Rich Text Editor

Rich Text Editor

by Panagiotis Tatinas -
Number of replies: 15

Rich Text Editor is very nice but is it possible to use it while adding content  (resources) to a course? It shows up to assignments and discussion topics but not when adding content.

By the way, is it possible for a weekly format not to show up all at once, but each week every topic would be visible at its time?

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In reply to Panagiotis Tatinas

Re: Rich Text Editor

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
The Richtext editor should work if you specify the resource type as "HTML".

As for the topic-hiding, individuals can do it by clicking on the little white box to the right of each topic. Actually, quite a few people have asked for the feature you mention (to be able to set it to only show the current week/topic for everyone), but I've yet to see a convincing argument as to how this is a positive change for student learning.

Can you help me out with an explanation?
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Rich Text Editor

by Panagiotis Tatinas -

Thanks for the help but I still cannot make it show up as it shown at by the screenshot!

 Well as for topics it would be more convenient in some courses if topics were showing up one by one, so a teacher could actually control a student's progress by the assignments, quizzes and questions.

Besides in a traditional classroom courses have a schedule, student don't really know what their teacher would say next weel, do they?

Besides that, I think it's an excellent program, considering that it's free!

 

 

Attachment scrtte.jpg
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Przemyslaw Stencel -
Hi Martin,

You wrote: "Actually, quite a few people have asked for the feature you mention (to be able to set it to only show the current week/topic for everyone), but I've yet to see a convincing argument as to how this is a positive change for student learning."

Well, I would also like to see this feature in Moodle. I think it *might* sometimes be important to make students work at the same pace and not to allow them look forward before they've reached a certain stage in their learning.

However, my main reason is that I would like my teachers to be able to hide topics that they have not yet finished preparing. I know, in the ideal situation the whole course should be ready before the students come in. But that's in the ideal world. In ideal world, teaching staff have a reasonable budget set aside for course development and they work together with a team of web-designers, instructional designers, media guys and a few other people to prepare a course at least a few months before it starts. But I don't live in that ideal world, so I would love to see this feature in Moodle. Not for pedagogical, but for practical reasons.

What do you think?

And maybe some of those "quite a few other people" you mentioned will add their ¢2 to convince you...?
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In reply to Przemyslaw Stencel

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Ah, that's different. Hiding arbitrary topics is already planned, we've talked about that. No problem there - that's coming.

Showing only the current week (automatically, for everyone) is the feature in question here. I can see why it might be attractive to teachers - but I fear that all it does is restrict students from looking ahead or looking back in the course.

The purpose of that page is to act as an outline of the whole course, so that it's always possible to see the context of the current topic, to prepare for what's coming up, to review what's been done etc. By providing this access you help cater for a wider variety of learning styles.

Imagine you're a student. It's Sunday night and conversation is roaring in the final forum of topic 1, and you've written a big post. The next day you log in to continue the discussion and it's all gone, because now we're on to topic 2. You can't even find the resources you need for that assignment next week. (Of course they are there hidden under the activity menu but I think many students will be confused by the interface changing every week)

I'm worried that if the there is a "button" to turn this on then (novice) teachers will see it and use it, thinking it's a good idea without really thinking about the consequences. Granted, they will also be able to get the same effect with individually toggled topics, but the manual process means you have to be more deliberate about it.

Now I think about it, there might be a case for providing this option as a per-user option. That way everyone can choose to have only the current topic/week show, using a toggle button on the course page somewhere.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Tom Murdock -
For me, the law of diminishing returns starts when students with slower internet access choose not to visit the class page because it takes too long to load.

Otherwise, I agree with Martin.
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In reply to Tom Murdock

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Panagiotis Tatinas -

Well,

Hiding forthcoming topics doesn't necessarily mean that previous topics should also be hidden. What's already been taught should be there and not just vanish next week, but what is going to be taught should become available in their time. Otherwise, what's the reason in having a weekly format? We should just have topics format.

Besides having it as an option does not make it compulsory for those instructors who don't want to use it, to make use of it smiley.gif

P.S I found Rich Text Editor after all, it was my fault, I should have looked a step ahead, what I was looking was the summary and not the content that follows after the insertion of the summary.

By the way I am seriously thinking in translating the package in Greek. I hope I'll find the time.

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In reply to Panagiotis Tatinas

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
My apologies, I made the wrong assumption when I read your first posting, and it compounded later.

Yes, just hiding future weeks makes a little more sense. I would still not recommend it or use it myself, but I can see it as a valid option for teachers. The future weeks could appear blank with a message like "these activities are not available yet".

So there would be three ways of hiding weeks/topics:

- user-based zooming, like now, but with a memory between logins.
- teacher toggle switch to hide/show topics/weeks
- "hide all future weeks/topics"

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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Bill Cheung -
For self-paced learning, I think it would be good if the following weeks/topics opened up depending on the results of assignments and exams/quizes of previous weeks/topics.

Or the teacher could assign a key for each topic that would be given out when the student's work has been reviewed.

Bill
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In reply to Bill Cheung

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Paolo Lariccia -

I would suggest that the opening of new information should not be related to past achievements  in quizzez etc but just to some time spent in the previous pages.

An optional key for each topic could be good if the number of students is limited.

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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by John Gone -
Hello All,
Excellent topic, obviously some interest here. Martin says changes are coming for this but in the meantime there is a simple way to illustrate materials that are available/unavailable. The screen shot I've uploaded shows one easy way. Then you choose in settings how many weeks/topics to show or not. Sorry about the image quality but as Tom points out user connection speed needs to be considered. Only a few percent (global) of internet users have high speed connections. I think being able to hide materials in development until they're ready for release is a necessity.
John
Attachment hide_topic2.jpg
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Przemyslaw Stencel -
You suggested:
- user-based zooming, like now, but with a memory between logins.
- teacher toggle switch to hide/show topics/weeks
- "hide all future weeks/topics"

I would add one more:
- show only the current week/topic in expanded form and others collapsed

In this case all the previous and future weeks/topics will be visible, but in collapsed form (Topic title or week dates only). The student may expand another week/topic at any time to allow for revision or previewing. However, expanding another week/topics automatically collapses the current one. This setting would address the connection speed limitations. I realize it is very similar to current user-based zooming, but in the case of zooming, if a user wants to zoom in on another topic/week, he must first load all topics/weeks.
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In reply to Przemyslaw Stencel

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Great idea! The overall context is kept, which I like. Another advantage is that if the 'current week' highlighting moves forward then it can still be seen. This could probably just be an enhancement to the current user-based zooming.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Panagiotis Tatinas -
Another idea would be, as it has already been suggested, that topics would show up when student has submitted his work/assignments/quizzes. It would be useful so as he/she is not constrained by time but by the amount of work that (s)he had done, so as when the student is ready could proceed to the next topic.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Hiding Topics (was: Rich Text Editor)

by Paula Edmiston -
I love Przemyslaw Stencel's suggestioin for collapsing and expanding topics. That keeps the topics on the course home page but also keep the downloading burden light for slow modems. I don't want to give up having all the topics available but that middle column of topics has grown so long because I have a number of resources and assignments for each topic.

I see a kind of plus and minus set-up and click on the plus and the full entry for the topic (or week) drops down.

Thanks much.
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