Moodle in English: Concept Map question type

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to share with you a new question type I developed for an experiment at my uni. I'm doing a Ph.D. on technology applied to education and I'm using Concept Mapping techniques. I developed a Concept Map question type, that allows teachers to create Concept Map questions, which are basically questions for which a Concept Map is the answer. They are manually graded and a web based Concept Map editor is included for students to answer. The editor includes undo-redo and it is very straightforward to use as it is based only on double clicking on the map to create concepts and drag and drop concepts on top of each other to create relationships.

The question type should work on Moodle 1.9+ however I have only tested it on Moodle 2.0 so I can't guarantee it will work on older versions.

Installation instructions are included in a README file in the attached zip. You can download the plugin from this link.

Average of ratings;Useful (2)

Re: Concept Map question type

by Tim Hunt - Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 8:00 AM

I would be very surprised if any question type could be made to work with both 1.9 and 2.0, so it probably only works with 2.0.

You may wish to add your question type to the modules and plugins database. http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id=6009. See Development:Guidelines_for_contributed_code for more information.

For the benefit of the lazy (including me) would you like to show us some screen-shots. Thanks.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 5:42 PM

Hi Tim. I already added it to the plugins database, including a screenshot as it is suggested. I think i followed most of the guiding lines, however most of the code is javascript compiled from GWT. Once the plugin is activated I'll continue updating it for bugs and improvements. Cheers, Jorge

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 8:10 PM

Here's the screenshot I uploaded for the plugin.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Joseph Rézeau - Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 4:59 PM

Hi Jorge,

Just tried your Concept Map question type on moodle 2.0. Filling the map as student works fine. However, when reviewing the submission either as student or teacher, one sees an empty map, which means teacher cannot view map and of course cannot grade it. Maybe you have not quite finished your programmation?

Joseph

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 5:44 PM

Hi Jospeh. Thanks for trying it out. I must have brooken something because it was working before uploading it. I'll double check that, do you have any other comments on the interface for creating the maps? Cheers, Jorge

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 8:12 PM

Hi Joseph.

Thanks for finding the bug, I already fixed it. I was just adding the history to the student's answer. For undo-redo and teacher's ability to replay the Concept Mapping process.

I uploaded a new version in the same link.

Cheers,

Jorge

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Joseph Rézeau - Tuesday, 15 February 2011, 9:31 PM

Jorge,

It's working OK now, thanks.

Some remarks:

"Add relationships by dragging one concept on top of another." It would be more intuitive to drag an arrow from one concept to another.
When "Adding relationship" popup window is displayed, the focus should be inside the input box (as when adding concepts).
It would help potential users if you provided some concrete examples (or links to websites) of concept maps (see next point).
You should create a page in the documentation here: http://docs.moodle.org/en/question/type/conceptmap
Attached French translation of language strings.
You should provide localization for the online Help when drawing the map itself.
There seem to exist fairly large cache files in your conceptmap\cmapweb\cmapweb\ folder. How are they purged?

Joseph

fr.zip

Average of ratings;Useful (1)

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 2:04 AM

Wow! Thanks heaps Joseph for all your help. Regarding your remarks:

1. I love the idea, however I need to distinguish between dragging and dropping for moving a concept, and dragging and dropping for creating a relationship. And I can't know in advance what the user wants to do. My original interface had a button to activate an "add relationship" mode, however it was pretty tiring to go back and forth from the map to the button. Do you think an external button would be better?

2. I'll fix this, thanks for reporting.

3 and 4. Sure, I will definitely create the page and provide a link from the online help.

5. Thanks heaps for the french translation, I already did the spanish one, now I need to link it to the Moodle variable (I'm still trying to find it) that holds the current language (or locale).

6. As I mentioned in 5 I did, now I need to link it to the Moodle settings.

7. The caches seem large but it is not like that. What GWT does is to create a copy of the whole interface for each implemented Locale, at them moment it has spanish and english so the real implementation has half the size (french will add a 50% more space). The reason for this is to improve performance and save space at the browser level, because only one of the implementations is sent (the one corresponding to the locale).

Well, thanks again and I'll let you know as soon as I have fixed this and added french.

