Hello all;

 

I compiled the feedback received and am posting below for any one that is interested.  Thanks for all of the positive comments and suggestions.  I'll probably start working on this again this week, though won't do too much until the major code updates are finished.

 

Nathan

 

-----------------

 

 

Why, I do believe this could be very useful.

-         bwerdmuller on 03/05/06

 

lets go nathan lets go

looking good. . ..

Hi, this is a cool concept. Would these features be added to the next release of Elgg?

   News - 03/01/06 16:28 (GMT)

 

This add-in really isn't part of the core elgg features, and as a result, it is really up to the Dave and Ben when to include it in the core download. In addition, it would probably be a *good* idea to allow it to live as a beta for a while to work out the major bugs. I'm hoping to have a beta version available by summer. Hopefully, by that point, it'll be stable enough and full-featured enough for actual usage.

- Nathan

 

Navigation is not particularly easy. If I click on the TOC to the left, I don't see an easy way of getting back to this page. I can't recall but I think there is a navigation bar at the top of each subpage.

 

Right ... there is a navigation bar. Somehow I thought I could comment on a previous comment, but I could not find it.

 

Re my comment on "intuitive", which was made on the Principles page, I now figured out that the comment box relates to the page. Clearly, this can be easily learned with a simple training session. I'm not sure I like the Recent Activity sorted sequentially. Maybe it could be grouped by topic and then by date -- threaded I guess is the right term.

 

I am liking the way this is shaping up.

Congratulations getting the prototype up and running!.  This tool has a lot of potential. -brian

I think that this module could provide an interest option for Elgg users to collaborate. One item I do think would be useful would be the ability to convert the content into a print friendly format.

 

 

Is it correct to believe that this wiki will work with the security model in ELGG, so users can determine who can see their wiki pages and who will have access to read it? Cheers, Scott Leslie (www.edtechpost.ca/mt/)

 

 

Scott, yes, I am planning on using the same permissions model as the rest of Elgg. I just haven't implemented it yet. -- Nathan

 

Awesome, this is very exciting to hear. Great job Nathtan! Cheers, Scott Leslie

 

Right, a print-friendly version is useful. TikiWiki does a nice job of that. In fact, it works well for virtual printing. I copy the "printed" wiki pages into Word and then can write on them on my tablet.

 

It's great to be able to create new pages on the fly.. Julie

 

The links from the list of sections of the page above do not work.

 

Overall, I'm having a difficult time with the "intuitive" part. But, maybe I'm too much of an old foggie.

 

I will read these ideas later.

 

Hi Nathan, Thanks for opening this up and letting people come in and check it out. Hopefully you will get some worthwhile feedback on what you have done so far.      I like the direction you are taking with this and think it will provide  Elgg users with a different option in terms of collaborating. Once I clear my current workload i will have a closer look and get back to you with some feedback. Dave Tosh

 

This seam to work great nathan all my congratulation you just got your self on of my trademark ATTABOY®  Benoit Brosseau

I've recently begun using the "View all Posts" feature under the "Blog" menu, and have really been enjoying viewing all of the stuff happening on elgg.net.  I almost wish that this feature was better highlighted, as it gives a good feel for what's going on.  I've found quite a few resources that otherwise would have slipped past.

Nathan 

First, I'd like to say that I'm thankful for everyone's feedback & encouragement for the Elgg add-in.  However, I would like to add that it's ok to give negative feedback as well -- saying what I'm doing wrong is just as useful as what's right. 

I was able to sit down with a librarian today and got some really good feedback on some features that need to be improved.   Most of his comments were about the navigation window (the gray box-like window).  I already knew that it needed improvements, but he helped highlight some potential for how I can integrate the Yahoo AJAX treeview control in a way that is intuitive and logical.

He also raised a couple good points about making it look appealing.  I guess that's not something I've thought a lot on, but he raises a good point.  If we really want people to use this on a voluntary basis, then it should be attractive.  Some points he raised was to make the interface more active -- such as having things change color when the mouse cursor is over them, more visually interesting links / buttons, allowing easy templating, etc...  

