Tag: tlc

Fun with Drupal Upgrades

Our main Teaching & Learning Centre website runs on Drupal, with extensive use of CCK, Views, Events and Signup modules. The site had been running on the Drupal 4.7, with only security patches applied. But it was starting to act up (content was suddenly not showing up), so I decided to pull everything up to the current 5.2 line, with updated modules. It’s an easy enough upgrade. When it works.

The CCK update appears to have really botched things. As in, most of our custom content types are now missing data for several of their fields. The data’s safe – I can see it in the database – but it’s not showing up when viewing or editing the nodes. Annoying.

So, my task over the next couple of days (hopefully much shorter than that) is to debug wtf went wrong, and figure out how to manually upgrade the various CCK database tables from wherever they were to where they need to be for 5.2. Fun stuff.

Also, the embedded Views have decided to go TU, so I get to debug wtf is going on there, as well.

Thankfully, I have backups of the data, so can play a bit if needed, but I need to leave the main site up and live to support workshop registrations while I fix things. It’s taken much of today to get the site to the state it’s in now. Haven’t even had a chance to check all of my feeds yet. The horrors!

I may need to dig up one of those circa-1995 “Under Construction” animated GIF images for the site in the meantime…

Update: Thanks to a tip from Webchick, I got the CCK tables manually reconstructed. All I had to do was rename the tables as per the pattern described. It looks like the 4.7 – 5.x upgrade path for CCK got really complicated, and may have been overlooked. My Drupal 4.7.7 site was fully patched, all modules were up to date, as was core. Upgrading from a fully patched 4.7.7 to 5.2 just plain didn’t work, from the perspective of CCK. Turns out it was a pretty easy fix, but still, a bit annoying. Huge thanks to Webchick for the tip. It’s amazing just how active and helpful the Drupal community is.

My last big issue is wrt embedded Views in several nodes. They appear to be ignoring arguments (but not all of the views are misbehaving, making it a bit harder to diagnose). That’s my task for today, to get the rest of the site behaving properly. Then to fix some layout issues that are unrelated to the Drupal upgrade (the UCalgary theme we had been using was a 4.7 variety, and the 5.0 variety has subtly different css, and lacks our custom stuff).

Workshop Ideas for 2007

In a recent project meeting, we were tossing around ideas for workshops to conduct in 2007, and I've taken on a series of topics that could be loosely described as "new tools and strategies". Here's the current short list of workshops I'm planning to develop (and later conduct) through the TLC. Any glaring omissions?

  • Creative Commons (copyright and IP in general, and how they affect sharing and reusing available work)
  • Flickr. As a source of Creative Commons images for use, and as a potential tool for teaching and learning.
  • Google Earth. Basic overview, as well as an intro to some of the cool add-ons (geology, politics, etc…)
  • eXe – eLearning XML editor (for ePortfolios or personal websites)
  • WordPress.com (setting up a blog for free in seconds)
  • weblogs.ucalgary.ca (participating in the blog community on campus)
  • Drupal for websites and communities
  • Moodle (? this might be counterproductive, given Bb's role on our campus…)
  • Social bookmarking (del.icio.us for distributed tagging of resources)
  • Google Docs

I've left off a couple of items on purpose because I want to be doing things that aren't already running in full hype mode (podcasting and secondlife are fine on their own). I'm hoping to be showing stuff that might be flying under the radar (at least to most faculty on campus – many of the items on my list are completely taken for granted by tech types)

In a recent project meeting, we were tossing around ideas for workshops to conduct in 2007, and I've taken on a series of topics that could be loosely described as "new tools and strategies". Here's the current short list of workshops I'm planning to develop (and later conduct) through the TLC. Any glaring omissions?

  • Creative Commons (copyright and IP in general, and how they affect sharing and reusing available work)
  • Flickr. As a source of Creative Commons images for use, and as a potential tool for teaching and learning.
  • Google Earth. Basic overview, as well as an intro to some of the cool add-ons (geology, politics, etc…)
  • eXe – eLearning XML editor (for ePortfolios or personal websites)
  • WordPress.com (setting up a blog for free in seconds)
  • weblogs.ucalgary.ca (participating in the blog community on campus)
  • Drupal for websites and communities
  • Moodle (? this might be counterproductive, given Bb's role on our campus…)
  • Social bookmarking (del.icio.us for distributed tagging of resources)
  • Google Docs

I've left off a couple of items on purpose because I want to be doing things that aren't already running in full hype mode (podcasting and secondlife are fine on their own). I'm hoping to be showing stuff that might be flying under the radar (at least to most faculty on campus – many of the items on my list are completely taken for granted by tech types)

RSS on TLC Website

Since we switched to Drupal to power the department website recently, we're able to have RSS feeds to keep up to date on stuff as it gets added to the site. It hadn't been exposed previously, but I just took a few minutes to expose 3 of the "main" feeds for the site.

