Design Notes

Iteration 2 of Assignments2 has been completed with minimal design reconsideration. The goal was to achieve approximate functional parity with the legacy Assignments tool.

Iteration 2 Screen Relationships

Notes for Iteration 3 Design

Ways in which the Iteration 2 design could be improved:

• Too much data and text is squeezed into the tabular listing.
• GB helpers often disruptive; the thickbox is too heavyweight an interface behavior for what is often a simple need (e.g. editing a single value)
• It's not clear enough what needs to get done next, or what's waiting for attention.
• The views are too strongly assignment-centric rather than people-centric. There is, for example, no view that helps an instructor review a student's progress across all assignments, or conduct followup tasks like sending out a message to all those who haven't yet submitted. There is also no view that helps instructors oversee the work of multiple graders.
• Fluid components can be used for reordering, in-line editing, etc.
• Assignment authoring needs to support a wider array of assignment types and workflows.
• Download/Upload all could be further streamlined.

Primary Tasks:

• Assignment Authoring
• Assignment management
  • Open and Due Dates
  • Assigning reviewers, workflows, etc.
  • Storing information for non-electronic (or offline) assignments as well
• Teaching Assistant or Tutor reviewing/grading many submissions for a large class
• Student submitting assignments by the due date
• Students receiving their grades and other feedback

Secondary Tasks:

• Students comparing their performance to the rest of the class.
• Instructors reviewing a Student's progress over time
• Instructor managing and overseeing the work of multiple reviewers (e.g. teaching assistants)
• Using submission/review to support academic activities outside coursework

Note that Reviewers need not be instructors, and may also be submitters (e.g. Peer review)

A Different Tool Structure

Aims:

• Bring "What's Next?" front and center (which can also provide the foundation for a dashboard or synoptic view)
• Set the stage for tidier content management by better separating Assignment management from Submission management
• Minimize tabular data by obviating some of it (e.g. status keywords) with physical separation.

Multi-Step Assignment Authoring Wizard