The Syllabus plug-in for Moodle is an easy-to-use feature which allows for the integration of syllabi into the course . By displaying the syllabus document clearly and separately from other uploaded media, students have an easier time finding information that may be crucial to their success in the classroom.
Visit the GitHub page for the Syllabus plug-in to download a package.
To clone the package into your organization's own repository from the command line, clone the plug-in repository into your own Moodle install folder by doing the following at your Moodle root directory:
$ git clone https://github.com/ucla/moodle-local_syllabus local/syllabus
To configure the Syllabus plug-in with your own Moodle 2.5 instance, simply
- Place the plug-in files into your Moodle instance's "local/syllabus" directory.
- Log in to your Moodle site. Make sure you have administrative privileges.
- In the "Administration" block, follow "Site Administration" > "Notifications".
- Make sure that the Syllabus plug-in is flagged for installation, and press the "Upgrade Moodle database now" button at the bottom of the page.
- You should now have your own working version of the Syllabus plug-in.
All of the configuration work is done for you during the installation process. The necessary tables are added to your database during Moodle upgrade process in step 4 of the installation instructions.
The Syllabus plug-in is automatically hooked in to the Navigation block of a course. However, until a syllabus is uploaded for the course, students will not be able to see a link to the syllabus. To upload a course syllabus, instructors must:
- Navigate to the their course home page.
- Turn editing mode on.
- Click on the Syllabus link ("Syllabus (empty)") in the Navigation block underneath the course heading.
- Select which type of syllabus they want to upload.
- Follow the instructions on the upload page, and press "Save changes" when finished.
Once a syllabus has been uploaded to a course. Anyone with access to the course page will see a link to the syllabus in the Navigation block. Depending on the type of syllabus that is uploaded, some users may not be able to view the syllabus (for example, if the syllabus is restricted and the user has only guest access).
Otherwise, following the Navigation link will take users to a page displaying the information in the syllabus.
At any point after creating a syllabus, the instructor may alter it or remove it from the site by:
- Navigating to their course home page.
- Clicking the link to the course syllabus in the Navigation block.
- Turning editing on.
- Selecting one of the options next to the syllabus file ("Edit", "Delete", "Restrict" / "Unrestrict").
The syllabus plug-in adopts the same license that Moodle does (namely the GNU General Public License v3). See the "LICENSE" file in your plug-in directory for details.
Contributions of any form are welcome. GitHub pull requests are preferred. File any bugs, improvements, or feature requests in the plug-in's issue tracker.
As with any open-source project, the Syllabus plug-in for Moodle is always evolving. While one would hope that things would only improve, the addition of new features always opens up opportunities for new bugs to find their way into the code. Existing issues and desired improvements have been flagged with a "TODO" tag in the comments.
The Syllabus Project is an open-source plug-in for the Moodle API originally created for use by CCLE, UCLA's primary online learning environment.
Copyright 2013 UC Regents.
Initial Release.