Open Homeroom, a Drupal-for-One-Classroom Experiment

Open Homeroom:

OpenHomeroom.net

I imagine that the following story is not unique to me. In response to a bunch of wining from fellow teachers about how complicated Drupal is, I started making some tutorials to show what could be done easily for a single classroom with Drupal without any coding or even extra modules, other than the core ( http://flossed.org/homeroom_homework_site_with_drupal6 ).

After doing the above, I kind of lost site of my goal and got more and more involved in making the site "better" -- by adding and configuring views, cck, etc. and slight theme adjustments. No programming. Really, just organization taking advantage of a flexible theme. Now I'm almost ready to give it a try with some students. If anyone else is interested in building on/improving it, please read on.

FEATURES:

• All main tasks are in the primary menu across the top of each page.


• The most important information is displayed in blocks, the most important just under the primary menu and then down the sides and along the bottom.


• I started with d07 "Artisteer-generated theme," but had to switch because of persistent erros. I wanted a theme with a lot of blocks and great built-in features. I chose 0 Point. One great feature of 0 Point is that the header image can be replaced with multiple images that 0 Point will rotate automatically as users navigate the site.

Here's a brief summary of what Open Homeroom wants to offer:

Users can (depending on whether they are teachers or students) ...

• Post Assignments and answer questions about them.


• Post lessons and explanations.


• Track birthdays.


• Access emergency info.


• Link assignments to gradebooks, set up categories and criteria for all students.


• Track assignments by date and by subject.


• Contact students and teachers individually or in groups via messaging, friends lists, and e-mail.


• Post "status" messages and respond to them "facebook-style."


• Upload images easily as attachments, as posts in their own right, and as slideshows that can be incorporated into other posts.


• Assign teams to work collaboratively.


• Embed video and audio from external sources into posts on this site.


• Post quizzes and answer questions.

MODULES AND ARRANGEMENTS:

• Advanced Profile


• Advanced Forum


• Forums used as courses


• Forums use event module to add date field


• Latest Forum Block shows latest assignments


• Students comment to ask questions


• Upcoming events block from events module


• Students use blogs as primary work content type


• View of Assignments by subject (per individual forum) shown as a block


• View of latest student work shown by taxonomy (same names as forums, different term/numbers (block)


• Block made of menu items stolen from Navigation menu: "My Menu" including "My Work" (blog)


• Primary Menu has Latest forums, Calendar (from events) and Contact.


• Primary Menu for teacher also has Add Assignments, Quiz Results and Add Work.


• Using gradebook module, userpoints and forums/taxonomy to categorize posts. When a teacher posts an assignment, s/he chooses course (forum), type of userpoint (work or citizenship), gradebook (also using same names as forums). When a student posts work (blog), s/he chooses course (taxonomy), and type of usrpoint.


• Quizzes are added to the forum taxonomy so that they show up in the recent blogs block.


• Userpoints and "status" (facebook style) from Advanced Profile add a lot of fun, as do the avatar/user images and additional "personal info" bio fields that can show up on "My page."


• User Relationships


• Logintoboggan


• Image


• Slide Show (a nice touch for lessons and how-to)

FLOW:

I have put the emphasis on a)posting and reading and discussing assignments, b) posting and responding to work, and then c) throwing in some fun. That is why the main tasks for each user-role, are placed in the Primary Menu across the top of each page.

You might notice that I have tried to focus on assignments and responses, not quizzes and the gradebook, although both are available. Of course, the neat thing about Drupal is that you can give it the empahsis you think is important.

It is very likely that, due to the youth of this project, it is overly complex. I look forward to some help seeing the forest as well as the trees.

The Demonstration Site Details

Openhomeroom.net

Example Log-ins:

Teacher:

Student:

I'd be glad to work with anyone with an interest in finishing and extending these ideas.

As I said, this is an experiment. Although way below the capabilities of the Drupal community, I still think it's worth demonstrating what can be done for schools simply and inexpensively. If you are interested in giving advice or getting involved I'd be glad to hear from you. You're invited to the "mother" site, http://flossed.org/open_homeroom_announcement where I've posted a tar ball of the files and the database and started a group in case anyone's interested.

If you do build on it or improve it, please report to the group (and me) so we can learn together.

Thank you,

David