Assignment

Hi Tim, we're also not 'upgrading' from the journal module for 1.5. However, I may well uninstall the 1.5 Assignment module (although I like it other than the grading screen) and reload our 1.4 module for now.

I'd rather not, but I need to either get the grading screen fixed or revert in the next week or so as we need to start developing training materials in July for our rollout of 1.5 in August.

I really wish this new grading screen had been posted here for preview and commenting before it was implemented as the only option.

Good to hear Darren!

Why don't you like the new one?

O let me count the ways. First, it is dramatically different, which means extensive retraining for our faculty. Our faculty are mostly not 'techies' so even minor changes in interface takes time for them to over come. Sometimes I don't think 'techies' realize how many users learn an interface by memorizing (or printing and marking up) every button.

A second major issue is time. In a course of 60 students, a teacher now needs to make 120 new clicks to grade every assignment. Ooops, 126 since it will only show 10 on a screen. That is alot of new clicks.

I do like the new assignment module and would like to use it (alternative is dumping for our old one) however I do think that radically changed interfaces should be offered as options, not as defaults (esp. not as a default with no other options). And a second goal in redesigning heavily used screens ought to be to reduce the number of clicks it takes to accomplish a task.*

*I had the pleasure of watching Jef Raskin perform a goms analysis on MS access a few years back and have never been the same.

My big problem is that I can't submit feedback for online text assigments if my students used a quote in their text.  This means that it just doesn't work unless I use another tool to edit out the quotes from their comments (or tell them not to do it).  The problem seems to be that stuff in that field doesn't get quote-protected and it generates an (uncaught!) mysql error when the form is submitted.  Maybe this is somehow an error related to a botched database upgrade, but I consider losing my feedback with not so much as "I'm throwing your data away, OK?" message a serious problem.  I haven't seen anyone else complaining, so perhaps it has to do with some local problem.

As for the extra clicks, I haven't memorized the old interface, but I think this one requires at least two extra clicks per student as their online assignments (formerly journals) are now an extra click, and an extra window that I didn't want opened, away.  I used to be able to middle-click (or control click in Windoze or Apple-click on a mac) all of the student's stuff and have them all open in tabs.  I could then deal with each one and close the tab when I was through.  It was lots easier than the current interface.