Disadvantage with inline commenting

Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Steve van Ommen -
Number of replies: 19

The only disadvantage with inline commenting as I see it, is the congested view that the student gets in the gradebook. Is there a way studens can display a condensed view of the comment (bearing in mind if using the inline comments, the students gets this along with the whole text of their work)

In the teacher's view its not a problem

PS something I have found handy with inline commenting- instead of having to go to the red text tool each time, I do a red full stop or period (.) I then copy this in wherever I need to insert red comments ( I don't bother deleting the full stop)

 

In reply to Steve van Ommen

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Lynn Jeffress -

Along these same lines, is there a way to make teacher forum responses to individual students private? I am commenting on papers sent to a forum and grading the papers with private comments. They get sent back to the student but they are public. This seems at the very least libelous.  Can anyone help me fine the "private" switch?

 

Thanks.  Lynn Jeffress

In reply to Lynn Jeffress

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Peter Seaman -

Hi Lynn:  I wouldn't use the forum for this purpose.  I'd prefer to set up an "online text" assignment, so I could then insert comments directly in the essay, and only the student would see those comments.  I agree that there are problems with other students seeing comments meant for only one student - could be viewed as a violation to FERPA, should a student ever challenge it.  -  Peter

In reply to Peter Seaman

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Lynn Jeffress -

Part of the assignment was to write a short paper and upload it in a public forum so that students could read each other's work and comment on it (constructively, of course).  I also wanted to comment, but to do it privately.  I could have done this with Blackboard. How can I do both in Moodle?

 

Lynn

In reply to Lynn Jeffress

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Peter Seaman -

If I were doing this, I'd probably set up groups (really pairs in your case, but they are called groups in Moodle).  Make sure you put yourself in each group.  Then you don't have to worry about all students seeing each others' work.  But you would still need to use a private e-mail to get a commented paper back to the writer.  I don't see an easy way around that issue, but perhaps someone else will, and will chime in.  Thanks.  -  Peter

In reply to Peter Seaman

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Another way would be to keep the forum just for student use but to use either Moodle's messaging service (less good as harder to keep track of) or the offline assignment type. You simply type your comments in the box there and students will get them privately and you will have a record of your comments while at the same time maintaining the public forum.

In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Lynn Jeffress -


Thanks for this, Mary.  Finally, is there any way in Moodle messaging to upload files (as there is in most email systems)?  I don't see one, but then maybe I've just overlooked it.

 

Lynn

In reply to Lynn Jeffress

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Itamar Tzadok -

As a variation on Mary's suggestion (forum+offline assignment) you can use a database+offline assignment. With a bit of scripting you can have next to each entry a button which will open the grading page of the respective student in the designated offline assignment. It shouldn't be too difficult to just look up the student in that offline assignment but why not make it easier if we can? See image for illustration. This is a different application but it has the bit of functionality I suggest above. Each row is a student submission. The most right cell (column marked by the red arrow) is a direct link to the grading page of the student in a designated offline assignment. That grading page opens in a pop up window so I can update the student's grade and feedback without leaving the list of submissions in the database. If you want to try this approach I can help with creating the link.  smile

Attachment data-linktoassignment-example.png
In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

That's clever Itamar - I like workarounds and you like the database smile

To answer the question about uploading in the messaging -if you see the HTML editor in the message box then the way to do this would be to upload the file to the course files area and use the hyperlink icon to locate and display it.

In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Lynn Jeffress -

Hi Mary: I just added a student file to the file manager then tried to upload it in moodle messaging but the html editor hyperlink does not have a Browse function so I don't see how to upload the file. It just asks for an Url.

In reply to Lynn Jeffress

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Mary Cooch -
Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Oh that's interesting - sorry - maybe only admin has that option. Well you can still hyperlink to your uploaded file but it is more of an effort- you would have to go to the course files,(click on the link in course admin) upload the directly into there, right click on the file and get its properties/URL and then go back to the messaging and paste its URL in that box you do have. It is a lot of effort. To be honest I think it would be easier using the offline text assignment because you can send a file that way using the html editor and you will get a browse button to browse for the file.

In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Lynn Jeffress -

I didn't realize that teachers were not "admin."  I thought we were.

I'll try the offline method.  I'm in the midst of teaching, have lots of students and not time to learn computer techie stuff.

Another urgent issue: How do I, as the teacher, go into grades and change a student's grade or add a grade that did not get recorded there.  Which button do I push to do this. I feel like I've tried everything. I must find a way to do this. It should be so simple.

In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Lynn Jeffress -

Thank you Itamar.  I'm an English teacher not a computer techie so I'd appreciate any and all help. For instance,  I use wysiwygs and not html.

