Project Success

The Project Success office requires an online form for students asking to take a test with accommodations such as screen readers and additional time; once filled out, the online form will be routed electronically via Plone workflow to the professor for approval, then to the Project Success office for setting up then administering the test. The current process has the student physically picking up a blue sheet from the office, filling it out, walking it to the professor (who must in turn fill in other portions and sign it), and walking it back to the office. Moving to a paperless system with electronic routing and notification will be a notable process improvement.

• Will use workflow to route forms electronically once student has filled them out. Instructors will approve or reject requests. Approved requests will be routed electronically to the Project Success office.

Use Cases

• Student joins the project (Student object)
  • Staff logs into site, adds a new student object, enters name, emplid, contact information, saves. New student object is moved automatically to the students folder.
• Student asks to have accommodations for a particular course (ParticipationForm object)
  • Student logs into site, goes to home folder, adds a ParticipationForm object, chooses the course for which he/she would like to have test accommodations, saves. (Student can choose only courses for which he/she is currently enrolled). Warning appears on screen saying that the student must submit the form next.
  • When student submits the ParticipationForm, workflow transitions to a pending review state. System automatically sends email to the instructor of the selected course (and cc's staff and student), asking the instructor to review and approve or reject the request (the email includes URL to the request).
• Instructor approves or rejects the student's ParticipationForm
  • When instructor clicks on the request URL, he/she is asked to log in if not already logged in.
  • If instructor wishes to approve, he/she selects the accommodations he/she will allow, saves the ParticipationForm, then approves it.
  • If instructor wishes to reject, he/she simply rejects it (no need to select allowed accommodations), but must enter a rejection note. System automatically sends email to student and to staff on rejection and approval (and cc's the instructor).
• Student learns of a specific test date (Bluesheet object)
  • If the Participation Form request was approved, student may proceed with adding a new Bluesheet object when the date and time of a particular test becomes known. Student selects the course and enters the test date and time.
  • If the student has not been approved for that course (ie. a ParticipationForm exists with the same student emplid, semester, and course ID), an error message is displayed.
  • If the student has been approved for that course (ie. there is a matching ParticipationForm object), the allowed accommodations are copied into the Bluesheet object. Student saves the object. A warning is displayed saying that the Bluesheet must be submitted next.
  • Student submits the Bluesheet. System sends an email to student and to staff (and to instructor?).
• Instructor approves the specific test date (Bluesheet)
  • Instructor clicks on the emailed URL, logs into the site, approves the Bluesheet. (Is there a case in which the instructor would not approve? If there is no such case, we can eliminate this workflow step entirely).
• Staff receives the approved Bluesheet. From now on all Bluesheet handling is internal to the office.
  • Staff does whatever it needs to handle the new approved Bluesheet (eg. add it to the calendar, check resources?).
  • Staff transitions the Bluesheet to the next states: waitingForTestPickup, waitingToAdminister, waitingToReturnTest, testReturnedToInstructor, archived (the archived transition could happen automatically at the end of the semester).
• End of semester cleanup (ParticipationForm, Bluesheet, and Student objects)
  • Staff run a batch process that transitions the semester's ParticipationForm and Bluesheet objects to the archived state.
  • Staff transition individual Student objects to the archived state as needed (maybe only when a student graduates?).