Playlists

[mikedawson]

Jenkins Status

As a teacher I want to be able to re-use template assignment schemes of works playlists so that I can easily find appropriate assignments

Prototype draft

User flows:

• Teacher or admin can create a new playlist or edit an existing playlist
• Any user can get a link for a playlist
• Teacher or admin can add a playlist from a link
• Teacher or admin can add/remove/reorder sections to playlist
• Teacher or admin can add/remove/reorder items in a section (can add lessons or link to another playlist)

Behaviour notes:

• When in pick mode Single tap selects, long press triggers multi-select mode
• Playlist sharing options are:
  • Who can view: Anyone with the link, anyone in my school, teachers and admins in my school, admins in my school
  • Who can edit: Teachers and admins in my school, admins in my school
• Assignment list screen: for students, the score displayed is the average of completed activities that have a score
• When moving items between sections in edit playlist:
  • The user can only move items from one section to another section if the type matches (eg playlist items to other playlist sections, learning items to other learning item sections)
  • The move popup will only display if there is another suitable section to move an item to
  • The dialog showing sections to move an item to will only show suitable sections, and will not the section the item is already in.
  • If a user clicks the assign button at the top of the playlist (quick action button) then the new assignment should be pre-populated with all learning items, not any playlists. Playlists on their own cannot be assignment tasks.
  • The assign button should only be visible if there are assignable learning items (items, not playlists).
• Playlist filter chips: My playlists - those the user
• Playlist edit: reordering : sections can be reordered as a whole section. When moving the section, all its items move with it. Items within a section can be reordered within the section. They cannot be dragged/dropped to other sections.
• Playlist detail: the assign button should be visible when there are learning items or learning item sections (publications in the OpdsFeed).

Implementation notes:

• Start from the branch dev-playlist-datastore
• The playlist edit, detail, etc must use the OpdsFeed model class directly.
• My playlists: should be those playlists that are created by the user. The OpdsFeed/OpdsFeedMetadata class has an author field.
• The owner of the Playlist (OpdsFeed) should be identified using a link relationship e.g.

{
metadata: ..
links: [
 {
   rel: "https://respect.ustadmobile.com/ns/owner",
   href: "https://school.example.org/user/username"
 }
]
}

• Same approach should be taken for the list of grades and subjects. @mikedawson to specify.
• A playlist section is based on an OpdsFeed group (links to other playlists are a navigation section, links to learning items directly is a publication section). See Example 2 in OPDS group spec
• The Playlist screen (e.g. "English week 1" as per prototype) should be based on the current LearningUnitList screen.
• All screen and viewmodel names should be using the word Playlist e.g. PlaylistDetail PlaylistEdit. The data model will continue to use the terms from the Opds specification.
• The PlaylistEdit screen UiState must have the OpdsFeed object on it's on UiState. Previous data models (previously called curriculum mapping ) should be removed.
• PlaylistEdit: Must use nested reordering e.g. One Reorderable list (top layer) for the sections. Each section has its own reorderable.
• Share playlist: the link to share should be using the existing respect_link format (as done with invites). The HTML that comes back from this link should include a link tag that goes to the actual OPDS (@mikedawson to add further docs).

[ctsutherland]

This Prototype draft was much harder to navigate than the others, so I hope I got all of the pages!

Home Playlists page -
I really like the Playlists page overall - it’s clean and easy to understand. I don’t think the tiles to the left of each playlist are necessary, though, and they may actually add a bit of visual confusion since it’s not clear what they represent. Just clickable playlist titles would be sufficient for teachers.
I love the "4 sections," "6 sections" metadata as a way to show the size of each playlist. But I do think it would be clearer if this said “lessons” instead of “sections,” since we don’t refer to “sections” anywhere else in the app.

Playlist Edit page -
This page overall looks good and I really like the day-by-day sequencing and the ability to add and reorder lessons. I do have some questions about the repeated “book” references on this page (Add book cover, Book description). I’m assuming this is because many African curricula are still very textbook-based, but since these are really playlists made up of digital lessons from different apps, I think we should keep the “book” terminology to a minimum and use something like “playlist” or “unit” instead. Maybe we can keep “chapter” for mapping for now, but even that would eventually need to change if we move to mapping to standards rather than a textbook.
Small tweak - the tiles next to these lessons should be the app tiles, so it's easy to see where they came from, and the description under the lesson name should be the lesson metadata (subject, activity type, etc.)

English - week 1 page -
This page is really good. Again, I would just take the ABC tile out, even as a placeholder. I don't think the playlists really need an icon or tile. The description is sufficient and I'm not sure what the icon would be for a playlist consisting of lessons from many different apps.
We should again add Activity Type to the individual lesson metadata. Especially important for a playlist, as you want variety in lesson type. And, like above, tiles to the left of each lesson should be the app tile, so the teacher can easily see which apps are included in the playlist.
There also seem to be two versions of this page - one with "Select Full Playlist" at the bottom, and one with "Edit" at the bottom right. I prefer the “Edit” version, as “Select Full Playlist” is a bit confusing since it isn’t clear how a partial playlist would be selected. Or, ideally, they would be one page, with "Assign Full Playlist" and "Edit Playlist" options.

Assignment Edit page -
Some small tweaks - We should add "Title" and "Description" to the first and third fields, similar to how it says "Assign to" for the second field. Lessons still need more metadata (grade, activity type, etc.).
The time field is still confusing. Is this a due date? A time created? I think a single "due date" field would be clearer. I also think it is crucial that we add a "Student Instructions" field.
I think there is an option to delete lessons, but it's unclear if the icon is a little trash can, or something else. On other pages an "x" seems to be used as the icon to remove a lesson or task. We should keep that uniform across pages.
A bigger issue - it’s very confusing that there is also an “Edit Assignment” page that is nearly identical to this one, but not exactly the same. Can we merge these into one? I notice that this one has +Lesson/assessment and the other one has +Task. We should pick one and go with it. Or maybe have two options on the page, +Lesson/Assessment and +Playlist. Just remove the +Task terminology altogether since it isn't used anywhere else, and isn't really an education term.

Add page -
This looks exactly the same as the Home page, but without the +Playlist button, which is confusing. Can we more clearly differentiate between this and the Home page? Maybe just add a clear "Add tasks to (assignment name)" title, and add a "back to assignment" button?
I think I understand the logic - when you click “+ Task,” you’re taken to the Apps/Playlists view so you can choose what to add. I can see how making it look like the Home page might feel familiar to teachers.
That said, I still find it confusing as a user, because it’s not clear that I am now in a “select tasks to add to this assignment” step. It feels like I’ve been taken back to Home without any explanation. For a teacher in a pilot, I think that could be disorienting.

[mikedawson]

@ctsutherland please see changes in the prototype link

[mikedawson]

@lipsa-b first action item: update existing 'mapping' editor to enable reordering both sections AND items.

[lipsa-b]

Screencast.from.2025-12-15.10-57-27.webm

[poojaustad]

Hi @akshattak, the design seems incorrect here. When clicking “Add New” on the playlist, it should navigate to the Add playlist screen, not the Edit playlist screen, right?

[poojaustad]

I can see an icon to add an image to the playlist in the design. Are you working on this, @lipsa-b? If not, we should hide it in the design.

[lipsa-b]

Screencast.from.2025-12-18.14-10-03.webm