HotPot v2.1

HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
Number of replies: 28
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Hello everybody!

after many months work, I am pleased to announce that version 2.1 of the HotPot module is making good progress and I would like to ask for your assistance in testing it.

Before I go any further, I must urge you NOT to download and run this new version on a live Moodle site. Not yet anyway. All the features have not been added and those that have been added need more testing. So please only download version 2.1 if you intend to try it on a Moodle site that is used only for testing.

The download link to the new version of the HotPot module is at the bottom of the following page:
http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/index.php

I am very grateful to many people for supporting me in my efforts to develop the module. Besides my wonderful family, who were, as usual, "wonderful", I would particularly like to say a big public thank you to ...
  • Paul Allum
  • Josep Fontana
  • Glenys Hanson
... for their generous support and time spent discussing the enhancements. Also, Colin Rice has been helping a lot with the early testing of the new module. Thanks you very much to you all big grin

There are many new features in the latest version:
  • speed improvements
    • fixed a crippling bug for quizzes which had HTML tags in the questions or responses
    • better indexes on the database tables and optimized database queries
    • on the HotPot index page, show only HotPot activities from a specified topic/week of the course
  • standardized collection of data across all quiz types
    • wrong tries at JMatch, JMix and JCross are recorded
    • results of "unfinished" quizzes are recorded
  • two kinds of Hot Potatoes-ish quizzes by Michael Rottmeier (Drop-down and Find-It) added
  • add and update "chains" of HotPot activities
  • a click trail report
  • "sticky" settings when you add a HotPot activity or view a report
  • better horizontal alignment of attempts on the Overview and Simple reports
  • automatically add a "feedback link" to quizzes so that students can easily send a message to the teacher during the quiz
  • pick up the name and summary of the quiz from the quiz's source file
  • allow no open date, or no close date for a quiz
  • specify an encoding for Excel reports (useful for multibyte languages)
There are probably more smile Certainly, there are a few more that I intend to add before making this version available via the central Moodle depository.

As always, if you have any questions and comments about the HotPot module, please post a note on this forum or write to me directly.

If a particular quiz is behaving unexpectedly, you are welcome to send the file directly to me at the following email address:
gordon at-sign kanazawa hyphen dot ga dot ac

all the best
Gordon
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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Josep M. Fontana -
Congratulations Gordon!

As you know, there was great expectation among many of us. Let's start the testing!

Could you clarify a little bit what you mean when you say:
"sticky" settings when you add a HotPot activity or view a report?

Talk to you soon.

Josep M.

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In reply to Josep M. Fontana

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Hi Josep,
when I talk about "sticky" settings, I mean that Moodle remembers settings you select on certain pages. In the case of the HotPot module, the settings on the "Add/Edit a quiz" page and on any report page are remembered.

On the "Add/Edit a quiz" page these settings are "sticky":

  • timeopen, timeclose
  • navigation
  • outputformat
  • studentfeedback, studentfeedbackurl
  • forceplugins
  • shownextquiz
  • review
  • grade, grademethod
  • attempts
  • subnet
  • returntocourse (which page to display after the add/edit page)

And if you are adding a quiz, the following settings are also "sticky":

  • quizchain (add only this quiz, or all quizzes in a chain)
  • namesource (get name from quiz or use text supplied by teacher)
  • summarysource (get summary from quiz or use text supplied by teacher)

This allows the module to adapt to each teacher's style of working. If you prefer one particular navigation style, or always want to add a feedback link of a certain type, then the module will remember that and use those settings next time you add/edit a quiz.

A similar thing happens for reports. The following settings are "sticky":

  • users (show results for students only or for students+teachers)
  • attempts (for each user, show all attempts or only the best/first/last attempt)
  • format (format the report as html, excel or text)
  • encoding (a list of encodings may be offered which allows you to force the report values into a specific encoding if your spreadsheet program requires it. For example, Microsoft Excel requires the "SJIS" encoding for Japanese. The list of possible encodings can be adjusted by the site administrator on the "Settings" page for the HotPot module )
  • wrapdata (in spreadsheet cells)
  • showlegend (in the main report, questions and answers will be represented by letters. A legend will be generated which shows which letters represent which questions or answers )

thanks for everything!
Gordon

Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Josep M. Fontana -
Thanks for your explanation. I like 'sticky', then. This can save a lot of time.

