MATHCS-Department-Evaluation-System

A dynamic evaluation webpage that self-updates with authorized and proper input questions (PHP, CSS, SQL, HTML)

- Background:

• An evaluation database is initiated with MySQL based on raw data from some historical evaluation answer sheets (originally in excel; decoded into csv datasheet using R)

• The ER diagram for the website is based on the following assumptions:

  • A class is assigned a unique class number, a course name, section number, semester and year. (e.g. class number 1859, course name CS377, section 1, Spring semester, and 2018)
  • Each course must be taught by an instructor
  • An instructor has a first name, a last name, and a unique instructor id
  • A student will be assigned a unique integer identifier based on their student ID, which allows their response to be anonymized
  • A student can take any number of classes
  • A student can evaluate any number of classes provided they have taken the class. However, the student cannot evaluate the same class more than once
  • A class evaluation must have at least one question and can have any number of questions
  • A question can take on the following four different types:
    • Agree/Disagree: 5 choice question where the choices are: strongly disagree ~ strongly agree
    • Multiple Choice: Question-specific choices that need to be defined
    • 1-10: On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest, how ... was the class?
    • Open-Ended: a textual response
  • Each class can share any number of questions with other classes

• Database is normalized to meet 3NF schema.

- Functions:

• Class Report: webpages are constructed to provide provides reports for each course. It is tailored specifically for each user (two types for now: faculty and student)
  • Student View of Class: a webpage that will allow the user to view summary statistics of a course
    • choose the course name and the instructor -> return aggregate statistics for all the questions
  • Faculty View of Class: a webpage that will allow the faculty to view his/her statistics for a single class
• User Input Form (for students): a dynamically loaded form allows a student to enter in their class evaluation for a single class
  • Verify the user (unique identifier) is a valid one (in the system).
  • Verify the user is allowed (has taken the class before) to provide a class evaluation for the course.
  • Dynamically loads the evaluation questions pertinent to each course.
  • Ensure all the questions have an associated response.
  • Allow only one evaluation per student (and it should be the first one submitted / only one attempt allowed).

It employs a rigid database structure as the system is pre-designed and not likely to change.

The system was on Google Cloud Server from March to August.