Improve discoverability: create feature of the month announcements

[jorg-vr]

During our UI/UX course we discovered and discussed multiple discoverability issues.

Some notable features that are hard to find:

• Creating an evaluation
• Asking a question
• The python debugger
• Visualizations
• Exporting data
• The status overview

While I think we should work on the discoverability of each of these individually, but I suggest a simple general solution as a first step: A monthly announcement showcasing one feature.

We can use the existing announcement system to release these on a monthly basis. The announcement itself would contain a short intro to the feature (Mostly letting people know it exists). With a link to the documentation.

We can create separate announcements for teachers and students. I would target student less then monthly as they have less features to explore, and thus need less info.

Example calendar

• August: Create course (Teachers) get ready for the new year
• September: Create your own exercise (Teachers) get ready for the new year, advanced
• October: Asking/answering questions (Students/Teachers respectively) get help with the context of the code
• November: Evaluations (Teachers) exams are coming
• December: Exports (Teachers) Extract exam results/ student lists, ....
• January: Status overview (Teachers) Find out which student needs extra support, next semester
• February: The python debugger (Students & Teachers)
• March: Visualizations (Teachers)
• April: ?
• May: Evaluations (Teachers) exams are coming
• June: ?
• July: Copy courses (Teachers) take your course with you from last year

[bmesuere]

I like the idea, but am not sure if using the announcements for this is the right way to go. They are present on every page and adding one every month may be a bit spammy.

I would limit such info to the home page (similar to what github is doing) since we are looking for additional content there, especially in the sidebar.

[pdawyndt]

Other features that are not always easily found:

• [ ] iCal links for calendar integration (I make a specific announcement on this one)
• [ ] IDE plugins (we add this to our tutorial at the start of the semester)
• [ ] Asking questions via the Dodona Q&A module (just put this one here again because I also have an announcement on this one as well)
• [ ] setting time zones in Dodona (although this one should pop up automatically based on detection mechanisms)

Some other features I could think of

• [ ] anonymous mode
• [ ] Papyros: Python IDE integrated in Dodona
• [ ] plagiarism detection (once Dolos is integrated in Dodona)
• [ ] toggles on feedback page: hide correct solutions, split/unified diff view
• [ ] what can be downloaded where
• [ ] learning analytics in series
• [ ] learning analytics in user profile
• [ ] dark mode
• [ ] hide class progress (for evaluations and exams)
• [ ] privacy policy + your data