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Authoring - Bulk Actions

If you want to handle several learning resources in the same way, for example give all courses of a series the same status, you do this in Authoring in one step instead of course by course. To do so, select the learning resources in the first column of the table. As soon as at least one is selected, the buttons for bulk actions (Bulk Actions) appear above the table, from "Send E-mail" to "Delete". The buttons for bulk actions and the menu under the 3 dots are visible to authors, learning resource managers and administrators.

Clicking on the 3 dots at the end of a table row opens a menu with actions only for the learning resource of this row.

Buttons for bulk actions above the table and the opened 3-dot menu of a row with Settings, Course editor and Members management at the top

Tip

If you select the checkbox in the title bar of the table, all learning resources will be selected at once. If the table spreads over several pages, the checkbox opens a menu: "Select page's rows" selects the learning resources of the displayed page, "Select all ... rows" all learning resources of the table.

Ticked checkbox in the title bar marked, all rows of the table are selected and the buttons for bulk actions appear

Send E-mail

If you want to reach the members of several courses with one message, for example before a change in the course offering, select the courses and click on "Send E-mail". In the dialog, you specify who receives the email: all course owners, all course coaches and all participants are available.

Add a subject and the message. If necessary, add an attachment and a copy to yourself.

Important

You can send the email to all courses that are displayed to you. This also includes courses which are visible to all authors. You do not have to be a member of the course to use this function.

Change status

If several learning resources are to be published or finished at the same time, set their status in one step. Click on "Change status", select the publication status that should apply to all selected learning resources, and click on "Change".

Modify owners

If the responsibility for several learning resources changes, for example when an author changes jobs, you adjust the owners of all selected learning resources together. The wizard guides you through four steps: In the first, it shows all owners of the selected learning resources, and you remove them from several learning resources at the same time. In the second, you add new owners, in the third, you review the changes. In the last step, you choose whether OpenOlat sends an email notification.

Metadata and settings

If several learning resources belong together, for example the courses of a continuing education series, you standardize their metadata and settings in one pass instead of editing each learning resource individually. After clicking "Metadata and settings", the wizard "Change settings" opens. It only changes the selected learning resources for which you are owner, learning resource manager or administrator.

In the first step "Sections", you select what you want to edit. The wizard then only guides you through the selected sections and ends with the step "Overview", which lists the planned changes. In "Metadata", "Info", "Authors rights", "Execution" and "Toolbar", OpenOlat only applies the fields for which you tick the checkbox "Change". If you leave a ticked field empty in "Metadata", "Info" or "Execution", the existing data is deleted.

The sections in the order of the wizard:

  • "Metadata": "Implementation format" (only for courses, e.g. "Exam course") as well as "License" with "Licensor" (when licenses are enabled).
  • "Info": "Authors / taught by", "Main language", "Expenditure of work", the display settings of the info page and "Release OER catalogues and search engines", see Section "Info".
  • "Subjects": add or remove subjects. When the catalog is enabled, the section is called "Subjects / Catalog".
  • "Execution": set "Execution period" and "Location" uniformly. For the execution period, "Anytime", "Time period", "Begin and end date" and "One-day" are available; what the options do is described in the course settings. With "One-day", you enter a day in the field "Date", and the "Overview" then shows "Execution period: One-day:" with this date.
  • "Administrative access": add or remove organisations, see Section "Administrative access".
  • "Authors rights": add or remove the rights "embed" ("Reference"), "copy" and "export content" ("Download") for all other authors.
  • "Toolbar": switch tools of the toolbar on or off.

The wizard only offers "Execution" and "Toolbar" if at least one course is selected, and only applies the changes to courses.

Section "Info"

If several courses are to show the same details on their info page, for example the events and the certificate, you define these details in the section "Info" for all of them at once instead of opening each course individually. What the display settings do on the info page is described in the section Display settings of the course settings.

Step Info with Change ticked: text fields, display settings of the info page with No change, On and Off, and the release for OER catalogues, valid for all selected learning resources

Each field and each group carries the checkbox "Change". Only when you tick it do the input fields appear. The section shows, in this order:

  • "Authors / taught by", "Main language" and "Expenditure of work": text fields for all types of learning resources. The entry replaces the previous value in all selected learning resources.
  • "Display on info page": "Events", "Meet your teachers", "Certificate" and "Credit points".
  • "Members displayed as teacher": "Teachers in events", "Coaches" and "Course owners".
  • "Release OER catalogues and search engines": "On" or "Off" for all selected learning resources. The field only appears if the OAI-PMH module is enabled.

For the settings under "Display on info page" and "Members displayed as teacher", you choose "No change", "On" or "Off" for each setting. "No change" is preselected and leaves the setting in each course as it is. If you set "Meet your teachers" to "On", the wizard requires at least one role set to "On" under "Members displayed as teacher". OpenOlat only changes the roles in courses in which "Meet your teachers" is switched on or is switched on in this run.

Important

OpenOlat only applies the settings under "Display on info page" and "Members displayed as teacher" to courses. If there is no course among the selected learning resources, they remain locked. "Credit points" can only be changed if credit points are enabled in at least one selected course. Settings that are specified by an external management also remain locked.

Section "Administrative access"

If several learning resources are to be assigned to another organisation, for example after a restructuring, you adjust their Administrative access here for all of them at once. What the Administrative access does is described on the page Course settings - Tab Share. The section is only available if the Organisations module is enabled.

