Manage Files and Courses

Move files from a course element of the type folder to a locked storage location

In the learning platform, you can create storage locations within courses which only you yourself or other course administrators are allowed to access.

Objective: You separate those files in the learning platform which are supposed to be examined and revise them step by step. Afterwards, make the "cleaned" files available to your students again.

How to proceed?

1. Open the course and switch to the course editor.
2. Go to the storage folder of the course.
3. Create a new subfolder.
4. If necessary, move problematic files from the course element Folder to the new subfolder.
5. You do not need to publish the course, since these changes become immediately effective. 

Watch our short Screencast to become familiar with this approach. For now, the screencast is just available in German.

More on the topic course

Download files to your local computer and delete them

The learning platform allows you to download multiple files in a single operation to your local hard disk.

Objective: You download the files which are to be revised to your local computer so that you can comfortably edit them.

How to proceed?

1. Open the course and switch to the course editor.
2. Go to the storage folder.
3. If necessary, go to the subfolder in which the data to be processed are located.
4. Select the files you want to download in one step.
5. "Zip" these files, i.e. create a package containing the compressed files.
6. Download the ZIP-package.
7. You can now delete the files in the storage folder.
8. On your computer, you can now unpack the files in the usual way and start processing them.

Don't worry, it sounds more complicated than it actually is. Watch our short Screencast for a demonstration of the individual steps. For now, the screencast is just available in German.

More on the topic folder

Block course elements for learners 

Objective: You have many documents in a course element which you do not want to provide to learners anymore or are no longer allowed to provide. For this purpose, you want to block the complete course element.

How to proceed?

1. Open the course.
2. Start the course editor.
3. Select the course element you want to block from the course navigation on the left.
4. Now, the configuration screens for this course element are displayed in the middle of the window.
5. Click on the tab Visibility.
6. In the next step, click on the first checkbox, which says  Blocked for learners .
7. Subsequently, you need to Publish the course as usual. Simply use the function of the same name in the menu Editor tools on the right screen page.
8. You have achieved your goal: The course element is now invisible for learners.

Of course, we have also explained this workflow once again in a Screencast . For now, the screencast is just available in German.

More on the topic course element functions.

Limit courses to owners ("B") and manage owners

Objective: You have courses that you are currently not using and  which you want to lock for others.

How to proceed?

1. Open the course.
2. Select the down arrow from the course tools in the upper middle section.
3. In the menu, click on Details and settings . You will now be redirected to the  Detailed view  of the course.
4. In the menu Learning resource on the right, select the entry Change properties .  
5. In the next step, click on Only owners of this learning resource  under the option  Access have .
6. Save this setting.
7. Now, you can close the dialogue using the cross in the upper right corner. To close the detailed view, click on Close , which can also be found in the upper right-hand corner.

For a quick and easy recapitulation of these steps, watch our short Screencast. For now, the screencast is just available in German.

Further information on the detailed view.

Export and delete courses

Objective: You have courses in the learning platform that were successfully completed and that are thus no longer needed online. You want to archive the courses offline and delete them subsequently.

How to proceed?

1. Open the course.
2. Select the down arrow from the course tools in the upper middle section.
3. In the menu, click on Details and settings . You will now be redirected to the  Detailed view  of the course.
4. In the menu Learning resource on the right, select the entry Export content .
5. Now, you have the possibility to choose from different export options. If you want to save all course information, e.g. contents and posts / results of the participants, then simply select the second option OPAL c ourse including all learners' data.
6. Depending on the size of the course and the period of time it was in use, the learning platform might need some time to gather all the information which belong to the course. The information gathered are saved in a ZipArchive and offered for download.
7. Keep this archive safe because you can use it like a backup and, if needed, import the data back into the learning platform.
8. You can now delete the course. Leave the detailed view open and simply press Delete .

