COLUMN: WISEflow? It took me 283 clicks to enter 24 students' grades into the system

This is an opinion piece, the views expressed in the column are the writer’s own.

There was a time when academic staff could be heard complaining about certain administrative units, but those days are long gone. Nowadays, it is rare to hear anyone complain about secretaries, skilled workers, help desks, SNUKs and consultants. In fact, the collaboration between members of the academic staff and technical staff is generally good. 

But unfortunately, an increasing layer of costly bureaucratic infrastructure blunders is coming between us: Teacher platform, travel expense report site, exam system. The university is required to put such systems out to public tender. The contract usually goes to the lowest bidder. Which is not necessarily the best solution for those of us who have to use the systems.

HEADLESSlabyrinth

One of these blunders is the exam system WISEflow. A more appropriate name would be HEADLESSlabyrinth. Twice a year during exam season, I can hear my coworkers' swear words from the neighbouring offices, surpassed only by my own desperate exclamations. Even after having used the system for several years, one still has to spend far too much time working out where and how to enter students’ grades. The system is completely and utterly illogical and unmanageable. The online guide is 16 chapters long. Many of the system’s features are unnecessary if all you want to do is enter grades. Those poor administrators who had to spend months writing a (by the way, clear) guide in two languages.

Once you have opened your WISEflow page, you’re offered an overview of the students’ names. Students already have names, student numbers, and email addresses, and on top of this, the system gives them not one, but two code numbers, so it becomes even more confusing to relate their names to their assignments. Who was student [14-3] again? I still haven't understood why one number isn't enough. Ah, now I see: everyone gets a participant index and a group number. Clever. But for whom?

We are on the front page. On the screen is a table with 18 (!) columns, including one with the students' names. In other words, so many columns that they don't all fit on the screen, so you have to constantly scroll back and forth sideways. Ouch, my wrist! You have opened the system because you would like to enter grades, but WHERE do you do it? There isn't a single box or column called "enter grade." There is an "assessment status", but that is not where you enter the grade. I see "entered assessment", but from there I can't go any further. "Pending grade" perhaps? No, not that one either. "Assessment submitted"? Apparently not there either. Under "Actions"? Probably not.

Are we there yet? Not quite

There is also a mysterious column which in Danish is called "tekstlighed" (initially understood as “textuality”). My colleagues wondered what textuality was supposed to mean in this context, until they discovered that it in fact meant text similarity: how similar is the exam to other texts? Once you've figured that out, it's actually a great feature that helps check for plagiarism: it provides a percentage indicating how much of the text resembles other exam papers and texts available online. That may indicate plagiarism. And HERE there is another button, this time with an arrow on it, and if you press it, yes, THERE you can enter grades! Anything but logical, but we made it! 

Is it now possible to enter grades? No. Now you arrive at a screen that shows at least 14 tabs and windows. On this rather confusing screen, you will at some point find a button called "assessment". 

283 clicks later...

In many other contexts, the concept one-click is commonplace. But the designers of WISEflow or WISEslow clearly never heard of that. Why isn’t it possible to just go directly to one student, enter a grade, and then immediately move on to the next one? How hard can it be!? Apparently very difficult...  I've counted 10 different steps/clicks to get to the next student. In total, I had to use 283 clicks to enter grades for 24 students. It takes the same amount of time as reading a medium-length exam paper. 

I have only heard people complain about the system. On the other hand, it has been good for social cohesion in the workplace. Colleagues are brought closer together as they jointly try to locate the hidden buttons required to get the job done. They wail in unison. Where’s Wally? The only logical conclusion: The system must have been designed by a game developer.

This text is machine translated and post-edited by Mie Skov Jeppesen.