8.2 Upgrade Notes

ICON Beta URL

The ICON beta system is available at http://iconbeta8.iowa.uiowa.edu

Assessment Schedule 

The schedule is attached as an HTML document. Team leaders, please edit this document to reflect who has been assigned to testing which tool(s).

Teams

Administration Team

Members Notes
  • Aprille
  • Annette
  • Angie
  • Virginia
Sanity test
Task
Results
Bugs
Aprille DOME tests:
Create new org unit
Move/reparent existing org units
Copy org units
Change form elements
Seems identical to 8.1
 None noticed
Angie Create new role
Edit/copy existing role
Try import/export via .csv
Delete role

   
Aprille Enroll cascading role user at various nodes
Test how reparenting affects enrollment

Same as 8.1, mostly.  Large improvement in that rights/
roles can be managed via CSV.  This will reduce user
error considerably.
 Same bugs as 8.1--reparenting
an org unit doesn't re-install
admins, but this is not new.  Cascading roles seem the same. 
Annette/Virginia Create new course
Edit course info
Search for course and enter
Test whether course ID uniqueness is enforced
Test Edit Course interface from instructor perspective
Annette - This all looks good. The User Progress in Edit Course took awhile, but that might be the server. Also, I didn't test the ID uniqueness because I didn't know how. Otherwise, all other things worked fine. I did a search for Annette and it came up with three items, one of which was Annette Griffin's development course so I believe this works fine. Annette - Tested the ID Uniqueness and it doesn't work. I created two courses with the exact same offering code and it allowed me to do so.
Annette/Virgina
Search for users
Impersonate user
Edit user info
Send user password (non-HawkIDs only)
Annette - This all works fine. One annoying thing is when you go into Edit Course, there is no nav bar showing by default so how do you get back to your course home and not My Home? I tested the creating non-HawkID users and the email function worked. I searched and all seemed to work fine. I also impersonated user and from what I can tell, it looks good. Annette - No Course Home NavBar to get out of Edit Course.

Content/Communication/LOR Team

Members Notes
  • Mandy
  • Sarah
  • Shami
  • Angie


Tester Task Results Observations
Mandy Content/Manage Content, Manage Files, and Content Display Settings 
  • Upload one file to Manage Files.
    Upload multiple files to Manage Files (different file types).
  • Bulk create topics from file manager.
  • Create new module.
  • Create new topic from course file, with HTML, and by uploading a file.
  • Move topic from one module to another.
  • Change Content Display settings to get rid of sidebar and to display horizontally.
 Seemed to work fine with a newly created course.  I tried uploading Word docs and .pdfs, along with some Quicktime movies.  However, when I used one of my existing test courses, I got 500 errors like crazy when creating a new topic.  Jack said this would happen but I should double-check why and whether this is OK.

When I tried to view bookmarks, the window came up but just hung a couple of times (I can't identify a pattern). 		A couple of minor irritations.  One is that there's no way to get directly from Manage Content to Manage Files.  Currently there's a "Manage Files" link in Content.  Now I have to go through Edit Course. 
When I was trying to create a topic from an existing course file, I noticed that I now had to select a radio button next to the file in the Manage Files window.  Currently, you click on the file name.  Now when I click on the file name it opens the file, which is confusing. 
Also, when moving topics around within a module there's a confusing drop-down list for re-ordering the topics.  I guess this is an improvement on the clicking repeatedly to move a topic up or down?
Mandy E-mail 
  • Compose and send an e-mail to one person.
  • Compose and send an e-mail to multiple people.
  • Change settings to modify reply-to address.
  • Sort by section and group within Address Book.
 I composed and sent an e-mail to myself on Monday afternoon and did not get it; however, I got it the second time I sent the message.  Others seem to have gotten a test message I sent to my 'class'. 
I cannot use my university e-mail address as the reply-to address in the Settings.  I STILL get an error that "this is not a valid e-mail address".  It does seem that I can now leave the field blank without getting an error.

