New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

by Chris Kenniburg -
Number of replies: 7
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Maybe it's been there for awhile but was not easily discoverable but I noticed on profile pages there is a message link next to your name which opens up a personal note taking/personal message that can be used by the student.  

Is this new in Moodle 3.7 and if so, why is there not a notetaking icon up by the message icon or make this feature accessible from within the messaging sidebar?  

I'm wondering if this is something they aren't planning on being in the final release??  It seems half-implemented or maybe by design not obvious to the end user.  

The text says message next to my name but in reality it is for notetaking which is highly desirable! I hope it's just not fully implemented yet and will be for release. 

Attachment Messages (1).png
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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

by Mary Cooch -
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Hi Chris -yes - this is a new feature for 3.7 and part of the messaging improvements (busy planning screenshots and video for them now) Here is the tracker issue for it: /MDL-64715

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

by Chris Kenniburg -
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Is it fully implemented as it stands now in the DEV downloads for Moodle 3.7 ?

It is not easily discoverable unless you are on the right page(profile).  Wondering if there will be a link in the messaging interface somehow?  

The notetaking feature is something we've been interested in.  I guess I don't know why there isn't a way for a student to start self-conversation at the main screen for the messaging?  No one, and I mean no one, is going to know that the only way to activate notes after deleting them is to go to the profile page and click a link that says Messages.   And I wouldn't bother calling it messaging.  Have it say, "Take a Note".  

A link to take personal notes should be directly on the screen for messages.  

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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

by Mary Cooch -
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As I understand it (and it is new to me too smile ) you can create your personal space from your profile by sending yourself a message. Then it will appear in the Starred section of the messaging drawer....



......and you can continue making notes from that starred section...


... and I do understand what you are saying about finding the feature , so do please comment in the tracker.

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In reply to Mary Cooch

Re: New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

by Chris Kenniburg -
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I commented on the tracker.  It might not be their intent to have developed a clever way to use Messaging for notetaking but that is exactly what this is and it fills a much needed void.  

I just feel like they missed an opportunity to properly implement it so that it is:

  • Easily discoverable so people will actually use it
  • Properly labeled to do what it is intended to do
  • Possibly ready for future enhancements to note taking?
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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

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

I'm just moving this to the General developer forum on the suggestion of Jake who commented in the tracker about this new feature MDL-64715. Let's continue the conversation here and hopefully others will contribute too.

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In reply to Chris Kenniburg

Re: New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

by Jake Dallimore -
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Just briefly summarising what I posted on MDL-64715 for those who might not get there.  The gist was as follows:

  • These messages to self were a legacy feature. Not widely used, but preexisting nonetheless. For some users, there will be messages they previously sent out as bulk contacts to student (if they'd also selected themselves in said process) , just as they would have seen in their messaging interface in 3.5.
  • For 3.7, all users get these (we've created on for every user, if they didn't already use this. Most people won't have used this). Despite what Mary said, there is no requirement to create this personal space unless you've actively decided to delete the one we've created for you as part of install/upgrade.
  • There is no requirement to access these via the message link on the profile page. The personal space is present in the starred section of the messaging pane for all users, which itself is visible from any page in Moodle. The message link on the profile is an additional means to access these.

Cheers,
Jake


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In reply to Jake Dallimore

Re: New Messaging in Moodle 3.7 - Personal Notes?

by Chris Kenniburg -
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Thanks Jake for the background and history of this.  

I guess when I saw this new/old feature I thought it was a step towards implementing note taking.  That is a very nice feature that is lacking in Moodle.  I know there are other plugins but having notes unified with messages and other person-centric stuff in that side panel is highly desirable and from a usability standpoint would help clean up some things.  

If the intent was to just re-implement something that was lost this seems to do the job.  

The issue we have is that once the starred message is deleted the user is lost when it comes to taking a personal note.  It is now a secret that no one would know how to get back.  Then the issue is how valuable of a feature is it to invest time and effort to create an account on Moodle.org for a student to ask a question (if they even know to do this).  At this point the user will give up and move on and never take notes again.

There is nothing to indicate you can take notes by messaging yourself from the user interface. That is knowledge that the teacher or another user must know in order to regain note taking capabilities.  There are no instructions or anything within the moodle interface that would point a user to take a note once the original is removed. 


I've used Moodle for over a decade and this note taking hack was news to me!  If you were looking for feedback this is my two cents.  

Chris

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