ClassCompass Documentation

Overview

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Software Practices Lab

In-Class Exercises

ClassCompass is designed to support collaborative design exercises in the classroom. Before the class meets, instructors configure an instructional session using the Session Administration web application. To begin an exercise, students gather into small groups with wireless-enabled laptop computers running the ClassCompass software. Each client program connects to a pre-configures "session" which is hosted by the ClassCompass server. The instructor, using a special client, also connects to the common session. During a typical exercise, the instructor client is used to control the progression through each of the following states:

Setup
This is the initial state of the session when students are starting their clients and connecting to the ClassCompass Server

Designing
In this state, students use the tool to sketch designs for a given problem using class diagrams. As the diagrams are constructed, ClassCompass will automatically attempt to identify elements of the design that may need attention. When finished, students submit their designs to the server.

Critiquing
During this state, designs are exchanged between the groups of students. The tool then facilitates the evaluation of another group's design according to pre-specified design principles. Students can select the principle they wish to evaluate the design against, and create a critique. A critique consists of a design principle being evaluated, a text description of the issue being identified, and a highlighted portion of the design structure that is relevant to the critique. Once created, these critiques are submitted to the server.

Open
During this state, students can use the tool to browse all designs and associated critiques that were submitted to the system. At this time, instructors may want to select particular designs to discuss.

Support for Project Teams

Software Engineering courses often include a group project component. ClassCompass can be used collaboratively among team members to create and maintain the design for their project. Private sessions can be created for each private team that allow only team members to log on. Each member can then use the ClassCompass client to create designs and submit them so that other team members can review and critique them. Furthermore, users may benefit from any automatic critiques that arise while creating their design. The system allows any version of a submitted design to be later retrieved, revised, and re-submitted.

Session Administration Web Application

This web application is used by instructors to create and configure sessions for in-class exercises or for use by project teams. To use the application, you will need an instructor account username and password. Email Wesley Coelho to get an instructor account. Alternatively, you can experiment with the system using the test account with username "TestInstructor" and password "Tester". The web application can be accessed here.

The web application provides the following functionality options:

Configure Design Principles - Use this to create design principles that can be applied to designs during your sessions.

Configure Student Users - Define the student usernames and passwords that can connect to your sessions.

Create New Instructional Session - Create sessions and specify which design principles will be available for evaluation and which students can access the session.

Configure Session - This feature allows you to change the state and permissions for an existing session

Student Client

The ClassCompass student client is used to participate in in-class exercises, create and maintain project group software designs, or as a stand-alone class diagram editor with automatic critiquing functionality.

When the program starts, users are presented with a wizard for connecting to an instructional session. The first panel of this wizard allows you to choose between using the tool offline or proceeding to connect to a session.

If you choose to work offline, the main window will appear, but functionality related to online sessions will be disabled.

If you would like to connect to a session, proceed with the wizard, which will prompt you for your username and password as well as the session you wish to connect to.

The main window consists of a toolbar and a set of tabs for various features of the program. During an online session, the following tabs are available:

Session Information - This tab is used to display the session description and its current state.

Create/Edit Design - This tab provides a canvas for creating and editing class diagrams. When connected to a session, you can click the 'submit' button to send the current design to the server.

Critique Design - During the critiquing phase, the design assigned to your client for you to critique will be visible here. A pull-down box allows you to select a design principle to apply to the design. Click the 'submit' button to send your critique to the server.

View Session Designs - When the session is in 'Open' state, all designs submitted to the server and any critiques associated with them will be visible here.

Instructor Client

The instructor client is an extension of the student client that provides additional functionality for leading in-class exercises. The instructor client includes a "Session Control" tab that allows you to change the state of a session, initiate an exchange of designs for critiquing, and adjust other session settings. Unlike the student client, the view designs tab will display all submitted designs and critiques when the session is in designing or critiquing mode. To connect to a session with an instructor client, you must use a valid instructor account username and password. Only one instructor can connect to a session at a time, and only the instructor that created the session can connect to it with an instructor client.