The Announcement forum could benefit from a simple feature: Attach course activities to a post. The idea is that on this special forum there is a field where the teacher can select multiple activities from the course to be attached to the post as a link. In my mind this appears below the main text area near the file upload. It would allow the teacher to search/select course activities and then they would be attached to the bottom of the post when viewed by students and parents.
This would allow teachers to notify students with a link to the homework that is much simpler than copy/paste into the text editor a bunch of links. In K-12, announcements and communication revolves around letting people know what work has to be completed. This would make the Announcement Forum relevant and useful for everyone.
Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Chris Kenniburg írta időpontban
Válaszok szám: 9
Válasz erre: Chris Kenniburg
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Nathan Lind írta időpontban
Great idea Chris!
Válasz erre: Nathan Lind
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Richard Samson írta időpontban
I must admit, I agree that this would be a great enhancement.
Válasz erre: Chris Kenniburg
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Chris Kenniburg írta időpontban
I had thought about possibly an atto plugin that would put this everywhere but I think there is only one scenario in which this would be highly beneficial and having it in the announcement forum makes a lot of sense. Many other LMS's that focus more on communication already have this built into their news/post feeds. This would bring new life and functionality to the Announcement forums.
Válasz erre: Chris Kenniburg
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Uli Mauersberg írta időpontban
Great suggestion Chris. I have captured this useful feature in the UX thinking for 4.1+ activity improvements. I have also mocked up some concepts that reflect the thinking. Let me know any feedback and let's converge on this opportunity.
Válasz erre: Uli Mauersberg
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Séverin Terrier írta időpontban
Hi,
In my opinion, that seems a (very) good (future) improvment, and i like these mockups
Just one thing : keep in mind that often, people (can) use long activity names, and the display of information should be able to handle several activities with long names, and so perhaps be on another line.
Séverin
In my opinion, that seems a (very) good (future) improvment, and i like these mockups
Just one thing : keep in mind that often, people (can) use long activity names, and the display of information should be able to handle several activities with long names, and so perhaps be on another line.
Séverin
Válasz erre: Séverin Terrier
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Chris Kenniburg írta időpontban
I do like the idea of possibly using 1 line per item when linking. A list presentation is very useful.
Válasz erre: Uli Mauersberg
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Chris Kenniburg írta időpontban
Uli,
Your mockups looks spot on with what I was envisioning. The other thing you will want to consider is how these linked activities appear when there also might be an attached document or file upload with the post. These two elements should appear together or close to each other for the user. Maybe with "Linked:" and "Attached:" at the bottom of the post and the styling for both should be similar in displaying the items. Both horizontal or both vertical and pill style. Just for consistency whichever you choose to implement. I'd also put the permalink,edit, delete stuff below the linked and attached lines. These are 2 separate functions and you don't want to blur those distinctions on the same line in case you attach several items that run into these forum links.
My only other suggestion would be a search box when attaching an activity. In the linking drop down, it should also only be items from that specific course. I see coursename 1, coursename 2, but it should only be from the course where the announcement is being made. Maybe display the items by topic or just a list from the way they appear in the course. I prefer the search because of the scrolling to find items.
This would be very cool for Moodle 4.1!
Your mockups looks spot on with what I was envisioning. The other thing you will want to consider is how these linked activities appear when there also might be an attached document or file upload with the post. These two elements should appear together or close to each other for the user. Maybe with "Linked:" and "Attached:" at the bottom of the post and the styling for both should be similar in displaying the items. Both horizontal or both vertical and pill style. Just for consistency whichever you choose to implement. I'd also put the permalink,edit, delete stuff below the linked and attached lines. These are 2 separate functions and you don't want to blur those distinctions on the same line in case you attach several items that run into these forum links.
My only other suggestion would be a search box when attaching an activity. In the linking drop down, it should also only be items from that specific course. I see coursename 1, coursename 2, but it should only be from the course where the announcement is being made. Maybe display the items by topic or just a list from the way they appear in the course. I prefer the search because of the scrolling to find items.
This would be very cool for Moodle 4.1!
Válasz erre: Chris Kenniburg
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Przemek Kaszubski írta időpontban
Dear Chris,
Regardless of any features tailored specifically for Announcement forums , I'd say your original idea to have a global Atto plugin for quickly deploying links to course- activities and resources was also very, very useful.
The URL activity itself could also benefit if there was a drop down with in-course links to choose from - I've always found cross-linking features inside Moodle courses cumbersome and needy .
The URL activity itself could also benefit if there was a drop down with in-course links to choose from - I've always found cross-linking features inside Moodle courses cumbersome and needy .
Just a caveat that we should be careful about the Group mode - all is a nice and clear when we have a course without groups and group restrictions. But forums, and other activities can be run in , say, the separate groups mode, with some activities restricted for some groups etc. Drop-downs with suitable links to course activities should probably be filtered accordingly - to only suggest valid links.
Válasz erre: Uli Mauersberg
Re: Feature Request for Usability - Announcement forum enhancement
Chris Kenniburg írta időpontban
Uli,
Also, if I was dreaming big and wishing on stars... the linked activities would display a green circle like the course index if the user has already completed the task. This way students know they completed the homework announcement without clicking through. A teacher might make an announcement of a multi-activity project and when the student sees the post, they'd get a clear picture that they completed 2 of the 3 items and just click on the 3rd item to complete the requirements for that homework announcement.
This has overlap with what is displayed in the dashboard but the use case for this will be assignments that do not have a due date but have activity completion and this allows the teacher to use the Announcement forum for mini To-do lists for the students. That is powerful.
Also, if I was dreaming big and wishing on stars... the linked activities would display a green circle like the course index if the user has already completed the task. This way students know they completed the homework announcement without clicking through. A teacher might make an announcement of a multi-activity project and when the student sees the post, they'd get a clear picture that they completed 2 of the 3 items and just click on the 3rd item to complete the requirements for that homework announcement.
This has overlap with what is displayed in the dashboard but the use case for this will be assignments that do not have a due date but have activity completion and this allows the teacher to use the Announcement forum for mini To-do lists for the students. That is powerful.