My plan is to create a diagnosis and treatment selection simulation. I want to use the lesson module in Moodle to do this. This is my first attempt to do something like this. I have read the instructions in the Moodle documentation on using branch tables to create a simple simulation and have thoroughly searched the forum archives before writing to this forum. But I would have an easier time if I could see an example of this use of the module that I could then adapt to my project. Does anyone have any sample simulations you could give me access to? What would be most helpful is a working simulation zipped up so I could put it on my moodle site and then take a look at the guts of how it was set up. My main problem is that I cannot figure out how to set up the branching tables from written instructions alone. TIA.
Todd
Todd Luger
Instructional Designer
SCAD e-learning
Savannah College of Art and Design
(912) 525-8033
Go Todd Go!
Did you see Craig's post on Decision Trees. Perhaps he has something to share.
I've been thinking about how to make a better description of branch tables (I would call them branch pages). It is one of round tuit projects. Orginally, lessons were all about questions. A simple decision tree would probably get you moving. If I had one I would send it to you.
I do create picture of a lesson with words?
I would draw a box, lable it A, draw lines from it labled 1,2,3 etc. At the end of each line I would put another box and call them C, D, E. Each of these boxes would have one or more lines that led to other labled boxes. I could see that several lines from one box might be attached to the same box at the other end. I could see that far removed boxes might each have a line that was attached to a common box. Oh yes, every box has to have at least one line leading from it to someplace else, when in doubt Box A or another one called "The End".
Since you are in the heart of garment country (such as it still exists in the US), let me use a sewing machine example.
Box A is "Seam problem". Line 1: "Seam puckers", Line 2 "Skips". Line 1 leads to Box B "Seam Puckers". From "Seam Puckers" will be lines called "thread tension", "timing", "fabric handling" that will happen to lead to boxes with the same names. Going back to Seam problem, Skips line which happens to go to "Seam Thread Skips" box. Lines from this box will to the "thread tension" and "timing" boxes. Lets look at the "timing box" it has lines called "procedures", "specifications", "related". The procedures line might lead to a produdures box that contains information about how to adjust the hook and needle. A line might loop back from "Procedures" back to the "timing" box. The "related line" leads to a box that talks about look alike problems, with lines from it to "burrs" and "bobbin tension". I could go on but that should give you the idea of a schema using lines and boxes. You might want to get some 72" CAD paper
Here is the simple Moodle translation: a box is a branch (table) with a title/lable and content/information. Each line is the description and each jump is the destination of the line. Don't worry about "end of branch" pages for what you are doing, you really don't need them for what you want to accomplish.
Cranking it up a notch, I could put a picture of skipped stich in the description(line), or of course I can always put one or more pictures in the content to better illustrate my point (ouch!).
Version 1.6 collapsed view in the edit mode, does a compact job of showing the page titles of each of the jumps.
Hope this helps. Thanks for the question. I will try to come up with a more generic simple example of a decision tree, the above is too wordy and cultural specific. You might be in the graphic arts section and are clueless about the joys of a Juki DL415 single needle feed machine.
Chris
Did you see Craig's post on Decision Trees. Perhaps he has something to share.
I've been thinking about how to make a better description of branch tables (I would call them branch pages). It is one of round tuit projects. Orginally, lessons were all about questions. A simple decision tree would probably get you moving. If I had one I would send it to you.
I do create picture of a lesson with words?
I would draw a box, lable it A, draw lines from it labled 1,2,3 etc. At the end of each line I would put another box and call them C, D, E. Each of these boxes would have one or more lines that led to other labled boxes. I could see that several lines from one box might be attached to the same box at the other end. I could see that far removed boxes might each have a line that was attached to a common box. Oh yes, every box has to have at least one line leading from it to someplace else, when in doubt Box A or another one called "The End".
Since you are in the heart of garment country (such as it still exists in the US), let me use a sewing machine example.
Box A is "Seam problem". Line 1: "Seam puckers", Line 2 "Skips". Line 1 leads to Box B "Seam Puckers". From "Seam Puckers" will be lines called "thread tension", "timing", "fabric handling" that will happen to lead to boxes with the same names. Going back to Seam problem, Skips line which happens to go to "Seam Thread Skips" box. Lines from this box will to the "thread tension" and "timing" boxes. Lets look at the "timing box" it has lines called "procedures", "specifications", "related". The procedures line might lead to a produdures box that contains information about how to adjust the hook and needle. A line might loop back from "Procedures" back to the "timing" box. The "related line" leads to a box that talks about look alike problems, with lines from it to "burrs" and "bobbin tension". I could go on but that should give you the idea of a schema using lines and boxes. You might want to get some 72" CAD paper
Here is the simple Moodle translation: a box is a branch (table) with a title/lable and content/information. Each line is the description and each jump is the destination of the line. Don't worry about "end of branch" pages for what you are doing, you really don't need them for what you want to accomplish.
