Each One Teach One

Each One Teach One, also known as EOTO, is a program for those who want to get to know students from different countries and learn different languages. Students teach each other their mother tongues and learn the language of their partner.

What is EOTO?

Each One Teach One, also known as EOTO, is a programme for you who want to get to know students from different countries and learn different languages. Students teach each other their mother tongues and learn the language of their partner. 
More info: https://kielikeskus.jyu.fi/eoto/en/info/what-is-eoto-anyway

In EOTO, students will log in using their university ID, add their public announcements about finding a study partner, and then create their own study plans and blogs. The plans are then reviewed by teachers, and teachers will contact each student and arrange one appointment for instructions. After that the students will have 20 hours of face-to-face sessions for each language (20+20 hours), and update their blog posts at the system based on those meetings. In the wrap-up phase each student will fill final report in the system and submit it to teachers. Teachers and students will receive automatic messages throughout the course, informing them about new plans and reports.

System requirements

The system needs to be really simple to use, it has to be multi-lingual and support all characters, and has to be able to cope with complex workflows with different permissions for each role (student, parent, teacher). The system has to be secure and responsive, it has to be easy to maintain and update, it should have sections that can be edited by a non-technical user (like instructions). The system needs to have possibility to easily add and edit automatic email-notifications to different users and groups. Even the customized input forms should be later editable through browser, and so that changing/adding a new field to a template, doesn't break the system.

Luckily, Plone CMS does all this, and more :)

Challenges

Challenges were roughly these:

  • Fixed, short time frame - on top of our other projects
  • Moving seamlessly from old system (Plone 3) to a new one
  • New process for the client
  • Plone 5 was fairly new for us when we built site
  • Unknowns

How did it go?

We had five months time frame to go through this renewal, starting from April 2016 and ending in September 2016. We started by having a meeting with the customer, roughly explaining the supposed outcome, the boundaries of time-frame and their part in the renewal. In June we created a Plone 5 preview-site and a light theme there. At this point the customer already had the chance to see where we were going and to update instructions.

The main development was done during July-August 2016: the advertisements, blogs, blog posts, study plan and final report plus content rules. The first version was then tested by the client, and they came up with more/different ideas on some workflow mechanics. They didn't give any challenge to Plone, though. 

The release was done in September 1st 2016, as originally planned. Students were able to access the system after that and start studying. During September there were some modifications made, but nothing dramatic.

All in all this needed two weeks of development/communication/configuration on our behalf.

Customer Quotes

Since the deployment of new system, we have had practically no support requests at all. The client has been happy with the new service and the students have been using it actively. The client was included throughout the development process, and they gave some thought on how to improve the old process and how to simplify it.


Links

Project description (in Finnish): https://www.jyu.fi/itp/ajankohtaista/arkisto/2016/itp-kehittaa-eoto-19092016

Features

  • Multilingual
  • people directory
  • complex workflow
  • search capabilities
  • third party authentication
  • Through the web-customized content types
  • Content rules
  • Permissions
  • Customized theme.

Add-ons

  • LDAP support
  • Some JYU configuration policies.
  • But the good thing was that we didn't need many add-ons on top on out-of-the-box Plone installation.

Project developed by