Running head: LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 1
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Running head: LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Lab 1 – CESR-Augustus Product Description Ashley Grimm CS411W Janet Brunelle September 20, 2015 Version 1 1 LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 2 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 3 2 CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION .................................................................. 4 2.1 Key Product Features and Capabilities ............................................................................ 4 2.2 Major Components (Hardware/Software) ........................................................................ 5 3 IDENTIFICATION OF CASE STUDY.................................................................................. 6 4 CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT PROTOTYPE DESCRIPTION .......................................... 7 4.1 Prototype Architecture (Hardware/Software) ................................................................ 12 4.2 Prototype Features and Capabilities ............................................................................... 14 4.3 Prototype Development Challenges ............................................................................... 14 GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................................. 15 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 17 List of Figures Figure 1. Prototype of Major Functional Components .................................................................13 List of Tables Table 1. Real World vs Prototype Product Description ..................................................................7 LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 1 3 INTRODUCTION Students of English as a Second Language (ESL), are learners with a non-native understanding of the English language. International pupils come from a variety of countries to learn English in the United States. According to Old Dominion University ([ODU] n.d.), “Since it was founded in 1981, the English Language Center (ELC) at Old Dominion University has taught thousands of students from nearly 100 countries.” In a college environment, an ESL student will be learning English in order to prepare for attending classes taught in English. There are trials with teaching ESL as there are a wide range of fields of study with specific terminology not used in the everyday English language. As a result, these terms are a high priority for an ESL learner. The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill (2015) contends, “…their [ESL writers] ability to develop the content of their essays is limited by their lack of vocabulary or by their difficulty with complex sentence structures.” For a teacher, the difficulty is trying to overcome this issue by tailoring their ESL lessons to each of their pupils. With the time a professor spends setting up general lessons and grading the assignments, modifying lessons to assist specific students becomes a challenging struggle. Another concern an ESL student must face is waiting for an assignment to be graded in order to get any feedback regarding their progress. Classroom instructors tends to focus more on group learning as opposed to a single student, which is a detriment when teaching ESL. Crumpler (2014) states, “Educators should focus on the needs of individual students… to meet their developmental, emotional and learning needs.” The software of CESR-Augustus can help both ESL learners and professors by giving an instructor the ability to adapt lessons to a student and more time to assist specific pupils due to the auto-grade feature. LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 2 4 CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The generation of worksheets dedicated to a specific area of study can be produced by using CESR. CESR identifies the parts of speech and then a teacher moves this text to a separate file in order to remove the words and replace them with blanks. These custom worksheets are then delivered by hand to respective students and must be returned for grading. CESR-Augustus will add a digital worksheet section to the existing CESR webapplication. In worksheet generation, a teacher will use a chosen CESR file and assign settings before making it electronically available to a student or class. A pupil can then visit the section that allows completion of digital worksheets and submit them for auto-grading. At this point, both an instructor and student can view the statistics of an attempt. 2.1 Key Product Features and Capabilities To generate a digital worksheet a CESR file is used. The file has marked every word with its corresponding part of speech or vocabulary. At this point, an option is chosen for extraction and the words are tagged with a location marker so they can be matched with their appropriate blank. The blanks that replace the removed words are all the same length. In the list of words for students to choose from a word will only be listed once. A duplicate word will be marked with the same tag so that it may be placed anywhere that a specific word is a correct choice. The following are the options presented to the teacher when creating a digital worksheet: The list of the options given for removal of words: noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, article, vocabulary, and exception The field of study Whether the worksheet is for practice or an assessment LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION The amount of attempts that a user may have for a specific worksheet When or if a student may view the correct answers 5 Once a worksheet is generated a teacher has the option of assigning a worksheet to a class or to a specific student. CESR-Augustus uses the tagged location markers to compare the answers filled in the blanks with the correct answers and automatically grades a worksheet based on a percentage of how many blanks were filled incorrectly. An instructor has the option of altering any grade that a student has on a worksheet. After the teacher has assigned a worksheet, the students will get an alert detailing a new worksheet’s availability. A pupil can then complete the worksheet by filling in the blanks using a drag-and-drop approach. On submission they can see the automatically generated grade achieved during that particular attempt. A graded worksheet has the grade and answers saved into the CESR-Augustus database so that both the student and the teacher can track learning progression. 