Cheers,

Jorge

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 2:12 AM

Here are the files in English and Spanish for the online interface. If you can help me on the French version I will add it right away.

Messages.zip

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Joseph Rézeau - Wednesday, 16 February 2011, 6:10 AM

Attached file for French.

Joseph

Messages_fr.properties

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Martha M - Tuesday, 31 May 2011, 1:19 PM

Hi Jorge,

I downloaded the file and I have the same issue Joseph had.

Everytime I click on submit the map disappears and neither student or teacher can see it. Do you have an idea about why this is happening? or what I can do to fix it?

Gracias

Martha

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by simin noori - Tuesday, 17 May 2011, 6:47 PM

Hi! Jorge

download link does'nt work, and I can not find this plugin in Modules and Plugins database too! I want to try it, Please

Simin

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Yvonne Schneider - Monday, 23 May 2011, 8:39 PM

I want to use it too and download link is still broken. Does anyone has the package already and can upload it here in the forum?

Thanks a lot

Average of ratings; -

missing link

by david bodily - Sunday, 29 May 2011, 8:39 AM

yes, i would also like this block to test . . . and it's not at the end of the download links.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Luke Burton - Saturday, 11 June 2011, 3:15 AM

I am testing Moodle 2.0.3 (Build: 20110505) and have installed your Concept Map question type. I can create a Concept Map question, add it to a quiz, a student can create a map in the quiz adn submit it, but when the instructor views the quiz results, they see a blank grid rather than the student's work. What am I doing wrong?

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jeff Mehring - Sunday, 12 June 2011, 11:50 AM

Same problem as Luke. Any ideas? You seemed to fix it when Joseph asked earlier. Have changes been made since?

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Andrew Chambers - Saturday, 23 July 2011, 9:27 PM

This isn't working for me. I keep getting a "Plugin "mod_conceptmap" is defective or outdated, can not continue, sorry." I am using 2.1

More details:

Debug info: Missing version value in version.php

Stack trace:

line 458 of \lib\upgradelib.php: plugin_defective_exception thrown
line 265 of \lib\upgradelib.php: call to upgrade_plugins_modules()
line 1460 of \lib\upgradelib.php: call to upgrade_plugins()
line 317 of \admin\index.php: call to upgrade_noncore()

I am a complete Newb to moodle but managed to get the server up and running OK...

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Andrew Chambers - Saturday, 23 July 2011, 10:30 PM

Whoops silly me, it's a question type. Wrong folder

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Matt Bury - Sunday, 24 July 2011, 10:14 PM

Hi everyone,

For anyone who's interested in deploying Concept Maps in Moodle 1.9, I've developed a Snapshot service script for the SWF Activity Module. This allows learners to save a PNG or JPG snapshot of their screen. I've included an example drawing and text application which can be used as a simpler but more flexible Concept Map activity.

Pushing grades is optional and pushed grades can be overridden and commented on by a teacher.

SWF Activity Module: http://code.google.com/p/swf-activity-module/

Snapshot wiki page: http://code.google.com/p/swf-activity-module/wiki/Snapshot

Downloads: http://code.google.com/p/swf-activity-module/downloads/list

Demo: http://moodle.matbury.com/course/view.php?id=9

Of course, concept mapping is only one of many possible uses of the Snapshot script.

I hope this helps!

Average of ratings; -

回應: Re: Concept Map question type

by tong adam - Tuesday, 26 July 2011, 10:30 AM

I am using moodle 2.1 too. I can successfully install it but when i add the question, it cannot be shown. Is it working fine with you?

Average of ratings;Useful (1)

Re: Concept Map question type

by Aaron Schnakenberg - Saturday, 5 November 2011, 4:08 AM

Any way we can get a 2.1.2 compliant version? i guessing thats the issue causing my

Fatal error: Class 'default_questiontype' not found inC:\Moodle\htdocs\question\type\conceptmap\questiontype.php on line 27

loved it while using the 2.0

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Saturday, 19 November 2011, 9:11 PM

Hi all,

I just uploaded a new version to the new modules and plugins database. Same XML format and some interface improvements.

