Moodle

add a new flag to course settings to control whether course is active independently from its visibility

Details

  • Type: New Feature New Feature
  • Status: Open Open
  • Priority: Major Major
  • Resolution: Unresolved
  • Affects Version/s: 1.9
  • Fix Version/s: None
  • Component/s: Course
  • Labels:
    None
  • Affected Branches:
    MOODLE_19_STABLE

Description

There are recurring requests from users to have more control over accessibility and visibility, which I think can be addressed by having two separate flags, one controlling whether courses are visible and another whether they are active (accessible). The instructors can then clearly see both states as icons in edit mode. In normal mode, it would probably make sense to include a lock icon instead of enrollment icons to indicate the inactive state, whereas visibility could be handled as it is now.

Usage scenerios:

Visible and active – the obvious usage – we have it now.

Invisible and inactive – the obvious usage – we have it now.

Visible but inactive – give us accountability and predictability when needed. For example, we have courses that are offered every other semester alternatively. We could have them always visible just toggle whether they are active.

Invisible but active – gives us more flexibility for less typical usage scenerios. For example, one could have an invisible but active metacourse so some activity or resource is linked directly from its child courses without having that course pollute the course categories. It also be possible to create private courses for instructors which are not visible to other users.

Issue Links

This issue is duplicated by:
MDL-11148 A new option when creating a course - visible to students Trivial Closed
This issue has been marked as being related by:
MDL-11350 Misleading description OR not functional setting for "allowvisiblecoursesinhiddencategories" Minor Closed

Activity

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Robert Brenstein added a comment -

Could we at least get a new field in the database for those daredevils who would want to tackle a hack? I wonder whether such a futuristic field could already be added to 1.8 while it is still in beta.

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Robert Brenstein added a comment - Could we at least get a new field in the database for those daredevils who would want to tackle a hack? I wonder whether such a futuristic field could already be added to 1.8 while it is still in beta.
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Martin Dougiamas added a comment -

The workaround is to set an enrolment key on the course and not tell students what it is. It's just like a door with a lock. This allows you to still let in visitors if you like.

But I agree this is not obvious enough, and that a new setting might be a good idea. We'd need new capabilities too (to allow certain people to enter those courses and others not to).

Show
Martin Dougiamas added a comment - The workaround is to set an enrolment key on the course and not tell students what it is. It's just like a door with a lock. This allows you to still let in visitors if you like. But I agree this is not obvious enough, and that a new setting might be a good idea. We'd need new capabilities too (to allow certain people to enter those courses and others not to).
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Robert Brenstein added a comment -

I hope this will get seriously considered for Moodle 2. Enrolment key is a not a real workabout since the course appearance is the same thus confusing students. If we had separate flag, we can have separate css control of appearance.

I am talking about being able to support different course modes:

visible and active – the standard mode
invisible and inactive – the disabled mode
visible but inactive – the inactive mode
invisible but active – the stealth mode

If you search forums well enough, you will find a number of discussions that could be solved fairly easily if we had the visibility and accessibility controlled independently.

Note that this proposal asks only to add the flags with minimum support they require (some interface to set them and capabilities to control who can set them).

Show
Robert Brenstein added a comment - I hope this will get seriously considered for Moodle 2. Enrolment key is a not a real workabout since the course appearance is the same thus confusing students. If we had separate flag, we can have separate css control of appearance. I am talking about being able to support different course modes: visible and active – the standard mode invisible and inactive – the disabled mode visible but inactive – the inactive mode invisible but active – the stealth mode If you search forums well enough, you will find a number of discussions that could be solved fairly easily if we had the visibility and accessibility controlled independently. Note that this proposal asks only to add the flags with minimum support they require (some interface to set them and capabilities to control who can set them).

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Dates

  • Created:
    Updated:
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