2.2 Major Components (Hardware/Software) The hardware required to use CESR-Augustus is limited to a few components: a server, a client computer, and an Internet connection. As a web-based application, the server will contain all of the relevant software necessary for a user to interact with the application. The user will require a computer and a connection to the Internet in order to access CESR-Augustus. The software of CESR-Augustus is comprised of several components. The firewall and authentication are a part of the software in order to comply with the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). CESR-Augustus will supplement the already existing CESR software by adding features to the application program interface, user interface, and database. As with any web-based application, a web browser is required. LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 6 CESR-Augustus Interface with CESR Users of the CESR-Augustus application will require a single sign in. A teacher will enter custom text into the already existing CESR software for classification. Once a teacher has confirmed that each part of speech has been correctly identified in the text, a teacher can then move on to worksheet generation. CESR-Augustus enhances the CESR software with the generation, distribution, and database storage of worksheets. The worksheet generation takes the file that the CESR engine generated, and gives a teacher the option to select a part of speech or vocabulary to remove. After the teacher has finished making their selections, the worksheet, with the blanks visible, is then made available to the teacher for test viewing. 3 IDENTIFICATION OF CASE STUDY CESR-Augustus will build upon the existing CESR software and enable the application user to complete digital worksheets that are customized to a specific student’s field of study. These will be automatically graded by the application, saving the professors the extra time logged for grading. This also grants the instructor more time to generate either more worksheets or offer personal tutoring to pupils. The grade and answers will be recorded in the database for further review both by the student and the teacher. A pupil can use these statistics to track their progress and increase their learning speed due to the instantaneous feedback provided. The teacher can use these statistics to identify where the students are having problems. This product is intended for the use of ESL educators in a higher learning college. As such, it could be used not only by pupils and instructors, but also by teacher’s assistants and tutors. According to Institute of International Education (2015), in a census for 2013/2014, the LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 7 number of international students has grown by 8.1% in the past 10 years with a recorded number of 886,052 students at colleges and universities, of these 42% were at an undergraduate level and 37% were at graduate level. Higher learning educators are not the only place that CESRAugustus could be useful. There is the potential for use not only for ESL learners in the college system but also for every grade level. Face the Facts USA (2013) reports, “Ten percent of all public school students are English as a Second Language learners (ESL), meaning they have limited English proficiency. But less than 1 percent of public school teachers are ESL instructors.” The application could also be used to teach native English speaks more about the English language. 4 CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT PROTOTYPE DESCRIPTION The prototype will feature almost all previously planned functions into the design. This means that an instructor level user of CESR-Augustus will be able to, generate, assign to a pupil or class, collect after a given date, and check the statistics of the automatically graded worksheets. A student will be able to complete worksheets and see the statistics for their progress. The feature completely removed from the product is the captcha for use in identifying between a human and machine user. The capability that is removed in the prototype is the ability for pupils to generate, store, and complete their own personal digital worksheets. Table 1 explains in detail the list of features in both the real world product and the prototype. Features Real World Project Prototype Login to the CESR-Augustus system Fully Functional Fully Functional Use a captcha Eliminated Eliminated Students Login and Account Information LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 8 See classes assigned Fully Functional Fully Functional See assigned instructor Fully Functional Fully Functional See notifications when assigned digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional See the due date of a digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional See how many attempts are allowed for a digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional Open an assigned digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional Enter answers into the blanks on the assigned digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional Submit a completed digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional See a confirmation that digital worksheet was submitted Fully Functional Fully Functional See the grade of a completed digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional See the correct answers for a completed digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional See a report of all grades for all assignments Fully Functional Fully Functional Filter all previously submitted digital worksheets by class Fully Functional Fully Functional See all previously submitted digital worksheets Fully Functional Fully Functional Input custom text to create a new worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated Choose which part of speech