Tools for the Medical School
The Pinkas
1. What is a Pinkas?
2. How is a Pinkas built up?
3. Roles and capabilities
The Mashov
1. What is a Mashov?
2. How is a Mashov built?
3. Roles and capabilities
Technical details
1. Settings
2. Template tags
Field-level tags
Entry-level tags
Database-level tags
3. Field configuration
4. The No templates (aka Legacy) templates
Add entry template
Single and List view templates
List view template
5. Field types
6. Additional types
7. Additional options
8. Options for sending automated reminders (available only in the Mashov)
9. Entry types
10. Moodle2 template tags
The Pinkas and Mashov projects
Under construction.. .
The Pinkas is a tool that is being developed for the Medical School to help students build a portfolio of their progress throught the clinical years.
The Mashov is a tool for students to provide feedback to their mentors.
They are, essentially, a group of Advanced features that were added to the Database activity.
The Pinkas includes various summaries for both students and those responsible for courses and clinical years.
(The summaries combine data across courses and instances of Moodle and - for those responsible - across students and mentors.)
The Pinkas
What is a Pinkas?
A Pinkas is a collection of Tasks undertaken by a student.
Each Task is of a particular Type - perhaps an admission to the ward, or a shift in A&E - and is part of a Database
A Task is supervised by one of the doctors that was present at the time that the student undertook it. These are the Mentors.
A Mentor is required to approve, and/or Rank, and/or provide other Feedback on the students's performance at the Task.
The student is considered to have met the requirements if, for each of the Types, he has at least the number of approved entries specified in the Settings.
(NY)His overall grade is the sum of the Grades for the entries. (If he has more than the required number of entries, only the highest grades are considered.)
How is a Pinkas built up?
A Pinkas spans all the clinical years.
Each clinical year is a collection of courses.
(For some students, a clinical year may span several Moodle years.)
Each course has one or more Database activities (aka Pinkasim) that is each a collection of Tasks filled by students.
A Task is a Database entry.
When creating an entry, the student is required to enter details (aka fields) relevant to that type of Task
An entry is targeted by the student to his Mentor for that particular Task.
He does this by selecting a Target user. (Target user is a type of field.)
The Mentor is mailed a link to the entry. (It is a one-time URL that gives him access to the Pinkas without the need to authenticate.)
He responds by adding various other details to the entry.
These are the Feedback fields and are editable only by the Target user
Rank is a type of field that can take a value from a pre-determined selection e.g. Poor, Satisfactory, Outstanding.
Grade is a type of field that takes a numeric value that is calculated automatically from all the Rank fields.
(Both Rank and Grade are always Feedback fields.)
Roles and capabilities
The following applies to the Pinkas. (Strictly, if setting Target users or Feedback is enabled and Skeleton entries is not enabled):
- Only a student can add entries. A student can view only his own entries.
An entry may have one or more Target user fields. Any of the fields can be Feedback fields. - A Mentor can view, approve, and edit only entries in which he is a Target user.
He can edit only Feedback fields. See below - A Facilitator can view, approve, and edit all fields of all entries.
(If he has the role at group level, he can do so only for entries submitted by students in groups for which he has the role.)
A Facilitator is any user with additional capability mod/data:managetargetusers (Supermentor, Coordinator...).
Note: Mentor and Supermentor are secondary roles. Automatic assignments are normally at group level. Manual assignments can only be at course level.
They are available only in the Dental and Medical Schools and in the Medical Sciences faculty.
The Mashov
What is a Mashov?
A Mashov is a collection of questionnaires and the students' responses to them.
The Mashov questionnaire differs from a regular questionnaire in that:
- Only a Teacher can create a questionnaire and only students can respond
Each questionnaire concerns a Mentor. Only the Mentor can view the responses.
(The Mentor must be able to authenticate in order to view the responses but need not have any other privileges in the course.) - The questionnaire is made available to the students by providing them with its URL
Automatic mail with the URL can be sent to all students, or all students in a specified group, with specified content and at a specified time - The Mashov can be configured for responses can be shown anonymously
How is a Mashov built?
The Mashov is a Database activity.
A questionnaire is a Database entry in which only the Skeleton fields are filled
Each questionnaire has a Target user field. This is the Mentor
The responses are copies of the Database entry in which the students fill the other fields
Some of the Skeleton fields may be hidden from the students. For example, those that set the content and dates of the automated mail
Roles and capabilities
The following applies to the Mashov. (Strictly, if setting Skeleton entries is enabled):
- Only a privileged user (Teacher, TA or Coordinator) has an option to create a new entry (aka a Skeleton entry)/
- He can edit only Skeleton fields
- Only Teachers can view the Skeleton entries
- Only students can respond. They can respond only if the Teacher provides them with the response URL. (The response URL is shown above the Skeleton entry)
- Students can edit only non-Skeleton fields
- Only the questionnaire's Mentor, and a user who has role of Supermentor at course level, can view the responses.
(If a Group is set, also a user who has the role of Supermentor in that group.) - A student can view only his own responses to the questionnaires
Technical details
HUJI Moodle provides additional features to the Database activity so that:
- It can work as a submission/response form with some fields editable by the student and others by the Mentor.
