Talk:Assignment

Martin originally wrote:

Problem 1

The four core subtypes we have are really confusing from a GUI point of view for new users, and are in fact all very similar.

SOLUTION: Collapse all these four into a single new assignment module that can support any or all of these at once:

• Teacher-written text to students
• Teacher-supplied files to students
• Student-written text for teacher
• Student-supplied files for teacher

??Will the functionality of the "offline type" be retained?? - Grette

Problem 2

The support of subtypes makes it slightly easier to write new assignment types but also makes them less flexible, and so people tend to create hacks.

SOLUTION:

1. Remove subtypes from the default assignment module and implement all core features as above.
2. Allow normal activity modules to declare themselves as "Assignment" modules (similar to resource modules) so that the GUI can group them if required.
3. Provide lib/assignmentlib.php with some core classes to help the migration of subtypes to become full modules.

I understand "Provide lib/assignmentlib.php with some core classes" in two ways: - write the new Assignment module in a way that makes it possible to migrate an instance with the old four-pronged Assignment module. All migrated Assignment modules would turn into new Assignment modules with the appropriate settings. OR - make available a library with classes so that other modules that currently are not Assignment modules ("hacks") to be upgraded to become Assignment modules as well. Examples for this would be the Mahara View Assignment and BIM.

Problem 3

We have no good support for team-based assignments.

SOLUTION:

1. Support course groups and groupings.
2. Add a switch to settings to "Enable team assignments" which will allow users in groups to share one file area and one text response per group.
3. Add good logging of changes made by the users.

Problem 4

Implement web services for all functionality of Moodle to support LightWork and mobile

Comments on Use Case 1 : File upload assignment

1. the default should be for the simplest case with a single file uploaded by a single respondent.
2. the number of files required to upload should be clearly indicated on the submit page that the student uses (it is not displayed at all currently)
3. I have have found the 'Send for marking' to be rather confusing to both faculty and students.

Here's another option:

• Status flag / text on the submit screen DRAFT / SUBMITTED
• appropriate action button UPLOAD / SUBMIT / UPLOAD and SUBMIT

Simplest option:

Single file upload with the assignment configuration allowing no possibility for the student to delete or replace the uploaded file. The button would be [Upload and Submit] (a single action). Status flag shows 'Submitted'.

Upload and allow modify:

Initially the student would be presented with [Upload]. After a page refresh the display would show the file name (and perhaps creation date) together with a delete option and Draft status. The button would change to [Submit]. If the student wanted to upload a different version she would first delete the current draft file, and the button would change to [Upload]. Having submitted a file the status would change to 'Submitted' and no action buttons would appear. Two button clicks and a page refresh in normal circumstances.

--Mark Pearson 2 01:55, 18 February 2012 (WST)

Comments on Use Case 5: Zip & download, offline marking

This workflow is brilliant. I especially like the ability to grade offline and then upload marked-up essays and the gradesheet -- super. Just one suggestion:

• button labelled "Download submissions for offline marking". Suggest changing to [Zip & Download] since this neatly summarizes the essential action involved.

--Mark Pearson 2 03:14, 18 February 2012 (WST)

Assignment Module Redevelopment meetings

The NetSpot development team will use this space to document notes from meetings as they happen.

Meeting 1 - 22 Nov 2011

Project team:

• Mark Drechsler - NetSpot project sponsor
• Damyon Weise - Lead developer
• Victor Herrera - Project Manager
• Ashley Holman - Code Architect, all round good guy
• Minh-Tam Nguyen - Functional Consultant
• Plus future input from the consortium of Australian universities who will support NetSpot's development effort through a range of means. Details to be added soon.

First step is to establish the functional specification for the 'bare minimum' of changes needed to meet the design goals listed by Moodle HQ. Once we have these we can start to look in more detail at the requirements of the Consortium and see how many of these are feasible and how many overlap with existing Tracker 'wish list' items from the broader community.

Project team will be meeting regularly in the lead up to Xmas 2011 to try and be ready to hit some development tasks in early 2012.

Meeting - 20 Dec 2011

Mark Drechsler, Damyon Weise, Victor Herrera, Minh-Tam Nguyen

• code freeze for 2.3 is 01/May/2012 so scope has to be set appropriately. Not everything can be done. A line was drawn.
• Damyon to estimate work required for features currently listed as in scope, then work with Vic to get a project schedule.
• a git repo and a demo Moodle instance will be made available
• work to start on critical features

Anonymous marking and Blind marking

both terms "Anonymous marking" and "blind marking" are used in various wish lists and documents I have been given, with Anonymous marking referring to both hidden student identities and hidden marker identities. I believe that the language used here needs to be decided on. Any suggestions? - Minh-Tam

I think they both refer to the same thing except that blind marking is more common when talking about "Double Blind" marking (which would be a nice feature!) - Damyon

My interpretation is: Blind marking - the identity of the author (or student) is hidden from the marker Anonymous marking - the identity of the marker is hidden from the student Double marking - the work can be marked by more than one person (usually two) - identities of all parties is known to all Double blind marking - the work can be marked by more than one person but the identity of the author/student is hidden from both markers - Grette

Thanks Grette, Damyon and Drex for your contribution. I think from this point on we should go with Grette's definition above:

• Blind means the student's identity is hidden.
• Anonymous means the marker's identity is hidden.

--Minh-Tam Nguyen 06:19, 22 December 2011 (WST)