to remove from the text Fully Functional Eliminated See the text with the part of speech removed Fully Functional Eliminated Store this new text as a digital worksheet in the CESR-Augustus worksheet database Fully Functional Eliminated Edit the modified text Fully Functional Eliminated Apply a subject type to a digital worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated Assignments Grading and Reports Student-Created Worksheets LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 9 Grading Student-Created Worksheets Enter answers into the blanks of created digital worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated See the answers to created digital worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated See the grade of created digital worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated Store my completed attempt of created digital worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated Submit created digital worksheet to an instructor Fully Functional Eliminated Enter answers into the blanks on worksheets made available by other students Fully Functional Eliminated Be able to do everything a student can do Fully Functional Fully Functional Log into the CESR-Augustus system Fully Functional Fully Functional Saving Student-Created Worksheets Teachers Login and Account Information Use a captcha when logging into the CESR-Augustus Eliminated system Eliminated See a student view of the interface Fully Functional Fully Functional Create and assign a new student account Fully Functional Fully Functional Create classes Fully Functional Fully Functional Add and revoke student access to a class Fully Functional Fully Functional Input custom text to create a new worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional Choose which part(s) of speech or vocabulary to remove from the text Fully Functional Fully Functional See the text with the part(s) of speech or vocabulary removed Fully Functional Fully Functional Store this new text as a digital worksheet in the CESR-Augustus worksheet database Fully Functional Fully Functional Edit the modified text Fully Functional Fully Functional Worksheet Creation LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 10 Apply a subject type to a digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional Store a completed digital worksheet in the CESRAugustus worksheet database Fully Functional Fully Functional Make digital worksheets available to a student Fully Functional Fully Functional Receive notifications when new completed digital worksheet is available Fully Functional Fully Functional Create assignments Fully Functional Fully Functional Create assignments for a class of students Fully Functional Fully Functional Specify a due date for an assignment Fully Functional Fully Functional Select how many attempts are allowed per student on a digital worksheet for an assignment Fully Functional Fully Functional Make digital worksheets available to a class of students Fully Functional Fully Functional View assigned digital worksheets for a class Fully Functional Fully Functional Choose when a student can see digital worksheet answers Fully Functional Fully Functional See the grade for completed digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional See the correct answers for completed digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional Be able to edit the grade for completed digital worksheet Fully Functional Fully Functional Be able to review a digital worksheet completed by a student Fully Functional Fully Functional Store a digital worksheet completed by a student Fully Functional Fully Functional See graded digital worksheets Fully Functional Fully Functional Edit digital worksheet grades Fully Functional Fully Functional See all previously graded digital worksheets for a particular student Fully Functional Fully Functional Assignment Creation Grading Assignment Management LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 11 Be able to batch save and download assignments from a course Fully Functional Fully Functional Be able to batch upload assignments for a course Fully Functional Fully Functional Remove assignments from completed courses Fully Functional Fully Functional Delete completed courses Fully Functional Fully Functional Edit a student-created digital worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated Store a student-created digital worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated Return a student-created digital worksheet to the student who created it Fully Functional Eliminated See graded digital worksheets for a class of students Fully Functional Eliminated See the part of speech statistics of a digital worksheet Fully Functional Eliminated Choose the level of access granted to a class of students Fully Functional Eliminated Receive a notification when a student submits a new digital worksheet for review Fully Functional Eliminated Log into the CESR-Augustus system Fully Functional Fully Functional Be able to do everything a student can do in the CESR-Augustus system Fully Functional Fully Functional Be able to do everything a teacher can do in the CESR-Augustus system Fully Functional Fully Functional Create and assign a new administrator account Fully Functional Fully Functional Create and assign a new teacher account Fully Functional Fully Functional Create and assign a new student account Fully Functional Fully Functional Assign default permissions to students for a class Fully Functional Fully Functional Assign permissions to a teacher for a class Fully Functional Fully Functional Student-Created Digital Worksheets Administrator Login and Account Information Account Creation Determining Permissions LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 12 API Interface Interface with CESR to remove designated part of speech Fully Functional Fully Functional Save the removed text and the location from which it was removed Fully Functional Fully Functional Compare submitted answers to the correct removed text Fully Functional Fully Functional Calculate grades for submitted worksheets Fully Functional Fully Functional Remove student access to a digital worksheet after the due date Fully Functional Fully Functional Remove