Archive for the 'VLE Iterations' Category

For this iteration (5) we committed to the following:

1. We would like to promote current changes production. This would include: MOTD, SPE automation, new offerings service (includes ‘all’ offerings), Rebuilt Site Profile, Assessment return update, new enrolment script for Sakai (so it behaves the same as BB), Coversheets for Coordinators, Groups in assignments, Override co-ordinators logout, Coversheet download for nonUNE users.
2. [#1914] Summary View of eSubmission Assignments.
3. [#2483] Investigate the Student view for staff in eSubmission. We need to discover what kinds of issues staff are encountering without the student view so that we can find a solution that will address the problem.
4. [#1920] Staff Portal Unit List. This to reorganise the list of units presented to staff in their portal view. It is not usable as it is.
5. [#1071] School level access to teaching units/sites. We need to provide greater intelligence within the system about who owns the units. This will allow us to provide access on a broader scale and not just to those directly involve in each unit.
6. [#972] Complete Org manager. The org manager is a part of the system understanding the organisational structure. If we have time we will look at the possible usability issues that may still exists here.
7. #1675: The submission list needs to be sorted (alphabetical or in order of submission).

Commitment Size: 118 points

As usual the items we completed are in bold and as can be seen we unfortunately only completed the promote. This is because the promote process has proven to be very intensive and we have begun investigating what can be done to reduce this. We have however made some progress on the other items:

• The summary area now renders and saves grades, it does not yet provide an output for Callista (though this is quite close) and needs its performance improved. We also have some concerns about ensuring that it is usable in the contexts that currently exist in the community. More scoping and input may be needed here.
• The staff portal is working (but not yet released) and needs some refinement to ensure that the categorisation of units will be helpful.M
• School level access is dependant on the org manager.

Iteration 6

For the next iteration we have commited to a much more simplified set of tasks, in fact it has been simplified to 1:

• Test the new BB CE8 in development:
  • Test integration to ensure enrollment, sso and other integrations will behave as expected after the upgrade.
  • Launch UAT testing, includes: providing UAT test sheet, electing UAT testers, providing UAT help
  • Perform Critical Function Testing and check Critical Function Tests

The Blackboard CE8 Upgrade is being run as a project through the ITD Programme Office. The Project Manager is Nathan Heberly (who can be found in the staff directory) you can direct any questions regarding UAT testing to him.

Commitment: 120

Gerwood

We have begun a new method for trying to achieve timely and responsive blocks of work within the VLE.

As a result we’ve just finished our first Iteration (a two week commitment of work). It didn’t go as well as we hoped however we did complete the following:

• Added a Message of the Day editor to TLCAdmin
• Adjusted the systems internal class list so that lecturers can see it
• Switch the data source for offerings in TLCAdmin (further explanation below)

These items have been completed fully in development. Although they won’t be seen immediately in Production (because we need to promote the changes) they will arrive the next time we do a promote.

For the next Iteration 2 (sometimes referred to as a sprint) we have undertaken to do the following:

1. Create S2 units (somewhat necessary )
2. Begin looking at ways to improve the handling of groups/non-UNE enrolments (e.g. newcastle language students)
3. Non-UNE login for eSubmission. There is currently a bug with eSubmission which prevents the login screen from showing we need to resolve this before non-UNE students can gain access
4. Convert Site Profile (this is an internal change to help with future development)
5. Fix the eSubmission students view (currently this view is not adequate for nonUNE students and some of the purposes lectures would like to put eSubmission to
6. Add an automatic logout mark to a students grades page when uploading files as feedback
7. Create at least 1 video tutorial to help improve understanding of features found in the VLE
8. Adjust file upload names so that they include the students: username, assignment id, submission id and the id for the specific file. This is to help with printing where unusual characters (such as chinese characters) cause printing to fail and to provide clearer labeling for lecturers when they download assignments.

There are definitely things that have been missed in this iteration. Two I would like to include next time (and would like feedback on) are:

• Adding extension requests to eSubmission. This will help simplify management of assignments
• Add an overview page of all assignments in a unit. This will help prepare for Callista integration and help with both reviewing grades and final results collation

As a note I’m going to add an additional page to this site to show the current backlog (requested work) and the order it is listed in. Anyone wanting to contribute to that list or ask for items to be re-ordered (with justification) can email directly on: gstewar8@une.edu.au or add a comment.

Thanks

Gerwood