Removal of invite links

[MaybeJustJames]

I've just been flooded with students saying they can't use my invite link. I've just found #5977 and understand that it's a feature that many don't use but this removal breaks my workflow so is really unfortunate. I suppose I'm just complaining, I still love Hedy and will continue to use it. Just unfortunate and I need to vent.

[AnneliesVlaar]

Hi @MaybeJustJames,

I'm sorry to hear that we broke your workflow by removing the invitation links. I can understand you're annoyed by that! It seems that you are one of the few people who used it, can you elaborate on your workflow because I'm really curious how it worked for you!

[MaybeJustJames]

I run an online course for biologists that uses Hedy for part of it. Importantly, the course is low contact (I do not work with each student in-person) I see the group through a video call every 2 weeks. Before the course starts, I generate an invite link to Hedy and insert that link into the training material that students follow at their own pace. When each student is ready to use Hedy they can simply click on the invite link and they're in the Hedy classroom.

With this change I will have to ask each student their username and invite each student?

[AnneliesVlaar]

I can understand that in your case the invite link is a nice way to go. However our main target group is teachers who teach Hedy in person to students.

One of the possibilities is indeed ask the usernames and add them to the class. Another option is to create user accounts for them, create an easy password and ask them to change the password as soon as they start.

[confiks]

Just a sidenote, not to further a discussion:

However our main target group is teachers who teach Hedy in person to students.

That seems like a false dilemma. Share links or share codes are frequently used with in-classroom applications like Forms, Kahoot or Blooqet to direct students to the right page or group. That is how I used share links with Hedy as well: in person, in the classroom. Share links also allow composition into written material like lesson plans, so students can start self-directed.

[confiks]

I also exclusively used invite links to add students to my classes. Works quite efficient compared to handing out usernames and passwords that need to be changed – in my case with the downside of students picking weird names themselves via the invite link. Inviting is also quite similar to a standard feature in a lot of other software (i.e. share links).

Might it be possible that due to bug #6161, the feature appeared to be used less than it actually was?

[AnneliesVlaar]

I'm sorry we also broke your workflow. The downside is indeed the students who picking weird names for themselves. We've spoken to other teachers who told us that they like to pick the usernames for the student to keep a clean overview.
Together with the data that showed us that it wasn't used a lot we chose to not maintain the invite link.