Zooming Image Tool
- Matthew Harrington
Feature Summary & Requirements
The Zooming Image Tool is designed to present a high-resolution image, and give learners the opportunity to zoom in for a closer look. This is particularly useful in STEM, especially subjects that concern microscope use, as this can somewhat replicate the experience of using a microscope to closely analyze a sample in image form.
The activity is inherently inaccessible, due to reliance on visuals, which can be a barrier to adoption for institutions with accessibility commitments, but it is of vital importance for distance learning of subjects where it is useful, such as geology and biology.
Prospective User Stories
The ideal version of this tool includes the following user stories:
As a learner, I would like to be able to zoom into a higher resolution version of the image than the one that is immediately displayed on loading the page.
As a learner, I would like on screen buttons to control the zooming and panning of the image, as well as keyboard controls to assist in navigating the zoomed image.
As a learner, I would like the large image to load in sections in order to avoid excessive use of mobile or metered connection data, rather than loading the entire image on page load.
As a learner, I would like to see a “minimap” of the image to indicate where exactly my current zoom is on the larger image.
As a learner on a touchscreen device, I would like the option of using standard mobile gestures to zoom and pan around images.
As a staff member, I would like to include optional indicators of where learners should zoom in.
As a staff member, I would like to provide learners with preset views of the image as buttons to help learners find examples and points of interest.
Comparable Tools
Moodle does not appear to have a comparable tool to this natively. That being said, it appears that on mobile, all images have a similar behaviour, in that they can be pinch-zoomed. I cannot find this documented anywhere, but it’s mentioned on this slide regarding Moodle Mobile from 2018:
Canvas also lacks similar functionality, despite this thread from educators requesting it
Open edX has its own competitor with a similar but not exactly the same use-case, the Image Modal XBlock, which supports opening the image in a full-screen modal which can then be zoomed and panned. It’s not ideal for the detailed image/microscope use case, and could use some work, but it’s better-implemented than the current zooming image tool.
The Open University host an OER project from many moons ago where they developed a Virtual Microscope tool, which is used for the same purpose as the Zooming Image tool in their courses. It allows users to zoom in on images, loading the image in segments at higher resolution using a similar method to Google Maps. Behind the scenes, their tool takes a high-resolution image and generates the sections automatically, meaning it took a relatively small amount of work on the configuration side to implement a new microscope image (speaking as someone who had to do that for a week many years ago).
Current State - Open edX
Currently, this tool requires importing a JavaScript file hosted by http://edX.org , and it is not truly implemented as a feature of the platform. The JavaScript file required is not included with the platform, and must be downloaded from files.edx.org (which is a potential security issue, we’re instructing non-technical staff to download JavaScript from a public URL). This is a significant issue, and honestly it’s surprising that this has never been implemented as an XBlock as it seems relatively simple to convert. My suspicion is that as the activity is inherently inaccessible, nobody has really bothered, which brings the perceived value of this tool into question.
It lacks a Studio UI, relying on staff to alter HTML and import the external JavaScript file into Files & Uploads (though my suspicion is that most people who are using it, if any, are almost certainly linking to its current location on files.edx.org rather than importing it), and the learner experience is generally as bare-bones as it could be.
I have been unable to get this tool to function correctly in testing, and suspect it is fundamentally incompatible with the learning MFE in its current state, rendering the tool non-functional.
This is one of those older tools where honestly it should either be cut or rebuilt properly depending on the perceived value, as the current implementation is not fit for purpose, as the existing implementation is a hack at best.
Current Gaps & Potential Improvements
If this has value, it should be implemented as an XBlock with a proper Studio UI. The current implementation via HTML and downloading a link to a JS file from http://edX.org is unsustainable at best.
This should be re-implemented as accessibly as possible if it’s worth having as a feature. While this activity is never going to be accessible to vision-impaired users, it is at least more than reasonable for this activity to be made keyboard-accessible,
A certified accessibility expert should be consulted to determine the most accessible version possible of this activity, and most importantly to provide a documented acceptable alternative in order to enable academic institutions to make use of this activity as frictionless as possible. It’s never going to be possible for this to be truly accessible, but when a recommended alternative is available, it makes it possible for staff to include it and create the alternative without requiring additional resources.