problem 1.2.2<br> Problem 1.1<br> Problem 1.2<br><br>If you s=
et parameters like open/close/due dates on the enclosing folder<br>of "Fold=
er 1", say by viewing the parameters of "Problem 1.1" or with<br>the "Overv=
iew" mode, the only resources affected will be "Problem 1.1"<br>and "Proble=
m 1.2". The parameters will *not* cascade further down the tree.<br><=
br>If you view, for example "Problem 1.1.1", and use PPRM to set<br>open/cl=
ose/due dates for the enclosing folder, the enclosing folder is<br>actually=
"Page 1.1", *not* "Folder 1". I for one would very much like<br>to s=
ee the automatic cascading of parameters down through all<br>sub-folders/pa=
ges, but this is apparently a bit challenging. First, it<br>could mak=
e for an even uglier PPRM page, but I suspect it has something<br>to do wit=
h not knowing for sure just how many levels may be present in<br>any part o=
f the tree. At any rate, it just doesn't happen. You should,<br=
>however, be able to use the overview mode to set the parameters for each<b=
r>"Page" in a slightly more efficient manner.<br><br><editorial comment&=
gt;<br>The current behavior of parameter cascading has the undesired side<b=
r>effect of making Pages a much less useful tool. Although arguably q=
uite<br>nice from a presentation standpoint, the management standpoint leav=
es a<br>lot to be desired. As a result, we ended up not using pages n=
early as<br>much as I'd like, but instead resorted to multi-part problems.<=
br></editorial comment><br><br>One last item. When looking at a=
"Page" you've got to be very careful<br>which resource you are setting the=
parameters of. It sounds like you're<br>using the remote control. &n=
bsp;In this case, when you view a "Page", the<br>PPRM button brings up the =
parameters for the "Page" as a whole, not a<br>particular resource within t=
he "Page". That is why you get "Content<br>Opening Date" rather than =
"Problem Opening Date". If you do not use the<br>Remote Control, you =
get the same effect by clicking on the "Set<br>Parameters" icon at the very=
top of the page. If you want to look at<br>the parameters for a part=
icular resource within the page, you need to<br>use the "Set Parameter" lin=
ks that appear scattered throughout the<br>"Page". They're actually n=
ot scattered, but appear at the top of each<br>resource. If you use t=
he embedded link, you can get the parameters for<br>one of your embedded pr=
oblems, including Open/Due Dates.<br><br>Hope that helps,<br><br>Todd<br><b=
r>Robert=5FBrewington@er.monroe.edu wrote:<br>> Yes, I do have a couple =
of "dummy" students so I can make sure what they<br>> see.<br>> <br>&=
gt; I have set both the Open Date and Content Open date for the future: Jun=
e<br>> 6, 2008 - today is Jun 2. Due date is set for Jun 18 or so. When =
I log<br>> in as the student, it shows the problems as open, the student=
can look<br>> at the problem and answer it. The due date looks correct.=
<br>> <br>> Interesting idea, that contentopen applies to non-problem=
things (like<br>> pdf files). However, I see this parameter on my probl=
em, not a different<br>> file type. So, I still don't know what ContentO=
pen means.<br>> <br>> Maybe my use of pages (rather than sequences) d=
oes something odd? I have<br>> a folder containing a bunch of "pages" ra=
ther than sequences (the icon<br>> is a puzzle piece). Each page contain=
s two problems (question mark<br>> icons). I view the problem, and selec=
t PPRM (set parameters for this<br>> resource) which shows the colored g=
rid of parameters and their settings.<br>> Folder: Final Review<br=
>> Page: Final Page 1<br>> Problem:=
FinalProblem<br>> Problem: DummyProble=
m<br>> <br>> Page: Final Page 2<br>> P=
roblem: FinalProblem <--- Setting PPRM at this point<=
br>> Problem: DummyProblem<br>> <br>> U=
sing Parameter Helper Mode, I set Due date to 6/18 and Open date to 6/6<br>=
> at the Final Review folder level. I set some earlier page individual D=
ue<br>> Dates using Parameter Overview mode (on Final Page 2, for exampl=
e).<br>> Lastly, as part of playing around I set Content Due Date at the=
Final<br>> Review folder level using the PPRM screen.<br>> <br>> =
Looking at the PPRM screen for a FinalProblem, I see Content Open date<br>&=
gt; and Content Due date. The Content Due Date Current Session Value is<br>=
> blank; it does not show the effect of the Due date which I set at the<=
br>> Final Review folder level, and the Content Open date shows the valu=
e I<br>> set at the Enclosing Map Folder level ("Final Review").<br>>=
<br>> In the PPRM screen there is no other indication of Open Date or D=
ue<br>> Date. So, it appears that I can only set Open/Due dates from the=
<br>> Menu/Parameter Settings tools, not from PPRM. On the other hand, t=
