Modules are plug-ins that allow you to customize your site. Select Modules from the Admin menu to see a list of currently available modules. Note that some are enabled by default; you can enable others by simply checking the box.
Here follows a selected list of modules. Drupal's active developer community creates new modules and posts them online at http://drupal.org/project/Modules. Since this site and the modules page include descriptions of the modules, we will only consider a few here.
Blocks
Blocks are a way of displaying content types in sidebars that appear on every page or on particular pages. You can set up blocks to show recent blog entries, recent comments, recent forum entries, and upcoming events. You can also create custom blocks to provide links to current courses, current assignments, or similar.
Events
Although you can set up a static page for your course schedule, you may want to set events up as separate nodes. This automatically
Flexinode allows you to create custom content types. These could be useful if you want students to turn-in assignments by uploading them (a "turn-in" content type which does not allow other students view privileges) or private notes to yourself (a "notes" content type that is viewable only by the administrator). To create a new content type, click on content, then the nested choice content type to call up the page for add and edit flexinodes.
Node-privacy-by-node allows you to restrict access on a page-by-page basis to specific user types. See Permissions.
Survey
The Survey Module allows you to create surveys in a number of different formats. Once you have created your survey though “create content,” you may edit the survey and set up the form. On the original front page, you may edit options controlling the dates the survey is available to users (both beginning and ending), a url path that will display a “thank you” page after the survey is completed, and a field to enter an email address where survey results may be sent. Under the Form tag available when the page is open for editing, you may set up the format of your survey. By clicking on add field and then choosing an option from the “Type” menu, you can choose from “textfield,” “password,” “textarea,” “radios,” “select,” “checkbox,” or “file” for the type of survey question you wish to create.
You may use various Types within the same survey as each form applies only to individual question being created.
The results of your survey will be stored under the Results tab, and may be downloaded to Excel for data compiling.
Taxonomy. This module allows you assign categories to content. Once this module is active, you can use the categories link on the admin menu to add and edit taxonomy terms. Once you create a term, you also need to assign it to specific content types.
Taxonomy_menu and Taxonomy_block modules will be covered in the CWRL workshop “(re)Organize Your Drupal Site” to be held January 2006.
Drupal.org offers the following about the two modules:
Forums
Drupal forums allow for threaded responses. You may grant users permission to create threads, or to comment on threads that you post. NB: with the current version of drupal does not users restricted from posting comments to view forum topics.
You have the option of creating "containers" to group forums. You may wish to use these to archive past forums.
Aggregator
An RSS aggregator pulls in content from several different external sources and makes them available through your page. These sources could include blogs, news sites, individual sites, or others. Such sources could provide your class with a steady stream of course-related material.
In one example, a course page on user-centered design includes a list of links aggregated from UCD sites. The aggregated links appear in the right sidebar; clicking on "More" lists them within the body of the page along with blurbs. Students can then investigate, draw from, cite, or critique the latest posts about a topic.
The aggregator is not turned on by default. To set up the aggregator,
1. Log in, then click on "Administer->Modules."
2. Find "Aggregator" in the list, enable it, and save your changes.
3. click on "Administer->Aggregator."
Now, turn on access to the aggregator:
1. Click on "Administer->Access Control"
2. Find the line "access news feeds" and click all checkboxes on that line.
3. Find the line "administer news feeds" and click on just the checkbox for "Administrator"
Two of the reasons we chose Drupal for supporting CWRL courses are that Drupal is being rapidly developed and that it is quite flexible. Both characteristics mean that you may come up with your own uses for Drupal as you become an advanced user.
URL Filter allows you to enter both "http://www." and "http://" addresses without using any html code to make them active links. With the module activated, you no longer need to enter the "a href" tags. The active link will terminate after a space, so: http://instructors.cwrl.utexas.edu CWRL drupal will display the first section as a hyperlink and "CWRL" as text. Full HTML code for links (using "a href" tags) will be rendered as normal. NOTE: you must include a full horizontal space between links for conversion to occur properly.
Adding Modules
The Drupal development community is constantly developing new features. The list of modules is a good place to go to see new features; some modules are documented thoroughly.
Since your Drupal course site is centrally administered, you can't add modules to your course site. You can email module requests to CWRL Support; if the module appears to be a positive addition and does not duplicate existing functionality, it will be added between semesters. You will be expected to write documentation for any module you request.
Finding New Uses for Current Features
In addition, you may find new uses for current features. This could be as simple as developing a facility to have students turn in their papers, or as complex as writing your own PHP script to list blogs by username.
If you do find a new use for a feature, please share it with us. You could