The following use cases and database requirements come from weekly meetings of the Database Development Team.
| No. | Status | Meeting Date | Use Case Description | Decision Made? | dBase as Test Bank | User training/
documentation | Content metadata | Course Metadata | Query related | System Requirement | Must/Should/Nice to have |
|---|
| 1 | partial | April 13, 2007
September 18, 2007
June 19, 2007 | Tagging assessment items: with Blooms data, concept categories, learning objective, some other taxonomy
tag in multiple ways
tag with multiple raters | yes - will support | | | x | | | | Must |
| 2 | partial | July 3, 2007 | Assessment items will be tagged according to a domain specific ontology
Biology ontology: NBII Biocomplexity Thesaurus
Ontologies must not be rigid -- must allow for additions. | yes - will support | x | | x | | x | | Must |
| 3 | drop | February 4, 2007
MU-L
JLM | Rubrics: database must support multiple rubrics for an assessment item
multiple scores for an assessment item
multiple raters of an assessment item | yes - will support | x | | x | | | | Must |
| 4 | partial | April 13, 2007 | Data storage: Must store raw response data for assessment items
point values for assessment items and assessments (i.e., entire exams)
student grade on assessment item | yes - will support | | | x | | | | Must |
| 5 | complete | December 4, 2007 | Data return format: rectangular | yes - will support | | | | | | x | Must |
| 6 | incomplete | February 4, 2008 | Return of assessment items: We will use a shopping cart model for users to choose assessment items
Returned questions will be in QTI format; faculty can use other software to translate to exam | pending | x | | | x | | | Must |
| 7 | incomplete | May 18, 2007
October 9, 2007 | Data upload: non-MC exams and student responses.
Student responses are a scanned image -or- electronic. | yes - will support | | | | | | | Must |
| 8 | complete | February 7, 2008 | Security: Faculty who upload data must agree that any identifying information in student responses has been removed
any identifying information in their syllabus that they do not wish to be published in the dBase has been removed. | yes - will support -- how? | | | | | | x | Must |
| 9 | complete | April 13, 2007
May 4, 2007 | Security: Student ids will be hashed with a unique identifier
Faculty and university ids could also be hashed.
data is returned completely anonymous
queries are constrained so as to not return a limited dataset that could identify a student. | yes - will support | | | | | x | x | Must |
| 10 | partial | July 3, 2007
November 6, 2007 | I have additional data/metadata I would like to upload. Where can I do that? | yes - will support | x | x | x | x | | | Must |
| 11 | verify | February 18, 2008
MU-L
JLM | Editing environment for data: how can faculty fix errors in data they have uploaded? | yes - will support | | | | | | x | Must |
| 12 | complete | April 13, 2007
September 18, 2007
KBS | Minimum metadata requirements | yes - will support
have been defined | | | | | | x | Must |
| 13 | complete | May 4, 2007 | I would like to import student response data directly from my excel workbook | yes - will support | | | | | | x | Must |
| 14 | incomplete | June 19, 2007 | Demographic data will be available for all queries.
Faculty uploaded demographic data must be tagged with the date they were current. | yes - will support | | | | x | | | Must |
| 15 | complete | August 30, 2007 | The database must handle multiple instructors for a class. | no | | | | x | x | | Must |
| 16 | complete | August 30, 2007 | Faculty members must be able to indicate pages on an exam that are blank, devoted to a figure, picture or formula | yes - completed? | | | | | | x | Must |
| 17 | complete | September 11, 2007 | Database will treat sections of a course as separate courses.
How can we alleviate work for a faculty member uploading the same assessment for 60 sections of a very large course? | yes | | | | x | x | | Must |
| 18 | complete | October 9, 2007 | Query: track students over time. | yes - will support | | | | x | x | | Must |
| 19 | drop | May 18, 2007
June 19, 2007 | Metadata query: Query for common misconceptions | yes - will support | x | | x | | | | Must |
| 20 | complete | July 31, 2007 | Non-traditional assessments: Scientific reasoning instruments, concept inventories, published assessment
Assessment items will not fit a discipline-based ontology | yes | x | x | x | | x | | Must |
| 21 | partial | June 12, 2007 | I would like to query across data levels (i.e. query for particular assessment items at an institution over time and courses | yes - will support | | | x | x | x | | Must |
| 22 | partial | August 30, 2007 | There will be two levels of data access: Private (visible only to the individual who uploaded the data) and Public (visible to all registered users) | yes - will support | x | x | | | | | Should |
| 23 | - | November 6, 2007 | Multiple taxonomies: the database will support multiple taxonomies. All taxonomies will be viewable by all registered users; however, some taxonomies can only be implemented by specific individuals (e.g., professional society tags of 'good' assessment items) | yes - will support | x | | x | | x | | Should |
| 24 | - | December 4, 2007 | Query: Search database on a paticular type of institution, based on the Carnegie classification system. | pending | | | | | x | | Should |
| 25 | - | December 4, 2007 | Save search history syntax in order to repeat search at some point in the future.
