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lsuits / OBSOLETE--DO-NOT-USE--moodle

LSU Moodle
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Reprocess Links #11

Closed philcali closed 12 years ago

philcali commented 12 years ago

UES supports the ability for an instructor to reprocess a course. We are now ready to begin figuring out exactly where these links should reside. I would like the end result be:

  1. Something consistent with a Moodle extension (I honestly don't care which, local, block, mod, etc)
  2. Something user friendly (appears where the user would look to make this action)
  3. Something that does not require core changes (hopefully)

I will list the following (paraphrased) suggestions thus far, as I think they are all good ones.

From @BuddyEthridge:

Somewhere in the Site administration block: course / site actions usually go here. If not Site administration, then Navigation, but Site administration is preferrable.

From @rrusso:

Make the reprocess links in CPS.

From @adamzap:

Make it a course block. Blocks are portable.

I'm on the fence with all of them, but I lean more towards a Navigation link by using a local plugin, or a new block entirely. My only issue with having the links appear in the CPS block is this: I love how segregated the preferences are with enrollment. I plan on making the user data viewer (which was currently a link from CPS) a separate block when the time comes. I want to keep CPS solely a block for instructor preferences. If this is more preferrable for everyone though, it overrides how I feel about it.

So I'm opening this issue to get some feedback, and discuss it. Where should the links reside?

adamzap commented 12 years ago

The docs say local plugins are ok for the following situations:

I'm still leaning toward a block...maybe that they add themselves? We don't want to overwhelm them with a ton of blocks. This is one they probably don't need to see all the time.

philcali commented 12 years ago

We don't want to overwhelm them with a ton of blocks. This is one they probably don't need to see all the time.

+1 to that. In fact, I see that as a reason to tuck the link away under navigation or admin settings. If we force this block to appear for every course, it might be confusing or overwhelming. At the same time, support might be hit with enrollment issues if they don't think to add the block themselves.

I only see the justification I see of making this a local plugin is to avoid to touching core code for this very unique action for our Moodle users. This action requires no additional tables or capabilities, only placed in potentially odd positions in the core UI.

@BuddyEthridge, what's your thoughts on that? Do you think the instructors would eventually get it, by adding the block themselves? Would that be a usability issue for the majority of our user base?

We'd have to inform them about the link in navigation / administration, anyway. I wonder if making them add a block to reprocess enrollment would be that much trouble.

rrusso commented 12 years ago

If we can place it under admin settings, yay!

rrusso commented 12 years ago

I think requiring them to add another block would be troublesome. Considering it only does one thing makes it even worse.

rrusso commented 12 years ago

If we cannot have this in the admin block, then let's add a link to the reprocess page in the CPS block itself.

Adding a one trick pony block is silly.

adamzap commented 12 years ago

Making them add the block themselves would help in the sense that it hides a piece of uncommon and rarely-used functionality. I guess a similar effect is achieved by putting it in the settings menu.

How often do we think this will be used?

philcali commented 12 years ago

Adding a one trick pony block is silly

In a way, Add / Drop tracking is a one trick pony, but I think its presence as a Moodle block is justified that it is a full featured Moodle plugin (db table, capability, script that does thing).

I honestly have no issue with it being a block. I'm just concerned for usability's sake. While adding a block is standard Moodle behavior, I realize we had to jump through hoops in the past to help them along. Is adding a block one of them?

BuddyEthridge commented 12 years ago

Very often at the beginning of the semester. Once they learn it is there and available, this will be a very appreciated and accessed function.

On 1/11/12 1:16 PM, "Adam Zapletal" <reply+i-2806856-ed98a6cdf082942af4ad87173be2bea7716290bb-969177@reply.gith ub.com> wrote:

Making them add the block themselves would help in the sense that it hides a piece of uncommon and rarely-used functionality. I guess a similar effect is achieved by putting it in the settings menu.

How often do we think this will be used?

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/lsuits/moodle/issues/11#issuecomment-3451866

rrusso commented 12 years ago

Not often. Which makes adding a block more annoying as it will always be there.

Sent from my iPhone

Robert Russo 225-910-8253

On Jan 11, 2012, at 1:16 PM, "Adam Zapletal" reply@reply.github.com wrote:

Making them add the block themselves would help in the sense that it hides a piece of uncommon and rarely-used functionality. I guess a similar effect is achieved by putting it in the settings menu.

How often do we think this will be used?

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub: https://github.com/lsuits/moodle/issues/11#issuecomment-3451866

philcali commented 12 years ago

For now the reprocess link are added view new block. The logic for the reprocessing is portable, so we can move these around with ease should we have to. At any rate, I'm closing this ticket, and a new ticket can be add to further disccuss the links