Forum Discussion
Rise Learning Journal / Notes
I've been working on a Learning Journal for Rise. I have an Alpha version I'd like to share on SCORM Cloud and in a YouTube video.
The features we have included so far are:
- Comments persisted between sessions (SCORM 1.2 & SCORM 2004 3rd and 4th Ed)
- Save comments, associated with blocks individual blocks
- Comments are organised into topics/pages
- Edit existing Comments
- Delete Comments
- Print comments (to printer, or PDF is you have the required software installed)
- Export comments to Word (*.doc)
- Pagination (If comments exceed a defined number, they are split into pages)
There are some things that needs to be finalised which will not take a great deal of work to complete.
- Mobile compatibility
- WCAG 2.2 AA
What I'm looking for is a bit of community input, as I know people have wanted this feature for quite some time. This is my best guess of how somebody might use a learning journal, but would love to hear any other examples of how it could function, or additional useful features that could be included.
Here's the video on YouTube (video embedding still a problem on this forum): Rise Learning Journal
If you would like to check it out on SCORM Cloud. You can visit this URL: Rise Learning Journal on SCORM Cloud
Update (3rd December 2024)
I have continued to work on this project and it is now SCORM 2004 compatible. Again, it is using the cmi.comments_from_learner. Unfortunately I found a significant issue with the Articulate implementation of the SCORM 1.2 and 2004 comments. I am in communication with support after logging the issue. I am hoping I can convince them that the implementation is incorrect, and the base script is updated. In the meantime, I am applying a patch to the Articulate "WriteComment" function to ensure comments are stored correctly for SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004.
I have also made some cosmetic changes and updated the CSS for the HTML to ensure the application picks up the current Rise module theme (colours, fonts etc).
I've fixed a few bugs I have found along the way with regards to deleting journal entries, and editing journal entries when not on the page they originated from. This all appears to be working really well now.
My next priority will be working on the CSS to ensure it is mobile compatible. Once all of the HTML and CSS is finalised, I'll then work on the accessibility. I've been implementing aria attributes as I go along, but there is still some testing and development to be done on that side of things.
I will be looking to release this as a BETA to a handful of people early in the new year.
Update (9th December 2024) Accessibility
Started work on accessibility. Currently implementing and then will be looking to test using JAWS 2024 and NVDA over the xmas holiday period.
On track for BETA release Jan 2025.
Update (09 January 2025) Accessibility & refactoring
Still working on accessibility and refactoring. There is a little more work than first forecast. Yes, I know, you've never heard that from a developer before. I'm 50/50 as to whether I can get this out in January. It will depend on other work commitments, but I will keep this post updated.
I have decided to simplify the colour scheme and move away from using the defined "branding" colours inherited from Rise, as I was finding this a bit unpredictable with colour contrast, and so in the interest of ensuring the content has the best colour contrast, I'll be hard coding the CSS rather than using the CSS variables defined in Rise. I'll re-visit this in future.
Looking at the code, I need some serious refactoring as I think I found some redundancies and so need to delete any unused code that I added and then abandoned.
Oh, and Happy New Year.
Hey Sam. I was a long time user of Mike's learning journal. I'm working on a build that requires a journal, and found my way to you just now after following some support threads from Mike's version. Your work is fantastic—it's really exciting—and I can't wait to start using it! Can you please include me in the BETA release? I'll be watching your full video shortly and reading your release notes, so my question may very well already be answered, but are you able to control/select the blocks that show the widget? Thanks so much for sharing this :-) Melanie
Hi melaniehalliwell thanks for the comments. The component currently attaches to certain types of blocks and cannot be attached to specific blocks that the author chooses.
I will look into this though as it is possible. For example, adding a specific string "{{notes-button}}" at the top of a block could be used as a directive to insert the component. This was one of my very early experiments, but I opted for automatically inserting on certain block types. I will consider this as a more advanced implementation.
Thanks for the feedback!
