Diagnostic Pathfinder for Instructors

Diagnostic Pathfinder

Local File vs. Database Normal operations Expert operations Admin operations

Local File vs. Database

The Case Editor, Course Manager, and Report Generator all require Internet connectivity to run

The DP can run with or without an Internet connection.

For this to work, the data for cases and the users’ solutions must be stored on the local computer.

Local File vs. Database (cont)

Things that are stored locally Basic program lookup data User list

Created first time the first user logs in Updated when other users log in, or on incorrect login Can be manually updated to add all course users from

option in the Tools menu Case titles (with due dates)

Created first time the database is accessed for a course Updated every time program runs, on first access to a case

from the database for a course Can be manually updated to from option in the Tools menu

Local File vs. Database (cont) Things that are stored locally

Case data Created when case is opened from the database Can be manually created at any time from option in Tools

menu User case data, i.e. user’s solution

Created when a user opens a case from database or from local file

Updated when user picks “Save to File”, when program changes from one state to another, and on a backup timer

Error log file Created first time program is run on a computer Updated each time program runs

Local Files

All files related to the program are stored in the folder C:\\DiagnosticPathfinder

Let’s go look at that folder

Potential Problems

Suppose a user does the case locally, and does not save to the database. Then they come back and open the case up from the database instead of locally.

WHAT HAPPENS?

Potential Problems

Suppose a student works on a case locally in one of our labs and does not save to the database. They logout and go to class, and then return to the computer.

WHAT HAPPENS?

Student Solution Files

If students are working on a lab computer and cannot save to the database for some reason, they should copy their solution from the UserCaseData folder to their network storage drive or a jump drive.

Then they can put the file back into the UserCaseData folder on another machine and continue working.

Normal Operations

Printing and saving cases and solutions All users can save or print their solutions as

HTML or as a text file Printing options (font, font size, page format) must

be set from the Print Setup option in the Case menu. These options are maintained throughout the run of the program.

All users can save the history and lab data sheet as an HTML file

To print it, open the saved file in a browser and print from there

Normal Operations

Help Help pages are somewhat out of date, and do not

cover the functionality added in the past two or more years

Email for help option under help sends an error message to pathfinderhelp@iastate.edu

This is the best way to send error information, as it includes the error log file from the computer

If the server is down, this will not work, and users will be instructed to save the message to a file and email that file

Expert Operations

Instructors of the course have permission to do Expert Operations

These operations are Save as Expert Diagnosis and Path Create Case Presentation Set Due Date and Time

Presentations

Suppose you have a solution you would like to present in class

Open the horse case we added to our course when we were working with the Case Editor

Under the Expert menu, select Create Case Presentation

This creates a solution for the user named “inclass”

Presentations (cont) Open another copy of the DP, but this time login

with login id “inclass” and the secret password Open the horse case The program opens to the Construct Diagnostic

Path window, with the path hidden, and two new “arrow” buttons on the toolbar

The arrow buttons are used to step through the path, revealing one line on each click

It is usually helpful to increase the font size for presentations

Once you have tried stepping through the program, close this copy of the DP.

Setting Due Date and Time

The due dates for cases can be set for the entire course from the DP Expert menu

Select Set Due Date and Time Select both cases in the case list Set a due date and time in the calendar Click “Set Date” – the display changes, but

the dates have not been saved yet When you have set all the dates you want to

set, click “Save to Database”

Creating the Expert Solution

You must have a diagnostic path created for the case For a new case, this means someone has to work

through the case! For a case you got from an existing course, you

may be able to use Generate Solution in the Case Editor to get a diagnostic path to work with

Creating the Expert Solution

We created a solution for ourselves for the horse case in the Case Editor

Under the Expert menu, select “Save as Expert Diagnosis and Path”

This saves the current solution as the expert solution and the current diagnosis as the expert diagnosis

Mechanism Types

There a three different types of Mechanisms: Core Review Framing

Experts can edit these in the path at any time In the Construct Diagnostic Path tab, click on a

button in a mechanism that has “MR” on it Select one of the options from the menu that

appears

Editing the Path

What if you have a solution but you want to modify it before saving it as the expert solution?

