Problem Statement

There is unsatisfactory communication between teachers and parents. Oftentimes, important information does not flow efficiently and reliably between teachers and parents.

Parents complain that they are not aware of all their child’s assignments or of the activities in which their child participates.Teachers complain that they have a difficulty getting items like permission slips back from parents. Parents have a hard time reaching teachers and teachers are sometimes overwhelmed by overly-involved parents.

Scenario and Tasks

Ms. Frizzle’s 3rd grade is going ice skating!  Ms. Frizzle needs to obtain signed permission slips from all her students’ parents. From past experience, Ms. Frizzle knows this task is going to be a hassle, especially due to forgetful Arnold who always forgets to give his parents permission slips. Even if Arnold does remember to give the permission slip to his parents, they can forget to sign it. And even if they do, Arnold can forget to bring the signed slips back to school. This used to be very frustrating for poor Ms. Frizzle and disappointing for Arnold to miss the exciting class outings and watch the Magic School Bus leave without him. But now, the school has adopted this outstanding system design by ConnectEd. So, Ms. Frizzle goes to her computer and opens ConnectEd. This allows her to create a permission slip and send it to the students’ parents online. The parents can then sign the permission slip online as well.  Furthermore, Ms. Frizzle can be notified, in advance, if some parents haven’t yet signed the slips or if parents have questions. Ms. Frizzle will also be notified at the point all the parents have signed. Reminders can also be sent to the parents so that they don’t forget to sign it.

Tasks to complete:

1) As Ms. Frizzle, create a permission slip for the ice skating trip and send it to the parents of all students in 3A Science.

2) As Arnold's mom, view the permission slip and give Arnold permission to go on the trip.

3) As Ms. Frizzle, view the parents' responses to the ice skating trip permission slip.

Requirements for viewing the prototype

• Platform: Windows or Mac
• Browser: Firefox or Chrome

Instructions to access the prototype

• URL: http://mit.edu/talya/Public/ConnectEd/login/login.html
• On the Log-in page:
  • For teacher: username = frizzle, password = password
  • For parent: username = arnoldMom, password = password

Functionality (Shallow parts)

General: 

• Log out and Settings are not implemented
• Only 2 usernames available: frizzle and arnoldMom

Teacher: 

• teacher_homepage_1.html:
  • The class buttons (3A Science, 3B Science, etc) all lead to the same teacher_homepage_2
  • Private messages and Calendar are not implemented
• teacher_homepage_2.html:
  • Student List, Gradebook, Assignments, Private messages, and Calendar are not implemented

• teacher_forms_list.html: (Current Forms page)
  • All links lead to the same View Form page, which is designated for Ice Skating Trip
  • The sorting functionality does not work properly for the date column (it sorts the dates alphabetically rather than chronologically).
• teacher_view_form.html:
  • View Form, Resend to all pending, Resend Form buttons are not implemented. The user will get feedback, but the actual sending functionality is not implemented.

Parent: 

• parent_homepage_1.html:
  • Private messages, and Calendar are not implemented.
  • Both children icons (Arnold and Janet) lead to the same parent_homepage_2 (for Arnold).

• parent_homepage_2.html:
  • Gradebook, Assignments, Private messages, and Calendar are not implemented
• parent_forms_list.html:
  • All links lead to the same Sign Form page, which is designated for Ice Skating Trip
• signForm.html:
  • Accept, decline and remind me later are not implemented. The user will get feedback, but the actual functionality is not implemented.