08 October 2021, 1:41

Hi!

In the manual I read the following:
Commenting or giving feedback is an essential component for portfolio work. You can give feedback not only on individual artefacts but on entire portfolio pages.

I find that this is not the case, perhaps I'm doing something wrong. When a student has build a page with 9 different artefacts, some allow commenting on the individual artefact (for example an 'image') and some don't allow this (for example a text block)

It even looks like the artefacts that we really want to comment on, don't allow it. Commenting on an image (?) is not that useful, but commenting on text is very useful.

Are we doing something wrong or is this the correct obeservation?

11 October 2021, 16:01

Hi Richard,

You can determine which artefacts will have commenting turned on per default. For files that is in 'Administration menu -> Extensions -> Plugin administration -> Plugin type: artefact: file'. Text blocks are technically not artefacts but snippets of text on a page and thus don't have all features. If you wish to comment on student's text directly, you should use the 'Note' block. The default comment settings for that block are at 'Administration menu -> Extensions -> Plugin administration -> Plugin type: artefact: internal'.

So you might ask why we do not have 'Text' and 'Note' in one? Very good question. In the beginning, there was only 'Text' but that was not sufficient. The 'Note' was born with lots of cool options, including reusability. That then though got too complicated for some learners to have all those extra options available in the 'Note' and thus we separated notes that can also be re-used from simple text. So your way forward would be the 'Note'. You can move it up in the list of content types to put on a page so as for your students to find them more easily. That is done in 'Administration menu -> Extensions -> Plugin administration -> Plugin type: blocktype'.

Thank you

Kristina

13 October 2021, 3:53

Hi Kristina,

We don't seem to have a 'notes' blocktype. If I look here: admin/extensions/plugintypeconfig.php?plugintype=blocktype there's no NOTES.

I did enable it where you said it should be enabled: administration menu -> Extensions -> Plugin administration -> Plugin type: artefact: internal'.

Any idea why we don't have this?

13 October 2021, 11:26

Hi Richard,

The 'Notes' blocktype is 'internal/textbox' because of historical reasons. If you can't see it in your list of blocks, check the button next to it. It would say 'Show'. Set that to 'Hide' and you'll see the block. It always displays the action that can be performed for a different result.

Cheers

Kristina

15 October 2021, 1:07

Dear Kristina,

Thank you for your answer.

I have some problems understanding your logic here: Set that to 'Hide' and you'll see the block.

Set it to HIDE to SHOW the block? Do I understand that correctly?

Our teachers would really like to give feedback on several artefacts. For example I see these files:

So teachers can comment on images, but not on pdf and docx files?

18 October 2021, 11:58

Hi Richard,

The logic is correct. Click ‘Show’ and you will have the note block available. If you no longer want it available, you can click ‘Hide’ to make the plugin unavailable. The button shows the action you can take on the current state of the plugin.

The author of an artefact or portfolio page decides whether you can leave comments or not. You can see how to turn comments on for files in the manual.

Teachers can comment on PDF and docx files only if the student allowed comments on them. That is the same as for any other file. If you allow comments per default for the 'file' option in the plugin configuration (Admin menu -> Extensions -> Plugin administration -> artefact:file -> Comments, and the student allowed comments in the page sharing options (and didn't set their file to not allow comments), you can comment on the file.

When you change the default comment setting, the permissions for existing files are not overwritten as students could have changed them earlier already.

Kind regards,
Doris

28 October 2021, 2:31

Kristina: Set that to 'Hide' and you'll see the block.
Dory2380: Click ‘Show’ and you will have the note block available.

Ehm... confusing to me, these are two different answers.

Let me share again:

/admin/extensions/pluginconfig.php?plugintype=artefact&pluginname=file&type=file shows the following:

This doesn't allow met to comment on .docx or .pdf files uploaded by the students. Which are the most essential files to comment on in my opinion. Why not possible for .docx or .pdf?

Shall I put this on the wishlist :)

28 October 2021, 12:24

Hi Richard,

We understand that it's confusing as the setting switches on this page are inconsistent to other areas of Mahara. Future changes will improve this.

“Set that to 'Hide' and you'll see the block”, in other words “Click ‘Show’ and you will have the note block available” both mean the same thing. This language is actually not used for the 'Comments' artefact and thus we can ignore that here. Sorry for the confusion.

Can you please try running through this scenario and respond with screenshots at steps 3, 5, and 7 if you have any issues?

1. Go to '/admin/extensions/pluginconfig.php?plugintype=artefact&pluginname=file&type=file'.
2. Open the 'Comments' drop-down.
3. Select 'File' and save these settings. This will automatically allow comments on any file type. Even if you didn't set that though, students would be able to turn that option on on each file.
4. In 'Main menu' -> 'Create' -> 'Files', upload a new .docx and .pdf file.
5. Edit the two files and check the 'Comments' switch is set to 'On'.
6. On a page, select the files in a 'File(s) to download' block.
7. When viewing the page, click the 'Details' button, i.e. the button with the magnifying glass  at the top right to show the icons as in your screenshot.
8. Check you can comment on the new .docx and .pdf files.

Note that the updated default comment settings only apply to new file uploads. Existing files will  not change as students might have made a deliberate choice not to allow comments on a particular file. Since it is a default setting, students can still turn comments off on individual files.

Kind regards,
Doris

28 October 2021, 21:56

Thanks Dory, that's it!

It must have been a coincidence that I uploaded several files before and after change the default setting. And also that the files that were uploaded before the default setting was changed were all .pdf and .docx files, and the ones uploaded later were a different filetype.

That set me off :)

But your instructions are very clear. We have set the default correct (the way we want it) so once students will start using this, it will be OK unless they change it for a reason.

Great! Thanks!