Workflow

YAWL them Workflows Patterns

Workflows are important in the education business. A workflow is basically a series of connected tasks executed in order to achieve a very specific outcome. Many things that are done in the workplace, whether in a school or elsewhere, can be described in terms of workflows. Even those that appear to have either many possible outcomes or appear to have an indeterminate outcome can be expressed as a workflow. Written procedures are an example of workflows. Perhaps the most interesting workflows were those of the Apollo space flights. In their flight manual, workflows were described in terms almost to the second. The only thing not described is when to breathe- in contrast to other bodily functions.

The standard "scope and sequence" statements in educational planning are mostly perfunctory examples of workflow planning. The most abstract version of workflows are called Petri Nets. A typical school based example of a workflow is what we do with tests: constructing, administering, marking and reporting back to students can be considered a workflow from the point of view of a teacher. State based or national tests are less perfunctory.

Apple have an application called Automator that helps to compose specific computer based workflows. However it only implements one part of the process. Workflow composition follows a similar process to software development. There are several recognisable stages:

• recognise a need to construct a workflow. There are several features that cause you to see processes and procedures in this way:

1. a single outcome is required that is the result of a well defined series of tasks. Those tasks (individually) are well understood. 2. the workflow can be seen as having well defined inputs, a common process and well defined outputs. 3. the actions and transactions will be repeated many times, by the same person, or by different people. 4. the workflow can be expressed in mechanical operational terms. Describing workflows in creative terms in entirely inappropriate.

• the first step is to do a work breakdown structure(WBS) analysis. This establishes the focal points for each task.
• the second step is to construct a viable backbone for the workflow composed of tasks. This can be done by tracking an input token or object as it passes through the workflow from entry to exit. While at different sages the token may be read, or modified, its path represents the workflow mainline. Workflows do not consume inputs but transform inputs and must produce output.
• the third step is to try to perform the workflow with different inputs of the same kind. There should be similar results composed of one or more model workflow patterns.
• the fourth step is to describe the complete workflow in operational terms and "package" the tasks in to a documented workflow.

The elementary task control pattern descriptors are:

• sequence,
• parallel split,
• synchronisation,
• exclusive choice,
• merge.

There are now more patterns than these but these few represent the basic building blocks and it is no coincidence that they could be mapped to the flow control elements of almost any programming language. They should be used when designing and implementing teaching and learning programmes.

Example

You might consider describing how to construct a short podcast. Of course, the podcast is the outcome or product.

The workflow can be represented by what happens to the input objects (a series of video and audio files). The mainline is represented by

• how you temporarily assemble these clips (and other resources, such as narration) into a resource pool.
• how you manipulate these to construct the final file or podcast. This will involve various forms of editing (assembling, juxtaposing) and linking them together, requiring the use of a tool by a person to perform these tasks and transform the input to output. While the actual instruction media (text or audio/video) to use a particular tool may be specific, at a more abstract level, what is done, would be common to using almost any video editing application. In workflow terms, it is what you do with iMovie.

There is are several languages for describing workflows such as the open source project YAWL, but none of them in my mind seem intuitively usable. The field is still very young. To get a foot in the door, start with reading workflow patterns.

Electronic Assessment Tasks with Static Data and Security

Now that Year 9(2009+) students in Public High Schools have PC based laptops it is possible to implement a very nice all electronic workflow for static information documents using the Macintosh platform and student PCs. It is interesting that .pdf documents carry a lot of "hidden" information about the source of the document- including the author and platform the document was composed on. The assessment task round trip can be made all electronic and with reasonable data security.

One of the most important things to do before providing students with an assessment task is to describe, in detail, how they are to present their response. This really is no different than saying something like "no more than 1000 words on A4 sized paper- in English!". For example, Year 9 students (2009+) all have access to applications that can write Word documents, so make that the acceptable file format. Image documents could be restricted to .jpg (JPEG) and a/v files to .avi or .mpg. If they need a lesson in how to do this then so be it.

• The assessment document needs to be converted to an Adobe Reader Document (.pdf file). This is straight forward since the Macintosh can do this through the Print Menu. Anything that can be printed on a Mac OS X platform can be converted to a .pdf file. Make sure that the file provided has an appropriate structure that includes space for you to write comments. What is nice about this approach is that you can embed references to web resources, other .pdf files that are associated with the assessment description, and other materials. It is possible to distribute very comprehensive printed, a/v stimulus materials as well. In the past this would have been difficult, and at best would have required burning onto a CD-ROM.

• The file (with possible support materials) needs to be distributed to students. This is best done using a server. Even though you produce the document on a Macintosh, it will be readable on a PC. It is also up to you to decide if it the document is to be "protected" in some way. For example you could require a password for printing(?), for opening or for copying information from the file. I would choose the first two- well maybe relax the second, but allow the last so students can compose their work more easily- by interleaving the questions with answers. This is very much like how they do paper based examinations.

• The next part (what the student does with the file) gets a bit murky. They could extract appropriate information and use Word or some other document production system to compose a response. I'm not sure at this stage if they can then electronically convert the file to a .pdf. If they can't then they return their electronic Word file (or other file) to you, using whatever means you choose: drop box on a server, Bluetooth, SD card file, USB memory file etc. Even though the Mac has always been a very capable machine for reading and writing file formats there may be some issues with files for example produced in esoteric packages. There should be no difficulty if you insist on common file formats. Insist on Web pages if you must.

The final part is the most interesting part. It requires the use of an application that will allow you to:

• embed notes in the .pdf file and save it as a .pdf file. Skim is an excellent application to do this.
• electronically return the file to the student after being "marked" -by writing comments in embedded "notes" all over the document. The document can be locked and protected against modification, printing and copying .pdf file, and returned to the student using a drop box on a server, Bluetooth, SD card file, USB memory file etc.

While I have not done all of this yet, in practice all of the elements required exist. I have issued all electronic assessment tasks but required students to print the document so I can scribe on it. Since the scribed notes of mine represent a signature, this ensured that the document was "authentic". The process described here is an attempt to forestall some of the major issues that will arise (or may have arisen in the past) with respect to copying and authentication. Of course, we will also need to keep copies for comparison if required.

When I have a good complete example of a "round trip" I will fill in the details.

Submitting assessment tasks requiring other types of files (especially audio/video files) will present further challenges, not the least of which will be their potential size, how they are linked, and their format.

We live in interesting times.