Taskforce is a set of scripts which enable automatic assignment or test submission, supports grade calculation, feedback and grade reports. Teacher refers to a user which gives and grades tests or assignments. Student refers to a user which takes tests and assignments. Name test refers to test or assignment.
Scripts for teachers:
All scripts must be in a directory on $PATH.
Before starting using Taskforce, you need to run tfinstall script.
Two questions are asked during the installation process:
$TFROOT variable in ~/.taskforce, it is ~/taskforce by default) - it is where all data is going to be stored; this directory is referred to as $TFROOT later on,
$TFGROUP variable in ~/.taskforce), simultaneously no student is allowed to be assigned to this group (provides authorization mechanisms for the submission process)?
tfinstall script creates ~/.taskforce configuration file which is subsequently used by other Taskforce scripts.
Important: ~/.taskforce must be world readable (or at least student readable) since it is used by all Taskforce scripts.
To prepare a structure for a test the teacher should issue:
tfprep nameWhere
name is the name of the test.
The test name might include course name or number and test name or number for easy recognition, i.e.: first test for Operating Systems course could be created by issuing:
tfprep os1Subsequent Operating Systems tests could be named
os2, os3 etc.
The process creates appropriate directory named after the test name in $TFROOT (see Section 4).
From now on, students are allowed to submit they course work.
There is a certain security issue related to the test preparation process, see Section 5.
To disallow students to submit their course work (when the test is due) the teacher should issue:
tfend namewhere
name is the test name.
This process can be automated by other means i.e.. using at or crontab.
There is a certain security issue related to the test preparation process, see Section 5.
Student course work (a set of files of any type or contents) for a particular test and student is saved in $TFROOT/test/student/in directory upon its submission (regarding the submission process see Section 3.1).
Where test is the test name, student is the student name.
The directory contains original files which should not be altered by the teacher (to have the original course work at hand).
In addition there is also tflog file there which contains extra information about the submitted files: their flags and submission time-stamp.
To grade a test the teacher should create a file in $TFROOT/test/student directory.
Every entry in any file created in this directory which starts with # followed by an optional -, followed by a real number is treated as a partial score for this test.
For example if there is a file which contains:
#2 algorithm #3.5 programming Unfortunately you have received some penalty #-1 cheating penaltyIt means that the student receives
points in total for the test.
If there is more than one file partial points from all files are added up.
It might be convenient (especially for programming assignments) to include marks in the student course work context.
In order to do this original student files from in directory can be copied to $TFROOT/test/student and marks can be incorporated in them.
Any file created in $TFROOT/test/student directory will be send back to the student as a feedback from the test.
The feedback is sent by email. To send a feedback regarding particular test to all the students which took it issue:
tfsend test subject filewhere
test is the test name, subject is the subject of an email message the students are going to receive, and file is a file name which contents is going to be included at the beginning of the email (contents of this file can explain for example the grading policy).
Each student taking the test receives a separate email message.
The body of the message consists of the contents of the file specified by the teacher (as mentioned above), the sum of all partial points, and the contents of all files which are in $TFROOT/test/student directory which is: partial points and the feedback as created by the teacher.
To display all grades for all students issue:
tfgrades testwhere
test is the test name, wild-cards are welcome, i.e.: to see grades from all tests which names start with ``os'':
tfgrades os*To see grades for particular students:
tfgrades os* wojnicki dubaj
The grades are displayed as newline separated records. Each record consists of comma separated fields. The first record is a header which describes fields in subsequent records:
NAME,test_1,test_2,...,test_n,TOTALwhere
test_1
test_n are the test names.
Subsequent records are as follows:
student_name,test_1_grade,test_2_grade,...,test_n_grade,total_scoreThe test grades and the total score are calculated automatically from partial grades entered by the teacher during the grading process. For example, if there are two tests registered in the system:
os1 and os2 and there are two students: smith and white, the output will look like this:
NAME,os1,os2,TOTAL smith,21.5,0.5,22 white,5,-0,6The partial grade of
-0 means that the student didn't take this particular test or the test has not been graded yet.
Scripts for students:
$TROOT/testname/tfsubmit filewhere
testname is the test name, and file is the file to send.
Multiple files can be specified as subsequent arguments, directories are not permitted.
For example the following command will submit files: file1, file2, and multiple files which names start with other from current directory as test01.
$TROOT/test01/tfsubmit file1 file2 other*There is a certain security issue related to the test preparation process, see Section 5.
$TFROOT Taskforce root directory (default: ~/taksforce)
test_name test directory
student_name student directory
in contains submitted files and submission log
tflog submission log (file permissions, timestamp)
The Taskforce configuration file, which is ~/.taskforce availability must be at least student and teacher readable.
All Taskforce scripts rely on it.
Upon preparing a test (calling tfprep) a directory is created with permissions set to: drwxrwsrwt.
The directory has its group owner set to $TFGROUP as defined in the configuration file.
Such permissions make the submission process possible.
Furthermore tfsubmit script is generated and placed in it.
Upon calling tfend the permissions on the test directory are set to: drwx------ to prevent students from resubmitting files or tampering with them.
After submitting a file the student is free to alter permissions on the student directory within the Taskforce directory hierarchy.
In particular he or she can alter permissions or group ownership on this directory which might deny the teacher access to it.
Similarly any user is allowed to save any file at $ROOT/test directory before the test is due.
To prevent such a tampering a different submission method based on a suided application can be developed.
The Taskforce scripts require the following tools: bash, ls, bc, basename, mkdir, chown, chmod, chgrp, cat, mail, awk.
To simplify grading/grade submission process and increase its effectiveness. Partial grades are added up automatically on demand. There is no need of having separate grade sheets. Students receive decent feedback with detailed remarks and partial grades/points. Simple interface. The files containing feedback and partial grades must be regular text files - otherwise the grade calculation process can be disrupted.
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