Draw
the DFDs upto 3rd level for Assignment
Marks Recording System
Ans
The eTMA system allows students to submit their answers to
tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) electronically, as computer files, to the
University via a website. Whenever a TMA file is submitted, it is stored in a
central database and a ‘receipt' (a simple message containing a unique number)
is sent to the student to acknowledge that the TMA has been received. Tutors
(Associate Lecturers) are informed, by email, that a TMA is waiting for them to
be marked.
The system enables tutors to download their students'
submissions, mark and comment on the assignments ‘on-screen' and submit the
marked TMAs back to the University. A marked TMA is stored in a database and
the student is informed, by email, that their TMA has been marked and is
available to be retrieved electronically.
When the tutor downloads an unmarked TMA, she also receives
an electronic version of the PT3 form on which the marks awarded for each
question and the overall comments on the TMA must be entered. The completed PT3
form accompanies the TMA when it is sent to the OU database, and eventually
both of them are sent electronically to the student.
Whilst not shown in Figure 1, the fact that both the unmarked
and marked assignments are saved by the University enables it to implement a
number of web-based reports that provide summary information to students and
tutors on the current status of their assignments within the system, as well as
providing management information for the University's Assignment Handling
Office.
To match the existing paper-based TMA system, marks and tutor
comments are extracted from marked assignments and added to the students'
records. Since the number and size of eTMAs is potentially huge, the University
has decided that complete marked and unmarked assignments would be stored only
for a short period of time.
From the start, the aim was to provide a web browser
interface for both students and tutors. However, for security reasons, there
would be two subsystems: one for students and one for tutors.
Should the eTMA system ever fail and be unavailable to
students, a back-up system has been implemented in which students are able to
submit an assignment as an attachment to an email. The attachment is extracted
by the University and fed into the eTMA system once the eTMA system is
operational again.
The basic system has been gradually enhanced and now provides
a number of facilities not shown in Figure 1. For example, one of the OU's
quality control systems involves monitoring, that is, examining samples of each
tutor's work to ensure that standards of marking are being maintained. In the
paper-based TMA system, clerks in the central Assignment Handling Office take
samples of marked TMAs, photocopy them, and send the copies to the monitors
(academic staff who review the work of tutors and report back on the quality of
the work). In the current version of the eTMA system, electronic copies of the
tutors' work are sent to the monitors who will send back electronic versions of
their reports.
The eTMA system also checks a number of business rules
regarding the submission of TMAs. For example, a student can make as many
submissions as he likes, but only the last one will be marked (provided the
submissions are made before the cut-off date or before the tutor has downloaded
the eTMA).
The system also rejects any submission that either contains a
virus or is too large.
Replace tutor-marked
assignments wirh Assignment Marks Recording System
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