A frequent call for help on the forums of moodle.org I have done it myself – you paste some code like javascript (or even that nasty MS Word code) into a topic summary, save it and discover you can’t then click on the edit icon anymore to go back and make alterations. I did a post earlier this year explaining how you can get into the edit screen of a label if it’s a label that’s been corrupted – here it is – but the process for a topic summary is slightly different so I made a new screencast below. I stress: I am not a coder and so I don’t know any “correct” way of going about these things, but by trial and error (mainly the latter !) I have worked out how you can access the editing screen of your topic summary even though the pen and the hand icon is completely stuck. Watch the video below – if youtube is banned in your place as it is in mine, I have put step by step instructions underneath.
How to get into a topic summary when the icon is “stuck”:
- turn on the editing in your course
- click on the “hand and pen” icon of a topic summary that DOES work
- Go up to the url at the top of your screen – look at the number at the very end in the address bar
- It will probably be something like http://YOURMOODLESITE.com/course/editsection.php?id=12
- The last number is the topic summary number that you are in at present. Type in different numbers near that one until you get to the topic summary that has been corrupted (don’t worry if you end up in a totally different course – just keep changing the number at the end until you get to your “broken” summary.) If you’re lucky it might only be a digit away. If you are even luckier and you only recently edited (broke!) the summary, its url might still be saved in your address bar.
- When you get to it, delete everything by clicking on the code view icon, rather than doing it in the WYSIWYG editor. Save changes – and you should then have a working topic summary with an edit icon you can click on.
Ian Wild, author of Moodle Course Conversion, has written a book for Mathematics teachers called Moodle 1.9 Math(s) Well, actually he missed the “s” off for the American market but, try as I might, as a native English English speaker, I just can’t bring myself to do the same! I received my review copy yesterday and am happy to pass on my thoughts today. A slight confession – this isn’t the first time I’ve seen it, as I was asked to be a tech reviewer for the book back in the New Year. You can see an outline of the chapter content on the publisher’s website and also a sample chapter here on Quizzes. What impresses me most is the step by step approach and measured progression throughout the book. While Ian assumes the reader has some experience of Moodle, he nonetheless starts at the very beginning with two simple but highly useful tasks: uploading a past exam paper and setting up a discussion forum. By the end of the book, the reader has learned how to include in a Moodle course complex mathematical notation,graphs, charts, interactive geometry and algebra, self-marking quizzes, multimedia screencasts.. and more! He also devotes some time to science teachers whose needs are often similar to those of math(s!) teachers, explaining additonally how the scientists can represent chemical structures in their courses using Jmol. Some of the activities dealt with in the book require Administrator rights; Ian always makes sure to include information for Moodle admins wherever required, and in a way that does not detract from the easy flow of the book and focus on teaching tools. Also included are useful links to teaching resources. For myself, I particularly liked the more creative elements of Chapters 3 and 4, where we read how to enhance our teaching with multimedia presentations, screencasts, Flash games and even DIY Scorm. Would I recommend this book? Yes of course, with Ian’s own caveat that if you are a total newbie you might first want to read his own Moodle Course Conversion or my ownMoodle 1.9 For Teaching 7-14 Year Olds. After that -this book will add Magic to your Moodle Mathematics!