You need to use Admin Mode

Admin Mode

This mode can be turned on and off only when no case is open

In admin mode, there is no concept of “state” – all operations are possible all the time

In admin mode you can Modify your own path Work with a student on their case Assign/modify credit for cases Delete a user’s solution from the database Restore a user’s solution from an error report

Admin Mode

If you have a case open, close it now In the Expert menu, select “Admin Mode” Click the Expert menu again, and you will see

that additional menu options have appeared Click “Open from Database” Note that there is an additional field at the top

of the dialog: you must select a user whose solution you want to open

Admin Mode

Select your name from the list Select the horse case Go to the Construct Diagnostic Path tab You can now edit the path! Change a few things around in the path Go to the Make Diagnosis page and type in a

diagnosis Choose “Save as Expert Diagnosis and Path” To see the change in the solution, you need to close

the case and re-open from the database

Admin Mode

In the Admin Mode Open Case dialog, there were only two names in the pull-down menu: your name and inclass

To get the other course members’ names, go to Tools and select “Retrieve User List from Database”

Re-open the Open Case dialog and you will see the rest of the course members listed

Other Admin Mode Operations

Set Case State Restore User Case Delete User Case Assign Credit

Set Case State

The case state tells the program where the user is in the solution process Case Opened State: working on history and lab

data Building Diagnostic Path State: lab data sheet is

completed, diagnosis not yet submitted Diagnosis Submitted State: diagnosis submitted;

path cannot be edited any longer Evaluation Submitted State: case has been

submitted for credit

Set Case State (cont)

If a student has a problem with a case, you can use this to either back them up in the program so that they can work again, or you can push their state forward

Since Admin Mode has no sense of state, if you submit a case for credit from admin mode, the state will not be set correctly.

Use this to manually set the state to Evaluation Submitted

Restore User Case

When a case is open and a user sends email through the “Send Error Message” option in the Help menu, a text version of the case data is automatically included in the message.

In the message, there are instructions on where to put the file and what to name it to be able to restore the user’s case.

The entire message can be saved into this file

Example Error Message To: pathfinderhelp@iastate.edu

Subject: Pathfinder Error

User Name: Moon, New       Login Name: newmoon@iastate.edu

Message from user:I was working on this case on my lap top when I didn't have internet and I finished it. I thought I saved it to file on my computer.  When I opened it again, the rest of the case was lost.  I have worked on other cases without the internet and been able to save them to file, and recover my progress at a later time, so I may have done something wrong when I tried to save it. 

To restore this case, save file to DiagnosticPathfinder/UserCaseData as dpPathfinderISU2006_newmoon@iastate.edu_case15.txt

MORE STUFF HERE

Restore User Case

Once you have put the case in the UserCaseData folder, choose “Restore User Case” from the Expert menu

Select the user and case you are restoring The program will open the text file and

display the solution so far. You can save the case to database, and

email the user to open their case from the database and continue

Delete User Case

The dialog looks just like the Admin Mode Open Case dialog, or the Restore Case dialog

This operation removes the solution for the specific user and case from the database

Assign Credit

Sometimes you will want to change a students score from Late to On Time

Or students may turn their assignment in on paper instead of through the program

You can assign credit for cases with the Assign Credit dialog

Assign Credit

Choose “Assign Credit” from the Expert menu The dialog shows a course member’s name

and the status of each of the cases Select the user “Guest 1” from the list Set both of the user’s cases to On Time and

click “Apply”

Assign Credit

Click on the Cases option at the top of the dialog

Now you can choose a particular case and view all the users’ credit for that case

Error Log and Version Number

The report generator error log file is

C:\\DiagnosticPathfinder\DPErrorLog.txt

The version number of the program can be found in the error log or using About under the Help menu

Viewing Student Solutions

You can use the DP Admin Mode to view student solutions by opening their cases and looking at their solution in the Expert Solution pane.

However, there is a much more efficient way to do this using The Report Generator.