In Scope

Out of Scope

Ability for learners to sync educational schedules with personal external calendars.

Interactive Calendar Layouts: Proposals for daily, weekly, or monthly interactive calendar views within the app are considered future enhancements and are not part of the initial development phase.

Implementation of app-level settings enabling users to control calendar synchronization preferences, course deadline visibility, and ability to automate removal of past courses from the calendar view.

Ability to view and manage course-specific deadlines and events, including the option to enable or disable calendar syncing for individual courses, providing a more granular level of control over calendar content.

App level dates view presenting users with all deadlines across all enrolled courses.

Ensuring that any changes made in the course schedules, user preferences, or app settings are immediately reflected in the user's personal calendar and the app's calendar page.

Feature

Requirements

App Level Date Settings View

The "App Level Dates Settings" is a centralized feature allowing users to manage various aspects of their dates / calendar experience within the learning platform. This includes syncing preferences with external calendars, visibility controls for course deadlines, and archival settings for course calendars post-completion.

Requirements

• Access Point: Users can access date settings from their account settings. This ensures easy navigation without cluttering the primary interface.

• Sync Preferences (Setting 1): Upon enabling calendar syncing, users should be prompted to select their sync destination (e.g., Google Calendar, Apple iCloud) and name their calendar for easy identification. This setting is crucial for personal organization and cross-platform consistency.

• Preemptive Calendar Cleaning Setting (Setting 2) (Updated for proactive action): Within the settings, users encounter a toggle or checkbox labeled "Automatically remove course calendar upon completion." When this option is enabled, the system will automatically remove a course's calendar data from both the app-level calendar and any synced external calendar once the course is marked as completed. This automatic action is based on the user's preference set in advance, streamlining the management of course-related calendar entries and keeping the calendar updated with current and future courses.

Experience Suggestions / Notes

• Intuitive Controls: The calendar settings should be designed with clear, easy-to-understand toggles or checkboxes. Tooltips or help icons can provide users with instant information on what each setting does, enhancing the user experience.

• Visual Indicators for Sync Status: If a calendar is successfully synced with an external system, display a visual indicator (like a checkmark or sync icon) next to the calendar's name. This feature reassures users that the sync is active.

• Prompt for Archival Action: Use non-intrusive yet noticeable prompts (like notifications or pop-ups) when asking users to decide on archiving or cleaning calendar data post-course completion.

Calendar Syncing

This control is accessible from the date settings page, and initiates the workflow for students syncing course / learning product level dates into a calendar of their choosing. Current focus is on adding events to a new calendar that can be renamed in either an iCloud / Google / OS level account.

• Authentication Prompt: Selecting the sync option triggers an authentication process to ensure secure data handling. Users confirm their identities through a secure login or biometric verification, depending on their device capabilities.

• Destination Selection: Destination Selection: Users are then asked to choose where they want their new calendar integrated. Operating system linked accounts (focus on iCloud + Google to start) should be selectable, and a new calendar will be created within this account initially named: “{Learning-Site-Name} Dates”

• Calendar Naming and Setup: After successful authentication, users are redirected to their native mobile calendar app. Here, they can choose to add the educational events to an existing calendar or create a new one specifically for these events.

• Note - ability to sync events into an existing calendar is likely too complex to justify presenting as an option for learners. Keeping as a reference here for now.

Automatic Sync for New Courses

After the initial sync setup, the system automatically recognizes the user's sync preferences for future course enrollments. This means:

• When users enroll in new courses, the system automatically triggers a sync for these new course calendars with the user's personal calendar, based on their established preferences. There's no need for users to revisit the sync settings or re-initiate the sync process manually for each new course.

• The 'sync' toggle in the settings doesn't reset to the 'off' position after the initial setup. Instead, it remains 'on,' indicating that the automatic sync feature is active. Users can choose to turn off automatic syncing at any time if they prefer to sync manually in the future.

A setting should be added to app level settings for Automatic Date Syncing that is default on but can be turned off, keeping new enrollments not syncing their dates unless they are added manually from app level settings or the course level dates tab.

Calendar Sync Toggling

If a user decides to toggle the app level calendar sync off, this action temporarily halts the automatic synchronization of course calendars with their personal calendar. Events and deadlines from courses enrolled during this period will not be synced to the user's personal calendar until they re- enable the feature. When the user toggles the sync back on, the system behaves as follows:

• Re-initiation Prompt: The system recognizes that sync was previously set up and prompts the user with a message like, "Would you like to continue syncing with [Previous Calendar], or set up sync with a new calendar?"

