TLS in the Classroom

[cwittern]

This memo tries to lay out the needs and objectives of using TLS in a classroom setting and think about how they might be implemented within the current system. Based on previous conversations, here are the components considered:

• 'tls-teacher', a new role that will have the ability to create a 'tls-class' and admit students to this class.
• 'tls-class' is a data structure that is created and owned by (one or more) 'tls-teacher's. It holds the members of the class, which are registered as 'tls-user's by the teacher, upon request, and at the same time enrolled in the 'tls-class'. The class has a period of activity, after which the students will revert to be 'ordinary' tls-users.
• The 'tls-class' also holds a list of reading materials, which contains pointers to complete or partial texts that are available in the TLS. For the sections contained in the class, the display of SWL annotations will be blocked for the time of the class or until the owner of the class releases them. Students will be able to create their own annotations, which are visible to themselves and the teacher.
• Since all existing annotations can be seen by the guest user without login, the students still have the means to see the these annotations, a fact the teacher has to bear in mind when using assignments within the TLS for grading.
• For students enrolled in the class, the list of texts will display on the home screen upon login, in the place of the current list of recently visited texts. The teacher might add additional information to this list.
• The teacher might define an enrollment period, during which he can admit students to the system and to his class. The students will apply in the sign-up screen, to which the classes will be added as options.

Comments?

[matchachoco95]

I'm terribly sorry for not replying to this for so long but thank you so much for the idea! This sounds like a wonderful start towards a broader integration of the TLS into the teaching context. I believe, however, that this point

"Since all existing annotations can be seen by the guest user without login, the students still have the means to see the these annotations, a fact the teacher has to bear in mind when using assignments within the TLS for grading."

could pose a serious issue in terms of grading as you have already mentioned. Perhaps the guest account should be blocked from viewing the assigned attributions in the text once there are actual classes to be held? I think for most people using that account, it would be more than sufficient to have the list of possible attributions pop up once they mark a character (as most people are more interested in the translations anyway I feel). This way, students can slowly adapt to the way the "pros" attribute: choose from existing attributions by comparing to examples found in other texts and, if nothing that has already been observed fits the passage examined, create a new attribution. The very first approaches to attribution should probably be "dry training" anyway. ;-)