Hi,
First off, big thanks to Joseph for making this such a dynamic forum. Thanks to the steady exchange of Q&As, I've hacked my auto-linking to 90% of my desires -- tooltips, text colours & underlining, for example.
However, one annoying trait is that certain terms are highlighted when they occur in the definition, rather than as a concept. For example, the term "course" is highlighted and the tooltip/reference is given as "lecture: a formal presentation given as part of a course".
As I understood it, only the concept (in this case "lecture") should trigger the definition, not a word in the definition. In this case, "course" does not have its own concept entry, so it's doubly weird why it should trigger the "lecture" definition.
Moodle 1.9.9
Hi David,
Thanks for the kind words.
The fact that any word entered in a course glossary will be hyperlinked in the text of other words' definition is a feature of the Moodle glossary. There is currently no way to turn this feature off. May I ask why you find this a problem in your context?
You write that "In this case, "course" does not have its own concept entry, so it's doubly weird why it should trigger the "lecture" definition." That is not possible. If the word "course" is highlighted, it means that that word has a corresponding entry in one of your glossaries on your Moodle site. That entry may not be present in your current course, but in another course or on the site's front page, where it has been made "Global". Please check and report here.
ATB
Joseph
Bonjour Joseph,
I find this feature a problem because it gives a definition that does not match the autolinked concept. See screenshot below.
I've checked all the glossaries on my site, and none of them contain a concept entry for "course". And even if there was a concept entry for "course", it wouldn't explain why it subsequently autolinks to the "lecture" definition.
The "course"/"lecture" mismatch is not the only example. I have the same situation with other glossary entries, e.g. "work" is autolinked to "specialize: to become an expert in a particular field of work". Here again, "work" does not exist in any glossary as a concept, only as part of a definition.
Aha! I see the source of the problem: it is the keywords that are creating the mismatch. In each case of mismatching, the highlighted word is a keyword in the definition that is linked. In the concept "lecture", the word "course" is in the definition, but more importantly is also one of the keywords for "lecture". It's the same situation for "specialize" with the keyword "work".
In my opinion, I find the resulting mismatch very confusing for students. My solution therefore is to delete all keywords in glossary definitions. I can understand that they may be useful in other contexts, but in my student-generated language-learning glossaries, they currently create confusion.
Sorry for the extended stream-of-consciousness response, but at least you see how I want my glossaries to function.
I find this feature a problem because it gives a definition that does not match the autolinked concept. See screenshot below.
I've checked all the glossaries on my site, and none of them contain a concept entry for "course". And even if there was a concept entry for "course", it wouldn't explain why it subsequently autolinks to the "lecture" definition.
The "course"/"lecture" mismatch is not the only example. I have the same situation with other glossary entries, e.g. "work" is autolinked to "specialize: to become an expert in a particular field of work". Here again, "work" does not exist in any glossary as a concept, only as part of a definition.
Aha! I see the source of the problem: it is the keywords that are creating the mismatch. In each case of mismatching, the highlighted word is a keyword in the definition that is linked. In the concept "lecture", the word "course" is in the definition, but more importantly is also one of the keywords for "lecture". It's the same situation for "specialize" with the keyword "work".
In my opinion, I find the resulting mismatch very confusing for students. My solution therefore is to delete all keywords in glossary definitions. I can understand that they may be useful in other contexts, but in my student-generated language-learning glossaries, they currently create confusion.
Sorry for the extended stream-of-consciousness response, but at least you see how I want my glossaries to function.
Hi David,
Thanks for the detailed explanation. In my tentative diagnostic I had forgotten about the keywords feature. If you do not want to resort to the radical solution of completely removing keywords from your glossary definitions, I suggest at least not entering keywords which appear in the definition of the entry being defined. In my experience, keywords can be very useful in language classes, but should be used sparingly. You might be interested in a "special" use of keywords for error correction, which I have explained in this discussion: Using Keywords Glossary feature for language "correction".
Joseph
PS.- Your screenshot does not show.
You have to attach it to your post (in the Attachment section at the bottom). Maybe if we can see that screenshot we will understand better what you call "mismatching".