Alternatively, return search syntax with query results. | pending | | | | | x | x | Should |
| 26 | - | KBS | I would like to filter out low-level Bloom questions, multiple choice questions, essay questions, etc. | pending | x | | | | x | | Should |
| 27 | - | KBS | Fostering collaboration: Faculty contact information will be available for all faculty who opt to provide such information. | yes - will support | | | x | x | x | | Should |
| 28 | - | KBS | Unconventional assessment items: database will store the item
Student response data (excel, word files, etc) will also be stored. | yes - will support | x | | | | | x | Nice |
| 29 | - | November 6, 2007 | I have no idea how to classify my assessment items. | no | | x | | | | | Nice |
| 30 | - | May 18, 2007 | Query: Find questions based on format (clicker, mc, short answer, etc)
Find questions that include a particular format element (graph, image, model) | pending -- can this information be gleaned from the parsing software? | x | | x | | x | | Nice |
| 31 | - | June 19, 2007 | Query: What concepts are considered difficult across disciplines. Will the database compute dynamic metadata such as the difficulty of an item? Such data would change based on the data from the students. Difficulty and other performance metrics should be dynamic, rather than asking faculty to upload them. | pending - will we provide simple analysis? | x | | x | | x | | Nice |
| 32 | - | December 4, 2007 | Data analysis: simple analysis of change over time returned with the data. | pending | | | | x | x | | Nice |
| 33 | - | January 10, 2008 | Syllabus: Will not be query-able and will only be anonymous if the faculty uploading removes identifying information. | yes - will support | | | | x | | | Nice |
| 34 | - | Purdue | Who can access data across courses/faculty members? Adiminstrator use to demonstrate compliance of accreditation standards. | pending | | | | | | | Nice |
| 35 | - | November 27, 2007 | User will be able to search nbii thesaurus and with a mouse click, add that concept tag to their assessment item(s). | yes? | x | | x | | | | Nice |
| 36 | - | April 13, 2007 | I would like to import data directly from my course management software (e.g. Angel, Blackboard, WebCT, etc) | outside current scope | | | | | | x | Nice |
| Question # | Question Text | Analysis | Data Sources | How user might query |
|---|
| 1 | Have my course grades declined over the years? | ANOVA of course grades, individual exam grades | Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with records of student grades for each year | Log-in as myself, check-off my courses that I am interested in analyzing |
| 2 | Why are my course grades declining? Are more students taking AP (bio) and placing out of this course? | Relationship among ACT/SAT scores, AP bio scores, course grades | Registrar demographic data: ACT/SAT scores, AP Bio scores; course grades; Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with records of student grades for each year | Log-in as myself, check-off my courses that I am interested in analyzing |
| 3 | Has the use of clickers improved student learning in my course? | Correlation (regression) between clicker use, clicker score(s) and exam scores | Registrar demographic data; Faculty uploaded exams, tagged by topic; Faculty uploaded clicker questions, tagged by topic; Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with: Annual records of student grades, Student grades on individual assessment items, Student grades or responses on individual clicker items | Log-in as myself, check-off my courses that I am interested in analyzing. Within courses, I will mark assessment items of interest (clicker questions on topic a, assessment questions on topic a) |
| 4 | What is the impact of multiple attempts at online homework on exam scores in my course? | Correlation between number of tries and exam scores
Regression/partial regression using GPA or other control variables | Registrar demographic data
Registrar GPA data
Faculty uploaded exams, tagged by topic
Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with:
Student exam scores
Student grades on individual items | Log-in as myself, check-off my courses that I am interested in analyzing
With-in each course, I will mark assessment items of interest (homework questions on topic a, assessment questions on topic a) |
| 5 | How are my students performing on a particular topic?
