How to Use the Mechanical MOOC (to make big courses that don't feel big)

Archive New Courses
#1

Hey! If you found this thread it is likely because you’ve been pointed here by https://github.com/p2pu/mechanical-mooc/. If not, no problem, you can find the code for the mechanical MOOC on Github and documentation on mechanical-mooc.readthedocs.org

Here you can ask any question about the Mechanical MOOC - about how to use it technically or how to design a large online course.

#2

Hi @dirk,

I’ve tried to create a sequence for a try-out we are attempting in Heroku, but I get the following error: http://pastebin.com/NqExkhF0

I followed your documentation step by step with no problems up to that point. Any clues?

PS: I’m also working with @jaumebarcelo here: https://p2pu.org/en/courses/831/a-hands-on-experience-with-wireless-sensor-networks/

#3

Hey @L_SR

Try running

heroku run python manage.py syncdb --migrate

and then create the sequence. The --migrate was missing.

Thanks for the catch, I’ll update the documentation.

#4

Hi @dirk, I’m also working with jaumebarcelo and @L_SR

By adding --migrate in this line, the error changes in the same step. Now we receive the following message:

http://pastebin.com/KK2L3tJx

Greetings.

#5

Mmm. O, ok. The problem is that creating a new sequence creates a mailgun
campaign for you. Iow, you will need to sign up for mailgun and add the API
key to your settings.

The step is detailed in the ‘complete your setup’ part of the
documentation. Ill fix the documentation to include this step earlier or to
move the sequence creation later.

EDIT: @javierlobra the docs are now updated - I moved the sequence creation to the complete setup since it depends on setting up mailgun.

#6

I tried to follow the intructions here:
http://mechanical-mooc.readthedocs.org/en/latest/quickstart.html

and got a 400 Bad Request in my browser at the end of the process.

I am running ubuntu 13.10. I am sorry that I cannot provide more details about what’s happening :sunglasses:

#7

Hey @jaumebarcelo

I located the issue and fixed it. The original instructions should work now. To update your setup, run:

git pull origin master
git push heroku master
heroku open

And you should see the page and be able to sign up!

#8

It works!!! http://thawing-hamlet-2571.herokuapp.com/

Thanks @dirk 8-D

#9

@jaumebarcelo great!! Let me know if you run into any other problems or need something explained. Also, we know courses are more than just the tech, so don’t hesitate to ask anything learning theory related - I’m sure @vanessa would love to help.

#10

Hi-
I’m on the quick start guide for Mechanical MOOC and when I enter this step:

heroku config:set SECRET_KEY="`uuidgen | md5pass`"

I get an error:
-bash: md5pass: command not found
! No app specified.
! Run this command from an app folder or specify which app to use with --app APP.

How do I specify the app? Up until this point all has gone correctly!

thanks
Matt

#11

Hey @matt5834, it seems like two things are going wrong here. The first thing is that md5pass seems to be missing on your system. What OS are you using? You can get past this problem by replacing `uuidgen | md5pass` with a random string.

The second problem is that you need to be in the directory where the source code is. After

git clone https://github.com/p2pu/mechanical-mooc

make sure to change into the source code directory:

cd mechanical-mooc

then run

heroku create

and then run:

heroku config:set SECRET_KEY="somerandomlettersandnumbers"

Be sure to change somerandomlettersandnumbers to really be some random letters and numbers.

#12

It worked!

I’m running Yosemite…so maybe that was the problem?

Thank you!

Matt

#13

I moved 15 posts to a new topic: How do I get my MOOC as my own repository so that I can edit the pages?

#14

Hi @dirk
I’m receiving the following error when I try to set up the sequence

http://pastebin.com/1dEARvTm

Thank you!

#15

Seems like the console commands included the leading bigger than:

> from sequence import models
> from datetime import datetime
> start_date = datetime(2015, 1, 24)
> signup_close_date = datetime(2015, 9, 23)
> models.create_sequence(start_date, signup_close_date)
> exit()

Try it without the bigger than:

from sequence import models
from datetime import datetime
start_date = datetime(2015, 1, 24)
signup_close_date = datetime(2015, 9, 23)
models.create_sequence(start_date, signup_close_date)
exit()

Sorry, the bigger than is a linux convention to show you are executing in an interactive shell.

#16

Thanks Dirk!

After much work I’ve decided to go with simply using Mailchimp with a combination of Course in a Box and Discourse.

I’ve posed some thoughts and questions about it on this thread:

Thank you!

How do I get my MOOC as my own repository so that I can edit the pages?