3.0 Non Functional Requirements

The non functional requirements are broken up into two catagories:

3.1 Performance

The following list depicts the amount of time that these commands must take. All other commands are assumed to execute instantaneously. Administrative commands that require messages sent over the network are subject to network delays.

There is no requirements on the size of number of lectures or slides or layers. A lecture in the Eclass is on the order of thousands of items.

The maximum expected sizes for Eclass databases are as follows: The Eclass is able to work with lectures larger than these normal maximums, however, time performances may not be as fast.

3.2 General Characteristics

3.2.1 Security and Privacy

All layers and notes, unless published to the public, will only be viewable by the owner and (if the owner allows it in permissions) the lecturer. User passwords must be kept safe by the user to prevent any undesirable use or tampering of private data from other malicious users. Chats between students may be viewable by the lecturer, but chats between a student and a lecturer should not be made available to other students. These chats will not be encrypted however so it is recommended that the lecturer not discuss grades or private matters with this tool. Such conversation should be kept to more secure forms of communication.

3.2.2 Simplicity versus Power

The goal of the Eclass tool is to make learning easier and more effective than by traditional teaching methods. Any unnecessary complexity conflicts with the purpose of the Eclass tool. With this in mind, simplicity is more heavily focused on than power. Users should be able to use this program with only basic computer literacy. However, the flexibilty of the XHTML editor (and the XHTML language in general) allows power users to design relatively complicated presentations if they have the proper experience.


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