Sloodle Menu Block

From SLIS Second Life Wiki

Sloodle Versions: 0.2, 0.3 (?)

The Sloodle Menu Block is an optional add-on for your Moodle site which you can use to provide extra information and aid navigation of Sloodle resources. It has been available since Sloodle 0.2, and the version numbering follows the main module, so if you use version 0.3 of the Sloodle module, then you should use version 0.3 of the Sloodle menu block.

Contents 1 What does it look like? 2 Where is it? 3 What does it show? 3.1 All Users 3.1.1 Avatar Information 3.1.2 Object Distributor 3.1.3 Course Activities 3.1.4 Login Zone 3.2 Teachers 3.2.1 User Management 3.2.2 Course Settings 3.3 Administrators 3.3.1 Sloodle Configuration 3.3.2 Notecard Setup Page 4 How do I install it? 5 Developer Information

What does it look like?

The exact appearance depends upon the version you install, and on your Moodle theme. Additionally, the visible entries on it will change depending on your capabilities on the Moodle site: students will not see the links which teachers and administrators will see, for example. The following images show versions 0.21 and 0.3, in different Moodle themes:

Where is it?

Blocks can be added to various pages in Moodle, but most commonly to course pages. If the Sloodle Menu Blocks is installed on your Moodle site, you can add it as follows:

1. View the page where you want to add the block
2. Turn editing on (click the "Turn editing on" button)
3. Locate the "Blocks" section (usually at the bottom right)
4. Click the "Add..." box
5. Look/scroll down the list, and click on "Sloodle Menu"
6. Adjust the position by clicking the arrows in the block header
7. De-activate edit mode

What does it show?

All Users

All (non-guest) users will see the following information/links:

Avatar Information

The first item displayed is the name of your Second Life avatar (if it registered with the Moodle site). You can click your avatar name to view your Sloodle profile (which shows the avatar linked to your account, and, in Sloodle 0.3, a list of user-centric objects you have authorised). The first link below that will also lead to the user's Sloodle profile.

Object Distributor

Version 0.21 shows a link to the site's Moodle Distribution Interface. The equivalent in Sloodle 0.3 is the Sloodle Distributor Module, although since multiple Distributor modules can be added to a site, a single link in the block is no longer possible.

Course Activities

Instead of the distribution link, version 0.3 shows a link to a page listing all Sloodle modules in the current course. This can be useful for finding Controllers and distributors.

Login Zone

All versions dislay a LoginZone link, although there is a key difference between them. Sloodle 0.21 and earlier only allowed a single LoginZone per site, although Sloodle 0.3 allows one per course. Therefore, version 0.21 of the menu will link to the site's LoginZone, while version 0.3 will link to the LoginZone for whatever course is currently being accessed. (If it is crossed out, then there is no LoginZone data for the current course).

Teachers

In any context where the user is a teacher, the following links will be visible:

User Management

This is a useful set of pages which let you view and manipulate the Sloodle profiles of users, such as searching by avatar name, or removing avatar associations. For more information, see Sloodle User Management.

Course Settings

Sloodle 0.3 allows the specification of course-wide settings (see Sloodle Course Settings). This link in version 0.3 of the menu allows quick access to the Sloodle course settings page.

Administrators

Only site administrators can see the following links:

Sloodle Configuration

Links to the configuration page for the entire Sloodle module, where site-wide changes can be made.

Notecard Setup Page

Sloodle 0.21 and earlier made heavy use of 'sloodle_config' notecards to configure objects in Second Life, but only administrators could do this. In Sloodle 0.3, the use of such notecards is much reduced, although teachers can create their own notecards by viewing their Sloodle Controller Module.

How do I install it?

If you are a Moodle administrator, then you can install the Sloodle Menu Block quite easily. If you are using Sloodle 0.3, then you can download it along with the module; if not, you will need to manually download the appropriate version from the list of releases. Installation instructions are provided on the Install Sloodle page.

Developer Information

The Sloodle Menu Block is very basic, and does not use any database resources. The processing performed within the block's source code is minimal, although it does rely on the module for some functionality.

This page is part of the Sloodle documentation
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