You can get it from here.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Mark Bryant - Thursday, 24 November 2011, 7:05 AM

I click on the supplied link and there is nothing there. If I go to the old database of modules and plugins there is an ancient version of the plug in. I would like to try it out but can't seem to get the latest version.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Joseph Rézeau - Thursday, 24 November 2011, 7:34 PM

@Mark: you have to wait until the plugin is approved. It may take a few days or weeks...

Joseph

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Friday, 25 November 2011, 6:38 AM

Oops I didn't know it wasn't available right away. Here's another link.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Franck PETIT - Friday, 25 November 2011, 3:12 PM

Hi, I installed it on moodle 2.1. Installation seemed to run smoothly until I tried to access a quiz. I couldn't see the quiz anymore nor create questions. After removing the conceptmap question type folder from the server, everything went back to normal.

Cheers, Franck

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Joseph Rézeau - Friday, 25 November 2011, 9:02 PM

@Frank: the release notes (README.txt) say: "This question type has only been tested in Moodle 2.0."

For Moodle 2.1 you need a new, compatible version. The question engine is completely different between moodle 2.0 and 2.1.

@Jorge: are you working on a 2.1 version?

Joseph

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jorge Villalon - Sunday, 27 November 2011, 9:12 AM

Hi guys, I'm already working on the 2.1 version, 90% advance so far, I'm on the testing phase. WIll let you know when it's ready.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Aaron Schnakenberg - Friday, 6 January 2012, 12:33 AM

any update on the progress of the new version?

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by guly guly - Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 9:47 PM

and what about 2.2?

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Tim Hunt - Wednesday, 16 May 2012, 11:21 PM

If a questiontype works for Moodle 2.1, then it is very easy to make it work in 2.2 as well. The details are in https://github.com/moodle/moodle/blob/master/question/type/upgrade.txt.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jean-Michel Védrine - Thursday, 17 May 2012, 2:59 PM

Hello Tim,

Given this is a manually graded question, I wonder if it wouldn't be better to just extend essay question rather than trying to port the current code from 2.0 to 2.1/2.2 ?

Average of ratings;Useful (1)

Re: Concept Map question type

by Tim Hunt - Thursday, 17 May 2012, 7:03 PM

Concept map should definitely be a separate question type.

In Moodle 2.1+ any question type can declare itself to be manually graded.

I have not seen the existing concept map code, so I cannot comment on what is likely to be the easiest way to get a worrking 2.1+ qtype, but the options are 'port' existing code; or start again from a blank qtype, and add the conceptmap bits.

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Jean-Michel Védrine - Friday, 18 May 2012, 1:23 PM

Maybe I was unclear, I was not thinking of merging it with essay !

Looking at the code I was thinking of making it a separate question type but inheriting a lot of methods from essay and just overwritting a few ones (namely the renderer, ...) as I have done with shortanswer and a few of my qtypes. The goal was to reduce the amount of code needed and ease maintaining it.

But you know a lot more than me about the question engine so I am sure you are right.

By the way is there any "template" qtype for the new question engine somewhere ?

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Tim Hunt - Friday, 18 May 2012, 3:27 PM

Ah, thanks for clarifying what you meant. What you meant is a good suggestion.

There is not yet a 'new qtype template' for Moodle 2.1+. I cannot now remember what I did when starting qtype_stack, but I probably copied one of the other qtypes, and then deleted the contents of most of the methods.

It would be good to have such a template, but I can't see myself having time to produce one, so if anyone else feels up to the challenge, please go for it!

Average of ratings; -

Re: Concept Map question type

by Wen Hao Chuang - Thursday, 26 July 2012, 1:58 PM

I'm glad that I found this interesting thread. Just a idea, have anyone thought of creating a moodle "course format" (instead of a question type) for "concept map?" So, instructors can use this Moodle "course format" to easily plan the activities (quizzes, assignments, etc.) and create conditions (e.g. pass the first quiz with 80%) that will lead to the next event/activity. I think it would be very helpful for instrutcors (and students) who tend to be "visual" learners.. Thoughts or comments?

Average of ratings;Useful (1)