Josep M.
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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Irene Pelegrí Colomer -
Hi Gordon and Josep,

I find very useful the "sticky" idea: usually I must repeat the settings on each activity that I configure, so thank you.

Unfortunately I can't test the new version but I will pay attention to the incidences in case (remote) I could help.

Irene
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In reply to Irene Pelegrí Colomer

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Hello again Irene,

if you have the time and energy, you are welcome to test the latest version of the HotPot module on my server.

Here are the login details:

Please fee free to upload quizzes, run them, and look at the results. You can upload single quizzes or a whole folder containing a "chain" of quizzes, and try adding them all at once with the new "Add quiz chain" setting.

I welcome any feedback you have smile

best regards
Gordon

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Irene Pelegrí Colomer -
Hi Gordon,

Thank you for the opportunity to test the new hotpot module version. The first thing that I have done is to test the files that I had had problems with, as you can imagine wink

I have uploaded a jcw file (parts_del_cos.jcw) but it does not work properly, as you can check: nor the deffinition neither the box to enter the answer appear when you click on any number and only the cross deffinitions are under the crossword.

I will test another files and options and I'll let you know the results. By the way... is there any possibility to choose a diferent icon for any type of hotpot activity?

smile

Irene


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In reply to Irene Pelegrí Colomer

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Hi Irene,
thanks for uploading the quiz

The crossword was not loading correctly because of the apostrophe in the following phrase "S'ha afegit la lletra correcta." Oops, my fault. Sorry. I have corrected the appropriate script and it now loads OK.

Please could you check that the quiz works as expected:
http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/16/ms/course/view.php?id=3

many thanks in advance!
Gordon

P.S. you can change the icons used for Hot Potatoes quizzes by changing the appropriate "gif" files in the "pix/f" folder on your moodle site.

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Paola Pippia -
Bravo! Really good work, Gordon! I'm posting here as the other thread concerned the crossword.
I uploaded two new files (Jmatch "Iponimi e iperonimi") in the http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/16/ms/course/view.php?id=3
course. A 'htm' and a 'jmt' one. The 'htm' appears correctly, whereas the other only visualizes the exercise, without the reading text. Here comes the problem:
in my platform the 'htm' visualizes the reading text without the HotPot exercise, whereas the 'jmt' shows the HotPot exercise, without the reading text. strabuzzante

Good luck!

Paola
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In reply to Paola Pippia

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Hi Paula,
thanks for all the testing!

JMatch does not use the reading for "v6+" format. Since the "best" output format defaults to "v6+", then "best" will also NOT show the reading.

In order to show the reading for a JMatch exercise, it is necessary to set the output format to "v6".

Here is a link to the quiz in "v6" format:
http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/16/ms/mod/hotpot/view.php?id=78

Here is a link to the quiz in "v6+" format:
http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/16/ms/mod/hotpot/view.php?id=80

best regards
Gordon

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Paola Pippia -

Hi Gordon,
thanks for your good work and your hints!!
I uploaded two new files Can you verify also these? 
Names: "In cucina. Test lessicale .Jcl" ( terrible!!! morto );
"In cucina. Test lessicale .htm" (correct)


Then enough... I promise! (perhaps... ammiccante )
Paola

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In reply to Paola Pippia

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Thank you Paula.

The module was not checking the 'use-drop-down-menu' setting correctly in the 'jcl' quiz. Sorry about that. It's fixed now smile

Please continue uploading and testing as much you can approve

many thanks
Gordon

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Paola Pippia -
Hi Gordon! Thanks for all!
Unfortunately I can't see the quiz: I see the code alone...
sorpreso
Ciao, Paola
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In reply to Paola Pippia

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Oh dear. I'm afraid you mught have tried to access the site while I was trying some debugging and testing. Sorry about that. I think the quiz is working now.

