Very useful question types from the OU

Very useful question types from the OU

by Germán Valero -
Number of replies: 8
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The Drag and Drop markers and the Drag and Drop onto image additional question types plugins are among the 20 Top plugin downloads in the last 2 months smile

The stats seem to show a tendency for an increasing number of downloads over time.

I like these plugins a lot, and I think that these two plugins (as well as many others), contributed by the Open University, have been thoroughly tested, are well written and well maintained. So, in my very personal opinion, I think they would make prime candidates to consider for suggestion for inclusion into a future Moodle core.

If these (and all other) additional question types made by the Open University were included in Moodle core, all Moodle sites using that branch could use them very easily (no extra expenses/fuzz for installing them), which will contribute to their use in both formative and summative assessments. This will greatly improve the academic use of Moodle.

I have been translating the Moodle Docs for these additional question types into spanish, so that spanish-speaking teachers can easily use many of these question types. The original plugins documentation in English, hosted at the OU site, is very comprehensive and easy for a novice to follow.

I think that the next logical step would be to discuss the pros and cons of this subject; for example, in this forum, before adding an issue in the tracker and lobbying for votes in the tracker as a very desirable and convenient new feature of a future Moodle branch.

I will be looking forward to reading the opinions of the many users and admins who have tried these plugins.

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In reply to Germán Valero

Re: Very useful question types from the OU

by Mary Cooch -
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I agree -here is a related tracker issue: MDL-43973 and also a previous forum thread: https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=253472#p1099382 I won't delete your post  German, as you make some very valid points, but it would be good if you and others could add their contributions to the previous forum https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=253472#p1099382 instead.

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: Very useful question types from the OU

by Tim Hunt -
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There is no discussion to be had. It has already been agreed that these should go into standard Moodle. It is just a matter of finding time to do the work:

  1. Moodle HQ needs to find time to do a code reivew, particularly of the JavaScript code.
  2. Then I need to find time to act on any issues they raise.
  3. Finally, we should worry about whether we really want to add a lot more YUI code to Moodle, given that it does not have a future. (https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=268190 )

I don't see this getting done in time for Moodle 2.8. Sorry. I had hoped that it would.

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Very useful question types from the OU

by dawn alderson -

well, Tim.

To be honest, I think it would be helpful to know what 'you' think is an alternative to YUI-to be very honest.  Might not come to much-but there is validity in that-I am sure.

Probably-tail wagging near wrong tree-but I would like to know alternatives...have no idea-and it is a pain in the proverbial as it stands (severe domino effect) for many-my take of course.

D

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In reply to dawn alderson

Re: Very useful question types from the OU

by dawn alderson -

addendum....

German-no.

Never mind votes...triage is triage...that needs to be implemented with more consistency-and that is known.    

Fast action-yes...no dilly-dallying, easy for me to say though eh.

D

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In reply to dawn alderson

Re: Very useful question types from the OU

by Derek Chirnside -

Drag and Drop (etc etc) questions are superb.

I've voted for the tracker item here: https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-43973

The key question for me however is a code review.

There was a lot of wheel spinning over 1) adding the book 2) possibly adding ForumNG (a quick look eliminated this as an option, but we waited with bated breath for over three years https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-21538) then 3) adding Advanced forums (which then was abandoned https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-39707)

An early code review in each case would have shown the issues that were going to become problems.

What would be sad is if we try and think a lot towards getting these into core to then finally have HQ say "no, failed code review"

The second key issue is as Tim has said YUI.

There are others, I guess, but these are critical.

@German - a great posts, well done.

-Derek

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In reply to Derek Chirnside

Re: Very useful question types from the OU

by Tim Hunt -
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Unless you have done it, please do not underestimate how hard it is to review code. Reading code is not like reading a trashy novel. It is probably more like trying to read the score for a major symphony without the benefit of a recording. (Not sure how good that analogy is.)

It may not be harder to read code that write code, but it is probably equally difficult, and most developers have more practice at writing code than reading it. Certainly, writing your own code is normally more fun.

However, the folks at Moodle HQ are professionals, and do a lot of code reviewing between them. They just have not had time to do this bit yet. I did have a discussion with someone there about how nice it would be if they could review these question types shortly after the 2.7 release, then I could fix up the code in plenty of time for the 2.8 release. However, we were all too busy, and it never happened.

You are right, this sort of thing does not happen fairly frequently in the Moodle world, which is a problem, but if you look at what Moodle HQ have been doing, it is all pretty worthwhile, so I am glad they did it.

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Very useful question types from the OU

by Joseph Rézeau -
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Tim "It may not be harder to read code than write code, but it is probably equally difficult..."

I would say "reading badly written code is harder than writing bad code".wink I know, I write bad code and find it hard to read it myself.blush

Joseph

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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Very useful question types from the OU

by dawn alderson -

K

I have an itch-and it won't go away...so if some one could-then I think you should- help me out a bit please smile

Right the YUI thing....I don't mind if someone wishes to move this somewhere else....

here is the thing:

Do I have to scroll through this:


https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=268190

to make any sense of the YUI thing?

Reason being, the issue seems to have risen its head here in this thread, and as far as I am aware the issue turned up with regard to Atto too. And I am sure there are other knock-ons.....All I want to know is what is the alternative....because it is tricky to support stuff (on more than one level-e.g. oh yes Moodle new editor, I see-is it good-yep- no YUI though-not sure what is going on-type of thing) if YUI is to become obsolete-what next?....I hope I am making some sense.

Dawn 

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