Forum Discussion
Course Management in Microsoft Access?
Hey all! The age old, ever-daunting task of course management befalls us. Our team is hoping to find a sound solution for managing course details (descriptions, durations, dates of publication, etc.). We're scrappy, so we're venturing into a Microsoft Access database. I was wondering if anyone had any "pro tips" or templates they use that work well?
Today may not be the best day to suggest this (see news on Microsoft Teams!) - BUT, Teams has been a absolute MASSIVE bonus for us as course designers and developers...
If you are just looking for a database - then there are lots of options. But we organise our work by:
(a) client - each client is set up as a separate 'team' - this gives us instant messaging, Teams meetings - announcements - as a communication channel with our clients
(b) course or project - within each team there is a 'file' repository with a normal folder hierarchy. So we organise by course or groups of courses if they are related in a single project. All courses have folders for 'assets', 'source code', 'compiled versions', resources
(c) plus Teams allow us to create 'lists' (which are actually databases) - so we have a master 'index' for each client and an 'issue log' which can be directly viewed and edited by our clients
(d) Library - we also have a central single source library for ALL assets - 'photo images', 'vector graphics', 'video sequences' 'icons'
This approach puts everything in the cloud - with a central single source approach to everything. We get Microsoft's industrial strength security, automated backups, and version control thrown in with almost no additional effort.
With their permission we can record client meetings via Teams so we can check we have understood briefings and there is no confusion for developers - plus we can direct all email directed to a given project so it is held in each client team.
We don't lose anything, we don't spend time searching for files and emails - they are all there where we can access them immediately. It has cut our development time dramatically!! (but don't tell our clients that!)
