It has just occurred to me that something about the way I handle assignments in GITI is a little off. While the concepts for the assignments are the same as are used in regular classes or even online classes, they do not always truely reflect the work flow and other features of the student’s side of an assignment.
An example of this can be seen in the paper I am presently preparing for. I have a certain part of that assignment due on the 8th (although, I have GITI making it due tomorrow to give myself time). The assignment is to prepare an APA style title page, abstract and reference page for the paper. That is all that is due tomorrow. The problem I see is that that stuff is shoved into Assignment # 1342, even though it is technically for the completion of Assignment # 1348 (due March 24th). There is no mechanism for moving the completed stuff (the “Docs”) to the other assignment and no way to incorporate notes or anything else I add to assignment 1342 into the final paper assignment (#1348). Last semester I had a similar problem, in American History there were 3 “research projects” that led up to one final research paper. There more than here, there were useful things that I could have used in the final assignment.
This analysis brings me to two new types of assignments that I would like to add to GITI. One is “dependant” assignments that can recieve information from other assignments (maybe using GITI’s Link functionality). The other is “marker” assignments, these assignments exist to receive grades, but do not necessarily need to appear on the schedule. The “markers” are due to a discussion board assignment in one of my courses (Art History) that will almost certainly always be done at the same time as my quizes, and therefore, are redundant to appear on the schedule proper.
Another potential change is the addition of a control on the GITI Home (Summary v2) display for assignments, which would prevent the display of any assignment whos “Date Assigned” date had not passed, giving the user the ability to actually use the field for something useful, such as entering that date to be the date an assignment will be active. In online coruses this could be quiz activation dates or any variety of things like that. The idea being to bring more relevant assignments to the front and supressing assignments that can not be dealt with yet. This function may also at some point come with the ability to “surpress” an assignment, such as a test or quiz that is to be taken in person that has already been prepared for, even though it has not been finished.