Professors using Desire2Learn this semester will have to post students’ grades manually on PAWS because the systems are not linked.

Teachers using WebCT can still transfer the grades onto PAWS without having to manually post them.

Julie Lockett, the director of instructional technology and training services for the Center for Academic Technology Support, said most instructors like to post from the grade book on the online learning system to PAWS, which allows them to skip individual input.

“Instructors that are using WebCT can do the normal process that they’ve always done,” Lockett said.

This feature will not be available to those using Desire2Learn until the spring.

“For this semester only, instructors can post their grades in Desire2Learn so students can see them, but then they have to separately go to PAWS and post the grades manually because the two are not linked at this time,” Lockett said.

She said the process of linking Desire2Learn to PAWS is in the process of being done, but the company has not been able to finish it in time.

“Illusion, the company that we are working with, wasn’t able to guarantee that they’d have all the parts in place before final grades were due,” Lockett said.

Janel Moore, an Information Technology Services worker, said they have to make the two systems compatible before they are connected.

“There are components in Desire2Learn, which we have in place,” Moore said. “We have to go through a testing process first to make sure everything works as expected.”

Once the components are shown to work in the testing phase, that software component will be put into production, Moore said.

The program is then applied to the server for the entire program.

The grade-posting program has been in testing for six weeks.

Lockett said they have not run into many issues in the testing phase, but there are a lot of different factors to put into place.

“We are trying to get the Desire2Learn server to talk to the Banner service to transfer the correct information that you need,” Lockett said. “There are a lot of steps involved and a lot of components that need linked up.”

Moore said the program is expected to be up by next semester.

“We just needed more time to get them connected so that they could transfer the data,” Moore said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.