Problem Statement:
There are 36 students in this class and 3 TAs to assist Dr. Hammond with this class. We evaluate the quizzes, blogs, and presentations; give out grades and answer questions; and carry out the back stage work. Grading and keeping track of students’ scores is the job description for TAs, and this how we manage it in CHI:
We use a Google Spreadsheet to track all the various assignment scores. This grades spreadsheet is shared across Chris, Manoj, Paul and Dr. Hammond. The grades spreadsheet has several sheets, each of which tracks different scores. For Example: the ‘Quiz Sheet’ tracks the quiz scores of students, the ‘Paper Reading Blog’ sheet tracks the blog scores for conference paper readings, and so on.
While in class, Chris notes the participation grades, attendance and any presentation grades, and updates the corresponding sheets. Manoj evaluates reading and conference paper blogs and updates the corresponding sheets. Paul calculates the original worth of the assignments and formulates the mapping between Manoj’s and Chris’ assigned scores to points out of 100. This is a small part of the work we are doing during the class. Here is a detailed description of various tasks we have in hand.
Blogs:
A paper reading blog is graded for 10 points and each microblog chapter carries 1 point. A detailed description of the grading policy for this type of blogs is in the course webpage.
For each Student
- We navigate to the student’s blog.
- Blogs are evaluated based on the rubric.
- Grades are entered in the corresponding sheet.
Currently the papers and the grading checklists are separate. It would be nice to have them side by side with the section automatically lined up.
It would be nice to have a multitouch application to easily enter in point-specific grades.
It is currently difficult to track and grade late blogs after the fact.
It is currently difficult to track identify students who are falling behind on their readings.
The grader has to go to various locations to grade
The professor would like any easy way to scroll through blogs and comment on them
Quizzes/ Project reports & proposals:
Each Quiz is graded for 10 points. Project reports and proposals are evaluated for 100 points.
For each Student
- Quiz sheet/Project report is evaluated.
- Grades are entered in the corresponding sheet.
- Each page of the quiz sheet is scanned.
Problems:
- The project grading scales are separate. Automatically loading the project proposals and linking them to a easy to enter grading sheet would be helpful. (link to the page).
- Easy way to enter grades and comments for each component of the grading scale (i.,e more feedback easy to enter).
- Storing the scanned original and marked up/graded copy in a shared space.
Participation Grades:
The participation grades are worth 10%. The grading policy is explained in the course webpage (Link to grading policy). Essentially, Chris notes down who is present in the class as well as every time a student makes a relevant statement or asks a relevant question and adds participation points to them. Fortunately, Chris has the memory of an elephant (ok, not really). He identifies everyone in the class by name and he marks the attendance but the tough part is keeping track of participation. He has to track and change the score ,based on the grading policy, in a spreadsheet. This takes time.
Problems:
- Remembering names and faces.
- Changing scores on the sheet.
- Automatically synchronizing the participation grading sheet to the attendance sheet.
Individual Score Card (Grading): by Paul (Champion of Privacy measures)
Paul either creates a random number or with his knowledge of pokemon creates a pseudo name for each student. The pseudo name would then be given to the student in private. The scores available in public (student’s view of scores) will have the pseudo names with their corresponding scores.
Problem:
- Creating individual score reports and making them available to respective individuals.
- Creating a student’s view of the report and a professor’s view of the report.
- Student’s view containing info valuable to the student about their own grades and other information they want
- Professor’s view - image of student’s face is needed along with name, a score summary or a snap shot of progress made by the student in the class.
Group projects:
Many of the projects are done in groups. The solution must support that.
Possible Solution:
Components of a TA assistant:
- Background data storage component - preferably Google Spreadsheet to track the score. The Google Spreadsheet data API allows us to manipulate the data. (Link to API documentation)
- Shared Data storage component - Shared space to contain the scanned copies of the student reports. Space should support synchronization and be accessible with an Internet connection. (link to Dropbox API)
- Private space for student’s to access their reports. Again, space should support synchronization. Students should not be able to edit/change reports, only view them or interact with them.
- Automating grade entering process - The solution must be able to provide TAs with a check list form. The completed form would then be converted to the score of a student. This would then have to be entered in a spreadsheet.
- Automating storing scanned copies of reports - One of both of the following:
- The solution should provide an interface to load each students’ report. The solution should then store a copy of individual reports both in a student’s private space and also in a shared space under an appropriate directory.