Cranking it up a notch, I could put a picture of skipped stich in the description(line), or of course I can always put one or more pictures in the content to better illustrate my point (ouch!).
Version 1.6 collapsed view in the edit mode, does a compact job of showing the page titles of each of the jumps.
Hope this helps. Thanks for the question. I will try to come up with a more generic simple example of a decision tree, the above is too wordy and cultural specific. You might be in the graphic arts section and are clueless about the joys of a Juki DL415 single needle feed machine.
Chris
Chris
thanks for the speedy reply. I would give it a whirl, but I did something stupid yesterday that crashed my moodle site and I still can't seem to fix it. If anyone can help, the details are at http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=47114
thanks.
Todd
P.S. I still could really use a working example if anyone has one, no matter how rudimentary. Hate to sound so incompetent, but unless I can see someone else's working tables or screen shots of every step of the process, I am pretty lost. Guess I am a visual learner when it comes to this kind of thing.
thanks for the speedy reply. I would give it a whirl, but I did something stupid yesterday that crashed my moodle site and I still can't seem to fix it. If anyone can help, the details are at http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=47114
thanks.
Todd
P.S. I still could really use a working example if anyone has one, no matter how rudimentary. Hate to sound so incompetent, but unless I can see someone else's working tables or screen shots of every step of the process, I am pretty lost. Guess I am a visual learner when it comes to this kind of thing.
It occurred to me that I might be able to give a clearer picture of what I was trying to do if I shared a diagram I made of the decision tree for a simple case study. I also set the whole thing up in powerpoint, which I will attach in a separate file if it's not too large. The case involves the selection of a chinese herbal formula for someone with a cold.
Todd
Todd
And here is a very rudimentary PPT (text-only) made from the tree above using the internal hyperlinking function in Powerpoint. I will also attach the level design document in the next post so folks can follow my train of thought on the whole thing.
Todd
Todd
and the level design doc.
Todd
Todd
OK, the word version did not load, so here's a PDF instead.
Todd
Todd
Hey Todd,
The graphic was the hard part. Nice job. The construction of the branch tables will be boring.
Essentially your picture fits into what I was trying to describe. There are over 150 branch pages in that diagram. I think you could do it with 80.
Been looking for a model so, I will build upon your work. In fact this morning I started with making a tree that will have around 40 pages on the q1-a1 side. Never done this kind of thing before. Quickly discovered it will be less work to start at the bottom and work up! That way I will not have to go back and add jumps to pages which were not available when I created the page. Your plan is key.
I've come up with a breadcrumb naming scheme for example: q1-a1-d1-r3+rr1-cf1+rc1 in the branch page title. This translates as the page which follows the path of question1>answer1>diag1>Rx1 and the responce to the Rx1>changes to formula1 and the responce to those changes. This also makes sure I pick the correct page to jump each of the descriptions to. Ampersands do not look clean so I used a +. Noticed that there was only one responce to RX and only one responce to a change in formula, so we can combine them on one branch table. It is a piece of cake to add a branch table in front if an additional page is needed.
Got to run to my other workplace. I will be thinking about the logical order of pages and I will definately use physical check marks on your diagram to make sure I get every page. -Chris
The graphic was the hard part. Nice job. The construction of the branch tables will be boring.
Essentially your picture fits into what I was trying to describe. There are over 150 branch pages in that diagram. I think you could do it with 80.
Been looking for a model so, I will build upon your work. In fact this morning I started with making a tree that will have around 40 pages on the q1-a1 side. Never done this kind of thing before. Quickly discovered it will be less work to start at the bottom and work up! That way I will not have to go back and add jumps to pages which were not available when I created the page. Your plan is key.
I've come up with a breadcrumb naming scheme for example: q1-a1-d1-r3+rr1-cf1+rc1 in the branch page title. This translates as the page which follows the path of question1>answer1>diag1>Rx1 and the responce to the Rx1>changes to formula1 and the responce to those changes. This also makes sure I pick the correct page to jump each of the descriptions to. Ampersands do not look clean so I used a +. Noticed that there was only one responce to RX and only one responce to a change in formula, so we can combine them on one branch table. It is a piece of cake to add a branch table in front if an additional page is needed.
Got to run to my other workplace. I will be thinking about the logical order of pages and I will definately use physical check marks on your diagram to make sure I get every page. -Chris
A colleague just turned me on to this.
It looks very cool for creating interactive mazes that can be used for complex decision making exercises.
http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php
Anybody ever used it? Integrate with Moodle?
Todd Luger
Instructional Designer
Department of e-Learning
Savannah College of Art and Design
voice: (912) 525-8033
fax: (912) 525-8035
It looks very cool for creating interactive mazes that can be used for complex decision making exercises.
http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php
Anybody ever used it? Integrate with Moodle?
