General plugins

This sub-topic is for comments on the 1-Coordination Sub-module design.

In this "Project Module", students and teachers keep track of a project through one icon (project activity module) which manages numerous activities (tasks), resources, assessments, and views. It is intended that multiple projects will be set up within a course (in my case, often one project per week, but each project extending over several weeks). So this module will best apply to multi-project classes where students are concurrently working on a number of projects (ie: essay writing in a second language class, or website building in a research class).

In the Coordination phase, a teacher selects the start time, the end time, and the really-real end time of the project (thus allowing for late submissions to a point). A teacher can then add tasks (minimum one, maximun: unlimited). There are at least four Submodules (task-types) which roughly resemble the basic stages of a project. Most tasks can be repeated in cycles. Each task has its own begin, end, and late submit dates.

What comments and questions do you have on this phase?
For me, I wonder where the teacher can graphically view an overview of the resulting task design.

This subtopic is for comments on screen designs for 2-Coordination (part 2) & Brainstorm.

Students review the overall tasks and schedule here. They also can check which tasks they have completed.

In the Brainstorm stage, the teacher first decides whether to set: 1) all topics, 2) provide some topics as a starter, or 3) let students brainstorm all topics. If teachers have a long list of possible topics, these can be uploaded in a text file.

This sub-topic is for comments on the 3-Signup screen design.

Here the teacher decides from three options for topic/group formation.

1. Individual:  each student has one topic
2. Group Selection/Topic Selection:  students first form groups, then decide a topic
3. Topic Selection/Group View:  student individually select the topic(s) they like, then the system automatically forms groups to put students with common interests together.

This sub-topic is for comments on 4-Topic Selection screen design.

Here the teacher can:

1. Assign students or groups manually to topics
2. View topic assignments and adjust them

This subtopic is for commenting on the 5-Vote Topic Selection.

Here is where students can view the list of possible topics they can choose from (if selecting topics was designed as the process).  They then "vote" by typing the number of the top three topics they wish to work on (first choice, second choice, third choice).  We have arbitrarily chosen "three" choices (should there be more?). 

This subtopic is for comments on the 6-Group Seleciton screen designs.

Here is where the teacher can set the minimum and maximum size of a group.  For example, a teacher may want the average size of a group to be three students, but allow up to four students if there are more students interested in a topic, or if there are an odd number of students in the class. 

Students can select a group here (if that has been designed as part of the process), and then view what topics are assigned to each group.

The reason that the standard group function in Moodle is not used, is because we need a fast and easy way to assign groups at a per project level.  Students will simultaneously be working in multiple groups in this scenario.

This subtopic is for comments on the Submit and Schedule submodules.

In Submit, students can upload a completed file/task.  If the teacher has designed multiple tasks for submitting, then the student can upload a first draft (and have that assessed), a second draft, a third draft, and so on.  The teacher defines the type of file allowed (presently we are only allowing files with extensions of .zip, .txt, .doc, .ppt, .html, .jpg).  Should we allow other file types?  Particularly, other graphic image types?  We can only add other file types that have an open source or commonly available viewer that can be incorporated into this code.

In Schedule, students can select the time that they wish to schedule an appointment with the teacher to present their project.  In a group mode, one student on behalf of the group can select the time.  Here the teacher can allocate time periods when she/he is available for presentations/conferences.

In this subtopic, please comment on the view/assessment screen designs.

Here is where both students and teachers can view projects, write comments, and assess them by multiple scales.  After selecting a project, a pop-up window will appear with three panes (the file itself, the assessment scales on the right, and a comment box on the bottom).  A student can then later view the ratings and comments on their own project (not on other student's projects). 

The assessment screen is where the teacher defines the scales for the assessment.  We decided not to use the standard Moodle scales, but have a more rigid format that allows quick totals to be posted into a Block (for example:  Top Rated Projects This Week (student ratings/teacher ratings).  So the scales will have both a qualitative (a word title) and quantitative (numerical value 1-5) attached to it, though only the word titles will be visible.  All scales will have six radio buttons (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 quantitative values assigned).  Typically, a teacher will set up ten scales for an assessment (more or less allowed), and then set a total point score for the project.  The system will automatically tally the total points based the radio button scores.  To give a certain assessment criteria more weighting, a teacher can create multiple scales for that criteria.

This the last of eight screen design postings.

Here are some general comments by Jussi, with my replies...

1) Code reusability for sub-modules.

Sub-modules implement relatively general effects. For example, Sign-up sub-module might be useful as a stand alone module too. I would like to see sub-modules designed and implemented in a way that allows them to be as reusable as possible outside the Project Module.