Marked fields Add organisation and Remove organisation, here for 2 learning resources

The section has two fields:

  • "Add organisation" offers the organisations in which you are author, learning resource manager or administrator.
  • "Remove organisation" offers the organisations to which the selected learning resources are assigned.

A learning resource always remains assigned to at least one organisation. OpenOlat therefore only removes an organisation if the learning resource still keeps one of its previous organisations afterwards. If you only select organisations to remove and a learning resource would be left without an organisation, the section shows the notice "Some organisations cannot be removed from learning resources because they are the only organisation of the learning resource."

An organisation that you add in the same run does not count here. If you select the new organisation to add and the previous one to remove, OpenOlat adds the new one and keeps the previous one, without showing a notice. To move learning resources to another organisation, therefore run the wizard twice:

  1. In the first run, select the new organisation under "Add organisation" and complete the wizard.
  2. In the second run, select the previous organisation under "Remove organisation".

Administrators can also assign courses to an organisation in the system administration in the "Learning resources" tab, described under Module Organisations.

Step "Overview"

Before OpenOlat changes anything, you check in the step "Overview" what the wizard will apply. The overview lists each marked change with its new value per section, in the section "Info" for example "Events: on". Next to it, it shows for which learning resources the change applies: "All", a number such as "1 learning resource", or "None" if nothing changes in any learning resource. A click on this entry shows the titles of the learning resources concerned. A setting left on "No change" does not appear in the overview. If a section has no marked change, it shows "No Changes made." OpenOlat only applies the changes with "Finish". With "Cancel" and then "Do not save data", you discard them.

Copy

A copy is worthwhile if you want to reuse learning resources for a new semester or create a backup copy. With the button "Copy" above the table, you copy several learning resources at once. With "Copy" in the menu under the 3 dots at the end of a row, you copy only the learning resource of this row.

You then find copied learning resources in the tab "My entries". OpenOlat adds the suffix "(copy)" to the title; you can change the title as desired afterwards.

Delete

If you no longer need learning resources, tidy up Authoring by deleting them. The owners of the learning resource, learning resource managers and administrators may delete.

With the button "Delete" above the table, you delete several learning resources at once. You also delete a single learning resource via the 3 dots at the end of its table row and the option "Delete".

For safety, you confirm the action once more. The owners of the learning resource will be notified by email, if configured.

After deletion, the learning resources will only appear in the "Deleted" tab (trash function) for the respective owners, learning resource managers, and administrators.

As the owner, you can restore deleted learning resources. Only administrators or learning resource managers can permanently delete learning resources.

Open learning resource

To work with a learning resource, click on its title in the table. OpenOlat then opens the learning resource.

Settings

If you want to change the details of a learning resource, open its settings directly from the table. To do so, click on "Settings" in the menu under the 3 dots. OpenOlat opens the settings of the learning resource in the tab "Metadata". You edit the information that appears on the info page, such as description, objectives and requirements, in the tab "Info".

You open the info page itself in the learning resource via the link "Info page" in the toolbar.

You can find more about this topic on the page "Set up info page".

Open editor

To edit the content of a learning resource, open its editor directly from the table. The entry in the menu under the 3 dots names the editor: for a course "Course editor", for a test "Test editor", for a form "Form editor" and for a video "Video editor". For all other learning resources, such as CP learning content, wiki, blog, podcast or glossary, the entry is called "Edit content".

You only see the entry for learning resources that can be edited and that are neither in the status "Finished" nor in the trash.

The pencil symbol in the column "Edit content" opens the same editor. You show this column yourself if needed, see Configure columns. The tooltip of the symbol names the editor.

Further options for individual learning resources

Clicking on the 3 dots at the end of a table row opens a menu with several options.

Actions in the menu under the 3 dots always refer to the single learning resource of this row. With the buttons above the table, on the other hand, you carry out actions for several learning resources.

The entries "Settings", the entry for the editor and "Members management" only appear if you are owner of the learning resource, learning resource manager or administrator.

Important

If you want to release learning resources to external OER catalogues and search engines, you will no longer find the action "Release external OER catalog" in the menu under the 3 dots . There is no bulk action for it above the table either. You release a single learning resource in its settings with the checkbox "Allow indexing of metadata": Learning resource > Administration > Settings > Tab "Share". Only there does OpenOlat warn you if the learning resource is not yet published or lacks a required license, described under External OER catalogues and search engines. You release several learning resources with the bulk action "Metadata and settings", in the section "Info" via the field "Release OER catalogues and search engines", see Section "Info". The filter of the same name "Release external OER catalog", which you show above the table under "More...", only shows the released or the not released learning resources and does not change any release.

Members management

Here you organise the members of a learning resource. You can find more information on this in the chapter Members management.

Export content

This allows you to export your learning resources as a ZIP file, for example as a backup or for import into another system.

Duplicate as learning path

If the table row is a conventional course, the menu also shows the option "Duplicate as learning path". OpenOlat then creates a copy as a learning path course, and the original version is preserved as a conventional course.

Copy with wizard

If the table row is a learning path course, the menu also shows the option "Copy with wizard". The wizard guides you step by step through the copy and lets you choose which parts of the course are taken over, described under Copy a course with wizard.

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Further information

Mentioned on this page
Course Settings - Tab Execution >
Course Settings - Tab Info >
Course settings - Tab Share >
Module Organisations >
Authoring - Overview >
Members management >
Learning path course - Overview >
Copy a course with wizard >

Further reading
Creating Courses >
How do I create my first OpenOlat course? >
Course elements in the Course editor >
How can I have my courses found by search engines? >

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