Todd Luger
Instructional Designer
Department of e-Learning
Savannah College of Art and Design
voice: (912) 525-8033
fax: (912) 525-8035
Hi Todd,
I made some testing with the lesson module 2 years ago by modifying it a little bit to permit the addition of a navigation parameter to the GIFT import format of the lesson. That way it was possible to generate from a text file a complete lesson with the appopriate navigation, wich is very hard to do with the normal lesson editing pages. The original "too long post" is here.
If you have thousands of questions I think it will worth the effort to adapt my original hack to your current lesson module version to use the GIFT import format to create your lessons. That way, if there are navigation errors, you modify the GIFT file and you reimport the lesson.
The GIFT file may be edited by hand
or generated with the programming language of your choice. Here you have an example of a generator done by Timothy with Excel.
If all your data are already in some electronic format then it should not be too difficult to create a small program to generate the GIFT file.
I hope it may help,
Bernard
I made some testing with the lesson module 2 years ago by modifying it a little bit to permit the addition of a navigation parameter to the GIFT import format of the lesson. That way it was possible to generate from a text file a complete lesson with the appopriate navigation, wich is very hard to do with the normal lesson editing pages. The original "too long post" is here.
If you have thousands of questions I think it will worth the effort to adapt my original hack to your current lesson module version to use the GIFT import format to create your lessons. That way, if there are navigation errors, you modify the GIFT file and you reimport the lesson.
The GIFT file may be edited by hand
or generated with the programming language of your choice. Here you have an example of a generator done by Timothy with Excel.If all your data are already in some electronic format then it should not be too difficult to create a small program to generate the GIFT file.
I hope it may help,
Bernard
Bernanrd and Chris,
Thank you very, very much! I look forward to sinking myself into this. It might not be till this weekend, but I will definitely share the outcome.
Todd
Thank you very, very much! I look forward to sinking myself into this. It might not be till this weekend, but I will definitely share the outcome.
Todd
Bernanrd has a great idea. I was thinking how much easier this would be as importing it as a bunch of questions. I like working with a word processor (either Word- the higher priced model or OO) that has a gift macro. If you don't want to score, call it a practice lesson
I have had a hard day at the office It is much easier to do a copy and paste in GIFT than in a branch table. I will keep going with the branch pages.
Firmly believe that titles are everything GIFT or what ever and seeing a graphic schema is important. As a designer, knowing where you are at any moment in the creation of pages is important.
Will say that questions mean that student click on an extra button "continue" if the teacher does not have a responce..
Chris
I have had a hard day at the office
Firmly believe that titles are everything GIFT or what ever and seeing a graphic schema is important. As a designer, knowing where you are at any moment in the creation of pages is important.
Will say that questions mean that student click on an extra button "continue" if the teacher does not have a responce..
Chris
Dear Todd,
Your simulation is very complex in terms of the numbers of options (at least in your diagram) and I can tell you from experience that it is very difficult to keep track of all these. It is very useful to lay out the whole thing as a branching algorithm first (in the way you have done) and then a bit of trial and error is involved.
We have previously used Macromedia director for this (I wrote the case studies but didn't do the coding) but in fact we can now do it using the lesson module. I am still working in version 1.4!! (on one server - 1.5.3 on another and 1.6 on a test!!)
You are welcome to look at our latest versions - simpler in terms of scope than yours but broadly similar. I will zip the course or give you teacher access if you wish.
Go to http://medschool.perfuse.net create and identity and enroll yourself in the Undergraduate course. There are two case studies that you can have a look at - http://medschool.perfuse.net/mod/lesson/view.php?id=18 and http://medschool.perfuse.net/mod/lesson/view.php?id=19
Please let me know if this is any help.
Sean
Your simulation is very complex in terms of the numbers of options (at least in your diagram) and I can tell you from experience that it is very difficult to keep track of all these. It is very useful to lay out the whole thing as a branching algorithm first (in the way you have done) and then a bit of trial and error is involved.
We have previously used Macromedia director for this (I wrote the case studies but didn't do the coding) but in fact we can now do it using the lesson module. I am still working in version 1.4!! (on one server - 1.5.3 on another and 1.6 on a test!!)
You are welcome to look at our latest versions - simpler in terms of scope than yours but broadly similar. I will zip the course or give you teacher access if you wish.
Go to http://medschool.perfuse.net create and identity and enroll yourself in the Undergraduate course. There are two case studies that you can have a look at - http://medschool.perfuse.net/mod/lesson/view.php?id=18 and http://medschool.perfuse.net/mod/lesson/view.php?id=19
Please let me know if this is any help.
Sean
Sean
Zipped courses would be best so I don't mess up anything on your server while I muck around. thanks.
Todd
Zipped courses would be best so I don't mess up anything on your server while I muck around. thanks.
Todd