CSC/ECE 517 Fall 2015 E1579 Instructor account creation over the web

Introduction to Expertiza

Expertiza[1] is a project developed using Ruby on Rails[2]. It provides features like peer review, team assignments and submission of projects. This can be achieved by submitting code base, URL of hosted code on remote server and Wiki submissions. It is an open source application and the code can be cloned from GitHub[3]. This application provides an efficient way to manage assignments, grades and reviews. This makes the process easier and faster when the class strength is large.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to allow new users to access the system and experiment with all the features of Expertiza and make a “Demo like” feel for the new user where the user can experiment with it. This project adds a new feature of Instructor Creation over the web which is completely different from the previous way the user and instructor accounts were created by existing super administrators, instructors or TAs. Code will be restructured to convey readability, handle exceptions.

Scope

The scope of this project will involve adding a new View/Page that would input all the new user(Instructor) Details which would be a signup page.The signup page will be designed in a way which would have security feature as Captchas embedded into it. There would be another new View/Page created that would act as the landing page for the newly created Demo_instructor which would contain specific instructions/ Video on how to add assignments, add students to the assignments. Also an email is sent soon after a successful creation of such user. The project also deals with providing limited access to all the features, which could be extended manually by a super admin.The code will also be tested well to ensure the robustness of newly added functionality without compromising the existing working functionalities.

Implementation

What needs to be done

• Allow people to request instructor accounts over the web.
  • Add a Link in Main Screen “Instructor Account request”.
  • Create a New Page where the User Fills the details wrt to a new Instructor Privileged access.
  • Include Captcha Functionality and other necessary features for a secure Sign Up.

• Upon Successful Creation of Instructor Account.
  • Redirect the New Instructor back to the Login Page.
  • Send an email to the super Admin notifying him of a new Instructor that has been created over the web

• Upon Successful Login of the New Instructor
  • Redirect the User to a New Landing Page/Instruction Page which gives information on how to create an assignments and register students for it and other basic information needed. Basically a Placeholder page that can be used for providing information.
  • Provide a Button that would redirect him to the main Expertiza page.
  • Make sure that he does not see any Public entities( assignments, Courses) created by any other TA's, Admins or Super Admins.
  • Should have a general access to Expertiza and should be able to perform basic actions like adding a course, adding an assignment and assigning students for the created assignments.

Files to be changed

• role.rb
• instructor.rb
• roles_permission.rb
• roles_permission_controller.rb
• sign_up_sheet_controller.rb

A role named Demo-Instructor is added to the added to the role.rb model with the following code:

 def self.demo_instructor
   @@instructor_role ||= find_by_name 'Demo-Instructor'
 end
 
 def demo_instructor?
   name['Demo-Instructor']
 end 

Various controller and model files containing action_allowed? should be updated as

 def action_allowed?
   ['Instructor', 'Teaching Assistant', 'Administrator', 'Super-Administrator', 'Student', 'Demo-Instructor'].include? current_role_name
 end

roles table will be updated will be updated by the super-administrator from the new.html.erb form associated with the new action of roles_controller

For the creation of Demo Instructor experimenting with the features of expertiza

In the controller admin_controller.rb, the new actions to be added and their purpose is explained below.

Action added: new_demo_instructor
Purpose: Linked to the Signup form for creating an instructor to allow the experimenting with expertiza features

Action added: create_demo_instructor
Purpose: the save operation for the instructor created into the database

Action added: list_demo_instructors
Purpose: To list them

Action added : remove_demo_instructor
Purpose: For the super administrator to remove the instructor

The corresponding views for the new_demo_instructor, list_demo_instructors, remove_demo_instructor are added manually.

Upon Demo Instructor Login into the account created
In the tree_display_controller.rb, goto_instructions action is added and instructions.html.erb view is created for this action. instructions.html.erb contains the instructions required for the creation of courses, assignments, adding participants to assignments, etc.

Requirements

The main objective for the project is to add the new signup functionality for the new User and also to clarify and improve code quality. Although specific implementation details will change through this process, the functionality of the system will remain intact. The overall requirements to the system will therefore not change. We need to make sure that the new demo instructor will not be able to see all the public entities of other instructors, TA's. need to implement and change all the necessary files to make sure unnecessary items are not showcased to the demo instructor.

Flow

The following diagram represents the high level flow of control in the project.

Mock Ups

The role creation page by super administrator.

The Expertiza Home page with the Demo_Instructor.

The instructions page will have few instructions and a Simple Video Tutorial.

Use Cases

1.Sign-up as new Instructor: New users can signup to view all features(except the public entities).

2.View instructions page: New instructor can view an instructions page for a walk through of the features.

3.Super-admin gives access: Super-admin gives access to all public entities for the newly created instructor.

4.New instructor-private items The demo instructor can access all the private items.

Use case Diagram

We would be writing the below test cases so as to make sure all the necessary functionalities are properly implemented and tested.

Test Cases

1.Sign-up Test Case: We will be checking if the demo user provides all the inputs needed for proper signup along with passing the Captcha .

2.Landing Page Test Case: Will be checking on if all the demo users land on the same Instruction page and if other Users like TA/SuperUser/Instructors do not land on the Instruction page.

3. Accessibility Test: The Demo User should be only be able to access his only entities and not the Public entities of other users(TA/SuperUser/Instructors).

4. Adding Entities Test Case: Will check if the Demo user is able to 1) create Assignments, 2) Add students to Assignments, 3) Make Questionnaires and have access to these entities.

References

Expertiza home page
Github Wikipedia Page
Ruby on Rails Wikipedia Page
Papers on Expertiza