Principally, you have now successfully deleted your course. However, you should note that the learning platform offers a recycle bin functionality just in case you want to restore the deleted courses within a time span of 90 days. The courses will be automatically deleted after those 90 days have passed. If you want to immediately remove the complete course from the learning platform, you need to take five further steps:

1. Go to the tab Teach & Learn.
2. Click on the entry My courses in the navigation bar on the left.
3. You will see a button at the top right stating Open my entries . Click on this button.
4. In the navigation bar on the left, you will now find the Deleted entries . Select this entry.
5. You will see a table containing the learning resources of your recycle bin. Your course should be included. In this table on the right, you will find the function Remove . If you click on it, your course will be irrevocably removed from the learning platform.

This process also sounds more complicated than it actually is. For a quick and easy recapitulation of these steps, refer to our short Screencast . For now, the screencast is just available in German.

Further export and deletion information. 

Resolve the connection between course and resource folder

Objective: You have used only one central resource folder in the learning platform for the provision of files in several courses. You now want to resolve the connection between the resource folder and the courses to stop the provision of files temporarily.

How to proceed?

1. Prerequisites: You are the owner of the resource folder and the supervisor of the courses for which you want to perform the following settings.
2. Select the resource folder whose links to courses you want to delete. Important: You need to be owner of this resource folder.
3. Open the detailed view of the resource folder.
4. Scroll to the end of the page and open the link Additional Information (Visible for owner only) .
5. Here, you are given an overview of the courses which are connected with this resource folder.
6. Copy the indicated course ID of the course whose connection you want to remove to the clipboard.
7. Close the detailed view of the resource folder.
8. Enter the course ID in the search field at the top right and start the search.
9. Open the course that will appear in the search results.
10. Open the detailed view of the course.
11. Now, select Change properties  on the right.
12. Switch to the tab Resource folder in the settings window.
13. Press Deselect  to remove the connection between the resource folder and the course.

To recall these steps, use our short Screencast which summarises the whole procedure for you. For now, the screencast is just available in German.

Further information on the learning resource of the type Resource folder  .

Limit resource folder to owners

Objective: You provide central learning resources of the type resource folder and want to limit the access to those folders to yourself or to designated persons only.

How to proceed?

Please refer to the working steps as described before in Limit courses to owners ("B") and manage owners.

Central management of files in the local file explorer

Objective: You want to be given an overview of the files belonging to your courses and groups in your file explorer and be able to edit them right away comparable to a network drive.

How to proceed?

You can use a parallel access to the learning platform which is based on the technology WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) in order to integrate the learning platform as a local drive into your file browser. Below, we will explain the procedure for a Windows 10 operating system:

1. Log in to the learning platform.
2. Access the menu Settings on the start page via the small down arrow next to your name in the top right corner.
3. Click on the tab WebDAV access .
   1. Assign a password for the WebDAV access via the input fields WebDAV password and Confirm WebDAV password .  
   2. Copy the link https://bildungsportal.sachsen.de/opal/webdav from the last row in the info box to your clipboard (Ctrl+C).
4. Access your local file explorer.
5. Right-click on the entry Network in the navigation tree on the left side of the file explorer.
6. In the context menu, select the entry Connect network drive... .
7. If needed, you can now select a drive letter for the integration of the learning platform.
8. Use Ctrl+V to insert the previously copied link https://bildungsportal.sachsen.de/opal/webdav into the input field Folder .
9. If you want this drive to be always available, simply activate the checkbox Reconnect at logon .
10. Confirm this dialogue with Complete .
11. You will now be asked to enter your user name and your password. Please make sure that you enter your full user name, i.e. "Account@meine.hochschule.de ". Enter then the previously assigned WebDAV password and confirm this entry.
12. You have achieved your goal: In your file explorer, you will now find a new folder in which you can manage the files in the learning platform just as on a local hard disk or a network drive.

For a repetition of the individual steps, watch our Screencast . For now, the screencast is just available in German.

Further information on WebDAV.