I also used my blog within the site to describe what I'd done. My first non-hello-world blog post on our site (although only marginally non-hello-world, but still, it counts).

Here's the goods on our main feeds:

It's the first time I've had RSS available from my employer's website. It's a small thing, but a huge shift.

Since we switched to Drupal to power the department website recently, we're able to have RSS feeds to keep up to date on stuff as it gets added to the site. It hadn't been exposed previously, but I just took a few minutes to expose 3 of the "main" feeds for the site.

I also used my blog within the site to describe what I'd done. My first non-hello-world blog post on our site (although only marginally non-hello-world, but still, it counts).

Here's the goods on our main feeds:

It's the first time I've had RSS available from my employer's website. It's a small thing, but a huge shift.

TLC Website “fixed”

I just finished the first pass at "fixing" the TLC website. Now, it's not nearly as slick or effective, but is chock full of compliance. mmmm…. compliance… please, sir? may I have another?

TLC Website - with UCalgary "B" templateTLC Website – with UCalgary "B" template

I just finished the first pass at "fixing" the TLC website. Now, it's not nearly as slick or effective, but is chock full of compliance. mmmm…. compliance… please, sir? may I have another?

TLC Website - with UCalgary "B" templateTLC Website – with UCalgary "B" template

Teaching & Learning Centre website now powered by Drupal

We just launched the new website for the Teaching & Learning Centre at The University of Calgary. It's been a long time in the making, with heavy use of themes, custom CCK content types, events, signups, views, and a bunch of other Drupal modules and tricks. King worked his usual magic in putting together the CSS for our theme, which uses the same HTML templates as the official www.ucalgary.ca site.

The new site should make it much easier for us to keep content up to date. We're also planning some potentially cool community features for down the road a bit, once the dust starts to settle after The Big Website Launch.

Also, it's currently running on our aging PowerMac Quicksilver dual 1GHz G4 server, so is a bit slower than it should be. We'll be moving it to a shiny new-ish XServe ASAP.

TLC Website in DrupalTLC Website in Drupal

We just launched the new website for the Teaching & Learning Centre at The University of Calgary. It’s been a long time in the making, with heavy use of themes, custom CCK content types, events, signups, views, and a bunch of other Drupal modules and tricks. King worked his usual magic in putting together the CSS for our theme, which uses the same HTML templates as the official www.ucalgary.ca site.

The new site should make it much easier for us to keep content up to date. We’re also planning some potentially cool community features for down the road a bit, once the dust starts to settle after The Big Website Launch.

Also, it’s currently running on our aging PowerMac Quicksilver dual 1GHz G4 server, so is a bit slower than it should be. We’ll be moving it to a shiny new-ish XServe ASAP.

TLC Website in DrupalTLC Website in Drupal

Craig E. Nelson on Fostering Critical Thinking

IMG_3324.JPGI had the pleasure of attending a presentation/workshop by Craig E. Nelson this morning. The Teaching & Learning Centre hosted the event, which brought faculty members from the various sides of campus together to discuss critical thinking and implications on pedagogy.

It was a really interesting session, with Craig telling stories and modelling effective use of the strategies and activities he was talking about (and getting us to talk about). My takeaway points from the session:

  1. there are no broken students, only broken pedagogies
  2. successful students are the ones who can adapt to repair broken pedagogies for themselves (spontanously forming study groups, connections, etc…)
  3. “shut up and allow for processing time” – give students a chance to move stuff from short-term to long-term memory. simple 2 minute pauses and asking questions may be enough to start this.
  4. “bulemic learning” – binge/purge of stuff, leading to mental starvation
  5. an educator’s job is to educate students, not sort/filter them. The goal is not to enforce the bell curve, it is to maximize grade inflation through effective teaching and learning.

