Activity Learning flow: blocks not pages

Activity Learning flow: blocks not pages

by Tom Cotton -
Number of replies: 5

  • Current issue

The current content/activity navigational structure with high levels of linking is very disruptive to the learning flow.  This is compounded by inconsistent breadcumbs / left-navigation-menu behaviour.

  • Request:

I want to be able to present learning content followed immediately by a reflective activity/question.  However, because each activity needs to be on it's own separate page, the user has to stop the learning process and then figure out the hyper link - often separated from the learning material. The intermediate step of clicking into an activity needs to be removed (or provide an option to remove it).

So a Moodle activity that would normally provided in the content area (by itself, on a separate page) would now be a block that could be sequenced together with other Moodle activity blocks.

  • Example

Change from: Page => Quiz => Page => Forum
Change to: Page [+] Quiz [+] Page  [+] Forum

  • Further thoughts
I find the navigation disorientation is more significant and issue than the "Death by scroll" issue.  Scrolling can be managed to a degree through Subject Format, Completion tracking and Theme optimisation. 
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In reply to Tom Cotton

Re: Activity Learning flow: blocks not pages

by Tim Hunt -
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I understand what you are trying to achieve, but rather than thinking about it as Page [+] Quiz [+] Page  [+] Forum, I think a better way to think about it is to allow the teacher to embed a Question wherever they are inputting content with the HTML editor.

In Moodle development terms, this is quite easy to manage. It would be a Filter plugin and an Atto plugin. I really wish I had time to work on that.

Average of ratings: Useful (2)
In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Activity Learning flow: blocks not pages

by Tom Cotton -

Thanks - you've nailed the approach exactly as I was thinking.  I'm glad I had expressed it clearly enough.  It was the only way I could imagine it would work; otherwise you would have to create a whole new concept of "containers" for the blocks to fill up ~ a bit like lesson activities but allowing for appending instead of paging.

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In reply to Tom Cotton

Re: Activity Learning flow: blocks not pages

by Chad Bergeron -

Until another option comes along, you might be able to use the Lesson activity to bring everything together. Or use the Quiz or Feedback activity and the information 'question' type to hold your content. 

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In reply to Tom Cotton

Re: Activity Learning flow: blocks not pages

by Stephen Ogden -

I think embedding quiz questions in other activities would be useful, but better flow between activities would be better. Generally embedding one activity inside another would be nice, but makes that container activity bigger and bigger. That's not the same as having decent pagination between activities.

If you want to guide a student through page -> quiz -> page -> assignment -> page -> questionnaire -> page -> [any resource/activity]n then simply embedding them within each other isn't the answer. Nor is using the lesson (which is just a self-contained activity and doesn't offer the full range of all other plugins).

What would be nice is a way to sequence activities (this already happens on the course page!) or create custom smaller sequences and then within those activities provide meaningful and understandable navigation back and forth along the sequence.

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In reply to Stephen Ogden

Re: Activity Learning flow: blocks not pages

by Tim Hunt -
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I agree that better sequencing of activities would be a very good thing.

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