GR2 - Designs
Scenario
Ben Bitdiddle is an M.Eng. student, and he has been appointed as a 6.006 TA. On Wednesday 3/2, Ben needs to post Problem Set 2, due in one week on 3/9. The assignment has 2 theory problems, and one problem that requires coding. Ben prepared a description in PDF format. For the programming problem, he also prepared some input test cases, and Python script to automatically test the students’ submissions. Ben logs on the site, creates a Problem Set, and uploads all files in the right places. He uploads the TA solution, as well as a broken solution, to make sure that his automated tests work as intended. Once Ben is pleased with the results, he makes the Pset visible to students.
Alyssa P. Hacker is a sophomore living in Random Hall. Alyssa checks the site and notices the announcement that PS 2 is out. She reads the PDF description, and finds an error. She e-mails Ben, who acknowledges the error. Ben must upload a revised PDF description, and make an announcement that would be visible to anyone who tries to submit a solution.
Alyssa finishes the coding problem that evening. She submits her Python program on the website, and finds out that her solution takes too much time to run on the automated tests. She removes her debugging checks, and re-submits. The site assures her that she has passed the automated tests, so Alyssa starts working on the write-up. Later that night, she submits her PDF write-up.
PS 2 is due on Wednesday 3/9 at midnight, and the server chugs through the usual last-minute submission rush. Next afternoon, Ben prints out students’ submissions, and starts grading them. Wednesday late at night, he finishes grading. He logs on the submission site, and goes through the stack of psets in front of him, entering the grades on the site. After he’s done, he makes all the grades public.
Alyssa goes online on Sunday, and sees her grade for the problem set posted. She also checks the distribution of grades for the problem set, and her overall grade.
Louis Reasoner is a senior who recently settled on Course 18C, and is trying to graduate. Prof. Smith signed an Add Form for Louis, and granted him an extension for the two problem sets. Ben pointed Louis to the submission site. Louis signs up for an account, registers for the class, and prints out the two problem sets. He eventually submits everything, after having gotten an undisclosed amount of help from Alyssa.
Monday morning, Ben goes through the late submissions, from students who were granted deadlines. He prints them out, grades them quickly, and enters the new grades on the site.
Designs
Design 1
With the exception of the first – the login – page, the following images depict the interface the the users would typically see after they've filled out all of the desired information. The pages of the interface all follow the same general UI principle of the three-pane view popularized by Apple's Finder. The user first chooses the assignment, then the user, and can then view or modify that user and assignment combination. TAs can assign grades, and students can see their own grades, for example.
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The user logs in with his or her MIT certificate. Since all of our users are MIT affiliates and use MIT certificates to access WebSIS, they are all guaranteed to have them installed. After they've logged in, they are encouraged to fill out their profile so that the graders have an easier time classifying problem sets. Course administrators are promoted from ordinary users by existing course administrators. |
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Ben, the TA, can access a summary of all problem sets for a particular user (their grades) or for himself (grading statistics). Ben can also add a new assignment, specifying the title, due date, the assignment file, and any test cases that would auto-grade the students' submissions. Ben also has the option to publish this assignment to the students and release grades after they've been completed. In addition, TAs can post updates to problem sets, along with a message. |
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Alyssa is a student, and she can view assignments and submit her solutions. She can download the assignment files, upload a submission, and view her own grades as well as the class grade histogram. For coding assignments, each submission is graded automatically using the test script. If the tests fail, then an explanation and a stack trace would be shown. |
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The TA can grant an extension to the student simply by changing the due date for the problem set. In this sketch, an extension was granted to Louis by rcm. In addition, the TA can look at each student's score and submission summary. |
Design 2
1 Comment
Anh Dang Viet Nguyen
- Thoughtful analysis and designs. The diagram flow is really helpful to see which page leads to which page.
- Make sure you don't overload the interface with two many features. Make it generic and work for all types of courses and psets.
- Think carefully how user will 'read' your page. Careful about multiple-level tab interfaces and grid-like interfaces, it can be overwhelming for users to process or know where to start interacting.
- Please add design 3 to the wiki.