School and course organizers call
22 May 2013
Google hangout link: https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/8f7bc928d57e5699966445bab940d48d8c634e4c
Participants
- Jane
- Your name here.. Dirk
- Vanessa
- Bekka
- Philipp
- karen (sort of...)
Agenda
- Review items from http://pad.p2pu.org/p/community-20130516
Organizers feedback on what worked! http://pad.p2pu.org/p/school-of-open-course-feedback- Discuss process - who on P2PU staff should we go to? where?
- Existing course toolkit resources - where are they? please provide links: ( https://p2pu.org/en/groups/p2pu-help-desk/ - which is basically the toolkit turned into a course, and the original, which is sitting on our wiki:
- http://wiki.p2pu.org/w/page/27905271/Course%20Design%20Handbook)
1. Action items from http://pad.p2pu.org/p/community-20130516
Badges
- Revise language on badges.p2pu.org according to P2PU voice and tone guide
- What are the changes that we need to make?
- Is there a way to be engaging that accounts for different types of community members?
- Guide is a general direction and there is flexibility in implementing it
- Be conscious of different cultures and languages
- Voice and tone: https://docs.google.com/a/p2pu.org/document/d/1nwXBKZgb06zuxVxD_Ri-J2M0_s3uZxb0P6ezqmd2_kM/edit
- Bear in mind spectrum from eduaators to hackers
- Next step: Jane to make specific suggestions for changes to badges language, add notes about int'l audience to guide
- Tweak language around critiques to encourage positive feedback
- maybe just change 'concerns'
- make it not required - have a checkbox for "no" instead - or another way to overrule it
- color is pretty universal - would like to keep it as much as possible?
- 3 form feedback field is imp to improve critiques
- Next step: Jane take back to Delia and faciltators
- Create option for creator-only issued badges
- Erika is working on it in the next 2 weeks
- Next step: Vanessa will send wireframes to Jane
TBD - see notes at http://pad.p2pu.org/p/community-20130516
Course UX
- Integrate option to turn Disqus on and off
- We are investigating better integration with Disqus (requires dual log-in, etc.)
- This has seemed to be an issue in School of Ed (dual log on, general usability....ppl seemed to like the old comment system better)
- Overall Disqus handles commenting / notifications / spam much better than we could do ourselves
- 2 issues:
- is Disqus a good way to do comments? (has some problems, incl. Disqus needs another login) or are there better alternatives
- Ability to turn discussion off (only one request'so just make it clear on coures page)
- If it were turned off, would there be no discussion? (I'd opt instead for an easier to use system? ...fyi, we tried Google groups for one group a few rounds ago...it didn't seem to work better than built-in comments. Single sign in/lowest barrier to use is the best, I think.)
- would probably not implement this, but we are planning to investigate making commenting better
- Next step: Dirk continues to investigate
- Show revision history for course edits
- easy to show Authors
- what is the use case for this?
- see what other authors changed when collobarating with someone else
- Suggestion: for "real" collaboration, use a tool like etherpad, mediawiki, google docs
- Archive or draft pages
- Suggestion: use a dif tool to store these pages
- Suggestion: write DRAFT at the top of the page (it's good practice to create/work openly)
- Splash page for courses that handles sign-ups then links to dif platform
- I think we are open to it (not sure how others feel about it)
- one thought...splash page for unsigned in users could be about page (promotion/prompt to join); landing page for signed in users could be actual course page (ideally maybe the "current" week...could be designated by organizers)
- options:
- just have an about page
- link directly from "find" courses to a different platform
- Next step: Jane tell people to just use about page. Jane follow up with Dirk about courses linking directly from a box to a different website.
- Announcement messaging history and control over sending to new sign-ups
- Next step: leave as is - explore exportation of emails more
- Need for email addresses while following privacy policy, eg. email address used to split people up into small groups
- this is probably #1 issue for School of Ed...ability for organizers to communicate with the group
- We implemented an announcement tab, which allows the course organizer to send a message to all users. Is that sufficient?
- Jane: No, because we use email addresses not just for mass announcements, but also for groups, etc.