Are they doing better on evolution this year (versus last year)? | Pre-test/post-test analysis
ANOVA of grades on specific assessment items | Registrar demographic data
Faculty uploaded assessments and rubric for each year, tagged by topic
Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with:
Student exam scores for each year, Student grades on individual assessment items for each year | Log-in as myself, check-off my courses that I am interested in analyzing
Within each course, I will mark assessment items of interest |
| 6 | How are my students performing on questions that are of a higher Bloom’s level? | Descriptive statistics on questions based on classifications – correlation
Cluster analysis (PCA) of outcomes based on classification, topic, and the interaction of those two | Registrar demographic data
Faculty uploaded assessments and rubric, tagged with Bloom’s data
Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with: Student exam scores for each year; Student grades on individual assessment items for each year | Log-in as myself, check-off my courses that I am interested in analyzing
Within each course, I will mark assessment items of interest to me, based on Bloom’s levels |
| 7 | Does a particular teaching innovation (i.e. Avida-ED) impact student learning of a particular topic (i.e. Evolution) in my course? | Correlation between innovation and exam score (or score on particular assessment items on exam) over time | Registrar demographic data
Faculty uploaded assessments and rubric for each year, tagged by topic
Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with: Student exam scores for each year; Student grades on individual assessment items for each year | Log-in as myself, check-off my courses that I am interested in analyzing
Within each course, I will mark assessment items of interest to me, based on keywords or tags\Demographic data
Rubric for exam or assessment items
Student response data for exam or assessment items (at T0 and T1)
Student scores for exam or assessment items (at T0 and T1) |
| 8 | Is there a difference in course grades between sections? (e.g. Different sections could be taught by different TAs, at different times, etc) | Correlation between section and individual assessment (or assessment items)/course grades (or between TA and section grades) | Registrar demographic data
Faculty uploaded assessments and rubric for each year, tagged by topic
Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with: Student exam scores; Student grades on individual assessment items | Log-in as myself, check-off my courses that I am interested in analyzing |
| 9 | How do my students compare with students from another school on topic x? | Correlation between institution and grade on topic x. | Registrar demographic data
Faculty uploaded assessments and rubrics, tagged by topic
Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with: Student exam scores; Student grades on individual assessment items
Metadata linking course to a particular type/sized institution | Log-in as myself, check off my courses that I am interested in analyzing
Select my assessment items from topic x
Search database for additional school to analyze that are similar in Carnegie categorization, similar in course size, all schools
Search these assessments for items on topic x |
| 10 | For accreditation, I would like to show that our students have learned y. | Comparison of student performance at T0 and T1. | Registrar demographic data
Faculty uploaded assessments and rubric, tagged with topic and Bloom’s data
Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with: Student exam scores for each year; Student grades on individual assessment items for each year | Log-in as myself, check off my courses that I am interested in analyzing
Select my assessment items from topic x |
| 11 | What levels of understanding are typically targeted by assessments in introductory (or upper) level biology courses at my institution/at institutions similar to mine/at all institutions? | Proportion of lower-level Bloom’s items to higher-level Bloom’s items
Histogram of data | Faculty uploaded assessments, tagged by Bloom’s data
Metadata form tagging course level, institution information (size, type) | Search for all assessment items in courses at the 100-level |
| 12 | What misconceptions do students generally hold about topic d? | Qualitative analysis of student responses and scores to parse out misconceptions | Registrar demographic data
Faculty uploaded assessments tagged with topic and Bloom’s data | Search for all assessment items on topic d |
| 13 | What is the impact of course size on the assessments used? | Correlation between course size and Bloom’s taxonomy level | Registrar demographic data
Faculty uploaded assessments tagged with topic and Bloom’s data
Metadata form indicating course size | Search for courses of a particular size |
| 14 | Are low performers in my course also struggling in other courses? | Correlation between course grade or individual assessment grade and university GPA, major GPA | Registrar demographic data
Registrar GPA data
Faculty uploaded spreadsheet with student course grades | Log-in as myself, check off my courses that I am interested in analyzing |
| 15 | How reliable is my exam question taxonomy? | |
| May 18, 2007 | What areas or concepts in biology/chemistry/physics are students having difficulty with? |
| May 18, 2007 | How did students do on all questions of a given topic?
-within a class
-within a course
-within an institution
-across the database |
| May 18, 2007 | How did students do on a question that required a certain level of thinking? |
| May 18, 2007 | I would like to find those questions on topic X where students did particularly well or poorly (depending on my own criteria of good and bad) |
| May 18, 2007 | Compare performance of two (or more) groups of students on an item or set of items
-over time (this year versus last year)
-gender or ethnic background
-majors or non-majors |
