Moodle

Adding a optional "Jump to.." pull-down menu for each section (topic or weekly format) - especially for large classes

Details

  • Type: New Feature New Feature
  • Status: Open Open
  • Priority: Major Major
  • Resolution: Unresolved
  • Affects Version/s: 1.9, 1.9.1, 1.9.2, 1.9.3, 1.9.4
  • Fix Version/s: None
  • Component/s: Course, Usability
  • Labels:
    None
  • Database:
    Any
  • Affected Branches:
    MOODLE_19_STABLE

Description

OK, as I'm teaching (as an university instructor) this semester, I'm starting to experience some "pain" that our instructors were experiencing. For the course that I'm teaching (Multimedia authoring with Flash), I have a lot of resources/activities for each week/topic. This created a big problem for navigation. Each time when student click into a resource or take a quick, then come back to the course home page using the breadcrumb. The will be taken to the top of the page. This could be partially resolved by adding the "section link" block into my course (and I put it on the upper-left corner on my course), however, if they are currently on week3, and want to jump to week7 resources (and remember, I have 15 - 20 resources for each week), then they will have to do mouse scrolling a lot. Currently there is no way for them to quickly jump from week3 to week7. They can't jump from week7 to week 0 area (where usually people put the "syllabus" and other helpful resources, etc.). Just thought that it would be a good idea to implement a optional "Jump to..." pull-down menu for each section (the option can be controlled in the "course setting" area). Just my 2 cents (see screenshot for more info).

Activity

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Helen Foster added a comment -

Wen, please could you clarify - are you suggesting a jump to menu in addition to the show one section / show all sections links and the jump to menu on each activity page?

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Helen Foster added a comment - Wen, please could you clarify - are you suggesting a jump to menu in addition to the show one section / show all sections links and the jump to menu on each activity page?
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Wen Hao Chuang added a comment - - edited

Hi Helen, yes I'm suggesting a "jump to" menu in addition to the show one section / show all sections link and the "jump to" menu on the bottom of the course page. I'm not aware of any other "jump to" menu on "each" activity page.

The problem with the current "jump to" (section) pull-down menu is that, it is only available when you "show only one topic/week". When you choose to "show all" sections, it won't be displayed.

I'm suggesting a optional "jump to" pull-down menu for "each section" when you have the "Show all week/topic" enabled. This setting can be controlled in the course setting page. This would be especially helpful if your course has a lot of materials for "each" section. I know that both student and teacher could just "show a week" (or topic) and on the bottom of the page it will show you the "Jump to..." pull-down menu, however, there are use cases that you want to have "show all week" enabled, while still be able to quickly jumping from one week (topic) to the other. One possible solution is to add the "Section Links" block. However, this block can only stay in one place (e.g., at the upper left corner), and it is not a "floating" block when you are scrolling the page. So when you have "show all week" (or topic) enabled (which then you lose the "Jump to..." pull down menu), then your navigation between weeks become difficult - usually involve a lot of mouse scrolling. You could either scroll all the way to the top of the page, then use the "Section Links" block, or you will have to do a lot of scrolling to another section (this is particularly a big problem when you have a lot of materials for each section). I have attached a backup file here to demonstrate the problem. Hope this helps..

Now that I think of it, I think it is probably more of a new feature, rather than "improvement". So I will change this accordingly.

Wen

Show
Wen Hao Chuang added a comment - - edited Hi Helen, yes I'm suggesting a "jump to" menu in addition to the show one section / show all sections link and the "jump to" menu on the bottom of the course page. I'm not aware of any other "jump to" menu on "each" activity page. The problem with the current "jump to" (section) pull-down menu is that, it is only available when you "show only one topic/week". When you choose to "show all" sections, it won't be displayed. I'm suggesting a optional "jump to" pull-down menu for "each section" when you have the "Show all week/topic" enabled. This setting can be controlled in the course setting page. This would be especially helpful if your course has a lot of materials for "each" section. I know that both student and teacher could just "show a week" (or topic) and on the bottom of the page it will show you the "Jump to..." pull-down menu, however, there are use cases that you want to have "show all week" enabled, while still be able to quickly jumping from one week (topic) to the other. One possible solution is to add the "Section Links" block. However, this block can only stay in one place (e.g., at the upper left corner), and it is not a "floating" block when you are scrolling the page. So when you have "show all week" (or topic) enabled (which then you lose the "Jump to..." pull down menu), then your navigation between weeks become difficult - usually involve a lot of mouse scrolling. You could either scroll all the way to the top of the page, then use the "Section Links" block, or you will have to do a lot of scrolling to another section (this is particularly a big problem when you have a lot of materials for each section). I have attached a backup file here to demonstrate the problem. Hope this helps.. Now that I think of it, I think it is probably more of a new feature, rather than "improvement". So I will change this accordingly. Wen
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Wen Hao Chuang added a comment -

course file that for each weee (topic), there are lot of stuff taking up the real estate for each week/topic.

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Wen Hao Chuang added a comment - course file that for each weee (topic), there are lot of stuff taking up the real estate for each week/topic.
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Wen Hao Chuang added a comment -

On the usability side, this ticket is also related to MDL-18349. Just a quick FYI

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Wen Hao Chuang added a comment - On the usability side, this ticket is also related to MDL-18349. Just a quick FYI
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Anthony Borrow added a comment -

Wen - This is somewhat related to MDL-13917 which addresses the issue of how to more easily collapse and expand sections. I think this would be a good patch but I'm not sure it should be in core. It sounds like what would be most beneficial for you would be to have the section links function as section jump to menu at the bottom of each section; however, this will scroll with you. The jump to menu shows all the activities and resources in a course and allows you to move to them. In part, I would encourage the teachers to design their course so that a particular section is not overwhelmingly large/long. So if you take the code from jump to and combine it with section links and put it at the bottom of the section do you think that might approximate what you are aiming for? Peace - Anthony

Show
Anthony Borrow added a comment - Wen - This is somewhat related to MDL-13917 which addresses the issue of how to more easily collapse and expand sections. I think this would be a good patch but I'm not sure it should be in core. It sounds like what would be most beneficial for you would be to have the section links function as section jump to menu at the bottom of each section; however, this will scroll with you. The jump to menu shows all the activities and resources in a course and allows you to move to them. In part, I would encourage the teachers to design their course so that a particular section is not overwhelmingly large/long. So if you take the code from jump to and combine it with section links and put it at the bottom of the section do you think that might approximate what you are aiming for? Peace - Anthony

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