he<br>> Open date does not seem to be taking effect for some reason.<br>=
> <br>> And as I indicated, the student sees no indication of an open=
date, and<br>> can open and answer the problem today. I guess I don't r=
eally care about<br>> the ContentOpen and Due date (other than wondering=
what the heck they<br>> are); what I really need is to know why the Ope=
n date isn't having an<br>> effect.<br>> <br>> Thanks,<br>> bre=
w<br>> lon-capa-users-admin@mail.lon-capa.org wrote: -----<br>> <br>&=
gt; To: lon-capa-users@mail.lon-capa.org<br>>  =
; From: "Justin Gray" <jgray@math.sfu.ca><br>> Sent =
by: lon-capa-users-admin@mail.lon-capa.org<br>> Date: 06/0=
2/2008 03:46PM<br>> Subject: Re: [LON-CAPA-users] Open dat=
e versus Contentopen?<br>> <br>> Hi Brew,<br>> <br>&=
gt; I believe you can set the individual due dates from a sin=
gle screen<br>> at Parameter Manager -> Overview Mode<b=
r>> (Select Parameter Level at Resource Level and select t=
he enclosing<br>> folder that you want. Then select only P=
roblem Due Date from the<br>> table of parameters.)<br>>=
; <br>> If students can see the due dates, I believe the p=
roblems should be<br>> open. If your folder contains only =
problems, what you want to set is<br>> Problem Opening Dat=
e. Content Opening Date does not seem to apply to<br>> pro=
blems.<br>> <br>> It is a good idea to assign yourself =
a dummy student role in your<br>> course, so that you can =
see what your students see. It is better to<br>> do this u=
sing a different account since you will sometimes have<br>>  =
; additional privileges that other students do not when you are logged<br>&=
gt; in as yourself. You can do this as follows:<br>> <br>&=
gt; 1) Go to Manage Course Users -> Enroll a single studen=
t<br>> 2) Add a dummy username<br>> 3) Se=
lect Internally authenticated and add a dummy password<br>> <br>> &nb=
sp; Note that any parameters set at the section level will not apply=
to<br>> this dummy student if no section is assigned.<br>=
> <br>> Justin<br>> <br>> On Mon, J=
un 2, 2008 at 11:21 AM, <Robert=5FBrewington@er.monroe.edu<br>>  =
; <<a href=3D"mailto:Robert=5FBrewington@er.monroe.edu">mailto:Ro=
bert=5FBrewington@er.monroe.edu</a>>> wrote:<br>> <br>> =
I am trying to set some dates on a series of problems,=
and have<br>> a couple of questions.<br>>=
; <br>> 1) I have 50 questions in a folder. =
I set the due date for the<br>> entire folde=
r to Jun13. Now, I want to set the due dates for<br>> &nbs=
p; problems 1-5 to be Jun10, 6-12 to Jun11, 13-25 to Jun 12.<br>>=
<br>> Is there a way to set these through a=
single screen? I am<br>> setting each probl=
em individually, which is a lot of slow<br>> =
screens. Just a convenience issue...<br>> <br>> =
2) I am not seeing the Opendate. I set the Open date for a<br>> =
folder, then a bunch of due dates for the probl=
ems. The student<br>> sees the due dates, bu=
t the Open date doesn't seem to apply (for<br>> &nb=
sp; my Chemistry course). What else do I set to make the open date work?<br=
>> <br>> I also tried setting something c=
alled contentopen from the pprm<br>> screen,=
for the enclosing folder. What is this supposed to be?<br>> &nbs=
p; It also does not seem to affect the student's view of the<=
br>> problem opening.<br>> <br>>  =
; I note that the opendate does not appear in the PPRM=
parameter<br>> screen? I guess I'm just not=
e sure what I am seeing...<br>> <br>> Tha=
nks,<br>> brew<br>> <br>>  =
; =5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=
=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=
=5F=5F=5F LON-CAPA-users<br>> mailing list L=
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<br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> -- <br>> &nbs=
p; ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br>&=
gt; Justin Gray<br>> Dept. of Mathematics<br=
>> Simon Fraser University<br>> 8888 Univ=
ersity Drive<br>> Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6<br>> &nb=
sp; Canada<br>> Tel. +1 778-782-4237<br>> =
Fax. +1 778-782-4947<br>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> =5F=5F=5F=
=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=
=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F LON-CAPA-users ma=
iling<br>> list LON-CAPA-users@mail.lon-capa.org<br>> <a href=3D"http=
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org/mailman/listinfo/lon-capa-users</a><br><br>-- <br>Dr. Todd Ruskell<br>S=
enior Lecturer, Department of Physics Office: Me=
yer Hall 326<br>Colorado School of Mines =
Phone: 303-384-2080<br>1523 Illinois St=
reet =
Fax: 303-273-3919<br>Golden, CO 80401<br>=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=
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