Introduction of bar charts

This subproject tackles problems laid out in the article presentation of competence results.

1 Initial Problem

The spiderweb displays values of competences on it's axes. However users tend to take in the size of the areas between the axes as meaningful, while they actually are arbitrary and fully dependant on the neigbourging competence.

Another problem is that spider webs combine competencies with different levels in one diagram. Since the levels are not displayed or mentioned, the interpretation of the diagram is very difficult. A comparability of competences with different levels is difficult anyway. 

Screenshot of Issue

2 Conceptual Summary

This suggestion displays a set of competences in tests, surveys or courses.

• The set of competences shows a record for one point in time: survey can only be taken once for tests it will always be the most recent test run. 
• The visualisation insinuates intervall scale because of equal distances between lines.

• If there is only one type of formation, there will be only one bar.
• Per competence there is a maximum of 3 types of formation plus 1 target level. 
• The bar charts for each competence are displayed one below the other.
• Competence titles are always displayed on the left side next to the corresponding bar chart.
• The levels (titles of the levels) are displayed below the grid on the "x-axis". The X-axis starts with level 0. If users have no competence entry, no bar is displayed.
• If a profile contains competences with different number of levels, the competences with the same number of levels are grouped. Several bar charts are displayed. The grouping is based on the sorting of the competencies in the corresponding profile. For Example:
  • 10 Understand and Use Mathematical Language (3 level) 1. DIAGRAM
  • 20 Calculating (3 level) - 1. DIAGRAM
  • 30 Communication (5 level) - 2. DIAGRAM
  • 40 Leadership (5 level) - 2. DIAGRAM
  • 50 Symbolic Computation (3 level) - 3. DIAGRAM
  • 60 Number Sense (3 level) - 3. DIAGRAM
• Competencies are grouped only if number and title of the competency levels are identical. If this is not the case, separate diagrams are displayed.
• Hovering over a bar chart, users are presented with information about the object that generated the competency entry.

3 User Interface Modifications

3.1 List of Affected Views

• Survey > Results > Competence Results
• Test > Results > Competence Results
• Courses and Groups > Competences > Show

3.2 User Interface Details

3.3 New User Interface Concepts

This project uses the KS Reporting Panel

4 Technical Information

{The maintainer has to provide necessary technical information, e.g. dependencies on other ILIAS components, necessary modifications in general services/architecture, potential security or performance issues.}

5 Privacy Information

{ Please list all personal data that will need to be stored or processed to implement this feature. For each date give a short explanation why it is necessary to use that date. }

6 Security Implications

{ Does the feature include any special security relevant changes, e.g. the introducion of new endpoints or other new possible attack vectors. If yes, please explain these implications and include a commitment to deliver a written security concept as part of the feature development. This concept will need an additional approvement by the JourFixe. }

7 Contact

• Author of the Request: Tödt, Alexandra [atoedt], Samoila, Oliver [oliver.samoila], Zenzen, Enrico [ezenzen]
• Maintainer: Famula, Thomas [tfamula]
• Implementation of the feature is done by: {The maintainer must add the name of the implementing developer.}

8 Funding

If you are interest in funding this feature, please add your name and institution to this list.

• Technische Hochschule OWL
• DHBW
• Universität Freiburg

9 Discussion

Killing, Alexander [alex], 20 Mar 2017: I am not convinced that the wheel will be a better solution than the spider web, which seems to be a common presentation for these types of data as far as I know. Are there any sources that back your opinion that "However humans tend to take in the size of the areas between the axes as meaningful"? The wheel implementation might be quite a complex coding task, since I am not aware of a library that fulfills these requirements.

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe], April 24, 2017: We prefer the 'bar chart' as the easier readable visual concept and prefer it to the 'wheel'. Alexandra will work out new mock-ups for a future JF, incl. a version based on the suggestion by Alexander below where the target level is presented as a horizontal line and not as a dedicated bar. The implementation of the bar chart is also easier with the currently used library while the implementation of the wheel might be more difficult.

Glaubitz, Marko [mglaubitz], 2019-02-12: We really like tihe idea of getting rid of the spider web diagrams. However, we suggest implementing the new bar charts for the competence overviews in course and groups as well as for the personal desktop.

There are some things that we would like to point out as something that still needs further discussion: the article says that only a maximum of "three types of formation" - which would that be?

Here is an example: a student has gathered a bunch of formation data for a competence in this order

• self-evaluation 1
• measurement 1
• self-evaluation 2
• appraisal data from a 360° survey
• measurement 2
• appraisal form a tutor (via a course)

1. What would be included in the bar chart? Would the first self-eval and the frist measurement be left out or would only the last three items be shown?
2. How will the temporal development or distance between the dates on which the data was gathered be visualised in the charts? The competence panel shows the dates but the bar chart does not do that in the current mockups.

Killing, Alexander [alex], 12 Feb 2019: @Marko: This proposal does not target the screen on the personal desktop. It only targets screens that show the results of one survey or one test. This is where the spider web currently occurs. So the time dimension does not play a role on these screens. If you need a solution for the PD screen that aggregates lots of measurments you need another chart. This would be a separate FR.

Glaubitz, Marko [mglaubitz], 2019-02-12: @Killing, Alexander [alex] Ok, but then the list of affected view is not up to date, because it lists "Personal Desktop > Competence Sets".
Anyway, the spider webs are also shown on the competence screens of courses and groups and I guess that it would be a good idea to get rid of them entirely throughout the system.

Do you think that including these screens would really be such a different story from what has already been concepted here in this article and that a separate FR is really necessary?

Kunkel, Matthias [mkunkel], 03 MAR 2021: Just two comments on the mock-ups and the use of colours:

1. Using black for indicating the target level doesn't seem to be the best choice for me. On the mock-ups above it looks to me as if the target level bar is more a border I shouldn't cross and not a desirable task I should reach. I would suggest a more friendly colour for the target level. How about the green used for secondary colour?
2. How about lighten the colour of those bars that haven't reached the target level, yet? This gives an additional visual information and helps to distinct between sufficient and insufficient competencies.

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe], 08 MAR 2021: We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule the feature for ILIAS 8. We prefer to have all charts with the same width, no matter how many level that have. This would improve their visualisation and show always the same width for 100%. Matthias' suggestions concerning the used colours need to be discussed separately as the colours in the mockup are the ones already used for the different types of measurements in the competence management. Changing colours would have a huge impact on the current implementation.
For those users who prefer to continue using the spider web in the competence management, a related plugin interface already exists that can be used, see here and here.

10 Implementation

Test Cases

Test cases completed at 2022-04-26 by Tödt, Alexandra [atoedt]

• 5475: Ansicht Kompetenz-Ergebnisse im Test (amended) 
• 1882 : Ergebnisse der Gap Analysis einsehen: Feedback aus 360°­Umfrage einsehen
• 49902 : Zugewiesene Kompetenzen im Reiter Kompetenzen im Kurs einsehen

Approval

Since the trunk is unstable due to the PHP 8 revision, the approval is done on release 7.

Approved at 2022-04-26 by Falkenstein, Rob [rob].