Poll Improvements

1 Initial Problem

Poll is a great tool. However, it is sometimes a little tricky to use.

When using the poll, problems have been noticed in the creation of the poll, participation in poll and evaluation of the results.

These include:

• A poll can be 'online' without having a question.
• It is not possible to notice the 'offline' status from the Poll object.
• A value to "Maximum Number Of Answers per Participant" must always be entered, even if no limitation is intended. It is confusing in the creation process to first define the maximum number of answers per participant and then enter the possible answers.
• Participants do not see the limit of number of allowed answers while they are answering.
• The poll results are not accessible via the actions menu.

2 Conceptual Summary

The following changes are to be made in order to deal with the identified problems:

• Status "Online" should only be possible if a question exists.
• An additional byline "offline" (alert) is shown in the panel, if applied.
• Make "Limit Number of answers per Participant" not a mandatory field. A checkbox to decide about Limit "yes|no" (no=default) should be used.  Change the order of "Possible Answers" (First) and "Limit Number of answers per Participant" (Second). Changes on Wording and By-Lines.
• Participants should be able to see the limit already during the selection of options if the answers are limited.
• The action menu gets an entry "Results" next to "Settings" (This corresponds to the Tab Order in the Object.)

In addition, two adjustments are to be made to the presentation of informations:

• The display of "You have already voted." should be in a blue Info Message Box so that it is sufficiently noticed. (This case only occurs when no results are visible).
• The voting result should also be displayed as a integer in brackets next to percentages. » 75% (3) | 25% (1) 
• Optional:
  • Rename and replace Button in Toolbar to "Delete Votes of all Users" following test and survey.
  • Change Wording on Tab "Content" to "Question"

3 User Interface Modifications

3.1 List of Affected Views

• Poll in Secondary Panel in Container
• Content-Tab
• Results-Tab

3.2 User Interface Details

3.3 New User Interface Concepts

None.

3.4 Accessibility Implications

Relevant information for the use of the object becomes more visible (also for assisstive system)

4 Technical Information

-

5 Privacy Information

It has no impact on personal data and privacy.

6 Security Implications

We do not see any changes for special security issues.

7 Contact

• Author of the Request: Samoila, Oliver [oliver.samoila]
• Maintainer: Meyer, Stefan [smeyer]
• Implementation of the feature is done by: Schmitz, Tim [tschmitz]

8 Funding

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

• Hochschule Bremen

9 Discussion

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe], 06 JUL 2020 : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule the feature for ILIAS 7. We prefer to have a dedicated "Download Chart" button in the tool bar (instead of a shy button below the chart as shown on mockup).

JourFixe, ILIAS [jourfixe], 28 NOV 2022 : We highly appreciate this suggestion and schedule the feature for ILIAS 9. Please rename the action "Edit Content" to "Edit Question" to be conformant to the new tab title.

10 Implementation

Implemented as described above (including everything optional). Beyond that, what is shown in the poll block under which conditions was streamlined. The new behavior is as follows:

• When offline (or equivalently outside of the availability period), the block is only shown to users with write-access. The content shown in the block is not affected at all: it is still shown to users with write-access even if the poll is offline.
• Title and description of the poll, an anchor with its id, whether it is offline (or unavailable), and comments (if enabled) are always rendered in the block.
• When no question is set yet, a corresponding message is shown in the block.
• When a question is set, but a limited voting period is set and has not started yet, a corresponding message is shown but the question is not.
• When a question is set, and there is either no limited voting period or it has started:  
  • Question text and image are always shown.  
  • When the user has not voted yet, and the voting period is not set or has not ended, they are shown the answer form and can vote. Alongside it, information is given about whether the user votes anonymously, how many answers they may give (if not unlimited or limited to 1), and when the voting period ends (if it is limited). For anonymous users, the answer form is shown but disabled.  
  • Results are shown in the form of a chart according to the settings: either always, never, directly after the user has voted, or after the voting period has ended. In the latter case, the results are always shown if no voting period is set. The results are never shown when nobody has cast a vote, regardless of the setting.  
  • When neither the results nor the answer form is shown, a message is shown informing the user either that they have already voted or that the voting period has passed. If the results are set to appear after the end of the voting period, that date is also given.
  • Information about how many participants have cast a vote is shown when the results should be shown according to the settings, regardless of whether anybody has voted or not.

Further, users can now subscribe and unsubscribe to a poll's notifications when they have read access and it is online and within its availability period.

Test Cases

Test cases completed at {date} by {user}

• 506 : Add a poll
• 287 : Enter question and answers
• 288 : Add an image
• 289 : Delete image
• 290 : Add another answer
• 291 : Delete an answer
• 292 : Sort answers
• 295 : Change description

Approval

Approved at 02 FEB 2023 by Samoila, Oliver [oliver.samoila].