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Don't require links and files to be embedded in the lesson content

Andrew Gabriel

January 04, 2017 19:50

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I suggest that links and files that are included in lessons should not have to be embedded in the main lesson content. 

I found it more helpful when (in the past) links and files (some of which are optional reading) could merely be listed on the right side of the lesson.

 

For now, I will put optional content at the bottom of the lesson, but I think this is not an ideal option as it will leave the lesson looking rather messy at the bottom. It will probably also confuse some students, who, I anticipate, will ask me many times if they have to read everything at the links and files I include in the body of the lesson.

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4 comments

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  Jonathon Beeke January 04, 2017 19:59

  Agree!

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  Christopher Engelsma January 04, 2017 20:00

  Good point.  The "Viewer" that shows these documents is nice but only when you need it.  Otherwise, it should be closed and be opened when clicked.  The default should be closed. 

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  Adam Sentz January 04, 2017 20:34

  Thanks guys. We are open to tweaking and adding flexibility to how items show in the lesson page. Before you just had one page and you could attach links, files, etc. to that page, but with the new multiple-page lessons everything on a particular page lives in the left column with the right column serving as in index of everything you have access to in that lesson. It definitely requires a change in how lesson content is formatted, but the idea is that the student can, for example, work through Page 1 from top to bottom and then go to the next page and the next, and that all the content they need to complete the page they are on will be inline so they don't have to locate it on the right side.

  One thing we're definitely going to add is the ability to specify whether a file section shows the file itself when possible or is just a link to that file. If there other tweaks along those lines that make sense to y'all let us know.

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  Andrew Gabriel January 04, 2017 20:43

  My preference is to be able to have some material (files, links, discussions) available in only the right column. 

  So, for example, I have discussions where a student posts multiple times throughout a lesson. These discussion times and topics are not always prescribed, but student initiated, so I don't always want to have the link to the discussion right in the body of the lesson.