Data Model part I: Programs and Student Progress

[mgm1313]

Introduction

This RFC proposes a data model for storing programs and tracking student progress within the Nationaal Watersportdiploma (NWD) system. This model is designed to accommodate the evolving nature of water sports programs and provide a flexible framework for recording student achievements.

Note: This document outlines general concepts, deliberately omitting implementation specifics such as timestamps and audit logs for clarity.

Proposal

Program

A program represents a structured set of modules within a specific discipline, degree, and category a student can complete to achieve certification.

• Discipline and Degree: A program is defined by its discipline and degree, with a one-to-many (1:n) relationship.
• Category: Categories have a many-to-many (n:m) relationship with programs, meaning a program can belong to multiple categories.
• Gear Type: This denotes the equipment (e.g., boat, kite, etc.) used to complete the program. The gear_type is associated with a student's program upon enrollment to ensure flexibility and relevance to the student's experience.

Curriculum

To address the dynamic nature of programs, we introduce the concept of a curriculum, which snapshots a program at a specific point in time. This ensures historical integrity and continuity for students' achievements.

• Association with Gear Types: The curriculum links gear_types in a many-to-many (m:n) relationship, allowing changes over time in the equipment certified for a program.

Modules

A curriculum comprises modules, which in turn consist of competencies. Through join tables, both entities maintain a many-to-many (m:n) relationship with a curriculum.

• Module Completion: The current policy is that only modules can be marked as required. However, to technically accommodate future changes, the required status is tracked at the link level between competency and module.

Progress Tracking

We track student progress by linking a student to a curriculum and recording achievements in two categories:

Completed Competencies

• Achievements are stored in the student_completed_competency table and linked to a certificate.
• A certificate pending issuance (with a null issued_at field) indicates ongoing progress. Once issued, the record becomes immutable.

Competency Progress

• To accommodate different locations' nuanced progress tracking needs, we allow recording a progress number (>= 0 and <1) for competencies.
• It is not designed for detailed monitoring of students, nor does it facilitate the sharing of progress across different locations or direct visibility of progress to the students themselves.

Implementation Status

We have begun implementing this proposal as a pilot project to evaluate its effectiveness and gather early feedback. The experimental implementation can be viewed and reviewed in our code repository. We encourage community members, contributors, and interested parties to explore the implementation details and contribute their insights or suggestions for improvement.

You can find the current implementation here: View Implementation

Feedback on the implementation is highly valued as it will inform future adjustments and improvements to the proposed model.

Discussion

We invite the community to provide feedback on this proposal. Specifically, we seek input on the following points:

• The flexibility of the proposed model to accommodate future program and curriculum changes.
• The approach to tracking student progress and the potential need for more granular tracking mechanisms.

Please comment below or join our Discord to contribute to the discussion.