MyUCDavis Glossary Export

The export of glossary terms from MyUCDavis is being treated as a separate export since it is a separate feature within Website Builder (WB.) This document explains the features available in MyUCDavis Glossary and a proposed method for migrating glossary content into SmartSite.

#Glossary Authoring
#Glossary Viewing
#Database Table
#SmartSite Migration

Glossary Authoring

Instructors access the Glossary feature for a course site via the Website Builder sub-menu.

When Glossary is selected, the glossary and authoring functions are displayed in the left frame and the Glossary Introduction screen is displayed on the right frame.

Glossary functions include:

Glossary is Active - the ability to activate or deactivate (make inaccessible to students)
Exit Glossary Editor - returns user to Website Builder default screen
Create New Glossary Term - enter a new term into the glossary
Copy Glossary Term - allows the user to copy some or all glossary terms from another term and/or course
Upload Glossary File - upload a tab-delimited Excel file containing term, definition, and category columns

Glossary is Active

Faculty can activate or deactivate the glossary by clicking on the "Glossary is Active" link. If the glossary is deactivated, none of the glossary terms for this course will be visible to students.

Glossary Editing

Faculty can add or edit glossary terms using the Create New Glossary Term feature or by selecting the term; both actions bring up the glossary edit screen as shown here:

Glossary Term Editor

Copy Glossary Term

Faculty can also copy some or all glossary terms entered in another course offering into the current course offering using the Copy Glossary Term function.

Copy Glossary Term

Upload Glossary File

The Upload Glossary File feature allow faculty to upload terms into the glossary as long as the upload is an Excel file and saved as Text (Tab Delimited) and each row of the spreadsheet consists of 3 columns: Term, Category, and Definition respectively.

Upload Glossary File

Automatic Hyperlink Glossary Terms

The glossary terms faculty create can be hyperlinked throughout all their Template and HTML pages. To automatically turn on/off the hyperlink feature, the user clicks on the link as shown in the graphic below.

Hyperlink Glossary Terms

Glossary Viewing

Students can see a course glossary by accessing the Glossary link on the course website. Terms are displayed if the faculty user sets the Glossary to active and has at least one term unhidden. Hidden terms are not viewable by the student.

Terms and definitions are displayed in a list format, organised by categories (if any). A search function allows the student to view the full list, to order the list by terms or categories, to view the category headers (with terms collapsed), to view terms for a particular category, or to search for a particular term.

Database Table

In the course management system, the database table for glossary data contains the following fields:

glossary_id
glossary_term
glossary_definition
category
date_modified
hidden
associate_to_term
term_code
crn

The first five field describe glossary data - the glossary_id and date_modified fields are automatically populated, the glossary_term and glossary_definition fields are required, and category and hidden are optional fields. A category allows terms to be grouped for display. Hidden allows the instructor to work on terms before choosing to display them.

The associate_to_term is an optional field that is populated when a faculty user chooses to associate one glossary term with another, for example, to include plural form, past tense, or future tense of the term. This associated term does not seem to appear on the glossary list.

The glossary is associated with the course offering in which the faculty user accesses the Glossary tool, so the term_code and crn are automatically generated.

SmartSite Migration

Glossary feature has no equivalent in Sakai/SmartSite at this time, although a tool may be offered in the future with similar capabilites. A possible strategy for allowing faculty to export their glossary is to provide them with the option(s) of downloading their terms, definitions, and categories as an HTML file or as an Excel file. Either file type can then be uploaded to SmartSite Resources.

A proposed link titled "Download Glossary as File" could be added to the list of glossary features as shown in the graphic below. The download screen for either method would function like the Copy Glossary Term feature, allowing faculty to export all or only selected terms in the desired format.

Instructions on the screen would include a brief explanation about adding the glossary file to their SmartSite course via Resources. If appropriate, it would also explain that students selecting an HTML file from Resources would see the terms displayed by category in a new browser while an Excel file would require the student to download for viewing on their own computer.

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