Creating and Using Template Flows

Creating and setting up multiple flows can be a long and tedious process if the same settings, assignments, rubrics and coversheets are the same. WISEflow has an in-app functionality to copy a flow, this can however be further utilised by using the API to centrally copy and reuse a series of template flows. 

With template flows, it is possible to reuse the settings that are the same across the different flow types. Creating templates for flows used across the institution and copying these using the API can reduce the time-consuming task. 

Use Cases

Templates can be used to cater for many use cases. This article will describe two different cases from the manager's perspective:

• A manager creates a template flow
• A group of dedicated managers maintains multiple template flow

A Manager Creates a Template Flow

A manager can create and maintain flows from scratch that can be used throughout the institution. During the set-up, the manager must set the participation settings, dates, coversheets, marking information, rubrics, and everything else that is required for the specific course. A lot of this information will be the same across the institution, starting from scratch every time can be a time-consuming task.

This case works for managers working on an individual level, without the need to consult or have the flow verified by other managers. 

Using the lockdown browser with a FLOWlock or a FLOWmulti, different settings have to be set, which is likely to be the same for all courses. This could be enabling facial comparison, and setting the same permitted internet resources across the flows:

To set up the flow in WISEflow, a flow manager must first create the flow, then go to 'All participation settings' to enable the options after which it is possible to manually copy the flow. After the initial set up the flow can be copied as many times as needed but is only copied one time per action, meaning that to copy a flow ten times, a manager must manually copy the flow ten times. 

A Group of Dedicated Managers Maintains Multiple Template Flows

To fully utilise the concept of template flow, an institution should have a group of dedicated managers who maintains a series of template flows for different standard scenarios. Some of these scenarios could be:

• On-site FLOWmulti flows set up with limited access to the assignment after hand-in
• Remote FLOWmulti flows where facial comparison and voice detection is enabled
• FLOWassign flows with coversheets and rubrics for a specific course

The group of dedicated managers maintains all the template flows in use by the institution. The template flows are then easy to verify, as managers not part of the dedicated group do not have a relation to the template flow, thus they cannot access the template. 

When the template is ready to use, it can be copied and distributed to relevant managers such as the course instructor and others who might need to gain an overview of the flow. The instructor might need to tweak some additional settings, but as the flow is based on the template, it will be a significantly lower amount of time needed to get the flow ready. 

Using the API to Copy a Flow

Flow Templates

The task of copying flows can be centralised using the POST /flows/{flowId}/copy endpoint. A flow is still only copied one time per call to the API, but the task can be automated to run until all flows using the template have been created. The endpoint uses the flow Id of the template flow as the parameter. The request body includes the settings that are to be copied to the new flow. The value false means that the setting is not copied, and the value true means that the setting is copied. At least one manager user Id is required to copy the flow. Multiple manager user Ids can be added if needed.

For FLOWlock and FLOWmulti flows, it is possible to either copy the participant and invigilator password to the new flow (true), or generate new passwords (false).

To enable facial comparison and the permitted internet resources, the request body should be:

{  
"managerUserIds": [
    12345,
    67891
  ],
  "title": "New title of the flow",
  "subtitle": "Example of a subtitle",
  "configuration": {
    "settings": true,
    "dates": false,
    "passwords": false,
    "coversheets": false,
    "assignment": false,
    "additionalMarkingMaterial": false,
    "rubrics": false,
    "permittedInternetResources": true
  }
}

This will copy over the settings and the permitted internet resources. Note that it is mandatory to set a managerUserId.

The response would have the flowId of the newly created flow.

Participants, assessors and other relations are not copied to the newly created flow. These can be added using additional endpoints.

FLOWcombine Templates

The FLOWcombine template endpoint is in many ways used the same as the regular copy flow endpoint; the main difference being that a regular flow consists of a single flow, whereas a FLOWcombine can consist of several flows. 

Using an already existing template flow, the POST /flows/{flowId}/combine/copy will copy the flow with the configuration specified in the request body. At least one managerUserId is required.

{  
"managerUserIds": [
    12345,
    67891
  ],
  "title": "New FLOWcombine",
  "subtitle": "New subtitle",
  "configuration": {
    "settings": true,
    "dates": false,
    "passwords": false,
    "coversheets": true,
    "assignment": false,
    "additionalMarkingMaterial": true,
    "rubrics": true,
    "permittedInternetResources": true
  }
}

This will create a new FLOWcombine main flow on which it is possible to add a new subflow using  POST /flows/{mainFlowId}/combine/subflows/{copyFromFlowId}/copy.

Where mainFlowId is the flow ID of the newly copied main flow, and copyFromFlowId is the flow ID of the template flow to be added as a subflow. The body is the same as for a main flow.