BOO!  I still cannot sort by groups and sections in the address book.  I had previously thought those options were unavailable, but when I enable the Course Address Book, the groups appear.  I try to sort by group and get that same timeout error that currently exists!   		It does seem like instructors can e-mail groups through the Groups tool (in Manage Courses).  Just as in 8.1, there appears to be no way for instructors to e-mail their sections.  Overall, the functionality of this tool seems the same.  And I don't mean that in a good way.
Mandy Links
  • Create a link category.
  • Add a link.
  • Preview a linked page.
  • View links as a student.
  • Edit a link description using the HTML editor.
 Didn't notice any bugs here. Functionality is basically the same but the interface looks more elegant. One nice thing is the ability to preview a linked page while editing the link.
Mandy Course Homepages
  • Create a new homepage and enable it.
  • Create a widget and add to home page.
  • Modify a home page.
  • Create a new nav bar.
  • Modify existing nav bars.
I could not get the "Edit Course" link to appear in the nav bar I created, even though it looks like it is there when I edit the nav bar.  I also couldn't get tool names to show up after I changed them.  Same thing--I see the change in the list of Active links when I'm editing the nav bar, but I can't seem to apply them.  In both cases, I saved the changes and then when I navigated away from the edit screens, I got an error message saying that 'another user changed the tool at the same time as you so you'll have to make your changes again'.  I went back to the Course Home page.  Now, every time I click the little pencil to edit the top portion of the screen, I get that same stinking error message!  After I impersonated a student I noticed that the changes were implemented but this was by no means immediate or logical.   
Mandy Personal Homepages
  • Create a new homepage from My Home.
  • View another user's homepage.
  • Modify a homepage.
I don't see a way to insert a picture in the HTML editor, and I can't seem to copy and paste a picture from elsewhere.  The HTML editor has an "Insert Picture" option when I'm creating a homepage in 8.1.  I created a home page and could view it when I impersonated the user, but when I tried to view the page myself I got a 500 error.  I am not sure whether this would be expected on the test server or whether this is truly a bug.
When I impersonate a second user and go to "My Home" to create a new homepage, I see the previous user's home page. 		 
Mandy Chat
  • Create a General Chat
  • Enter a chat and type some text.
  • Change 'Chat identity' (i.e. colour of my text).
  • Print a chat.
  • Create a Personal Chat and invite participants.
 This seemed to work fine.  I went back to see if my chat had archived (Nov. 2), and couldn't get into the Chat tool.  I got a 500 error the first time I clicked "Chat".  Eventually, it opened but I couldn't see any chat archives.    It doesn't seem to do that seizure-inducing refresh every 5 seconds like before, which is nice.
When I create a Personal Chat and click "Add", the window that appears ("Add Chat Participants") doesn't size properly.  It's not large enough to show all the text.  There are also some HTML tags in the text.
Mandy Discussions
  • Create a forum.
  • Create a topic.
  • Post a discussion message.
  • Post an anonymous discussion message.
  • Use the search feature to find a particular message.
  • Change display settings.
  • Place release conditions on a topic.
  • Associate a discussion topic with a grade item. 

I got a 500 error when I clicked "Assess topic".  Every time!  It's associated with a gradebook item but I can't grade it!  BOO! 
Also, I removed group restrictions from a topic by clicking the little trash can.  However, it is still restricting the topic to one group.  There's a little "restrict" check box that doesn't get 'unchecked' by clicking the trash can.  So it says "Restrict to the following groups".  Then you select the groups.  Clicking the trash can removes the groups but not the restriction.  Is this a bug or is it just confusing?  I'm not sure.   		A couple of new things:  Messages can be rated.  I'm not sure how this works, honestly--it looks like only instructors can do this. 
Also, you can set up a forum so that messages have to be approved before they are posted.  You can also 'lock' a forum for a specified time.  I don't know how this is different from setting the availability. 
Also, you can view topic statistics, which will show you who has posted to each topic and how many times.
Sarah LOR
  • Publish a topic, module, and file to the LOR
  • Search for and preview all three in the LOR
  • Link and view all three on a content page
  • Retrieve and view all three on a content page
  • Hide/unhide an object and test searching
  • Move an object between LORs
  • Delete an object from the LOR
  • Special: test UIHC's widget and quiz link structures
  • Advanced: test the search function (see the documentation)
  • Advanced: test the acceptable file types (see the documentation)
  • Publishing OK.
  • Search and preview OK. (I couldn't replicate the bug Sam found and noted in the content area link above.)
  • Link and retrieve and viewing results OK.
  • Hide OK.
  • Move object OK, although there's a bit of lag before an object is actually moved, even though its details say it has been moved.
  • Delete OK.
  • LOR access problems:

