2.8.2.2. Up-Front Login

The scenarios in this section show how users log into the system. The purpose of this up-front login style is so that the system makes a distinction between the different types of users. This distinction allows the system to bring up that user's interface; user interfaces are different for Instructors, Assistants, Students, and Admins.

PolyGrade contains four classes of users: Instructor, Assistant, Student, and Admin. Instructors maintain gradebooks by managing graded items and student rosters. Assistants have the same view as their Instructor, but cannot change graded items or the student roster. The main task for assistants is to enter and change scores for students as needed. Students browse through their gradebooks to compare their grade to other students in the class. Students have a read-only view of the gradebook, but do have access to the grade prediction tool. Admins have access to everything. They are the users that maintain the database of system users and gradebooks.

When a user first opens the application, the system displays a welcome login screen shown in Figure 95 below.

Figure 95: Login welcome screen.



To login, the user inputs their Username and Password. The system will not recognize this information if the user does not exist in the database. The "Remember Me" check box temporarily saves the user information for quick access at the next login. The user drop-down menu contains the collection of different users. Figure 96 shows the expanded user menu.

Figure 96: User selection.



Once the user selects their type in the menu, the user clicks "Log In". If the username and password matches a user entry in the selected user database, the system accepts the information and brings the user to the respected interface window. On the otherhand, if the system does not find a match in the database, the login window clears all fields. The user clicks on "Reset" to clear the username and password fields. Figure 97 shows a sample user login.

Figure 97: Sample user login.



The username is a text string. The password is also a text string, but the administrators set a minimum length requirement. The login window keeps the entered password hidden from view. This user claims to be an Instructor, so if this is a successful login, the system takes the user to the Instructor user interface.



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