A Large organisation means multiple Moodle themes…. which means complexity when implementing customisations for design, functionality and developing engaging eLearning content.
What can Quicksilver theme do?
Upload custom design graphics for the following regions:
Desktop background
Utilities bar
Global Nav
Breadcrumbs
Main background
Footer
Content heading styles
Change your layout – 1, 2 or 3 column from the one theme at site or course level
Settings page modifications: All customisation can be accessed by the user from the settings page
Custom images and urls: Ability to add custom banners footers and icons with URLs to header and footer
Select a colour palette to start from
Phase 2: Additional skins and palettes can be easily added to the collection
We are TAFE NSW10 Institutes / 141 campuses:Hunter Institute, Sydney Institute, Illawarra Institute, North Coast Institute, Western Institute, Western Sydney Institute, New England Institute, Riverina Institute, South Sydney Institute.4 Support units:> Teaching Educational Support> DEC TAFE international> TAFE Strategy> TAFE Customer Support Facts:Students: 500,000Online students:?Teachers: 10,000Department of Education and Communities is the largest closed network in the Southern Hemisphere and we are Microsoft's largest Licence in the word!People Image by The Noun project : http://thenounproject.com/noun/community/#icon-No2280
A Large organisation means multiple Moodle themes…. which means complexity when implementing customisations for design, functionality and developing engaging eLearning content. It is important to understand the environment we work in and the technical philosophy for what we do and what lead us to some of the solutions we have come up with.Considerations that could not be ignored for up takeSo how have we been currently managing multiple themes?Each institutes has its own IT department and servers Each institute is its own business and is heading more so in a commercial direction at the same time courses are heading to a more centralised method of deliveryThe responsibility is on the teaching staff or if they are lucky they have workforce development teams of one or two people who may or may not have experience in design/ development.Access to an administrator but can be they extent of technical expertiseAsking the hard questionsWhat do you want to use it for- Will it have more of a collaborative focus- Or will the focus be based around completing tasksYour ModelCentralised structure - Benefits - easier management and maintenance - Quality control - Consistency of presentationsIndependent structure - Flexibility for customisation to individual courses - Customisation tailored to users
Separate themes per course / category for minor changesWe knew it was going to be a collaboration site but having no knowledge of Moodle didn’t quite know what that would mean. People love to change their minds – an absolute nightmare for designers and developersHow did the eHub startWe started with 12 themes just because there was a request for the banner to have a graphic in the topics and not in the forum pages.1 site wide one4 categories – topics4 categories – forumsCollaborations themeHubs themeIndustry themeThen we decided to do the painful process and consolidate so we have one main folder and then only had theme specific assets in the theme folders.
DEMO - So what can the quicksilver theme actually do?Upload custom design graphics for the following regions:Desktop backgroundUtilities barGlobal NavBreadcrumbsMain backgroundFooterContent heading stylesChange your layout – 1, 2 or 3 column from the one theme at site or course levelSettings page modifications: All customisation can be accessed by the user from the settings pageCustom images and urls: Ability to add custom banners footers and icons with URLs to header and footerSelect a colour palette to start fromPhase 2:Additional skins and palettes can be easily added to the collection -
What will be dynamicWhat will users apart from the administrator be creating and adding and how?Eg: To use navigation standardManualWhat part of content will be manually created how will this be managed and how do you want it to be displayed?eHub: To create custom navigation for entry to courses from the home page Static customisationsElements that won’t be modified by the usersBannersColour schemesAssets in the content – Equella Graphics Collection, , Interactive content, Dreamweaver templates, captivate templateGlobal customisationsWhat needs to remain consistent from page to page Menu links The way the login works (automatic )Search
Our philosophy--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Written as the Manifesto for technical teams around the word!Find a way to work within the contentFind a way to use the custom css in the interfaceLast resort modifying the theme
So our whole concept for our configurable theme…..About Modular design and what makes it so attractive!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Keeping this in mind the first thing to look at is Modular design.This is really important because this dictates how you develop your themeSo lets briefly take a look at what is modular design for those not in the knowSomething very generic which can fit or be adapted easily for any scenario.Something you can pull apart Something that can be connectedConnecting to something elseIt needs to be…SimpleWell designed interface without to much visual stimulation: beauty could be in how well you have designed and created your gradient for the navigation barConsistency of layout: not to much change between pages will make users feel more comfortableSelf contained assetsCSS style sheets and JS style sheets JQuery and theme rollerWidgetsRe-useable assets: Such as graphicsIntegration between other systems and frameworks: PWIK for reportingWhat can be interoperable:eg - Learning objects and assets which can be used between different LMSsMinimal instructionMaking it reasonably intuitive so that users don’t have to go searching Google for helpMaintainabilityDon’t be afraid to separate out assets in the backend (if our one of the privileged few with gold pated access)Logo website:http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/vector-logo/ikea_125924_download.html
Development team…--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Glen Byram: Programmerwho aim in life is to become the ultimate Moodle rock starAntonio Artese : Designerwho’s wish it is to be the ultimate Moodle rock star’s side kickRenee Lance (Me) : Designermy wish is to retire early and be kept in a lifestyle I have become accustomed toOur really helpful trusty testers and users…--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------who have been having a play and letting us know all the bugs that had escaped us:North Coast InstituteNatalie Denmeade – who know everything MoodleWester instituteFiona Watts / Sally Brownlow - Hunter InstituteMark Clarke – who broke a toe when he gave his mates new wheel chair a spin and accidentally hit the turbo and end up embedded into a wall.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is a TAFE wide asset so all institutes will be able to use this and they can downloaded through Equella
Development team…--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Glen Byram: Programmerwho aim in life is to become the ultimate Moodle rock starAntonio Artese : Designerwho’s wish it is to be the ultimate Moodle rock star’s side kickRenee Lance (Me) : Designermy wish is to retire early and be kept in a lifestyle I have become accustomed toOur really helpful trusty testers and users…--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------who have been having a play and letting us know all the bugs that had escaped us:North Coast InstituteNatalie Denmeade – who know everything MoodleWester instituteFiona Watts / Sally Brownlow - Hunter InstituteMark Clarke – who broke a toe when he gave his mates new wheel chair a spin and accidentally hit the turbo and end up embedded into a wall.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is a TAFE wide asset so all institutes will be able to use this and they can downloaded through Equella
Natalie to talk about her experience
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