• Continuing with Previous Sync: If the user opts to continue with the existing setup, the system reactivates the sync without repeating the initial setup process. It automatically syncs the calendars for any courses enrolled while the feature was off, using the user's established preferences.

• Setting Up New Sync: If the user wants to sync with a different calendar, the system initiates the setup process as if it were the first sync. Here, the user will go through the steps of selecting an existing calendar or creating a new calendar for sync.

• Duplication Warning: In the case of setting up a new sync, the system warns about potential event duplication, as events from courses during the 'off' period might now be added to a different calendar. The warning could be, "Syncing with a different calendar may lead to duplicate events across multiple calendars. Do you want to continue?"

• User Decision: The user has the option to acknowledge the duplication risk and proceed or to cancel and stick with the previous sync settings. If they proceed, they complete the new sync setup, and the system begins syncing with the newly selected calendar.

Course Date Exclusions

From the app level settings, it should be possible to see a list of courses with their dates syncing to the calendar, and a way for learners to uncheck active courses from being included.

Options to only sync dates from active / upcoming courses should be considered as a way to help limit dates being shown from inactive courses that learners no longer care about. TBD on exact settings / options - to be explored.

App Level Dates Page

The "App-Level Dates Page" feature consolidates all user course deadlines, schedules, and activities in one central hub within the app. This comprehensive view ensures users can quickly review all course level dates (excluding any courses excluded from calendar syncing).

Dates is to be added as a dedicated tab in the main navigation menu of the application.

• Comprehensive List View: Upon accessing the page, users see a chronological list of all upcoming deadlines and activities from their enrolled courses, each tagged with the course identifier and status.

  • UX Suggestion: Implement a smooth scrolling feature, with a clear visual hierarchy (e.g., bolder text for closer deadlines; grayed out/crossed out for passed deadlines) that guides users' eyes naturally through their schedule.

• Hyperlinked Course Items: Each listed item is clickable and redirects users to the specific course content or assignment page, streamlining the navigation process.

• Course Visibility Customization (MVP Feature): Users can “filter” (not deleting) which courses they see on their calendar, avoiding clutter from courses that are less relevant or already completed (users can choose to turn on “deleting the finished courses calendars”/Feature 1 in settings as well) .

  • UX Suggestion: Provide a clear filtering interface, such as dropdown menus or toggle switches, that respond immediately to user input, reinforcing a sense of control.

App Level Dates- Calendar View

(Option to explore) - Calendar View (Interactive): Explore the possibility of a more interactive calendar layout, where users can view their schedule in a daily, weekly, or monthly format, with easy navigation between these views.

Course Level Dates Page

The "Course-Level Calendar Page" serves as a dedicated hub within each course, displaying all relevant deadlines and activities for that specific course. This feature enhances user focus and management of individual course schedules, with the added functionality of custom sync settings to personalize calendar integration further.

• Access Point: Users access the Course-Level Calendar Page via a visible 'Dates' tab or icon within the course's main page, ensuring immediate navigation from the course content.

• List View of Deadlines: Upon entry, users are presented with a chronological list of deadlines specific to the current course. Each deadline is hyperlinked, allowing users to click and be redirected to the corresponding course content or assignment page for immediate access and action.

• Sync Toggle at Course Level: Unique to the Course-Level Calendar Page is the ability for users to control calendar sync settings for that particular course. A toggle is provided to enable or disable syncing for the course's calendar with their external personal calendar.

  • If the learner has never synced course dates before, they are asked whether they would like to sync dates for all courses or only this specific course. The resulting choice should slightly update the rest of the syncing workflow to either repflect that only this course’s dates are being synced, but to inform learners about options for broader account level syncing.

  • (Option) Only have this message / feature reflect app level syncing on first sync, even if initated from the course level screen. This would mean discovery fo rthis feature would come from either date settings in account settings, app level dates page, or cours elevel dates page.

• Real-Time Sync Status: The page should also display the current sync status, informing users whether the course calendar is being synced with their external calendar. If the user has toggled off syncing, a visual indicator should make it clear that this course's deadlines are not being shared with any external calendar.

Adjust Deadlines (Course Level)

A workflow should exist for updating the dates of a course when they are in the past, allowing learners to Shift Dates from the course home page + course dates tabs.

Adjust Deadlines (App Level)

Explore this shift dates messaging also being bubbled up to the app level dates page if any courses have had their deadlines pass.