For choosing the scope of an activity when categorizing it (in order to make it public), I would like the option to choose something like “formative activity” or similar. I have activities that are focused on introducing a new topic, and they don’t really fit into the current categories of “widget”, “problem set”, “single question”. Alternatively, if this sort of thing is supposed to fit in the same scope as “problem set”, I think that could be more clear.
Ideally, I would also like “topic introduction” added as an option to mode, but maybe that would start getting out of hand with more options, and at least it’s a closer match to some of the current options.
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Interesting, what’s unclear to me right now is how “formative activity” fits into the current scope/mode split, since “formative” isn’t really about scope per se. Maybe we add “activity” under scope, but is that too broad and defeats the purpose of categorizing scope? Or maybe “problem set” turns into “problem set/activity”? What’s the word for something that isn’t a problem set but is still fairly substantial?
For “topic introduction”, I’m curious how people view this as different or the same as “preview”.
Isn’t this already covered in the “Mode” Classification of “Preview” ?
Edit: Oh. I just read the last line of Charles’ post. I clearly don’t see it as different, and think the “Mode” classification should be sufficient for this purpose.
I think “problem set/activity” would be fine for the scope, but there might be something more clear. “Long-form activity”? “Self-contained activity”?
I think probably “topic introduction” doesn’t get at what I want either; I’m thinking something that introduces and covers a topic enough that students are then ready to go into homework. To me, “preview” is just a taste of the topic - the intro before you get into enough to fully understand it. Maybe “formative activity” works for mode?
This is somewhat related, but maybe it’s useful to put the categories into a sentence? While trying to think about this more, I was getting pretty confused about what exactly “mode” is and why we have both “scope” and “duration”.
Here’s an example (and it doesn’t match exactly what we have on doenet.org, it’s just what seemed right in the sentence):
This is a [duration] activity that [goal] students through [mode]. It is meant to be done [setting].
which turns into
This is a 10-20 minute activity that introduces the topic to students through puzzles. It is meant to be done independently.
or
This is a 45 minute activity that provides practice for students through variations on one problem type. It is meant to be done collaboratively with peers.
