planning block update

planning block update

by Toni Vela -
Number of replies: 16

I am Toni Vela of the UPF (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) from Barcelona. I' m doing my "final project" with Joan Codina, as tutor; he has collaborated some times with the moodle project with some plugins (the planning block for example).

My aim in this project is to update the plugin created by Joan, "planning block" (http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&mode=single&page=296 ), in which I collaborated few years ago. In resume this block lets the teacher of a course to manage the tasks with a gantt diagramme as tool, letting the teacher to change the date of start and the ending of each task.

My proposal is to update the block to improve the features of this plugin, also using the new features of the version 2.0 of moodle which is in development. Concretely I am proposing these new features:

  • Show the tasks with the same order in which they are shown in the main page of the course (weekly for example).
  • Show the date in the edges of the task, in order to improve the visibility when many tasks are in the list.
  • Show a red line indicating the current date.
  • Let the teacher to slide the calendar to see different months of the course.
  • Show the different number of hours that the teacher suggests devoting daily to a task by means of a color gradient.
  • Indicate graphically if two tasks are linked (new feature of moodle 2.0) with an arrow.

I am waiting for suggestions or comments.



Attachment Diagrama_4_1.jpg
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In reply to Toni Vela

Re: planning block update

by Joan Codina Filba -
The link is incorrect, and I have found that is difficult to link elements in the database, as the id is the order, and it changes when new elements are added.
but you can follow this other ones..
http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&mode=list&perpage=1000&search=&sort=44&order=ASC&advanced=0&filter=1&advanced=1&f_44=planning

The main features of this block are:
- general view of all the course activities, with the start/end dates
- Is Ajax based, so, the start/end dates can be dynamically adapted
- Toni will work to adjust it for the new functionalities of the 2.0

Joan

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In reply to Joan Codina Filba

Re: planning block update

by Toni Vela -
Hi everybody, my aim in this post was to ask the moodle developers if my proposal had seemed you correct, or if you would add some more features. But really I'm waiting for any kind of comment.

Thank you.
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In reply to Toni Vela

Re: planning block update

by Barry Oosthuizen -
Hi Toni,

I'd like to take another look at the planning block, but I can't find it in the modules and plug-ins database.

Barry

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In reply to Barry Oosthuizen

Re: planning block update

by Toni Vela -
I also can't find the old planning block in the database, for this reason I have made a description of the features of the old planning block.

It lets to the editing-teachers to manage the activities moving the tasks or changing their size. When the teacher thinks that the modifications are ok, He can save them by means of a 'save button'. When you are moving the tasks or changing their disponibility, you can see the 'real-time' date updating.

I attach a view of the old plannig block module.

You can see my proposed improvements in the first comment. And if some of you have some possible improvements, I will be listening you.

Thanks.
Attachment diagrama_1.9.JPG
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In reply to Toni Vela

Re: planning block update

by Toni Vela -
I think that this is the link to the old planning block module.

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&rid=497
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In reply to Toni Vela

Re: planning block update

by Barry Oosthuizen -
Hi Toni,

Thanks for the link.

I really like the planning block and I like all the ideas for improvement you've given. It helps us to look at the relationships between all our activities in the course at a glance.

Here are some more ideas:

Ideas:
  • Make use of Moodle's roles/permissions/capability functions so that a student can for instance view the block but not edit it.
  • How about adding the week or topic name to the gantt chart in addition to keeping it in the same order?
  • How about having a way to filter out only certain types of activities? Like view only quizzes, then switch to view only assignments etc.
  • Enable teachers to change more than just the dates:
    • Activity Names
    • Time Limit
    • Start and End Time
    • Set Conditions:
      • How about if you could add, edit or remove the 'Arrow' you proposed?
      • This would need a popup or something to set the rules for the condition.
  • Have 'Edit/Update' icons next to each activity name which takes you directly to it's 'update this activity' page.
  • Enable teachers to select a group of activities to manipulate at the same time so that a group of activities can for instance all have the same start and end time or the same duration.
  • Include Resources, not just Activities. In Moodle 2.0 Resources also have start/end dates and can have conditions set.
  • Include Events from the Calendar?
  • Export dates of activities/resources in iCal format
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In reply to Barry Oosthuizen

Re: planning block update

by Toni Vela -
Thank you for all the ideas, all of them are really interesting!!

I have implemented some of my own ideas, but probaly are more interesting some of your ideas.

I'm only confused about the last, due to my ignorance I have not listened never about this, but I'm looking for it, and it seems really interesting.

If someone has more ideas I'm waiting them. I hope to finish the project this June, probably the implementation will finish on May, please send me your ideas before this date.

Thank you all.
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In reply to Barry Oosthuizen

Re: planning block update

by Joan Codina Filba -
The most important functionality about the planning block (or gantt diagram ) is to give the teacher/student a general view of the course, and allow him to manage the timings in a very interactive way.
It's true that it must be available to different roles with different granted rights.
I like the idea of filtering some kinds of activities but not in the way that you say, to select one kind/all Maybe is better to have a list with each kind of activity, with check boxes, and show only the selected ones (with a mark/delete all button).
About the kinds of activities, resources, if the format is common, and the routines are not specific (this was the case till 1.9) it can be generic. If not, the list of resources to manage can only include those activities for which the binding code has been included in the planning module.

I think that the iCal format is something generated by the Calendar, so we should not do this twice.

The edit/update icons can produce conflicts if the system does not synchronize both pages accordingly. This is a general problem of Moodle where there are no locks to avoid two users editing the same resources.

Grouping activities: it may be difficult to find a right interface. Maybe it could be possible to "copy" some settings from one activity to others, like the copy/pase format in editors.

Just some ideas to talk about...


Joan

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In reply to Joan Codina Filba

Re: planning block update

by Barry Oosthuizen -
Hi Joan,

I like your idea for how a filter should work. Show All/None will be useful too.

The Course Date Manager Module has a way to group activities together when editing the dates. I don't know if this is possible for the planning block but it would be nice if it could.

If it's not possible/too hard to edit activities, resources and calendar events on the same page, how about different tabs to edit each separately?

I have no idea how your code works, so I'm just throwing out some ideas and maybe you find one useful.

Looking forward to the end result of your project.

Barry
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In reply to Barry Oosthuizen

Re: planning block update

by Toni Vela -
"The Course Date Manager Module has a way to group activities together when editing the dates. I don't know if this is possible for the planning block but it would be nice if it could."
I think that this is not the same case, because our problem is not to set the same settings to a group, our problem will be how to select/move all the activities graphically. But I will also study this module.
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In reply to Toni Vela

Re: planning block update

by Joan Codina Filba -
I still think is better to perform a Copy/paste of selected attributes.
Like you can do with spreadsheets.

You can select one item and perform a copy. This takes shows you some issues of the item like start, end, groups mode... then you select some of them (for example start date, and groups mode) and you paste that to as many activities as you want.

To do that also implies that when you put the mouse over one activity shows you the extra information (apart from begin/end dates)
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In reply to Joan Codina Filba

Re: planning block update

by Toni Vela -
This option is possible, but I have to study it, and its complexity
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In reply to Joan Codina Filba

Re: planning block update

by Barry Oosthuizen -
That's a great idea!
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In reply to Barry Oosthuizen

Re: planning block update

by Lael ... -
Does anyone know if the update to the planning block was completed?
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