Author Tool
Feedback from researchers following April 15, 2008 testing session
General Issues:
1. Would like to have a Overview tab and a Preview tab. The default tab shown when you view a step is settable by the User. (many groups wanted their first glance to be from the student's perspective, then switch to an editing mode) (2 groups)
2. Make the ADD/DELETE/PREVIEW icons larger. The current ones are very small and take a lot of precision to click on. Takes time.
3. Change the Edit/Save system. Time consuming. Also acts in unexpected ways (some fields auto-save, some fields automatically switch from edit mode back to saved mode. Also it wasn't always clear, after clicking the Edit button, that you need to click the Save button (no instructions or reminders tell the user what to do. (2 groups)
? Suggested Change 1: have one large Edit/Save button at bottom of screen. This button switches all editable fields in the step on and off.
? Suggested Change 2: If user moves away from the step without clicking Save the step is auto-saved anyway.
? Suggest Change 3: when user clicks the master EDIT button, a text field (red/bold) appears above the global buttons that says "Click SAVE button to save all changes to editable fields." This reminder message disappears when the user clicks the SAVE button. Reappears any time EDIT mode is active.
4. Several users cleared their Javacache but were then unable to preview Evidence/Note steps. Can we incorporate the HTML renderer code directly into the JNLP?
5. We need to make the Mac Webstart fix easily accessible on the web site, so Mac users can run the batch before trying to download JNLP files.
6. Long pause between selecting the OTML file and seeing the Authoring tool is confusing. Need a "Loading..." type animation to cover the delay.
7. Possible to have an Undo for deleting a Step or Activity?
8. Can a teacher post comments (per Step) to the Teacher's Guide in a library project? This would be another nice teacher-community feature.
NOTE step:
1. If Starter Sentence field is blank, the "Starter Sentence" link should not show up in VLE (or should be grayed out).
2. Showing HTML in the Question field is confusing.
3. Add "Undo" menu item which allows going back at least 1 step. Ideally many steps. (2 groups)
4. We need to update exisiting Note steps to include the markup for the Question text. Several users noted that the Note Question was very hard to read.
5. Possible to be able to see Hints from a Step-Preview window? Currently the hints are only available from the full project preview window.
6. Change "Add Survey item" to "Add a Survey question" (bigger button is also easier to click)
7. Change "Open-Response item" to "Add an Open-Response question" (bigger button is also easier to click)
8. Some researchers said they'd like Notes to be presented as a vertical list, others liked the tab system.
9. Question: if a student encounters a Note with 2 parts, completes part 1, doesn't touch part 2, and saves, do they get a reminder message that Part 2 is still incomplete? Researcher have concern that students will accidentally omit parts in a multi-part note.
10. For Survey Question: Add radio buttons: "Require Student Explanation" and "No Student Explanation." No Student Explanation is selected by default. If user clicks the Require Radio button, they are then show a pop-up menu labeled "# Rows for Student Explanation"
Outside Link step:
1. Users confused when they enter something like www.google.com and it doesn't work (all modern web browsers add the http:// automatically. Suggestion: have a default value of http://www.google.com when an outside step is created. Then the user can edit this.
2. Would like to have a WYSIWYG interface for Evidence steps.
3. Add "Undo" menu item which allows going back at least 1 step. Ideally many steps. (2 groups)
4. Question mark icon doesn't seem to be functional (user not getting that a rollover pops up, they're not waiting). Suggested change: clicking a question mark pops up a little information box which or reveals the text on screen. The pop-up box can be closed by clicking the Q mark again or by clicking the CLOSE button.
Evidence step:
1. Would like to have a WYSIWYG inteface in the Evidence step.
2. Add "Undo" menu item which allows going back at least 1 step. Ideally many steps.
Self-Check step:
1. Change "Add Survey item" button to "Add Multichoice question"
2. After adding a multichoice question the labels should say "Multichoice Question" and "Multichoice Answers" instead of "Survey Question" and "Survey Choices"
3. When the User creates a Self-Check step, automatically have a blank multichoice question already shown. Saves time.
4. Move the +- icons to the left of the "Choice 1" "Choice 2" labels. Several users reported not seeing the icons or not being clear on their purpose.
5. The "Feedback" label and field should be indented to the right of each choice. Makes it visually easier to see the choices and the feedback item for each choice.
6. Revise "You can selected an unlimited ..." to "You can select an unlimited number of answers for the multichoice question."
7. Change "For the correct answer select a radio button." Add a space and revised to "Indicate which answer is the Correct Answer by selecting its radio button circle.
8. The radio buttons need a small header label that says "Correct Answer:"
Drawing step:
1. [FIX ALREADY IN PROGRESS] Process for adding stamps/background not intuitive.
2. [Design Fix already underway] Need ability to draw solid and empty objects.
3. Desire for a "Delete All" button.
4. Drawing Step does not have a "Preview Step" button. Inconsistent.
Graph tool:
1. Not currently usable. No apparent way to graw a graph.
2. The Advanced button has disappeared (used to be visible)
3. Most research teams reported that this tool was very difficult to use. Not self-explanatory and no embedded help.