By the way, we are talking about the "In cucina: test lessicale (jcl)" quiz, aren't we ?

ciao smile
Gordon

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Leonhard Küllinger -

looks fine on the first touch. I will show this on the international moodle meeting in vienna on 3rd and 4th of october.

nice greetings

leo

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In reply to Leonhard Küllinger

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Thanks a lot for the feedback Leo smile

I hope the meeting goes well in Vienna. Probably you have already prepared what you are going to do, but some things I think are especially worthy of demonstration are:
  • the Moodle title and summary can be picked up automatically from the HP quiz file
  • adding a chain of quizzes is very easy and requires only a few clicks
  • information about wrong answers is available on all quiz types, including JCross and JMix
  • the module adapts to use your preferred settings when adding a quiz or view a report
all the best
Gordon

P.S. The new module (v2.1) does not yet incorporate your requested feature to adminsiter quizzes hosted a different server from the Moodle which is administering the quiz. However, this is on my list of things to add to the module when I get the chance, which will probably be over the New Year vacation.

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by henny jellema -
Beste Gordon,

Rob Delissen from the Minkema college has downloaded this HotPotv2.1 on

http://lesnet.minkema.nl/elo/moodletest/

which is a Moodle test site. If you choose 'nieuw aardappelen' ( = new potatoes ) you will find the exercises I uploaded in V2.1.)

I use in class my 'live' http://moodle.etine.nl>

I can easily put my exercises on the test site as well.

If I notice anything 'strange' I will let you know.

Hartelijke groeten van Henny.



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In reply to henny jellema

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Beste Henny,
thanks for testing out HotPot v2.1 - glad to hear it is working well for you.

I notice some of the HotPot v2.1 messages are prompts not being displayed. You may need to ask Rob D. to download the lastest hotpot language file and put it in the following location:

  • moodle/lang/en/hotpot.php

Here is a link to the latest verion of the HotPot language file in the Moodle CVS depository:

I am working on the module daily at the moment, so please be sure to ask Rob to keep updating regularly. I have found CVS is the easiest way to keep Moodle 1.6 up to date

By the way, HotPot v2.1 should be able to handle the Flash Media player that you wanted to use a couple of months back. Here is a example of what I am talking about (guest login OK):

Probably you recognize the quiz smile

Hartelijke groeten van Gordon

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by henny jellema -
Beste Gordon,

Up until now no problems at all.

I uploaded today a Sequitur ( which is a complicated app anyway, I think ) with a big sound file:

http://lesnet.minkema.nl/elo/moodletest/mod/hotpot/view.php?id=165

I tested it as a student and everything works great!

I didn't get Martins'Flash Media player at work, but I have to admit I didn't try it really hard, because I discovered that the code you gave me, works not only in Moodle, but always everywhere, absolutely on every possible computer.
And I only need the code, not to upload the player as well, so as a matter of fact, .......

Hartelijke groeten van Henny.
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In reply to henny jellema

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Francisco Gómez -

Hello,

I am using the hot pototoes version that comes in version 1.5+ of moodle I thought that adding a chain of quizzes only requires a few clicks but I have to add each exercise to the course and the only thing I can do is select Yes in the field Show next quiz but If I haven't added an exercise to the course I do not go to the next quiz although in the course files I have more quizes.

What do I do wrong?

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In reply to Francisco Gómez

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Hi Francisco,

to add a chain of quizzes with a "a few clicks" you need Hotpot v2.1, but Moodle 1.5+ has Hotpot v2.0

There are a number of ways to get hold of Hotpot v2.1:

Please remember that HotPot v2.1 is still under developement, so if you want to be safe you should NOT use it on a "live" site, especially one with many students and teachers.

If you have Hotpot v2.0, you have to add the quizzes in the chain one by one. It is rather laborious I'm afraid sad

Once the the "Show next quiz" option is set to "Yes", then when a HotPot activity is finished, Moodle will record the results and then display the next Hotpot in the current section. All Hotpots in a chain must be in the same section. Also, with Hotpot v2.0, all quizzes in the chain must be visible.

