Resources Page

[HSkedtrack]

This post is from a user asking about the use of the Resources page.

QUESTION:
"..... I'm wishing I could label books as Pre-school or elementary or junior, etc. instead of grade level. They aren't for a specific grade level but most of the books are really elementary resources and not for "any" grade.

Also, it would be nice to be able to enter my own subject. Sometimes it's more than one. Sometimes my subject is narrower than the offerings.

I would rather select from my list of courses for what it's going to be used for instead of selecting a subject.

Also, on the list of type "reference" is missing for encyclopedias, thesaurus, dictionary, etc.

What is the point of the "use" column. Do I really need to click on each resource for each child and click on which course it will be used for? Will the resources be on the reports without it? That's a lot of extra work that seems unnecessary since it lists the subject. (Although for some reason one of my subjects keep switching on me.) .... "

ANSWER:
The Resources section is one of the complex areas of Homeschool Skedtrack that we tried to simplify -- making it not too complex to setup/manage and also not too general.

The overall design of Resources is that resources can be added or edited from Admin - Resources and Courses - Resources pages. Normally teachers add the the resource thru Courses - Resources page. They select the course, click new, then have the option to select from existing resources or create a new one. For the existing resources, since there would be potentially be lots of resources as the years build up, we thought that somehow we need to filter the list of resources available for the course. The way to do it was to filter by Subject or ANY. So a Course with a given subject would only be able to select Resources with the same Subject or "ANY". If the user decides to create a new resource, it would also be accessible from the Admin - Resources page. As years go by, resources could be used by students on different school years, this is where the Admin - Resources "Use" link comes in handy -- to be able to know who, when, and what courses are using the resources across all school years.

With that design in mind, we'll try to answer your questions:
1. Labeling for the books as Pre-school or elementary or junior, etc. instead of grade level.
-- We think this is a good idea, more specific than "ANY"
-- grade level then becomes the most specific if ever it would be used

2. It would be nice to be able to enter my own subject
-- We tried to make the subject as common as possible
-- We got the list of subjects from HSLDA, plus suggestions from some users
-- If the user needs subjects not on the list, we can evaluate and add it
-- With subjects common to all users the Export/Import functionality of Homeschool Skedtrack would work nicely in relation to resources -- resources can be exported/imported and classified with the common subjects.

3. Sometimes it's more than one.
-- We thought that as a compromise from complexity "ANY" would achieve this.

4. Sometimes my subject is narrower than the offerings.
-- for this it's either we add a new subject or just use "ANY"

5. I would rather select from my list of courses for what it's going to be used for instead of selecting a subject.
-- For this, the capability to Export/Import comes into the picture. If we use the course then the course would not be available for the importer.
-- If the purpose of doing this is to know the specific course using a resource, the Admin - Resources "Use" link would be the easiest way to know which course is using it. If you want to know all the resources for a specific course, then Courses - Resources or Course Report will give you a list.

6. On the list of type "reference" is missing for encyclopedias, thesaurus, dictionary, etc.
-- As of now the limitation is still tied to the capability to Export/Import
-- We can add more type, if we find it generic enough.
-- We would think that this is under Book. Then maybe on the Title and description it can be described further.
-- the future for Resources might be a search functionality that the user can search for specific text plus add paging functionality

7. What is the point of the "use" column.
-- this is normally used to know who, when, and what courses are using the resources across all school years.
-- it can also be used to quickly remove the usage of the course for the resource
-- it can also be used to tie a course to the resource which we suggest doing it in the Courses - Resource page instead

8. Will the resources be on the reports without it
-- On the Courses - Resources page, all resources listed under the specific course will be included in the Course Report

9. Although for some reason one of my subjects keep switching on me.
-- Most probably this is because the subject has been modified from either Courses - Resources page or Admin - Resources page. Both of the pages modify/access the same data in the database.

Homeschool Skedtrack Team