In the case of the Pinkas, the student submits to a Mentor and the Mentor responds.
In the case of the Mashov, the Teacher submits and all the students respond.
In both cases: The submission form includes only submission fields; The response form includes all fields but only the response field are editable - It is sufficiently configurable for the default templates work so well that changes to any of them are not normally required. See below
Also when No templates is enabled (as in Pinkasim created before March 2024, as well as databases of type General) and all the templates are reset.
Settings
HUJI Moodle provides many additional settings. When creating a new Database one must first select one of:
- Regular - No additional settings
- Pinkas - Many settings preset and not shown
- Mashov - As above
- General - All settings available
On the left is an indication that a setting is preset in the Pinkas or Mashov and therefore not shown.
| Pinkas | Mashov | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| ✓ | Allow more than one response | ||
| ✓ | ✓ | Hide in Moodle mobile | Should probably be enabled if any of the additional settings are enabled |
| ✓ | ✓ | No templates | When not enabled, many of the Advanced options will be unavailable.
Even if enabled, many options will be effective only after all the templates are reset. Note: This option is always enabled, and thus not shown, for databases of type Pinkas and Mashov created after March 2024. |
| Enable Run-in fields | If enabled, more than one field can be displayed per line in the List view/i> making for a more compact page | ||
| Show buttons | Show buttons e.g. Preview, Edit and Delete instead of the classic icons | ||
| ✓ | Show picture | Show the official picture of the student is shown in the mentor's view | |
| ✓ | ✓ | Enable Target users | If enabled, a field of type Target user is available. See below
In the case of the Pinkas, it is a student field and only the Target user can view the submission and respond In the case of the Mashov, it is a mentor field and only the Target user can view the students' responses (Supermentors can view and respond to all submissions.) |
| ✗ | ✓ | Enable Skeleton entries | Make it a Mashov
(A Skeleton entry is the reverse of a regular entry: First the Teacher fills the Skeleton fields and then students respond) |
| ✓ | ✓ | Enable Feedback | If enabled, a field is either a student field or a Teacher field (aka Feedback field in the Pinkas and Skeleton field in the Mashov) |
| ✗ | Enable Ranking | If enabled fields types Rank and Grade are available. See below.
If there are any Rank fields, and Auto approval is enabled, an entry is automatically approved if all are filled and non-zero. It is rejected (i.e. returned to the student) if any of the fields are zero. |
|
| ✗ | Enable approval | Entries can be approved or rejected.
If an entry is rejected, the student is automatically notified and can, if he wishes, edit and submit again. If an entry is approved and/or the mentor edits it, the student can optionally be notified. |
|
| ✗ | Enable Auto approval | If enabled:
|
|
| ✗ | Allow editing of approved entries | The entry is normally automatically unapproved. But see next option. | |
| ✗ | Disable automatic unapprove | Don't automatically unapprove an approved entry that the student edits | |
| ✗ | Enable Submission | If Submission is enabled, it can be either optional (i.e. a student can save without submitting) or forced (i.e. an entry is immediately submitted on saving).
Students can no longer edit entries that have been submitted. Mentors see only entries that have been submitted and, if notification is enabled, are notified only when the entry is submitted. Entries that have been saved but not submitted are highlighted in a different color to entries that have been submitted but not approved. |
|
| ✗ | Anonymous | Responses are anonymous | |
| Enable Entry types | See below |
Template tags
Standard Moodle provides only the {{fieldname}} and {{fieldcontent}} tags.
All other tags listed below were added at HUJI and are used by the No templates (aka Legacy) templates.
Field-level tags
| {{fieldname}} | Field name |
|---|---|
| {{fieldcontent}} | Field value or form input (in case of Add template) |
| HUJI Moodle adds the following tags: | |
| {{fielddescription}} | Field description |
| {{fieldnewtr}} | Start a new table row if not a run-in field. (See below) |
| {{fielddisplay}} | none if field should not be displayed. (See below) |
| {{fieldrequired}} | visible or hidden depending on whether the field is required in the current context |
| In addition, it adds classname feedback to the field name in the case of a feedback field | |
Entry-level tags
| [[author#display]],[[author#nodisplay]] | Replace with none if user is author, Replace with none if user is not author |
|---|---|
| ##prefill## | If a Mashov, replace with skeleton URL |
| ##officialpicture## | Replacw with official HUJI user picture |
| ##type## | Replace with the type of this entry |
| ##submittalstatus## | Replace with Submitted, Not submitted or Rejected |
| ##submittalstatusclass | Replace with .legacytemplate-single.notsubmitted or .legacytemplate-listentry.notsubmitted |
Database-level tags
| {{types}} | Entry types are enabled |
|---|---|
| {{runin}} | Run-in fields are enabled |
| {{he}} | Hebrew mode |
Field configuration
The following features are supported by the No templates (aka Legacy) templates.
In addition to the usual options, a field can be:
- Used only in entries of specific types
- Marked as a Feedback/Skeleton field. See above.
- Hidden from students
- Not shown in the List view
- Run-in: i.e. not start a new line in the List view
In addition, the fields can reordered (also in the Fields tab).
