Forum archive 2000-2006

Mark Schmitt - Added scripts to CVS

Mark Schmitt - Added scripts to CVS

by Arnold Pizer -
Number of replies: 0
inactiveTopicAdded scripts to CVS topic started 10/12/2002; 3:54:38 AM
last post 10/13/2002; 4:58:34 AM
userMark Schmitt - Added scripts to CVS  blueArrow
10/12/2002; 3:54:38 AM (reads: 694, responses: 1)
I just added some scripts that we are using here at DCDS to implement a new level of user, the teacher level. This level has more rights than a TA, but fewer than a professor.

First a little background. This year at DCDS, we are trying to use WeBWorK to add some uniformity to our regular level Algebra 2 course. There are six sections, with three different teachers. We have always given independent tests, quizzes, and homework, but common midyear and final exams. To make things more uniform during the year, all three teachers are using the same WeBWorK assignments.

I am serving as the "WeBWorK coordinator" for the course, so I am building and scoring all the sets, and have all of the professor abilities. The two other teachers are using the assignments, but want, and need, far fewer abilities. The things that they need to be able to do are: view student progress, reset passwords for students, change scores or due dates for individuals, or change due dates for a large group of students. The catch is, they should only have these abilities for their own students.

I have used recitations to group the students by teacher, and for each teacher, I only display students in that recitation. For example, if I log in at the teacher level, and go to the teacher page, when I view student progress, I see only my students (about 16). If I log in at the professor level and view student progress, I see every student in the course (about 120).

I have found these scripts very useful with my faculty. This way, they can do things for their own students, but can't mess up anyone else's students. It also allows students to be moved from section to section without having to put me, as coordinator, in the middle.

If there are people in similar situations, I'd love to get some feedback on the scripts. I did have to add a few new subroutines to interact with the database, and I will post those shortly. They had to do with getting student info based on recitations.

Enjoy!

Mark

<| Post or View Comments |>


userBill Ziemer - Re: Added scripts to CVS  blueArrow
10/13/2002; 4:58:34 AM (reads: 875, responses: 0)
This is the model at CSULB also. The teachers are not interested in managing their own course, but will modify problems and due dates for prebuilt assignments. Originally I had one webwork course for each math course, and each teacher was a "super-TA" with me as a professor, but I ran into the 32K file limit for directory addressing. (e.g. 600 students * 20 problems * 3 images per problem in a set exceeds the addressing limit in the tmp/l2h directory) The solution I came up with was to give each teacher their own course as professor, limit the professor's page somewhat, and write "super-professor" command line scripts to manage multiple courses.

An (functional) example of the professor's page can be viewed at

http://bosna.natsci.csub.edu/webwork/demoCourse

username: apizer password: 111-11-1111

--Bill

<| Post or View Comments |>