OAE D2L Integration: Proof of Concept
Some quick notes on a proof-of-concept integration between the Open Academic Environment (OAE) and Desire2Learn (D2L). The focus of this effort is assessment of student assignments. This post considers the implications for OAE.
- Students use OAE to manage their activities related to assessment of their work.
- Instructors use D2L to manage their activities relating to assessment of student work.
- (Optional) As OAE user, student receives a notification of impending assignment due date.
- Student designates any OAE content (owned by the student) as work to be submitted for assessment. Student identifies the specific class and assignment for the work.
- A copy of the content is transferred to D2L for assessment by the instructor.
- Student receives confirmation that content was successfully transmitted to D2L. The content's revision history includes an indication of the submission (along with date and time).
- (Optional) Student checks the "assessment status" of the content to see whether or not it has been evaluated.
- (Optional) Student and instructor engage in discussion related to content/assessment. Only student is able to view this discussion in OAE (regardless of the public/private profile of the content). Student receives notification of new discussion comments from instructor.
- Instructor provides evaluation (e.g. grade) for assignment, which student views on OAE (e.g. as part of content/assessment discussion). Student receives notification of evaluation.
- (Optional) Discussion may continue after evaluation.
- (Optional) Student may submit revised work.
- (Optional) Instructor may revise evaluation.
- Student may re-submit the same content for the same assignment. In this case the content's revision history should reflect multiple submissions.
- Student may submit new content for the same assignment. In this case the assessment status for the original content should indicate that new content was submitted for the assignment.
- Student may re-submit the same content for a different assignment. In this case the same content may have multiple evaluations.
- How (if at all) will the system handle discussions related to an assignment before any content is submitted for assessment?
- What (if any) are the policies on submission? (e.g. no re-submissions, no submissions past due date, ...) Are they fixed or do they vary by assignment? How are they enforced? (e.g. by the D2L API) Are those policies exposed prior to a submission attempt? (e.g. by the D2L API)
- Does the D2L API provide a name (and thumbnail) for instructors?
- Does D2L support the concept of revoking a submission?
Note: Alternative approaches can be see in earlier revisions of this document
The design approach below tries to leverage the existing OAE environment and components by integrating D2L seamlessly within the OAE experience. To submit content for assessment, the student uses the existing Share functionality and shares the content with an entity representing the D2L course.
If the student selects a D2L entity as the share target, she is given a choice of assignments. The student could leave this selection blank to submit the content outside of the context of any assignment.
Once content has been associated with a D2L assignment, the content's sub-title (normally its type) indicates the status of the assessment.
Expanding the main content clip exposes an additional "Discuss" option. Initially the option could be limited to content that has been submitted for assessment.
Clicking on the "Discuss" button could display a distinct modal dialog box for discussion related to the assignment. That dialog could incorporate interface elements of particular relevance to an assessment. (For example, it could show the status and, if available, result of the assessment in a prominent location.)
Alternatively, assessment-related discussions could be presented as normal OAE discussions. These discussions are private; only the student (via OAE) and instructor(s) (via D2L) participate and view.
