Share Files

Sharing files and resources among courses

A frequent topic of discussion in the Using Moodle forums is how to best share files and resources among courses. There are a variety of ways to accomplish this: exporting/importing resources from one course to another; placing resources in the site file directory; using the My Files block; etc.

Discussions

The following discussions will be helpful:

* http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=65049
* http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=67532
* http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=31943

Please add useful discussions to the above list.

Tips and Tricks

Importing from other courses

The trick is to use the course administration function, import, in a course (Course2). In theory this will bring in all the resources in Course1 that point its (Course1) file structure and will include the folders. This process creates a copy in Course2, and is not linked to the other course.

Metacourse and shared files

It is possible to setup a meta course, then select one or more courses associated with metacourse. Every person enrolled in the different courses are automatically enrolled in the metacourse. As the teacher of a metacourse, use files in the course administration block to organize the shared folders and files.

In the MetaCourse, create a resource to the main directory or a specific folder or a specific file. Now click on the resource. Save the url in the web browser.

Return to a course that is associated with the metacourse. Create a link to a web page. Paste in the url of the resource located in the metacourse. Getting back to the original course could be an issue, that is why creating a link to a web page, using a separate window is probably the best solution.

Actually this technique will work with any html link in a page. For example, a series of links could be placed in a label or in a topic section description.

Students will go to the folder and be able to drill down but there is not a Parent folder, icon, so they will have to use the breadcrumb. Teachers will have editing rights to the MetaCourse files, unless in the MetaCourse, teachers permissions are over-ridden and prevented from "Manage files". In which case they will be like students.