Summary
MyUCDavis Quiz Builder users have associated various media, including graphics, .doc and .pdf files with their questions. These media need to be accessible by faculty for migration with their quizzes and question pools.
Desired functionality includes:
- ability to retrieve from Quiz Builder all files associated with a quiz or question pool
- ability to identify which media file(s) are associated with each question that is being exported
- resolution in cases of name collisions
This project is listed in Jira as SAK-270
#Jira Story Card Description is included below for your convenience.
Phases
Analysis
Initial analysis is based on the research noted in My_To_Samigofunc-tech_v1.doc in April 2006. The media count and usage should not have changed appreciably in the last 6 months.
? 16.3% of the quizzes contain images, media or other content files (223 quizzes with media / 1370 total quizzes)
? There are 218 distinct quizzes in Quiz Builder using media files which are owned by 33 faculty and staff.
The following media distribution was pulled from the cms database in April 2006.
FILEEXT |
FILECOUNT |
FILEEXT |
FILECOUNT |
FILEEXT |
FILECOUNT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg |
541 |
.mp3 |
12 |
.bat |
1 |
.gif |
269 |
.doc |
6 |
.cfm |
1 |
39 |
.bmp |
4 |
.sql |
1 |
|
(null) |
26 |
.swf |
3 |
.2 |
1 |
.JPG |
17 |
.png |
1 |
|
|
Quiz Builder Media Usage
Faculty use single or multiple images associated with a question for identification of objects or concepts. For example, an instructor in Veterinary Medicine might use multiple radiograph images along with a downloadable PDF file with those images imbedded to test student diagnostic abilities. A music instructor might use images to ask students to identify musicians, musical scores or notations. Chemistry instructors use images to display chemical formulas and biota for students to identify. An instructor might also ask a student to download a .doc, a .pdf or some other type of non-media file as part of a quiz.
Multiple images or files can be added to a question by uploading them one after another. No screen manipulations are allowed to determine where the files are displayed. Images and/or files can only be associated with the question - not with the answers. The instructor does not have the ability to format or rearrange the appearance of this content, other than by entering the images and other files in the order he/she would like them displayed.
Samigo Media Usage
Adding images and files to Samigo is more complex than in Quiz Builder, but allows more flexibility in layout. Images are generally stored in Resources of the course or related project worksite. A reference link is generated in a question by selecting the image icon and adding in the image url. If multiple images will be added to a quiz, it is easy to open Resources in a new window to access to link information and quizzes at the same time.
Images can be placed before, within or after text, allowing more display control than in Quiz Builder. Multiple images can be added by repeating these actions. Images can be placed in any text area field, including answers and feedback.
The image source reference with this method requires that the file reside in Resources. Once an image URL is generated in Resources, the URL can be used in multiple questions or quizzes. Changing the graphic in Resources, even if the new file has a different name, will replace the image in all URL references and the new image will be renamed with the original file's name.
When a quiz with images referenced to Resources is exported and then imported to another course or site, the path reference is retained and the images are accessible from the new course. Because only the path, but not the actual image is imported, those files associated with quizzes in Quiz Builder would need to be moved separately into Resources, and then referenced within the quiz by their new URL.
Images and documents outside of Sakai can be linked also, as long as the URL is properly formed and the outside location is publicly accessible. For most non-media files, it is best to set the target to "_blank" to open it in a new window. The student will need to either open or save the file. Audio and other media files can be accessed successfully through this method.
Samigo v2.3 adds the ability to add an attachment to a question.
Design Specification
GUI Review
Code Functionality
Code Review
QA Testing
Release
Jira Story Card Description
These media are displayed with the question, but they are not built into the question text. Once faculty have uploaded media, they can be deleted from the question, but the files remain on the server and cannot be accessed by faculty.
It is desirable that faculty have a method of retrieving these files for review and/or import into Resources as the first step in adding the media to assessments or question pool questions in Tests & Quizzes.
In addition to just accessing the files there should be a way to identify which media file(s) are associated with each question that is being exported. If there is a way to bundle the media files together with an export of the questions that would also be desirable. A text file could be included in the zip file of the media that could document this relationship possibly including a question title, media file names and even question text all together.
If the image files could be renamed before zipping to their original names (as recorded in the myucdavis database) this would be highly desireable. This would not obviate the need for the text file because there could be name collisions and the text file could document how a filenname is overridden in this case.
An expansion of this idea would be to implement a process that would do a MyUCDavis export and take a user to an assessment import and/or question pool import page on SmartSite. This would presumably build on something like Respondus's ability to use content information to relate media to questions. A down-the-road issue that we need to keep track of.