Communication

Artemis enables students, tutors, and instructors to actively participate with its communication capabilities. Various communication features allow students to engage with peers and ask all kinds of questions whereas moderators (e.g., instructors and tutors) can provide general course information and answer content-related questions. Communication can be made in different contexts, namely for lectures, exercises, or courses. Course participants can also message each other to communicate in private. Below, you can find more information on specific features and how to use them.

Enabling Communication

Artemis courses will by default enable all the communication features. In case you do not want to provide users with these features, you can disable them on course creation by unchecking the respective checkbox (Communication Enabled) - it can also be edited afterwards. Additionally, you can enable or disable group chats and direct messages by checking the (Direct Messages Enabled / Group Chats) checkbox.

Course-Wide Messages

Artemis automatically creates course-wide channels for course-wide topics, such as Organization or Tech Support, and various elements of a course, namely lectures, exercises, and exams. Messages can be written within these channels on the course messaging overview, which is shown in the screenshot below.

This video provides an overview of the course-wide channel types existing in a course:

Lecture Messages

Messages that are specifically related to a certain lecture.

These messages can also be created on the detail page of the lecture they belong to.

Exemplary lecture detail page with messages:

Exercise Messages

Messages that are specifically related to a certain exercise.

These messages can also be created on the detail page of the exercise they belong to.

Exemplary exercise detail page with messages:

Private Communication

Users of a course can communicate in private via the Messages page. (see image below) The page consists of a collapsible Conversation sidebar on the left, where users can search for other participants of the current course and start a conversation with them. Private communication is only available if the course instructor enables this feature.

If the recipient is browsing another conversation when they receive a new message, an icon with an unread-messages counter is displayed in their conversation sidebar, next to the affiliated conversation that the new message was sent to. This way, users become aware of the new message within that discussion.

The authorities of tutors and instructors are more restricted in the Messages Page compared to the Course Communication Overview. Messages of a conversation are exclusive to its participants and are only editable or deletable by their respective author.

Messages do not consist of titles. Users can continue a discussion around a specific message topic by clicking the messages’ “Reply in thread” button, which opens the Thread sidebar (see image below). The Thread sidebar is a collapsible sidebar located on the right-hand side of the Messages Page when displayed.

This video shows how link previews work in Artemis:

If the message content contains links, a preview of the link will be shown under the message. This way, users will have a good understanding of what that link is about. If they prefer not to have a preview, they can hover over the preview and click the appearing X button. The preview will be removed.

If the message contains more than one link, the preview will not have a preview image of the link to have more compact previews for multiple links.

Communication Features Availability

The following table represents the currently available communication features of Artemis on the different platforms. Note that not all features are available to every user, which is why Actor restrictions have been added. The following sections will explore this in more detail.

Status explained

AVAILABLE	This feature has been released to production.
UNAVAILABLE	This feature is currently not available and not planned yet.
PLANNED	This feature is planned and implemented within the next 2-4 months.
WIP	This feature is currently being worked on and will be released soon.
NOT PLANNED	This feature will not be implemented due to platform restrictions, or it does not make sense to implement it.

Available features on each platform

Feature	Actor Restrictions	Web App	iOS	Android
General
Send Messages		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Receive Messages		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Post Actions
React to Messages		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Reply in Thread		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Copy Text		NOT PLANNED	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Pin Messages	Groups: group creators Channels: moderators DM: members of DM	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Delete Message	Moderators and authors	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Edit Message	Authors only	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Save Message for later		AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	PLANNED
Forward Messages		WIP	UNAVAILABLE	PLANNED
Resolve Messages	At least tutor and authors	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Post action bar (thread view)		NOT PLANNED	AVAILABLE	WIP
Markdown Textfield Options
Tag other users		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Reference channels, lectures and exercises		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Tag FAQ		AVAILABLE	WIP	PLANNED
Basic formatting (underline, bold, italic)		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Strikethrough formatting		AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	PLANNED
Preview		AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Code Block and inline code formatting		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Reference formatting		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Link formatting		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	PLANNED
Messages
Profile pictures		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	WIP
Show if message was edited, resolved or pinned		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Render links to exercises, lectures, other chats, lecture-units, slides, lecture-attachment with correct icon		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	WIP
Render FAQ links		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	PLANNED
Mark unread messages		UNAVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE
Render images		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Render links to uploaded files		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Filter messages (unresolved, own, reacted)		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE
Sort messages (ascending, descending)		AVAILABLE	NOT PLANNED	UNAVAILABLE
Search for messages in chat		UNAVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Search for messages across all chats		AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE
Open Profile info by clicking profile picture		PLANNED	AVAILABLE	WIP
Start a conversation from Profile		WIP	AVAILABLE	PLANNED
Link/Attachment Handling
Open lecture, exercise, chat links correctly in the appropriate view		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Open sent images full-screen		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	PLANNED
Download sent images		AVAILABLE	PLANNED	UNAVAILABLE
View and download attachments		AVAILABLE	PLANNED	PLANNED
Conversation Management
Search for chats		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Filter chats (all, unread, favorites)		UNAVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	PLANNED
Mark unread chats		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Mute, hide, favorite chat		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Edit Chat information (name, topic, description)		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Archive Chat		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Delete Chat		AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	PLANNED
View Members		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Search Members		AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Filter Members (All Members, Instructors, Tutors, Students, Moderators)		AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE
Add Members to existing chat	Group: members of group Channel: at least instructor or moderator DM: not possible	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Filter Members while adding (Students, Tutors, Instructors)		AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Add whole groups (All Students, All Tutors, All Instructors)		AVAILABLE	PLANNED	UNAVAILABLE
Grant moderator roles in channels / revoke moderation roles	Moderators only	AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Create direct chat	Everyone	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Create channel (public/private, announcement/unrestricted)	At least teaching assistant	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Update channel information (name, topic, description)	Moderators	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Create group chat	Everyone	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Remove users from group chat	Members of group chat	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Browse channels		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Show info in chat overview (created by, created on)		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Leave chat	For groups only	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Delete channel	Creators with moderation rights and instructors	AVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE	UNAVAILABLE
Archive channel	Moderators	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE
Notifications
Notification overview for past notifications		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	PLANNED
Notification settings (unsubscribe/subscribe to various notification types)		AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE	AVAILABLE

