The following document was sent to the BS QEC on 16/3/11 and the request was made for academic staff to email Mark D with a list of requirements in ourder to help develop a requirements document for the work. Blayn has also been asked to present the document at the next Arts and H&LS QECs...
Establishing a link between SITS and Moodle.
For some time, the issue of entering grades into two of the core student systems has caused concern for academic staff. This has again recently been highlighted through Business School QEC minutes and in conversations with Diana Wetherell-Terry (Deputy Dean). The issue has also been raised by Jill Armstrong at QSEC committee meetings.
The problem
Academic staff are currently required to enter grades into two systems; Moodle and SITS (e:Vision). The most common practice is that tutors provide feedback and grades for students using the functionality provided within Moodle. Once ratified, these grades need to be entered for a second time in the more official student record system, known as ‘SITS’ to staff and ‘e:Vision’, to students.
The requirement
Tutors would like to be able to enter grades in one location and have those grades displayed within both systems.
The proposed solution
Moodle should be used as the primary place where grade details are entered for students. It would be possible to develop a link between Moodle’s grading system and the SITS database, so that the information within Moodle could be reflected in SITS and e:Vision.
Moodle already has the functionality to be able to create ‘assignments’ of varying types. This functionality will cater for the core assessment types at YSJ; written work and non-written work, such as performances, presentations and practical pieces of art work. Faculties effectively communicating the proposed new practice and deciding on suitable policy, are seen as vitally important aspects towards achieving this change in practice.
Development
Development is required in order to adjust Moodle to suit the needs of our tutors. One issue we must consider is those assignments which are formative in nature. This means that there needs to be a control in place when assignments are created, so that tutors can control whether grades are fed into SITS. This could be an option as simple as checking a box to indicate if the assignment’s grade should be stored in SITS. The major piece of work is in developing the link between Moodle’s database system and the SITS database system, which run using different technologies.
Timescales
The project is estimated to be in the region of 6-8 weeks of development time. The lead time on this is to some degree dictated by the impending upgrade of Moodle 1.9 to the next version, Moodle 2.0 plus scheduling the development into the existing development projects programme. Should the upgrade to Moodle 2.0 proceed without too many technical problems, it may be possible to implement the link for September 2011. If this is not possible, due to other commitments at that time of year, the link would not be established until Semester 2 2012.
ACTION REQUIRED VIA QEC
Tutors to provide a list of functional requirements for things they would like to be able to do using the tool?
e.g. I would like to be able to select whether the assignment I have setup in moodle is formative or summative. If I select summative, the grade links through to SITS, otherwise it doesn’t.
Deadline for initial responses: May 31 2011
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