Section 1: Overview

The Vincent administrator interface provides complete control over the online course environment. It is possible to damage your course in significant ways through the misuse of this interface, and as such, you should never let comfort override caution.The typical course timeline will look something like

1. Set the course ID and tagline, as well as global parameters for the system (whether sliptime and teams will be used, etc).
2. Put post-processing scripts in place (scripts to handle the automatic compiling and checking of code, spell-checking of documents, etc.)
3. Create grade mappings for all assignments.
4. Setup assignments that students will be expected to turn in via Vincent.
5. Upload files that students will be expected to download at various points through the semester.
6. Upload the course roster. Add any additional students who might be finishing incompletes, etc., and therefore not show up on the roster.
7. Enable and disable editing of teams for instructors (it teams are being used).
8. Keep an eye on the system - watching for erroneous grades, etc.

Everything up through step 6 is generally done before the course begins, although files and assignments can be freely added and removed from a running course. This list will be used as a template for the remainder of the documentation, introducing "How-To" handle each of the primary functions of Vincent in the sequence that will most likely be followed in a typical course setup.

Section 2: Installing Vincent

Currently, only instructors in Computer Science will be making use of Vincent; that being the case, you need only to follow the steps in the Admin FAQ, question #2.

If you are outside of the CS department at IUB and are interested in using Vincent for your course, please contact the CSG staff at IUB about obtaining copies of Vincent and the installer. No support of substance can be offered to you at this time.

Section 3: Getting Started

The first things to handle are course ID, course description, and other (more) important global information regarding your class.

Section 4: Set the Class ID/Tagline

Following the first option allows you to set the course ID and a "tagline" for the course. For example, a likely ID and tagline combination might be "A290" and "Introduction to LEGO(R) Robotics." This will be used in various views throughout the application.

When choosing a class ID, please make sure not to include any spaces or symbols (numbers and letters only). The class ID is used in any number of places, and it is intended to be a simple identifier, not a rich descriptor. Use the tagline for descriptive information, please.

Section 5: Set defaults for all students in or entering the system

The second option in this dialog allows you to set a number of variables that affect the operation of the entire class. Options in this dialog include:

• Sliptime: This allows you choose if you want to use sliptime in your course, and how much time you wish to allow students.

  Simply entering a number and hitting "Submit" will update the maximum allowed sliptime (and therefore the default for new students entering the system). If you check "Reset sliptime for all students," then every student in the system will have their remaining sliptime set to the value you have indicated.

• Teams: Allows you to choose whether or not you will be using teams, and if assistant instructors have the ability to edit those teams.

  It is currently unknown as to whether changing student teams after peer evals have been submitted breaks anything or not.

• File Download: If set to "YES," students have the ability to download their own files from Vincent after submitting them. If set to know, they are not permitted to download their own assignments after submitting them.
  Warning!
  If you are distributing tests using Vincent, and having students submit materials sensitive to timing like tests, you should toggle this OFF for the duration of the tests - be that one day, or one week. This way, students are unable to download a test they just completed (later in the day, perhaps) to give to a friend to resubmit.

• Class Average: You can toggle whether students see the current class average for an assignment when viewing their grades. It has been suggested that standard deviations and other metrics be included here as well; perhaps, someday.

• Use "Doneness": "Doneness" does several things. Students will submit work as normal, but after submission, they will then need to say they are "Done" with that assignment. Only then does Vincent calculate whether or not the work is on time/late/etc. Furthermore, students cannot see their grade on an assignment until they say they are "done."

  This feature is mostly of use if you are operating a course at a distance; a future feature would be the ability to register callbacks with each assignment, or at the least have an email sent to the instructor whenever a student said they were "done."

  This feature has not yet been used in the CSCI department.

• Set Expiration: This field sets the expiration for all students entering the system.
  You want to do this before the semester starts!
  If you choose the wrong date, or make a mistake, you can safely use this after the semester has started. Make sure to check the box for updating all students, and then every student currently in the system, and all new students who are added in after that point will use the new expiration date that you specify.

These settings can be changed at any time during the operation of the course; for example, classes using teams may want to allow assistant instructors to edit the team lists for their individual sections, and then remove that ability once team lists are finalized.

Section 6: Edit the Administrator/Assistant list for your class

The administrator and assistant list control access to the administrator and assistant scripts. Anyone can get to them with a valid IUB username; only usernames listed in the administrator and assistant list, however, can access these scripts.

If you want to be able to access Vincent as an assistant, you will need to add your username to that list as well. See the Admin FAQ regarding the differences between administrators and assistants with respect to Vincent.

Vincent has a "superuser" list that is always appended to your administrator list; removing these individuals will not do anything. They are there to help you in the event of some catastrophe.