What is an avatar?
An avatar is an online image representation of a person. It can be a photo or a digital creation and can be a likeness of the person or not. It is just an image to represent that person.
For info on the earlier "course step icon options" see: Christmas themed icons and other options
Enlight avatars:
Enlight always had an avatar option but this was not greatly used (it required a "Gravatar.com" account that not all staff let alone students have). It has now been extended to allow direct image uploads so that this feature may be more used by all. For accounts that still do not have an avatar, a colourful "initials circle" is generated instead.
Why would we want avatars?
If you request people use real photos of themselves then you get an view of each person. It doesn't really change anything but it can give you a little more touch of reality and make your staff and students more than just a name or a number. (Note there is no feature in Enlight to enforce the type of avatar - so if you want photos only then you would have to just make it a rule that you tell staff/students and which you enforce).
If you are more relaxed about the avatar rules and allow more creativity and choice, then you still get a little visualisation/differentiation of the staff and students in various places in Enlight.
Even if no-one sets/uploads an avatar you still get a little visualisation with a colour coded "initials" display.
Can I hide the avatars?
Currently you have an option to show/hide the avatars on the "Students" list screen. In the other locations they are les intrusive and so no hide option is currently available. As we add these avatars to other screens we will allow show/hide for them as applicable.
Where are the avatars?
As you seen in the above screenshots they are shown on the "Students" list page.
When you select "Show" to see more details on a student you can also see their avatar there.
The staff users avatar is also show in the top-left of Enlight, showing whomever is logged on (as you can see in the above screenshot).
The staff user avatars also show in the staff "Users" page.
In student chat screen staff and students cna see both the instructors avatar and their own avatar.
Students can see their avatar when logged on to the student dashboard.
Additional places will be added later.
Who can set avatars and how?
Staff set or remove their own avatar by going to "ACCOUNT > Your Profile" and follow the instructions there
Students set or remove their own avatar by going to the "Profile" icon top right of their screen an and follow the instructions there
Staff can also select "Edit" in the "Student" list screen above and set or remove the student's avatar there.
Note that staff/students can use the "Gravatar" system based on email address. Or can upload an image file. Or can remove any already uploaded image file and/or replace it with another. Full details in the on-screen instructions.
And lastly ...
As GIF formats are support you can even have animated avatars. That might get a bit too much - the instruction icon in the test site we took the screenshots in actually moves ... but having all the student icons moving might be a bit too much! But it is there for now if you want to try it.
