[LON-CAPA-users] Questions on Slots

[Stuart Raeburn]

Hi Doug,

> I'm not finding much documentation on Slots, so if it's out there,   
> can someone point me in the right direction?

To find a number of posts to the LON-CAPA mailing lists over the years  
to do with slots, visit the mailing list search page:

http://mail.lon-capa.org/mailman/swish.cgi

(referenced in section 2.2 of the PDF versions of both the course  
coordination manual and the authoring manual -- "Where to Find  
Additional Help")

and search using the term: Slots

> (1) To create slots via csv file upload, what needs to be in the csv  
>  file?  Is there a sample file somewhere?

To find out what needs to be in there create a csv file (e.g.,  
slotdefs.csv containing:

examone,dmills:uiuc

Then log-in to a course as Course Coordinator, and use:
Settings > Slots > Upload Slot List

Click "Browse" to locate the slotdefs.csv file and click "Next".
In the Functions box click "Reverse Association".

This will show you a table with a list of attributes you might  
associate with columns from your CSV file.  (For the two column file,  
examone might be the Slot name, and dmills:uiuc might be the "List of  
proctor ids".

If you will upload multiple proctor IDs, use a comma separator, but  
enclose the entry in quotes.

The attributes supported for CSV upload are:

Slot name
Type of slot
Start Time of slot
End Time of slot
Reservation Start Time
Reservation End Time
Message when reservation changed
IP or DNS restriction
List of proctor ids
Slot Description
Maximum number of reservations
Resource Restriction
Date range of slot exclusion
Secret word proctor uses to validate
Sections slot is restricted to
Users slot is restricted to

> (2) How do you connect a given resource to a given set of potential  slots?

Display the resource, and click on "Content Settings".
Set the parameter: "Use slot based access controls" (useslots) to one  
of the "Yes" options.

If you have created student-schedulable slots, for which the start  
date and end date have yet to be reached, then students will be able  
to self-schedule access to resource(s) which have useslots set to one  
of the "Yes" options, using one of those slots.

If you have created instructor-assignable slots, then you can click  
the "Slots of availability" (available) parameter, and enter the name  
of the slot (or a : separated list of slot names, if more than one is  
to be assigned).

> (3) What is the function of the "secret word" ?

This can be entered on the Proctor Validation screen in the "Password"  
field,  by the Proctor instead of needing to enter the proctor's own  
LON-CAPA password.

The Proctor Validation screen is displayed when a student attempts to  
access a resource with slot-based control between the start date/time  
and end date/time for the slot being used for the resource, if not  
previously checked into that slot by the proctor.

> (4) In setting up the slots, there are options for "Period of Time   
> when this slot can only be uniquely chosen"  -- the meaning of this   
> and what it does is not clear to us.

Use this to ensure that a student does not reserve multiple slots in a  
given time period.

For example, say you have five labs available in a given week, but  
each student should only attend one of them, to complete a particular  
assignment.  You would create a student-schedulable slot for each lab  
opportunity, and set the "Period of Time when this slot can only be  
uniquely chosen" (also known as "Date range of slot exclusion") to  
cover the entire week, for each of the five slots.

This would mean that a student could only hold a reservation for one  
of the five at any time, and if he/she wanted to attend at a different  
time from the one he/she had currently reserved, would need to drop  
the current one in order to be able to reserve another.

Stuart Raeburn
LON-CAPA Academic Consortium

Quoting "Mills, Douglas G" <dmills at illinois.edu>:

> HI All,
>
> I'm not finding much documentation on Slots, so if it's out there,   
> can someone point me in the right direction?
>
> Here are some questions we are uncertain about:
>
> (1) To create slots via csv file upload, what needs to be in the csv  
>  file?  Is there a sample file somewhere?
>
> (2) How do you connect a given resource to a given set of potential   
> slots? We know there are the two interfaces -- the slot creation   
> interface and the resource parameter interface, but is there   
> somewhere where you say that Exam 1 can be taken in these particular  
>  slots and no others?  Is that simply a byproduct of when Exam 1   
> opens and closes and the slots that are available in that timeframe?  
>   Or is there something else somewhere that helps control that?
>
> (3) What is the function of the "secret word" ?  In my testing I   
> found that if I assigned a proctor from the course, I wasn't seeing   
> that there was any need for the secret word. I had imagined that   
> perhaps a blank in which to enter the secret word would appear when   
> a student attempted to access a resource and an onsite (or online in  
>  a case like ProctorU) proctor would type the word in for the  
> student  and the student would continue from there.
>
> (4) In setting up the slots, there are options for "Period of Time   
> when this slot can only be uniquely chosen"  -- the meaning of this   
> and what it does is not clear to us.
>
> Thanks as always!
>
> Doug
>
> Douglas Mills
> Director of Instructional Technology
> Department of Chemistry
> University of Illinois