Subversion for Homework part II and the start of the new term

Starting the new semester tomorrow and I've got a whole bunch of interesting topics to blog about. Some about pedagogy, some technical, and some that I can't really catagorize.

For now, though, just a brief follow up on using Subversion for homework collection.

The basic model used in New York City for teacher improvement and evaluation is the official "observation." Either your supervisor or the principal sits in on one of your classes. Afterwards you meet and discuss the lesson and a report is written up. Basically, there are two possible outcomes: satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Untenured teachers are generally observed three times a semester. Tenured teachers, once a year.

In all cases, this system is severely flawed. The supervisor sees a 40 minute snapshot out of context and is supposed to evaluate the teacher and make recommendations for teacher improvement. It's generally of limited value at best.

Because of this, years ago, I started to ask my students to evaluate me. For quite some time now, I've used a custom written web app that allows students to complete long questionnaires over a period of weeks. The system allows me to know who submitted an evaluation while maintaining anonymity.

I've found these evaluations to be incredibly valuable and I've used them to try to improve my classes and my teaching over the years.

Having just wrapped the semester, I've gone through my students responses and the vast majority liked using subversion for homework. As I figured, some felt that it was a little confusing at first and there was a learning curve but most felt it was either as good as any other method and many said it was superior.

This combined with the fact that it makes me more efficient confirms that it's a win.

It was also interesting that I had hardly any suggestions for alternative ways of collecting homework.

Recently, I've been using Git for my personal development work and I'm planning on experimenting with it in one of my classes, so we'll see how that goes.

Now, on to the new semester!!!!!

Subversion in the classroom

Ok, not subversion, rather subversion, the version control system.

I've used subversion as a way for students to hand in their projects for years. I haven't used it with my intro classes as I think the learning curve is a little steep and the benefits few, but for A.P. and beyond (juniors and seniors) it's worked very well as a method of collection and I think it's good to get the kids in the habit of using versioning systems.

A versioning, or revision control system let's an individual frequently save versions of their files, in our case, on a central server.  One can easily go back to earlier versions as well as manage changes made by multiple developers. Once one's in the habit of using a revision control system, it can greatly improve  productivity.

For my classes, I would create a repository for a project, give the kids a little version control primer, and they would create projects in the repository.

There are usually a few bumps in the road.

At first the kids go kicking and screaming. They create the repository, and neglect it until the last minutes. I'd wake up on a project due date, check out the repository and seem maybe 4 out of 60 projects only to see them mystically appear as the closing time approached.

As we move through the year and work on more projects, things get better.

Students start to update their projects more frequently. Not as frequently as I like, partly because SVN gets really slow on our system, but it's still an improvement.  Invariably, it saves a student or two when they accidentally delete all their files. Also, when things become  a real mess, being able to go back a few versions is a godsend. A much better alternative than what they had to do in the past, which was restarting the entire project.



What I find really interesting is how wonderful a tool svn is from my point of view as an educator.

By looking at the log files, I can see who made changes and when. By looking at the diffs, I can look at the projects progress much as an english teacher might look at drafts.

 Version control for projects turns out to be a win across the board.

Recently, I've been using SVN for homeworks as well. Homework collection has always been difficult for me as I'm disorganized and forgetful. SVN has made things much easier. At the start of the semester, I made a homework repository for each student. They then check it out at home.

Whenever a student does a homework, he or she just names it according to our conventions (HW1-name, HW2-name, etc.), put it in their checked out repository, add the file(s) and commits. With tortoiseSVN under windows it's trivial.

This lets me easily see all of the homeworks for a student as well as all submissions for a specific assignment. Again it's an overall win.

Next semester I'm going to be experimenting with GIT as a replacement for SVN.

If you're looking for a way to collect and track assignments, I'd highly recommend using a revision control system.