Yes, I would hope that submodules could be made into independent modules. I hope that someone (perhaps you) could watch over the design and coding, at appropriate times, so that we don't do something that makes the submodule too embedded to be useful as a separate tool.

Also we hope to design the whole module so that someone could easily use only a single submodule within Project Module if needed. For example, I think a teacher who just needs a quick way to brainstorm and assign topics could use this module very easily, without worrying about having to design all the stages of the project.

2) Interoperability with outside systems (especially Document Management Systems - this is really big for me)

Project Module subscribes to the view of Moodle as a stand-alone system. This will probably not be the case in any institution using Moodle as their main LMS. It certainly is not my point of view. Also, in Submit sub-module the requirement of the submission is a single file of limited formats. This is stricter than technically necessary (I think) and limits the field of projects that can be handled.

Version 1.5 of Moodle will not have a DMS built in unfortunately, so we cannot anticipate how that will work. So we must design Project Module v1 as Moodle stands now, knowing we may throw away the design in six months. It is quite possible that version 1.6 will have a DMS built in, so I agree that DMS will be a key priority for this module, and that the second version of Project Module should try to incorporate it if 1.6 includes one.

Note that in our design, we have a very simple idea for publishing websites. A system admin must manually create a new, separate data folder called, say, "moodlepublic" in the web accessible section of the server (perhaps alongside the moodle program folder). Then our Archive function will move the websites (maybe in a zip, upload, unzip process) and automatically generate a top page (index.html) for that particular project with links to each of the individual projects.

The need for a public folder? All of our student projects are designed for authenticity--that is--that real audiences will use the results of our study projects for some purpose. For example, we have visiting groups of students from Korea visit our campus. Our students in Japan will prepare websites or presentations on various themes of interest to them--best restaurants in Sapporo, things to do in your free time, cost comparisons for daily expenses in Japan and Korea, and so on.

In managing documents Moodle is years behind dedicated DMSes and, I believe, will stay behind despite some on-going development efforts. We are evaluating DMSes to use in conjunction with Moodle. It's way too early to say much except we are pretty darn confident that it is the right path to go. Unfortunately I can't really say how Moodle/Project Module should interoperate with a DMS.

Are you saying that Moodle should not have an internal DMS in the future, but must interoperate with many external DMSs?

Couple of random thoughts on that:
* Submissions would not be hosted within Moodle (in "moodledata") but in a outside system and only a reference/link to the submission would be in Moodle (database).

This is an important question that I have no idea how to answer. Perhaps Martin and others could comment.

* From Moodle's point of view submissions could be of arbitrary type, format and size.
I wouldn't expect your engineers to design a system that facilitates interoperation with any imaginable DMS. I would ask them to design system that would make it easy for someone to continue their development down the path I'm trying to describe.

Yes, that's right. But I am not a programmer or engineer, so I would need someone's eyes like yours to watch and ensure that our development path is appropriate.

Next to resources I could provide. First, a small but important disclaimer. I'm taking about possibilities and my willingness to contribute resources in the form of student projects. I'm certain that you are familiar with the uncertainties involved as they seem to be UNIversial.

This is wonderful to hear. I would love to think that this project would be passed on to another group as soon as we finish. As you know, the documentation on this UniMelbourne project is voluminous, so students will have a good base to learn from and build on. I would be very happy if your group would take the task of Project Module version 2. Also note that Enrique has programmers who are available to assist this year if given an appropriate task. I am not sure yet what is the best role they should play. I have not heard from Jeff or Michael about what role they want to play.

The spring semester in Finland is quickly winding down and we at TAMK have very limited operations during the summer. It would seem that the earliest time I can put together a development team (of student engineers) is next autumn semester. Before I don't have much to offer except my opinions. Even that might be hard to do for next week or two as now is basically the busiest time of the year at TAMK.

Thinking about how software like this evolves, next autumn might be too early for any major work. Next spring might there might be more need for big changes. That might be work out fine. Many students will be doing their "project studies" during the spring semester, so that's the time it's easiest for me to get a team together.

I would like to keep the momentum going, so I hope an autumn team of yours could take over and start designing Version 2. Our team will keep designing for April/May, then code from June/July/August, then debug and finalize documents in Sept/October.

Thanks, Jussi!

Hi don,
I like very much the idea of a project management module and you have done a good work. I also teach project management ( and manage a few ones )
BUt the question is : who is developing it ? If the answer is no I could ensamble a students team to work on it in the framework of a degree project.
Cheers.
Ludo (Marc)