What is revision history?
Revision history in Trelson is a feature designed to automatically save students' work as they write their assignments. This ensures that their progress is securely stored, allowing them to focus on their answers without worrying about losing anything due to unexpected events, such as internet disconnections or device issues. Revision history also enables you, as a teacher, to monitor the writing progress during and after assignment submission. Let's explore how it works in more detail, keeping it straightforward and easy to understand.
How does it work?
Imagine your students are typing their answers. Every time they make a change, our system automatically saves their work. If they're typing continuously, the system saves every 20 seconds. If they pause, it saves every 8 seconds. Even if the internet connection is lost temporarily, students can continue writing their assignment as normal. Once the connection is restored, their changes are automatically uploaded to the server as new revisions.
How is it shown?
During the assignment, students can see in the bottom left corner that their progress is being continuously saved to the cloud. If their device loses internet connection, students can continue working seamlessly without worrying about their progress. Once internet connection is restored, their changes will automatically be saved as a new revision.
During and after the assignment, only you, the teacher, can access these revisions. You will find up to the latest 50 of them, representing different points in the student's assignment session. Each save contains a portion of their work, adding up to roughly 30-40 minutes' worth of content.
To access the revision history during an assignment, follow these steps:
1. Open Trelson as a teacher
2. Locate and open the particular assignment that your students are working on.
3. Within the assignment, go to the "Students" tab to view the list of students.
4. Identify the student whose progress you wish to review. Look for the ‘eye’ icon located on the right side of the student's information. Click on the ‘eye’ icon to monitor the student progress while they are writing.
To access the revision history of a submitted student assignment, follow these steps:
1. Open Trelson as a teacher
2. Locate and open the particular assignment you want to review the revision history for.
3. Within the assignment, go to the "Students" tab to view the list of students who have submitted their work.
4. Identify the student whose submission you wish to review. Look for the document icon located on the right side of the student's information, indicating they have submitted their work. Click on this document icon to access the Feedback module.
5. In the right corner of the feedback module, you will see a log called "Revision history" with several revisions listed in chronological order (see picture). Press on any revision to look through the student progress.
Understanding time stamps
The timestamps on these saves tell a story. For example, if the assignment started at 10am and you find a save from 11am with 2000 characters, it means the student wrote those 2000 characters between 10am and 11am. It's not because they just logged in at 11am and added some text.
Using revision history: A word of caution
Revision history can be used as a support function if you suspect cheating, but it should not be considered a foolproof method of detection. It only displays the last 50 edits, and while it provides valuable insights, it is not conclusive enough to make any accusations.
Checking student activity post assignment submission
To confirm a student's activity, you can use the event log. It shows when students log in and out, providing you with a clear understanding of their actions during the assignment.
In summary
Revision history ensures that students' work is continuously saved during the assignment, allowing you to see their progress in detail. After the assignment, only you, the teacher, can review these saves to understand their writing process. The timestamps and event logs provide valuable context, helping you assess their work accurately. However, remember that revision history is not a definitive tool for detecting cheating.