Annotation of loncom/html/adm/help/tex/Domconfig_Cataloging_Courses.tex, revision 1.1
1.1 ! raeburn 1: LON-CAPA courses can be both self-cataloging, and also manually cataloged.
! 2:
! 3: Self-cataloging uses the institutional course code assigned to the
! 4: course when it is first created, or when the course is modified by
! 5: a Domain Coordinator via \char`\"{}Modify a course\char`\"{}. If a
! 6: course has no institutional code it will not appear in the category:
! 7: Official courses (with institutional codes).
! 8:
! 9: A hierarchy of categories and sub-categories can be defined which
! 10: are independent of institutional course codes. These categories might
! 11: be used to catalog courses in the domain to which the \char`\"{}official
! 12: courses\char`\"{} designation does not apply, or they might be used
! 13: to provide alternative ways of cataloging official courses.
! 14:
! 15: Besides definition of the hierarchy of categories and sub-categories,
! 16: the \char`\"{}cataloging of courses\char`\"{} screen provides two
! 17: options to be set for the domain by a Domain Coordinator, which control:
! 18:
! 19: \begin{itemize}
! 20: \item Who may hide a course from the course catalog, if the course would
! 21: ordinarily appear by virtue of having an institutional course code,
! 22: or having been assigned to a custom category/sub-category.
! 23: \item Who may assign a custom category/subcategory to a course
! 24: \end{itemize}
! 25: In both cases, the choice is between a Domain Coordinator and a Course
! 26: Coordinator. For the former, hiding of courses and assignment of categories
! 27: will be via \char`\"{}Modify Course\char`\"{}, while for the latter
! 28: these operations will be via \char`\"{}Modify Parameters\char`\"{}
! 29: (\char`\"{}Set Course Environment\char`\"{} option in sub-menu).
! 30:
! 31: Definition of custom categories is by the Domain Coordinator. The
! 32: \char`\"{}Cataloging of courses\char`\"{} interface allows custom
! 33: categories and sub-categories to be defined and reordered. There is
! 34: one category listed at the top level in the hierarchy which behaves
! 35: differently to the others - the category: \char`\"{}Official courses
! 36: (with institutional codes)\char`\"{}. This is the category which is
! 37: used for self-cataloged courses: the option is to either display or
! 38: not display.
! 39:
! 40: Although sub-categories can not be defined via this interface for
! 41: this \char`\"{}system\char`\"{} category (unlike the other \char`\"{}custom\char`\"{}
! 42: categories), customization of two routines in localenroll.pm - \&instcode\_defaults()
! 43: and \&instcode\_format() are used to automatically generate linked
! 44: select boxes which will be displayed when the course catalog is shown
! 45: to allow users to include limits to their searches for official courses.
! 46: If these routines have not been customized, the catalog for official
! 47: courses will display all courses with institutional codes, which have
! 48: not been specifically hidden.
! 49:
! 50: When \&instcode\_format() has been customized it will populate perl
! 51: structures (hashes and arrays) which LON-CAPA will use to generate
! 52: the Javascript code embedded in the course catalog page which is used
! 53: in the functioning of the linked select boxes. The contents of the
! 54: hashes and arrays are determined from the complete list of institutional
! 55: course codes used in the domain. For example at MSU, the following
! 56: linked select boxes are displayed for the official courses catalog:
! 57: Year, Semester, Department, Number.
! 58:
! 59: The course catalog is useful in domains where Course Coordinators
! 60: have opted to allow self-enrollment in their courses. In such cases,
! 61: students can include a flag to only display courses allowing self
! 62: enrollment when they display courses from the catalog. Course Coordinators
! 63: will be advised, when enabling self-enrollment, if a courses is currently
! 64: unlisted in the course catalog (and therefore difficult for students
! 65: to locate), and the action to take to rectify the reason why there
! 66: is no listing, which could be because:
! 67:
! 68: \begin{itemize}
! 69: \item the course is hidden
! 70: \item the course has no institutional code
! 71: \item the course has not been assigned to any custom categories
! 72: \item the course has an institutional code, but display of the official
! 73: courses catalog is disabled
! 74: \end{itemize}
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