Adapt Learning Community: code development in the community

From time to time ideas for features and plug-ins are raised in the forum that are already on the roadmap or are acknowledged by core developers to be desirable. The core developers have proven themselves to be a very talented and dedicated group. But each has only two hands and 24 hours in the day. The question arises: how to expose the vision and expertise of the core developers in order to leverage the talents and energies of the wider community. In other words, how can developers in the community effectively contribute code to the framework that is in line with its fundamental vision?

Although documentation is slim (but growing!), a developer can readily produce components and other plug-ins. But if the developer is hungry to use Tin Can or variables or some feature of this significance, he or she has to either sit back and wait or invest much time working alone at a solution that, in the end, may conflict with the requirements of other modules on the roadmap.

Brainstorm: Is there value in gathering core developers and other interested parties (a) to identify desirable but not yet developed features/modules, and then for each (b) architect a development strategy at any level that seems appropriate—with the outcome to be made available to the community.

The outcome for each might be a statement that includes any number of things: preferred libraries, links to APIs, outlines of necessary steps in code development, traps to avoid, perhaps some pseudo-code. Maybe a repository can be established for each to serve as a base for development. It could include this output; maybe in some cases a js file with stubs might be provided.

This approach doesn’t have to be reserved for the big-ticket items. If a component is almost ready to be released but lacks a properties.schema or doesn’t have all the functions of question.view implemented or such, publicizing a to-do list might speed these along.

Are there other ways to jump start development in the community that is compatible with the vision of core developers?

It is an exciting time with framework v2.0 right around the corner. Quite a milestone. But at the edge of excitement is a tease of anticipation: I wonder what’s next?!

Hi Chuck,

I think the points you make are really valid and the suggestions sensible.

On a related note, i’ve an allocated task to publish the framework roadmap post the release of Version 2.0 but I think this would be very much the beginning of a process rather than a final list set in stone. This initial roadmap would be based on discussions with the collaborators, core team members as well as outstanding items from the prior roadmap. Once this has been pulled together I suggest we publish this as a straw man and then ask the community to help identity any gaps, as well as prioritise items or indeed if there is consensus remove them.

I think brainstorms are a great idea for both generating ideas but also for helping refine functionality -I know Oliver Foster is intending to do something along these lines with an item on Kineo’s roadmap around assessment functionality.

On that note, I imagine it would be helpful if Kineo shared what we’ll be working on and donating back to the community, post release of V2.0 so we can avoid duplication of effort on roadmaps. Of course Kineo aren’t the only companies and individuals developing functionality, so we can ask others to also share what they’re planning on creating/sharing back to the project to help establish a clearer picture of where we can work together to define/design/develop and ultimately use in our Adapt courses.

Thanks,

Paul

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Hi Paul,

I think your proposal for all developers to join up, brainstorm and document roadmap(s) is a great one!

I recently downloaded Sven's pdf of the Adapt Builder Tool (front end development tool for non-techies) roadmap and spotted something that had been slated for v0.1 that I don't think (based on my experience of trying) has been implemented yet regarding being able to publish e-learning modules without score tracking so they can be hosted on a website rather than a VLE / LMS such as Moodle (see attached screenprint). I think it would be really useful for the end user community to have something / somewhere to be able to view what's in the pipeline and its current status.

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Hi Tracy,

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I've published a course from the Authoring Tool and uploaded it to a standard (in my case based on Wordpress) website.

From memory I just clicked publish and got a zip file of my course.

I then unzipped it and ftp'd the whole folder onto my hosted server.

I can now access it by visiting the folder I created in any browser.

If that's not what you're planning on doing, or if you need more pointers start a new thread and I'll try and help.

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