Activity Navigation Improvement: Align link order to course index order

[v-r-n-a]

Problem (Using course format one section per page)

The previous/next links link either to other sections (on section pages) or to other activities (on activity pages). If a user is using the activity navigation, s/he can just jump from section to section or from activity to activity, s/he will never be led from a section page to its activities and vice versa. Most likely, a user will just get from activity to activity, therefore missing out information placed on a section page. Especially when creating self-paced online courses with several learning untis (one section = one unit), the section page might be used for important introductory information and for giving an overview of the sections's learning activities. Therefore, it's a problem when the activity navigation is not guiding users to the section pages and users will miss out the section page and it's information.

Improvement

The activity navigation should be equal to the order of the course index, always linking to the previous/next element in the course index - not differentiating between activities and sections.

behavior of previous/next link on activity pages

• If a user is on the first activity page of a section , the previous link should link to the section page the activity belongs to, not to the last activity of the previous section. (Keep as it is: the next activity links to the next activity)
• If a user is on the last activity page of a section and there is a next section, the next link should link to the next section page, not to the first activity of the next section. (Keep as it is: the previous activity links to the previous activity)

To Discuss: previous/next link on section pages

Option A: Keep navigation as it is:

• the previous link should link to the previous section (if there is one)
• the next link should link to the next section (if there is one) Pro Argument : The section pages show links to all activities of the section. Therefore, the user doesn't need the previous/next link to find the next activity. A link to other sections could be of greater value.

Option B:

• the previous link should link to the last activity of the previous section (if there is one)
• the next link should link to the first activity of the section

The suggested navigation concept is common on a lot of MOOC platforms.

[v-r-n-a]

We have commissioned our hosting provider to implement this and will be happy to provide the code when it is finished - if it is of interest.

[wiebkemueller-hsh]

Hi Verena @v-r-n-a !

Thank you for adding this issue and for offering to provide the code. This improvement seems very reasonable, still we'd like to point out that in Boost Union a few guidelines are important on how to add functionality (according to our paradigm we'll never impose any functionality on the user, instead any functionality can be turned off/on. Second is the handling of PRs, foro this we noted a few guidelines see also https://github.com/moodle-an-hochschulen/moodle-theme_boost_union/wiki/internal-workflow-for-handling-incoming-pullrequests.

In case of questions, don't hesitate to get back to us via this ticket.

Regards! Wiebke