Hi Sam,
I love your learning journal!! I have used other types in my Rise courses but this one definitely seems to be significantly better than any I have seen. I love that you are also focusing on accessibility because many of my clients require that. I don't have any feedback except that I love it! I love that you have the icon next to each block. I love that you can edit and delete comments. And most importantly I love that it should save their inputs and they can print out a PDF or Word doc at the end of the Rise course. Please let me know when the Beta is ready. I would love to be a part of that testing. And I completely agree you should be paid for all the development time you have put into this. Keep up the amazing work!
Hi Sam,
This is absolutely amazing. It is exactly what I need for my course. My question is, would it be possible to create this not for just one course but for many? I have 14 RISE courses (each is a lecture to me) in my online class. My LMS combines them into one course for me. I would love to have my students take each lecture with their notes and have them added to a course notebook at the end of all of my 14 lectures, so they have their own guide. Can you imagine that this would be possible at all?
Hi AmyGtt I'd need some more information on the structure before I can answer this, but will provide some information on how it does work.
The Learning Journal makes use of SCORM to store the notes, therefore, notes are associated with an individual SCORM package. For example, when you publish a Rise course to the SCORM specification.
It sounds like your LMS provides a means to group together a number of SCORM modules to present as a single course. In this instance, there would be individual notes for each of those SCORM modules. Notes taken in SCORM module X would not be available in SCORM module Y. The reason being, the data is not shareable in SCORM. SCORM does not provide a means to share data between modules and they are only self aware.
We will be looking at ways this could be enhanced in future to support accessing data across different modules, but this would require a 3rd party database, which would incur costs.
We're keeping it simple for this first iteration.
I'm looking forward to releasing the BETA later this month. I'll let you know when it is available.
ok, thank you very much for the reply.
Hi Sam
Thanks for tackling this issue.
Have looked at the video and this is exactly the solution that we need and have been unsuccessfully looking for. Have had to look at other less viable options using H5p or storyline notepad lightbox with limitations regarding saving the notes, grouping them etc.
Minor issue may be the ability to print selected parts or export selected parts as looks like prints/saves all each time. Would the facilitator have the ability to review the notes created in any way.
Would be happy to get involved in testing and thanks for this, commercial approach makes sense as this would be a significant value add on our side.
Hi Sam, great work. I like the fact notes are by block (user friendly). No doubt ID's will want CSS customisation of the output, so I'd include that in any paperwork on release. Impressive.
Yes, I'll be making this as flexible as possible. There won't be a front-end to make those kind of updates, but I can definitely add the Print/Word styles to a JavaScript configuration file. I will be keeping the styles basic for release though.
Those with a bit more JavaScript nous will be able to dress the documents up nicely.
Do you think this is something you could use for projects in future (or have used something similar in the past) ChrisLee2 ?
I'm just going off what happened with the first journal, as ID's got it to work they're next question was how to customize it. I can imagine this being quite popular.
Hello Sam, just watched your video and tried the SCORM Cloud Rise Journal. This is excellent - I could use this in so many Rise builds. Button location near each block works well, the notes being separated into individual topics is logical. It's behavior works well for me. The implementation post publish seems fairly straight forward. The files rebus-notes.css and rebus-notes.js are you making them available to us to implement into our own project, or a guide how to produce them. I've been following this thread for some time but not really paying much attention to it until now, so forgive me if I've already missed them anywhere
Hi DavidAtkinson-d thanks for taking a look and I appreciate the feedback. It's very much Alpha at the moment and not ready for distribution (not fully tested).
When it reaches BETA in the next couple of weeks, I will distribute to a handful of people that are interested (I can include you). I'll pop a demo of BETA on this thread when ready, and will message you so I can provide you with a copy.
I'm not sure at this stage if I'll be open sourcing or asking for a a few dollars in exchange as it's been a relatively significant development.
The features you've included, like SCORM compatibility, mobile support, and pagination for comments, really make it a comprehensive and user-friendly tool. I love that you’re considering accessibility with WCAG 2.2 AA, and the ability to export to Word and print comments is a great touch.
