Show Set Description on Problem sets page?

[dlglin]

Currently if a set description exists for a homework set, the only place it is shown is if a student mouses over the set name on the Problem Sets page. There is also no visual cue to indicate that the description exists.

What about putting this description directly into the Problem Sets page? The downside I see is that this has the potential to take up a lot of screen real estate if the description is long. Perhaps having it in a collapsible that is collapsed by default, or at least having some indication that mousing over will give more information?

I also think it makes sense to show the description on the Set Detail page.

Having said all of this, I'm not sure what the difference in purpose is between the set description and the set header file. The description is easier to type since it's right there, whereas the header file requires editing and saving a file, but gives the instructor the ability to use some variable substitutions.

[Alex-Jordan]

The current description is just a text string with no markup, structure etc. So it's hard to imagine it would be common for it to take up lots of space.

Description is pithy. Set header file has details, can have tables, graphs, links, etc.

[Alex-Jordan]

the only place it is shown

Sort of. It also gets used in D2L and LTI 1.3 (if not other LMSs and also LTI 1.1) when you create an LTI link to a set. I see these descriptions in the D2L link description.

I see no reason not to include the set description somewhere here:

I also think it makes sense to show the description on the Set Detail page.

It does this now. this is where you would edit the description. Are you just affirming to keep this?

As for the set header. I have always felt like this is a place for an instructor to put reference information that may be helpful (or even necessary) to work on the set. And as such, there should be easy access to this while viewing a problem. If the screen is wide enough, the set header could reasonably go in the right margin. But that doesn't help for even a medium-width screen. What about something that makes it pop up like how the help icon works?

[somiaj]

On one of my ProblemSet page updates, I attempted to put the set description where @Alex-Jordan pointed out, but this was with a lot of other changes, and at the time @drgrice1 pointed out that it shouldn't be added there as part of that pull request. So I dropped it at that time, and didn't bring it up again. So I too thought it should be more visible.

That being said, the set description is passed to the set header as a variable, $setDescription, and I put the set description there in my set headers. Since not everyone uses the set description, it might be worth just better documenting it can be included as part of the set header if liked by just adding the $setDescription to the set header in the point they find best.

[drgrice1]

I also think the description would be good to show here. I don't remember the pull request where @somiaj added it, and I asked him to remove it. I probably just meant to do that in a separate pull request to separate it from other things don't in that pull request.

I don't want the set header shown in problems, but would be okay with it if it were configurable to have it shown or not. I don't need special instructions for students to work sets, and would rather have the real estate for the problem itself.

[Alex-Jordan]

Instead of being configurable, do you have an opinion on there being a button to reveal it? I lean toward revealing it with a dialog like when pushing the help buttons.

[drgrice1]

Instead of being configurable, do you have an opinion on there being a button to reveal it? I lean toward revealing it with a dialog like when pushing the help buttons.

Yeah, I would be fine with that.

[somiaj]

Yea, the comment was I was doing a lot of other changes and to not included the change with the current PR I was working on. Since then I just added the set description to my set headers, so my use case was satisfied, and didn't make another pull request.