- maybe tangential: do we need a confirmation box when people sign-up, that states their email will be shared with the course organizer?
- This is kind of like a mechanicalMOOC functionality - would it be easier to use that tool for organisers who want to construct their courses in this way?
- karen - I'd be interested in trying this; esp interested in functionality around setting up small groups with this
- Concerns: sharing emails is more potential for spam
- Suggestion:
- no emails, ask users explicitly for emails, eg via Google forms through announcements
- Have a set of trusted facilitators - and give them ability to export emails for them
- have organizers we mark as trusted users
- Next step: Dirk, P, and Erika explore better way of exporting emails to trusted facilitators w/usernames, sign-up date (issue below)
- Need for usernames associated with email addresses
- not as big a priority for School of Ed (I can usually figure out who's who :)
- Next step: fold into exporting emails above
- Brief explanations around certain form fields
- Jane, after the sprint I can take a look at all form fields--which ones are problematic?
- Text editing tips
- both SOO and SOE and Bekka would appreciate tips
- Suggestion: quick cheat sheet? something really short
- Next step: Dirk to contact Billy about markdown cheatsheat that would be linked from editing form
- Start course/sign-up needs to be more obvious and prominent
- Course titles for boxes need to be not cut off
- P2PU working on explorer and other popular browsers other than just open ones (esp imp for participants taking courses from institution computers), eg. 80% or something of the world uses explorer
- Next step: Bekka and Dirk add Notification people to update their browsers, link to page about compatibility
- Not sure where this is now...but I've had repeated issues with this and with mobile device (esp ipad obviously) support in the past
- Page about compatibility with different browsers
- Cloning a course for future facilitation
- +1 critical feature
- VMG agrees.
- Next step: Dirk to take it further
- Timezone tool - external iframe embed available?
2. Organizers feedback on what worked! http://pad.p2pu.org/p/school-of-open-course-feedback
By facilitators
Quick feedback to assignments / rapid response to user issues that come up during the weekFollow-up with those who have not submittedKeeping feedback positiveKeeping assignments simpleTutorials on how to use tools (eg. Disqus)Two week on-ramp/sign-up period for adminSmall groups arranged by location, profession, and institution typeCapping the # of studentsFacilitator attached to a reputable org/institutionSetting up all tools/technology for them and limiting choices, eg. like listing the type of calculator you would need for a math class, books you need, or general prerequisites.
Course design
Clear course designAligning course work to mastery of skills
External factors
Seeking ways to offer formal accredition/recognition for professional developmentHaving employers require and/or encourage taking the course (eg. depts of education, school authorities)
3. Discuss process - who on P2PU staff should we go to? where?
PS: How do we get better at compiling, discussing, prioritizing and then implementing these requests?
Bekka: Whatever we do should be as integrated as possible
Do we do it as an ongoing thing under certain headings?
Some things seem nontrivial but have deeper implications. Some things seem big but are actually trivial.
Two types of avenues
1. School organizers distilling and passing on requests
2. Course facilitators directly providing feedback
One place to keep a list
- monthly check-in calls w/School organizers around organizing needs
- Trello board for school organizers who distill organizer feedback to track tasks
- Next step: Bekka and Dirk bring up initially on community call tomorrow
Categorize according to priority
- Would constructing a rubric / survey that ranks issues be helpful?
[DRAFT] How we make decisions about which requests to address:
For School organizers to ask themselves when distilling feedback
- How many people are affected? (is the issue generalizable, who benefits?)
- How much of a difference will it make to them? (fixes a super annoying issues, let's them do amazing new things)
- How much work is it?
- Do we have project funding aligned with this request? (this is not a requirement, but it makes it easier to address specific requests)
- Will it disprupt/limit other features currently being used?
- How aligned is it with our vision/mission broader goals?
4. Existing course toolkit resources - where are they? please provide links:
- Hey Jane, I'm working on a new create a course course--should have that done for you tomorrow!
- Are there other ways to support users / provide help when they need it?
- I'm looking for the link to the "old" P2PU site. (I had a vew things there). Can someone provide a link?
- I think this is much needed. A few resources: