This page does not desribe the current implementation. It was a draft used for discussion. Parts of it has been implemented.
Summary of major changes
- All config options that changes the exercise will be gone:
- "Select lessonfile"
- "Questions to ask"
The reason is that because of the new statistics and test system, each lesson file has to represent a specific set of questions.
- The 'pure python module' exercises like
harmonicinterval will also have its configuration and test definition stored in a lesson file, and selecting intervals manually will not be available by default.
For these changes to make sense, we need to write more lesson files. We need to think like teachers, and not just throw in a random collection of exercises.
Points of discussion
- GNU Solfege should run in a maximised window.
- + Solfege is an educational app. We want as little distraction as possible.
- + Easy to show help, theory,... behind the current exercise in a side pane.
- - What would we fill the screen with? Multiple exercises? Theory?
- Lots of older educational systems still use 800x600. No need to stuff the screen.
- I agree. I'll never have more than one exercise visible. (TomCato)
- - How would we handle the wide range of screen resulutions?
- If we have a sidepane on the right with extra theory, more about a composer, a style,..., we could easily make this fit the rest of the screen. Mark
- We will not fill extra junk in the main window. Don't fill you desktop with junk, then Solfege don't have to hide it for you. We will continue to use the spacing we currently use in solfege 3.3.2.
- GNU Solfege should have multiple exercises on one screen.
- ? What exactly do you mean? An educational program needs to show very obviously what the user is supposed to do. Showing more than one exercise will cause fear, uncertainty and doubt.
- + More overview:
- "How well am I doing?". How many young kids can interpret statistics?
- Being able to compare makes students see analogies better.
- + Forces use of more modular code.
- - Complicated programming for little user experience enhancement.
- -I think it would make a confusing GUI.
- We should have (the possibility of) a theory help side pane as part of an (easier) test.
- Tabs for exercise, help and theory. Mark had objections to using tabs because not too many people are familiar with the concept. Could we use a bit of both tabs and side pane? If we use tabs with images&text in stead of text only, and change the orientation so that the tabs are on the left side, that would be very user friendly.
- The statistics should be made much simpler so that kids understand it. How do we achieve that?
- Scale al scores to /10. Kids think in 'points out of ten.'
- stars/pinguins/gnus?
- Try to avoid bad scores. 2/10 is devastating for a 7 year old. If a score is lower than 5/10 :
- suggest there is work in progress (a wrench, a Bob-the-builder-like figure...)
- simply don't show anything
- Try to branch in stead of showing bad score (Branching = go to a higher/lower difficulty level to match the pupils' capacity.
- integrate a very simple view into the user's screen. Link this to a more complete set of statistics.
Menu layout
- File
- Edit
- Practice
- Test
- Help
Welcome screen
The menubar
If the user hasn't chosen a learning tree yet, the "Practice" and "Test" menus show the default learning tree with unlimited visibility.
- your email: ...(text box; email adress serves as basis for user profile)
User screen
The menubar
The "Practice" and "Test" menus contain learning targets according to the user's learning tree and visibility preferences. Default visibility is set by the learning tree. User preferences override this.
The user welcome screen
The main window shows the user's login information (email adress?).
If the user has not yet chosen a learning tree, the user is asked to pick a learning tree (Solfege builtin or user supplied). The default choice is the standard Solfege learning tree with its default visibility.
If the user has already chosen a learning tree, the main window shows: (not sure here yet)
- statistics on relevant learning targets?
- something to be decided by the teacher responsible for the user's learning tree?
Exercise Layout
- The question asked should always be visible and formulated in plain text above the exercise.
<< Proposal | NewExerciseSetup | Implementation >>