Note: The option to reorder is available only if none of the templates have been changed. It does not affect templates that have been changed
The No templates (aka Legacy) templates
Add entry template
- Student view: All non-hidden, non-empty fields are shown but one can edit only non-Feedback/non-Skeleton entries.
Mentor view: Pinkas: All fields are shown but one can edit only Feedback fields
Mashov: Mentors cannot edit entries. - If a field is editable:
- The indication that it is required is shown
- The Field description, if any, is shown
- The names of Feedback/Skeleton fields are shown in a different color to other fields
- In the student view, Author name and picture are not shown
- The Approval is enabled, the approval status is shown
- Likewise, if Submission is enabled, the submission status is shown. (Of course, Mentors cannot see entries that have not been submitted.)
- If Compact is enabled, then entries are shown in table form, with field names only in the header row.
- Otherwise, if Run-in is not enabled, each entry is shown in table form, with name and value in separate columns.
- One can select entries by any combination of Entry type, Targetuser fields, student. Also Approval and Submission status where relevant
- One can choose to view only non-Feedback fields (or non-Skeleton fields in the case of the Mashov)
- In the Mashov, one can choose to view only Skeleton entries or only the responses to a particular skeleton entry
- After clicking on the view or edit icon of an entry, one can return to the same place in the page by clicking on link Back to list
Field types
HUJI Moodle provides many additional field types and additional options to existing field types.
Their availability depends on the Database type (Pinkas or Mashov) and settings
Additional types
| Target user | A menu (Dropdown, Autocompletion or Combobox (i.e autocomplete with option of free text)
Options can be: All users with particular roles and/or
Note: There can be more than one Target user field. If a Combobox is used (normally only in the Mashov), and the user exists in Maarachot Meida and does not have a role in the course, he is automatically assigned role of Mentor |
|---|---|
| Rank | A set of radiobuttons with each button optionally having an associated number e.g.
2 Outstanding, 1 Satisfactory, 0 Poor (The numbers are not shown in the templates.) If the value of any of the rank fields is zero, the entry is considered failed and is automatically rejected i.e. unsubmitted There can be more than one Rank field and each can be restricted to particular Entry types |
| Grade | Similar to the Numeric field type but there should normally be only one such field.
If a value is not entered, it shows the sum of the numeric values of the Rank fields of that entry. Note: If any of the Ranks for that entry are not set, or do not have a numeric value, the field remains empty. |
Additional options
| Date | Options to set also a time, to ensure that the field optional, and to make it non-editable |
|---|---|
| Radio | Option to display buttons horizontally |
| Text | Option for input box to be full width |
| Textarea | Option to choose choose between the default editor and a plain text editor. (The Atto editor freezes the screen on some iPhones.) |
| Dropdown list | Option to choose between Dropdown, Autocomplete and Combobox |
Options for sending automated reminders (available only in the Mashov)
| Date | If Mail students is checked, students who have not yet responded are sent a warning message at that date/time
If Respond by is checked, students must respond by that date/time (There can be any number of Date fields with Mail students checked but there should not be more than one with Respond by checked.) |
|---|---|
| Text | If Mail students is checked, this is used as the wording of the message. |
| Group | If Mail students is checked, only students in the selected groups are mailed |
Entry types
A set of Entry types can be configured. For each Type, the minimal number required for course completion can be specified.
If Entry types are configured, then:
- One must select a type before adding a new enty
- Any of the fields can be configured to be restricted to particular Types.
- The Type of entry is shown is shown in all views
Moodle2 template tags
The Moodle2 Pinkas supports quite different tags to Moodle4:
- A field that should not be shown to the user who created the entry should have style property @@author@@
- A Feedback field should have style property @@feedback@@
- A field that is to be used only in entries of Type xxx should have style property @@xxx@@.
- Likewise, a field that is used in only in entries of Type xxx and yyy should have style property @@xxx@yyy@@ and so on.
- A Feedback field that is to to be used only in entries of Type xxx should have style property @@feedback@xxx@@##.
- Likewise, a Feedback field that is used in only in entries of Type xxx and yyy should have style property @@feedback@xxx@yyy@@ and so on.
Note: There should not be more than one such string per line of template.
The following alternative syntax is also valid:
- A field that should not be shown to the user who created the entry should have style display:none;##display: author##
- A Feedback field should have style display:none;##display: feedback##
- A field that is to be used only in entries of Type xxx should have style display: none; ##display: xxx##.
- Likewise, a field that is used in only in entries of Type xxx and yyy should have style display: none; ##display: xxx## ##display: yyy## and so on.
- A Feedback field that is to to be used only in entries of Type xxx should have style ##display: none; ##display: feedback xxx##.
- Likewise, a Feedback field that is used in only in entries of Type xxx and yyy should have style display: none; ##display: feedback xxx## ##display: feedback yyy## and so on.
Templates imported from Moodle2 are automatically converted to Moodle4 format
The following tags are available in Moodle4 for templates imported from Moodle2. They should not otherwise be used:
- [[feedback#display]]
- [[xxx#display]] where xxx is an entry type