I was there (primarily) to take photographs. I’ve been wanting to record the activities of the TLC for awhile now, and finally just started doing something about it. This was the first “real” event I’ve photographed, so I’m sure I was doing many things awkwardly. But, the end result is something I’m at least not disappointed in. I learned some things:

  • for an indoor event, get a long, fast lens. the kit lens won’t cut it. I used the zoom lens from our old D30 on my XT body, with ISO cranked up to 1600. Even at that, the aperture was too small to get decent shots. Fast, long lens is required. Something like this one would do nicely.
  • get a big CF card. Or two. Or three. I was using my 1GB card, so left it in JPEG/fine mode. It would have been better to be shooting in RAW so I could adjust white balance properly later. I was afraid of filling up the card too soon, so reverted to JPEG.
  • plan shots ahead of time. I was able to get some of the “best” shots by picturing in my head where Craig would have to be standing/looking, and where I’d have to be, in order to take advantage of (or reduce the effect of) background items in the room. It didn’t always work out, but thinking ahead would help reduce background distractions like the overhead projector…
  • try not to distract. I found I was being extremely self conscious of the shutter noise, afraid I was distracting the other participants, or affecting the audio being recorded for the session. I refused to use the flash, because I didn’t want the paparazzi effect. Work to find the happy medium between getting the shot and not being noticed.
  • I overplanned. I brought in my monopod (which broke on the way in this morning. crap.) I brought 2 batteries. I brought the extra lens from the office’s D30, as well as my XT’s kit lens. I brought lens cleaning cloth and brush. I brought battery charger. I brought vertical grip. I ended up not using the monopod, nor the vertical grip. But they were there just in case.

I wound up taking almost a hundred photos. Many were unusable due to the slow lens producing blurry or excessively grainy images. The survivors are available in a Flickr album.

IMG_3324.JPGI had the pleasure of attending a presentation/workshop by Craig E. Nelson this morning. The Teaching & Learning Centre hosted the event, which brought faculty members from the various sides of campus together to discuss critical thinking and implications on pedagogy.

It was a really interesting session, with Craig telling stories and modelling effective use of the strategies and activities he was talking about (and getting us to talk about). My takeaway points from the session:

  1. there are no broken students, only broken pedagogies
  2. successful students are the ones who can adapt to repair broken pedagogies for themselves (spontanously forming study groups, connections, etc…)
  3. “shut up and allow for processing time” – give students a chance to move stuff from short-term to long-term memory. simple 2 minute pauses and asking questions may be enough to start this.
  4. “bulemic learning” – binge/purge of stuff, leading to mental starvation
  5. an educator’s job is to educate students, not sort/filter them. The goal is not to enforce the bell curve, it is to maximize grade inflation through effective teaching and learning.

I was there (primarily) to take photographs. I’ve been wanting to record the activities of the TLC for awhile now, and finally just started doing something about it. This was the first “real” event I’ve photographed, so I’m sure I was doing many things awkwardly. But, the end result is something I’m at least not disappointed in. I learned some things:

  • for an indoor event, get a long, fast lens. the kit lens won’t cut it. I used the zoom lens from our old D30 on my XT body, with ISO cranked up to 1600. Even at that, the aperture was too small to get decent shots. Fast, long lens is required. Something like this one would do nicely.
  • get a big CF card. Or two. Or three. I was using my 1GB card, so left it in JPEG/fine mode. It would have been better to be shooting in RAW so I could adjust white balance properly later. I was afraid of filling up the card too soon, so reverted to JPEG.
  • plan shots ahead of time. I was able to get some of the “best” shots by picturing in my head where Craig would have to be standing/looking, and where I’d have to be, in order to take advantage of (or reduce the effect of) background items in the room. It didn’t always work out, but thinking ahead would help reduce background distractions like the overhead projector…
  • try not to distract. I found I was being extremely self conscious of the shutter noise, afraid I was distracting the other participants, or affecting the audio being recorded for the session. I refused to use the flash, because I didn’t want the paparazzi effect. Work to find the happy medium between getting the shot and not being noticed.
  • I overplanned. I brought in my monopod (which broke on the way in this morning. crap.) I brought 2 batteries. I brought the extra lens from the office’s D30, as well as my XT’s kit lens. I brought lens cleaning cloth and brush. I brought battery charger. I brought vertical grip. I ended up not using the monopod, nor the vertical grip. But they were there just in case.

I wound up taking almost a hundred photos. Many were unusable due to the slow lens producing blurry or excessively grainy images. The survivors are available in a Flickr album.

Learning Commons – end of an era

It’s the end of an era. The Learning Commons is no more. It’d be dramatic, if we weren’t just changing the name to the “Teaching and Learning Centre“. It’s a little less pretentious, and should require less explanation about what we do. It’s a shorter web domain name, too – just “tlc.ucalgary.ca“. Maybe we should have thrown a “2.0” in there for buzzword compliance 🙂

It’s the end of an era. The Learning Commons is no more. It’d be dramatic, if we weren’t just changing the name to the “Teaching and Learning Centre“. It’s a little less pretentious, and should require less explanation about what we do. It’s a shorter web domain name, too – just “tlc.ucalgary.ca“. Maybe we should have thrown a “2.0” in there for buzzword compliance 🙂