The CS Data Management and Tutor Monitoring system Xebiso Tshuma & Hope Mutete Supervisor: Mike Linck Date: 21 July 2005

Communication T/A - Tutors - Deadlines  Course coordinator – T/A – Tutors - Outstanding marks

Present system – document management Hard copy hand-ins - Given back to students - Copies made and kept for the ACM Electronic hand-ins - T/A keeps copies - Transferred to the department database

Present system – tutor monitoring T/A constantly checks Moodle to see which tutors have not marked assignments and sends them reminders T/AMOODLE Tutors Course coordinator T/A checks Moodle to see who has not marked Reminder sent to those who still have not marked Course coordinator informed of outstanding marks

The monitoring system CRON TAB DATABASE Course coordinator T/A TUTORS WEB INTERFACE Communicate only if tutor has not done their work Checks system date and compares to date in database Sends data of those who have marked Tutors automatically ed reminders Uploads data

Components of the system Database and web interface - Hope - deals with storage of department data - Obtains feedback from especially tutors Calendar - Xebiso - Deals with ensuring that s are sent at correct dates and with notifying of concerned individuals of any developments

Data management system consist of two parts – –data storage unit – –web interface

Data storage Storage database – – tutor information addresses Marking status – – course information Course coordinator Tutors – – tutorial information Hand-in deadline Marking guide

Web interface facilitate communication between the database and the user facilitate communication between the parties involved – –Teaching assistants – –Tutors – –Course coordinator

Calendar functionality The major requirement is a system that will check the system date and compare it to the deadline given in the database An is sent out at the appropriate interval

The calendar interface The T/A gets the names of tutors who have not marked Web Interface Database Tutor T/A Cron Tab Tutor clicks on radio button after they have finished marking Data on those who have marked is sent to the database Cron tab gets names of those with marks outstanding sent to T/A on those with outstanding marks

Cron Cron is the obvious platform to implement this on Allows sending of s on appropriate date Can keep log files of individuals who have been sent reminders time and again

Sending of initial s Cron tabDatabase Send s to tutors Update deadlines Not x days prior to due date Compare system time to deadline Due date for sending s to tutors When deadline is past delete it from table

Meanwhile Radio buttons will be available on the web interface Tutors click on these when they have finished marking These information sent to the database where it is used for further reminders and so the T/A knows who has done their work and who hasn’t

Tracking of confirmation Web Interface DatabaseCron tab tutors T/A All tutors who have marked sent to database Checks to see who needs reminders Sends confirmation of receipt of marks s T/A about tutors who have not submitted marks

Requirements Apache server Cron database (MySql)

Testing unit testing – –Carried out during the making of each module compatibility testing – – to see if this system will be compatible with Moodle user testing – – this will be done with CS tutors and TAs’ on a simulation model

Time management Calendar - XebisoTshuma Data management system – Hope Mutete

Outcome Standalone program Manual Bridging communication between tutors and their administration in the CS department