Add Class page

Discussions about the Lesson Schedules Tool
Locked
rgisraelsen
New Member
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2012 5:14 pm

Add Class page

#1

Post by rgisraelsen »

This page needs some work.

The "Beginning Date" doesn't have a pop-up calendar to select a date. It seems awkward to type in a number of classes. I can see the utility of that - there are lots of courses that are a set number of weeks. There should be an alternative to simply select an end date (think like Google calendar - you can "repeat" an event a specified number of times, or until a set end date).

Check which Sundays the class is offered: there should be an option for "all Sundays."

Manual and Lesson Material: there should be an "Other" where people can fill in their own content. I suggested this for the beta too, and supposedly it's improved since then. However, it looks like the "Other" category is only available for individual lessons. If a ward is having an entire course whose material is not out of one of the listed manuals, then it isn't clear what the scheduler should create for the course. For example, in my ward, every few months we offer a 6-week course from the BYU Personal Finance curriculum.

Auxiliary: The only option shown is the one for which I have admin privileges. This is awkward, because at first blush I thought that was the only auxiliary for whom the lesson scheduler is available. It should have all the possible auxiliaries, and just gray out the ones that I don't have admin rights to select.

Instructor: this isn't immediately clear that it will let/force me select someone from the ward directory.

Other features: There should be a way to select a class that has been taught before. For example, there could be a drop-down menu or some other way to select classes that have been offered in the past. The fields could auto-populate, making a quick way to recreate a past class. Or alternatively, make more complex repeat options (for example, if a 6-week course will be offered four times over the course of the year, you can select the start dates for each time. Or go into an existing class and create a new start date for the class to restart again.)

Classrooms: Have an option for putting in the room the class is held in.

Multiple classes: There should be a way to show if there are multiple instances of this class. For example, the instructor field could have an "add" button below to add a team teacher or simply a second instructor for a second room. This will meet the needs of those wards that, for example, have two or three Gospel Doctrine classes. Then the scheduler doesn't have to go into three separate courses to schedule out lessons - she can just go into the one course (which is taught by multiple instructors in multiple rooms each week) and schedule out the lesson once, and the person/place multiple times.
jdlessley
Community Moderators
Posts: 9860
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:30 am
Location: USA, TX

#2

Post by jdlessley »

rgisraelsen wrote:The "Beginning Date" doesn't have a pop-up calendar to select a date. It seems awkward to type in a number of classes. I can see the utility of that - there are lots of courses that are a set number of weeks. There should be an alternative to simply select an end date (think like Google calendar - you can "repeat" an event a specified number of times, or until a set end date).
Are you referring to an end date rather than a beginning date? When I select Class Duration of Other there is a beginning date text box with a calendar icon next to it. When either the text box is entered or the calendar icon is clicked a drop-down calendar is display to mouse-select a date.

From the rest of the information provided I am guessing that you really want to have either a number of classes or an end date as an option.
rgisraelsen wrote:Check which Sundays the class is offered: there should be an option for "all Sundays."
The default has all Sundays selected, which to me, is all Sundays. It may not be immediately clear but it only to me a brief moment to see that when all Sundays are checked that all Sundays are available. If there is any Sunday that will not be included it is simply unchecked.
rgisraelsen wrote:Auxiliary: The only option shown is the one for which I have admin privileges. This is awkward, because at first blush I thought that was the only auxiliary for whom the lesson scheduler is available. It should have all the possible auxiliaries, and just gray out the ones that I don't have admin rights to select.
I don't agree with this. All the possible auxiliaries are presented for an administrator. Organization leaders have limited administrator rights. With the rights an organization leader has I think the display of available organizations should be limited to what organization leaders have control over.

The lack of a term for rights for an organization leader can lead to some confusion since the current help documentation merely states that organization leaders have administrator rights to create classes for their organization. Either a person has administrator rights or they do not. The display of organizations outside the organization leader's organization would only add further confusion.
rgisraelsen wrote:Instructor: this isn't immediately clear that it will let/force me select someone from the ward directory.
A simple text help when the textbox is selected would be an improvement.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
rgisraelsen
New Member
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2012 5:14 pm

#3

Post by rgisraelsen »

jdlessley wrote:Are you referring to an end date rather than a beginning date? When I select Class Duration of Other there is a beginning date text box with a calendar icon next to it. When either the text box is entered or the calendar icon is clicked a drop-down calendar is display to mouse-select a date.

From the rest of the information provided I am guessing that you really want to have either a number of classes or an end date as an option.
Well there is currently only a Beginning date - which today has a calendar icon next to it. There wasn't one there when I wrote the post. But yes, I'd like to see either an end date or a number of classes as an option.
jdlessley wrote:The default has all Sundays selected, which to me, is all Sundays. It may not be immediately clear but it only to me a brief moment to see that when all Sundays are checked that all Sundays are available. If there is any Sunday that will not be included it is simply unchecked.
It's true that it is simply the act of checking a box. But it'd be nice if there was a box that selected/de-selected all the boxes.
jdlessley wrote: I don't agree with this. All the possible auxiliaries are presented for an administrator. Organization leaders have limited administrator rights. With the rights an organization leader has I think the display of available organizations should be limited to what organization leaders have control over.

The lack of a term for rights for an organization leader can lead to some confusion since the current help documentation merely states that organization leaders have administrator rights to create classes for their organization. Either a person has administrator rights or they do not. The display of organizations outside the organization leader's organization would only add further confusion.
It wouldn't be confusing to show that the other organizations exist, even if I don't have access to them. If you gray out (and make unselectable) the options that I don't have admin rights for, but still display them, that would make more sense. Otherwise the tool feels unfinished - like a beta. I could see that the tool is available for every organization, instead of just mine. Particularly since you are trying to get the product off the ground, you want people to talk about it. I'm not going to recommend the tool to my friend who is a leader in a different organization if I don't know that the tool can be used by him.
jdlessley wrote: A simple text help when the textbox is selected would be an improvement.
Or you could do a little question mark next to it that would pop-up an answer when clicked.
Locked

Return to “Lesson Schedules”