Note

• Leave chat option is available on the web app for groups only, on iOS for groups and non course-wide channels, and on Android for channels, groups, and DMs.

• Creating a group chat on iOS and Android can be achieved via the ‘Create Chat’ option. It becomes a group when more than one user is added.

• Downloading sent images in the chat is only available through the browser option on the web app.

Features for Users

This section captures the most important features that are offered to any Artemis user.

Search, Filter, and Sort Messages

On the course communication overview, a user can query all existing messages according to the following criteria and their possible combinations:

• Text-based search

  • Contents of Announcement-Message Title

  • Contents of Message Context

• Message characteristics

  • Unresolved Messages

  • Own (messages current user has authored)

  • Reacted (messages current user has reacted or replied to)

• Sorting Configurations (ASC/DESC)

  • Creation Date

A simplified version of this feature is available on the exercise and lecture details page as well.

To search within a specific channel in the communications module, users can navigate to the desired channel and utilize the search bar located in that channel.

Verify User Authority

To build trust between users utilizing the system’s communication features, we prepend a role badge to the author’s name in the headers of messages and their replies. The badge we introduce differs according to the role of the author within the course and reveals their highest authoritative role. Via tooltips that are shown as users hover over these badges (see images below), the system displays a brief explanation of that specific role. This way, the system builds trust in the author, and readers can tangibly confirm the origin of the shared information.

Instructor Authority

Tutor Authority

Student Authority

React on Messages

To foster interaction between users, we integrate the well-known emoji reaction bar. Each user in the course can react on any message by making use of the emoji selection button. The ➕ emoji serves as the up-voting reaction, which influences the display order of messages.

Reference Course Entities

Users can reference to different course entities within their messages, such as other messages, course exercises, course lectures, and attachments of these lectures. All references are then prepended with icons which are unique to the reference’s type, to help users distinguish them conveniently. In the image below, we see all possible types of references that can be created in an Artemis message.

Reference Course Exercises

Users can refer to exercises of the current course, via the dropdown menu Exercise available on the posting markdown editor (see image above). The following types of exercises are prepended unique icons to help distinguish the type of the exercise being referenced.

• Text Exercise

• Quiz Exercise

• Modeling Exercise

• File Upload Exercise

• Programming Exercise

Reference Course Lectures

Users can refer to lectures of the current course, via the dropdown menu Lecture available on the posting markdown editor (see image above).

Reference Lecture Attachments

Users can refer to lectures of the current course, via the dropdown menu Lecture available on the posting markdown editor (see image above). Here, lecture attachments can be found in a nested structure.

Reference Lecture Attachment Units

Users can refer to lecture attachment units of the current course, via the dropdown menu Lecture available on the posting markdown editor, see image below. Here, lecture attachment units can be found when users hover over the specific lecture.

Reference Lecture Unit Slides

Users can refer to lecture unit slides of the current course, via the dropdown menu Lecture. Here, slides can be found when users hover over a specific unit, see image below.

After the user references a single slide they can see it as an image included in the message. Additionally, they can preview the slide in order to easily read the content by clicking the image.

Reference other course members

Users can mention other course members within a message, by either typing an @ character or clicking the @ button available on the posting markdown editor. By typing in the name of a user to mention, the author of the message can search for a certain user they want to mention as demonstrated in the video below.

Reference channels

Similar to course members, users can reference public and course-wide channels of a course by either typing an # character or clicking the # button available on the posting markdown editor.

Mark Your Message As Resolved

Marking a message as resolved will indicate to other users that the posted question is resolved and does not need any further input. This can be done by clicking the check mark next to the answer message. (see image below) Note that only the author of the message as well as a moderator can perform this action. This is helpful for moderators to identify open questions, e.g., by applying the according filter in the course overview. It also highlights the correct answer for other students that have a similar problem and search for a suitable solution.

Features for Moderators

The following features are only available for moderators, not for students.

Pin Messages

By clicking the pushpin icon next to the reaction button of a message, a moderator can pin the message. As a consequence, the message is highlighted to receive higher attention.

Features for Instructors

The following feature is only available for instructors that act as moderators.

Creating Course-Wide Channels

When creating a lecture, exercise, or exam, the creator can decide on a channel name as well. The name is automatically generated based on the lecture’s/exercise’s/exam’s title but can be adapted if needed.

The video below provides a demonstration for the creation of a course-wide channel:

Message Announcements

Instructors can create course-wide messages that serve as Announcements. They target every course participant and have higher relevance than normal messages. Announcements can be created in the course messaging overview by selecting the Announcement channel. As soon as the announcement is created, all participants who did not actively refrain from being notified will receive an email containing the announcement’s content.