- The solution should provide an interface to load the collection of student reports (zip of student reports). The solution should store the collection in the shared space.
- Automating participation grade - the solution should have an interface to grade participation. One idea would be to have clickable icons of student faces in the interface. The icons would have name of the student below it and the current attendance/ participation score above it. It will also perform the grading logic like MAX 3 points, negative grades for absentees. Image of students’ faces on each icon makes us less dependent on Chris’s power to remember names and also keeps track of the participation score.
- Automating Report Card generation - the solution should have a multifaceted interface with different views/controls:
- Student report card - The solution should generate an interface in which the student has access to a score summary/progress report. The student should be able to further explore through each component score and get a detailed view of the component.
- Professor report card - The goal of the professor’s report card is an easy to access application that help the professor better get to know the students, easily read their assignments, and know how the students are doing in the class. The professor’s report card should access the spreadsheet and generate the reports of the students. The interface design should consider listing the students in the class (picture preferably). Clicking on the picture should lead the professor to the corresponding student’s report card. The report card should summarize the progress of the students (grades , progress in blogs, quizzes). The report should also have name of the student and picture of the student. It would be nice to also have a way for the student to add special information.
- Multiple application spaces. The design should support iPhones, Androids, and laptop interaction. Hardware changes (adding blackberry) or hardware upgrades should have minimum impact, but the UIs should still take advantage of the features of the device (i.e., swipe on an iPhone, the larger screen of the laptop, multitouch on any of the devices).
- Easy to set up.
- Good UI Design. For all of these issues HCI is first and foremost, you are to think about design and usability. For all four issues you are to create a mock up with images for each problem.
Turn in: (Due Tuesday, March 22)
1. Paper:
Using the Paper Writeup Guide, write a paper consisting of all of the parts specified in the document with the following special cases:
Implementation: The implementation section should specify the design
you propose for each of these issues as well as a mock up. Don’t
forget to specify how the design would be implemented. You should be
able to hand your paper to any other student in the class, and they
should easily be able to implement your design.
Evaluation/Results: For evaluation, you need to show your designs to
at least ten people, develop a survey for them using a combination of
quantitative (using a Likert scale) and qualitative questions. Your
evaluation section should 1) describe your methods, which includes the
questions you asked and the reasons and motivation behind them, 2) the
results from your surveys, 3) details as per how you would evaluate
and test your system after implementation.
There is no required length, but given the amount of images and
evaluation information required, your paper will probably be around 10
pages or more. (If you are way below 10 pages, you may ask yourself,
“Do I have enough images?” or “Have I thoroughly described how I will
evaluate this or how it could be implemented?”)
The content/ideas grade will be a derived from the list of 7 criteria
above.
2) Presentation
Presents your results to the class as a group. Expect your
presentation to be about 5-10 minutes. Explain the motivation for
your design, and present your mockups, describing how they would be
implemented. It is recommended that you create a brief power point
presentation consisting of 5-10 slides. You want to motivate us to
choose your design.
Using the Paper Writeup Guide, write a paper consisting of all of the parts specified in the document with the following special cases:
Implementation: The implementation section should specify the design
you propose for each of these issues as well as a mock up. Don’t
forget to specify how the design would be implemented. You should be
able to hand your paper to any other student in the class, and they
should easily be able to implement your design.
Evaluation/Results: For evaluation, you need to show your designs to
at least ten people, develop a survey for them using a combination of
quantitative (using a Likert scale) and qualitative questions. Your
evaluation section should 1) describe your methods, which includes the
questions you asked and the reasons and motivation behind them, 2) the
results from your surveys, 3) details as per how you would evaluate
and test your system after implementation.
There is no required length, but given the amount of images and
evaluation information required, your paper will probably be around 10
pages or more. (If you are way below 10 pages, you may ask yourself,
“Do I have enough images?” or “Have I thoroughly described how I will
evaluate this or how it could be implemented?”)
The content/ideas grade will be a derived from the list of 7 criteria
above.
2) Presentation
Presents your results to the class as a group. Expect your
presentation to be about 5-10 minutes. Explain the motivation for
your design, and present your mockups, describing how they would be
implemented. It is recommended that you create a brief power point
presentation consisting of 5-10 slides. You want to motivate us to
choose your design.