In terms of scheduling, I'm looking at having a working version completed by summer.  I'd like to begin doing some experiments during the Fall 2006 semester with a couple of professors at Woodbury.  With any luck, that will turn into a conference paper, and the following semester's work will become a journal publication.  In the beginning, I'm looking at a simple degree of usage, possibly comparing it with a site like Writely or another type of wiki.  Starting off by looking at the ability of the easy annotation to prompt collaborative activity seems a decent idea.  I don't think it's a great long-term solution though -- have to think more about it.

anyway, I'm always open for feedback! 

Nathan 

I saw a link to a site that tracks blogs, and figured I'd give it a try.

See http://performancing.com/

 

Nathan 

I posted a lengthy response on Birger's blog http://elgg.net/birger/weblog/9947.html talking about some of the reasons why I didn't use an existing wiki engine, but rather implemented one from scratch.

 

Nathan 

I recently at a local teaching & learning conference here in California called Lilly-West.  This is actually the 3rd year I've attended, before I was helping get the projectors setup (it's amazing how tense people get before a presentation, just walking in & pushing a button to 'fix it' does wonder for your self-esteem.

This year, I talked with a number of people about Elgg, and some of my ideas about introducing a social component to the traditional e-portfolio.  I found some of the reactions rather interesting, and thought that I'd put them below. (Hey, reflection on portfolios -- novel thought!)

First, I found it difficult to get the central idea of an informal, socially-based, and RSS-centric portfolio software across.  Eventually, I realized that the key terms for non-technical people were 'social' and 'student-controlled.' People there generally understood portfolios, harping on the change from one-to-a-couple-of-professors to many-to-many got the central idea of Elgg across fairly rapidly.

Second, people almost always came back asking about two features.  The first was security.  I didn't realize how important the granular level of security built into Elgg was until about the third person asked me if students could control different levels of access.  Second, they were concerned about reflection on the various pieces and parts.  One developer in particular told me that she'd be happy with elgg as a portfolio if it allowed reflection and assessment activities.

Third, I don't think that the notion of blogs has quite worked its way into this group of people.  Over the entire conference, I did not see even one presentation on using blogs.  I got no reaction when talking about how students' blogs were very reflective on the various aspects of their portfolios.  People at this conference are very interested in teaching & learning and are not techies, but still, I was rather surprised.

Fourth, people really don't get social software.  Depending mainly on how old the person I talked to was, they had differing levels of reaction against online communities.  Several people saw them as an inferior replacement for 'real' communities. I mentioned myspace a couple of times (out of desperation trying to explain the elgg concepts) -- big mistake.  People immediatley 'got' it, but lost all enthusiasm for the topic as an 'academic' topic.

I was able to talk with John Zubizarreta, who recently wrote a book on portfolios (just read the preface), for about 45 minutes.  For the record, he's a really great guy, very likable and willing to talk with a grad student for a while without growing too impatient... :-)  What was interesting about talking with John was learning some of the issues that have not been researched.  For example, he said that we really don't know how the 'e' in e-portfolio changes the nature of a portfolio.  At the moment, digital portfolios are remarkably similar to paper ones.  Just as e-mail is very different from mail, I still think that being digital changes the way things should be structured.  He thought it was an interesting point.  He was also very open to the idea that 'social' (one of his 3 core parts of a portfolio) could include other students and not just the professor or a mentor. 


In any case, it was an interesting conference that really helped me develop the 30second version of Elgg & my research in it.  Oh, and a lot of professors quickly 'got' the idea that my writing add-in would help drive adoption as professors require students to submit their papers & projects online :-)

My recent school push & finally calming down.  I got a bit overwhelmed wtih all of the material due, and ended up taking several vacation days to get it all put together.  I'll start up again on the add-in code (push to Alpha!) probably tomorrow.  I hesitate doing too much before the next version is up, but I want to keep moving ahead anyway...

Nathan