Hope this helps to explain what is happening. If not, please could you send me the URL of your site, so I can see it for myself smile

Gordon

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Francisco Gómez -

I'm afraid sad I will have to add the quizzes in the chain one by one because in my site I have got a lot of people:

http://www.cursoshomologados.com/moodle/

smile Francisco.

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In reply to Francisco Gómez

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Wow, looks like you have very large and busy site! Very impressive!!

I think you are right to stick with HotPot v2.0 for the time being. Sorry about the extra clicks smile

all the  best
Gordon
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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Jan Joost de Vries -

Hello Gordon,

I can't find the moodle/mod/hotpot/lang/en/hotpot.php int the hotpot.zip

Can I find it anywhere else

Joost

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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Edith Lin -

Hi Gordon,

I'm using Moodle 1.5.2.  After upgraded hotpot from v2.0 to v2.1, I've got following error when running scheduled backup:

Call to undefined function:  backup_mod_selected() in /var/www/html/mod/hotpot/backuplib.php on line 47

Do you have any idea?  Where does the function locate?  Thanks.

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In reply to Edith Lin

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Dear Edith,
thanks as always for the feedback approve

I have modified (and tested!) the backup/restore for HotPot v2.1, so that it now works again with Moodle 1.5

You can download the updated module from the Moodle Activities download page (you may have to wait a day for the amended scripts to become available):
http://download.moodle.org/download.php/modules/hotpot.zip

... or from my server:
http://bateson.kanazawa-gu.ac.jp/moodle/hotpot-module.2.1.x.zip

The new version number is 2005090711 (HotPot v2.1.11)

all the best
Gordon
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In reply to Gordon Bateson

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Andrew Giles-Peters -
I have uploaded some files for testing (welfare*) and have a few queries.

I take it that what one uploads is the '.jqz' or whatever file and not the '.htm' output. (The latter could be a resource I suppose but would not be integrated into grading.)

If so, how much of the configuration information is uploaded? Is the chaining present in the original configuration data (on my computer) or set somehow after upload? In either case, can one have an index page?

I noticed that my files did not display as I intended. I had altered the hp6.CS_ file on my computer to display the questions below the reading text. Does the HotPot module use its own version of the CS_ file?
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In reply to Andrew Giles-Peters

Re: HotPot v2.1

by Gordon Bateson -
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Hello Andrew,
thank you for your questions. I'll do my best to answer.

> I take it that what one uploads is the '.jqz'
> or whatever file and not the '.htm' output.

Actually you can upload either. If you use the ".htm" file, you will get the CSS modifications you made and the quiz wil be served up slightly quicker because the server doesn't have to do so much work. If you use the ".jqz", the HTML will be generated form the templates that reside on the server, so you won't get any customised styles, layouts or behaviors, but you will always get the latest templates, and modifying the questions and answers does not require regenerating the HTML file.

> If so, how much of the configuration information is uploaded?
> Is the chaining present in the original configuration data

All the settings in the JQZ file, that you can access from Options -> Configure Output, are used when generating the quiz.

If you want to add a chain, there are two ways to do it:
  1. upload the HTML files, and when you add the first HotPot quiz to the Moodle course, set "Add quiz chain" to YES and "Show next quiz" to NO
  2. upload either the JQZ or HTML files into their own folder in the Moodle course files. Then add a HotPot activity and specify just the folder name in the "File name" box. Finally, set "Add quiz chain" to YES and "Show next quiz" to NO, (as per method 1)
> Does the HotPot module use its own version of the CS_ file?

Well, actually they are identical to the most recent source files that come with a Hot Potatoes download. If you want to use your own customized templates (e.g. the CS_ file you mentioned), you can put them in "moodle/mod/hotpot/templates/v6" on your Moodle site.

Please feel free to keep experimenting on my server smile

all the best
Gordon
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