    • The LOR link in the Manage Files area requires that pop-up windows be enabled for the site.

The navigation of modules when previewing them in the LOR is much improved. UIHC will like it.

  This version brings significant change in LOR interface, as it does for some other tools. In general, LOR processes have improved feel and flow. It's still no good for collection management, but it does convenient things like remembering your last search so you can more rapidly work with multiple objects. Another big change is that the functionality is focused to each area. What you can do with objects you access in the LOR through the content page is different than what you can do with them from file management - this is a simplification from before, and does make sense, I think. This has enabled them to simplify their documentation. The process of working with the objects is different, too, requiring documentation change.

  Sometimes the wiki forgets who I am and loses my informative and fluent text!

  The new remembering of your latest search also makes updating the search results a little harder. This may frustrate you if you are trying to test the LOR. A role switch seems to update the search results after you've deleted, moved, or hidden objects, even though it still remembers your search.

Note also that D2L's LOR documentation has incorrect stuff in it. 

D2L's sanity doc suggests that we also test, "Click the 'Upload to LOR' link from My AdminTools as admin," but we don't use this function, so I didn't do it. Otherwise, all of D2L's sanity checks are covered by and expanded upon by the list at left.

Basic testing  done. The special and advanced testing are time consuming tasks, and I haven't done them yet...

 Quizzes/Surveys/Grades/Self-Assessment Team

Members Notes
  • Tsvet
  • Sam
  • Miriam
  • Angie
Sanity test Task Results Bugs
Angie
  •  Create two grade items and use them to create a final grades formula.
 I created two grade items, which was an uneventful process once I remembered how to do it (this distribution of tasks in the new system still throws me). The formula gradebook has never been a friend of mine, but I was able to make it work correctly.
I tested using Firefox 2.0.0.8 and Mozilla, both in the Mac OS
Miriam
  •  Create a self-assessment with three questions and take it.
  • Create a survey with three commonly used questions and take it.
 These are both just fine.  
Sam
  •  Create a simple page in the HTML editor.  The page should have some text, links, and an image.
 Everything works fine.
No ability to edit an image's properties in IE 7 by right clicking on an image in the HTML editor. This was a handy feature of IE 6.0. 
Tsvet
  •  Create a quiz with three commonly used questions and take it as a student.
  • Create a rubric and use it.
  • I was able to successfully create a quiz with three questions and take it as a student.
  • I was able to create a competency, a learning objective, and an activity.  The manually grade activity worked well.  The automatically graded quiz activity did not work.  Perhaps, I can get it to work in the future. NOTE: the tool has about 84 pages of documentation.  Including the competency tool into our documenation will be a big effort.
Firefox on Mac OS X 10.4.10. 

When creating a MC question with four options and using randomization, D2L randomizes the instructor entry options upon exiting preview.


When creating a quiz, expanding the advance properties causes everything to shift to the far right and usually off the screen.  



When creating a competency, one is prompted to create a rubric.  A rubric cannot be created without specifying a rubric level.  Nothing on the screen indicates that.  There is no error message when saving the rubric without a level.


After using the Competency wizard to create a competency, the Competency list (in Standard view) displays competencies, activities, and learning objectives in alphabetical  order rather than the hierarchical order the wizard required. The software knows their hierarchical order, but is not displaying them that way.
The Advanced view offers them in a hierarchical order in the left frame. The page in the left frame, however, looks disconcertingly unfinished.
 
The Competencies area does not offer any of the interface orientation features as other tools.
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