In reply to Lynn Jeffress

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Itamar Tzadok -

The beauty of databases is that they can come in presets which you can simply apply to a new database activity. I'll create a preset of a simple database in which students can post their papers. Do you want to post your feedback as an attachment or as an online text? smile

In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by James Scully -

Hi,

Yes indeed, I have a bunch of presets I use, I'll attach one just as a sample.  I was thinking of putting it on the exchange anyway, but keep "improving" it!  Its for "just" University level students who need academic English (Inter to Upper-Inter) for earth/agricultural sciences.  Involves describing terrain, geographical and geological features.

I think if the gradebook assignment to go with it was an offline assignment and the feedback can be entered there as a comment (probably using the HTML editor) together with a "grade" (e.g.from a scale), it would probably work well.

Thanks for your help

James

In reply to Itamar Tzadok

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by James Scully -

Hi Itamar,

Your suggestion caught my eye and is exactly what I have been (but didn't know, I was) looking for.

I have some writing assignments structured using the database and am looking to offer more direct feedback.  If I could put this functionality into the templates for both myself and the student - I know I would have to create the assignment separately - this would be great.  The link should allow the teacher (or non-editing teacher) to go to the linked offline assignment and the student to see their feedback, if it exists.  If it could change colour (or be highlighted) depending on whether there was feedback or not that would be really helpful, but the basic functionality is the important thing.  I can usually edit scripts like this when I see them (have put other javascripts in odd places), but am no good at starting from scratch.

If you can show me one of your scripts, I would be very grateful.

James Scully

In reply to James Scully

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Itamar Tzadok -

Well, the scripts are quite complex and tailored to specific schemes so I don't think you'll find them useful as they are. I bluffed a little bit where I said above that the link opens the grade page so that I update the student's grade and feedback. The link actually opens the grade page enters the grade and structured feedback and closes the grade page, by one click. So it probably does more than you need. But I can tell you how you can create the link and we can continue the exchange until you get it to work.

The idea is simple (as always). For each student you need the Moodle user id. You can find it in the user's name which you get by adding the built-in ##user## tag. When added it shows the user name linked to the user profile. The href of the a tag contains the moodle user id:

<a href="http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=51600&course=5">James Scully</a>

So if you don't have it already in each record in the database, you need to add it. Then you can extract the id in the following way. Suppose it is in cell 0 of the table row:

var uid=rows[i].cells[0].getElementsByTagName('a')[0].href.replace(/[\s\S]*id\=(\d+)\&[\s\S]*/,"$1");

Once you obtain this uid you can construct the url of the grade page of that student:

var turl='http://yourmoodle/moodle/mod/assignment/submissions.php?id=101&userid='+uid+'&mode=single&offset=';

Where 101 is the assignment id which you can obtain after you create the assignment.

So for each entry in the list view retrieve the user id, create the url to the grade page of the designated assignment and assign that url to the href of the designated a tag in that row or as a parameter in window.open(...) in that a tag if you want a popup.

See if you can make it work and let me know if you need further assistance. smile

In reply to James Scully

Re: Disadvantage with inline commenting

by Itamar Tzadok -

Here is a simple list template that creates the link to the designated assignment. You need to adjust the url to your moodle domain and change the assignment id (101 in the example below) to that of the assignment you created. Note also that the link is currently set as a blank space. You can put there whatever you want but consider that this is not for students use because it goes directly to the grading page and students are not supposed to have access to that page. What I usually do in such cases is make the cell visible only in editing mode and hence only visible to teachers. But we can get to that later.  smile

header

<table id="mylist" align="center" cellpadding="5" border="1" style="border:1px solid #dddddd;"><tbody>
<tr>
<th valign="top" class="header">Author</th>
<th valign="top" class="header">Title</th>
<th valign="top" class="header">Comments</th>
<th valign="top" class="header"></th>
</tr>

repeated entry

<tr>
<td valign="top">##user##</td>
<td valign="top"><a href="##moreurl##">||Title||</a></td>
<td valign="top">##comments##</td>
<td valign="top"><a href="">&nbsp;</a></td>
</tr>

footer

</tbody></table>
<script type="text/javascript">
var mylist=document.getElementById('mylist');
var entries=mylist.firstChild.rows;
for (var i=1;i<entries.length;i++){
var uid=entries[i].cells[0].getElementsByTagName('a')[0].href.replace(/[\s\S]*id\=(\d+)\&[\s\S]*/,"$1");
var turl='http://yourmoodle/moodle/mod/assignment/submissions.php?id=101&userid='+uid+'&mode=single&offset=';
entries[i].cells[3].getElementsByTagName('a')[0].href=turl;
}
</script>