(FWD) Re: [seul-edu] Comprehensive Student Management System

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

[Hey Chris...your From: address is screwed up. Check your mailer
software. --arma]

----- Forwarded message from owner-seul-edu@seul.org -----

From: Chris Edwards <cedwards@home>
To: seul-edu@seul.org
Subject: Re: [seul-edu] Comprehensive Student Management System
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 13:41:21 -0400
Sender: Chris Edwards <cedwards@home.pansoft.org>

Doug,

No the idea has not been filed away.  I just took a break over the extended 
holiday.  :)

As for the investigation on how to get this done right, I have downloaded the
EduML XML file and have briefly scanned through it.  It looks like it would
work well for a data exchange facility between a gradebook, an attendance
app and the (still unnamed, hint....) student management system.  I still 
feel that the data storage should definitely be on an SQL server of some sort.
I don't want to mandate what SQL server you run, it should be able to work
on just about any sort.

On Wed, 06 Sep 2000, Doug Loss wrote:
> OK, here's number two.  Chris Edwards, where do things now stand on
> the comprehensive student management system?  I don't want to see
> this fall by the wayside either.  I was thinking that such a system
> might be able to take advantage of some of the other bits that are
> floating around SEUL/edu and the internet generally, like K12Admin
> or Roster for account management, Grader or Ggradebook for grade
> recording, etc.  If nothing else, getting these various programs to
> use consistent fields for storing data (even if they use backend
> storage methods as different as SQL and XML) will be useful for the
> exchange of files between them.  With luck, the system can be made
> modular enough that plugging in different functions will be
> relatively trivial.

I agree, Doug.  I want this to bet very modular.  It needs to be able to 
interface with all of these applications.

> SEUL is ready to support such a project with any resources we can
> provide.  I admit that I haven't had a chance to read all the SASIxp
> documentation that Chris made available to us; I'll do that soon.

Keep in mind, that I do not want to rebuild SASIxp for Linux.  The types of
data that it manages. needs to be managed.  I feel that several smaller
applications would be better.  That is the Unix Way.  Basically, we're 
defining a framework for all of these existing applications to interface
to a central managment system, which has yet to be written.

I guess that any of those interested in contributing code, designing, 
maintaing web pages, please drop me a message, so that I can see what kind
of crew we are dealing with and butt some heads together and get this thing 
going.  I am very excited to be a part of this.  

Also, Doug, when we get a name for this beast, I would be very interested
in getting some web space, mailing lists, and a CVS repository going.

If all else fails we can call it  a boring name like CSMS for the time being.

> But I really don't want this to become another exciting "file and
> forget" idea.

Me either.

Chris Edwards
Computer/Network Technician
Washington County Virginia Public Schools
http://www.wcs.k12.va.us

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