student access to a digital worksheet after maximum submissions Fully Functional Fully Functional Fully Functional Fully Functional Creating Worksheets and Grading Account Recovery Recover a lost password Table 1: Real World vs Prototype Product Description 4.1 Prototype Architecture (Hardware/Software) [This space intentionally left blank.] LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 13 Figure 1: Prototype of Major Functional Components As the figure 1 diagram illustrates, the prototype software and hardware of CESRAugustus will be stored in an Old Dominion University Computer Science virtual machine, except for any client computers, web browsers and Internet connections. This virtual machine will include all the security measures, database, user interfaces, and application program interfaces. The prototype will incorporate dummy accounts for student and teacher users to test the functionality of the product. These dummy accounts will involve the generation of digital worksheets, assigning these digital worksheets to classes or students, completing worksheets, and the statistical representation of a student’s progress on worksheets. LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 4.2 14 Prototype Features and Capabilities The prototype will open up the possibility for current ODU students and instructors to test the product and give feedback while it is still in production. The main focus will be on the digital worksheet and its supporting features, generation and completion. The product will have several auxiliary features for this main task such as auto-grading, reviewing of the grade statistics, and attempts. Another group of factors is teacher distribution of worksheets or assignments with and without due dates, the collection of assignments, and student submission. 4.3 Prototype Development Challenges There are some risks involved with the CESR-Augustus software. ESL students might not be aware of the software and so might not use it. The web-application may be too complex for easy use. It is also possible that users will simply not like the software. There might be concerns with the security of student information stored on the servers. Integrating CESRAugustus with CESR may introduce bugs into the previous version of the software in addition to the difficulties associated with understanding the previous code. There might be errors in the markup of the parts of speech in the digital worksheets due to incorrect CESR files. Mitigating the risk of incorrectly marked parts of speech in digital worksheets is done by allowing the teachers to manually change the markings. Allowing current ESL students to test the prototype during production will raise awareness as well as testing the software for ease of use. The web-application will be protected by a firewall and authentication system to comply with FERPA. Working with the previous designers of the CESR project will help current developers understand the code. LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 15 GLOSSARY Assignment: For our purposes, an assignment is a digital worksheet that is assigned to a student with a due date. Authentication: is the procedure of requiring users to log into a system with a valid username and password to ensure both that all users have proper permissions to access the content and that no one using the system is anonymous. Captcha: is a web application used to verify that users visiting a website are humans by showing images of distorted text and requiring the users to type what they see. CESR: is a software that identifies the parts of speech of all words in a given section of English text. Each different part of speech is highlighted in a different color. CESR also will place slashes between lexical bundles. Users may manually modify the slash placements and part of speech labels. CESR-Augustus: is the next iteration of CESR software that incorporates a web application for creating, assigning, and grading digital worksheets for ESL students. DEW: stands for Digital English Worksheet, to be used as a file type for the worksheets. Digital Worksheet: displays text in a browser having blanks where words have been removed with a word bank showing all the words that have been removed. To complete the digital worksheet, one must select or type the words from the word bank to fill in each blank space. ELC: English Language Center at Old Dominion University ESL: English as a Second Language. FERPA: Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 16 JSON: JSON denotes the file extension used by JavaScript Object Notation, an open standard format for transmitting data objects as human-readable text. Lexical Bundle: A lexical bundle is a group of words that occur repeatedly together or represent a single thought. ODU: Old Dominion University Parts of Speech: Parts of speech are the basic categories of words that make up the English language. There are nine parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, interjections, and articles. SLASH: is a program incorporated into CESR to identify and place slashes between lexical bundles. LAB 1 – CESR-AUGUSTUS PRODUCT DESCRIPTION 17 REFERENCES Crumpler, Beth. (March 12, 2014). ELL student population increases, obstacles and achievement. Retrieved September 2015, from Multibriefs: Exclusive: http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/ell-student-population-increases-obstacles-andacademic-achievement. Face the Facts USA. (August 12, 2013). Limited-English students test public schools. Retrieved September 2015, from Face the Facts USA: http://www.facethefactsusa.org/facts/limitedenglish-students-test-public-schools. Institute of International Education. (2015). Fast Facts. Retrieved September 2015, from Institute of International Education: http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/OpenDoors/Data/Fast-Facts. Old Dominion University. (n.d.). About the English Language Center. Retrieved September, 2015, from Old Dominion University: https://www.odu.edu/cepd/esl/about. The Writing Center at UNC Chapel Hill. (2010-2014). Just Check My Grammar. Retrieved February 8, 2015, from The Writing Center: http://writingcenter.unc.edu/facultyresources/tips-on-teaching-esl-students/just-check-my-grammar/.