Edit semester-dependent courses - Tab "External systems"

Introduction

Short explanatory film

Watch the video here

On this tab, you can create a connection between a course and e-learning or other tools. At the moment, the connection can be created to two systems, that are currently in use at the University of Konstanz:

the e-learning platform ILIAS as well as
the evaluation tool EvaSys for course evaluation.

In the article below, you will learn how to create the connection to both systems external to ZEuS, so that data transfer is taking place through the existing interfaces.

Role

The tab External systems in the semester-dependent view of a course, you can open using various roles associated with teaching. For example, Lehr- und Prüfungsplanung (teaching and exam planning), the various Lecturer roles, given that you are registered as a responsible lecturer/instructor for a given course, as well as Teaching assistance roles, each of which has varying set of rights assigned to it.

View without a connection

Semester-dependent course view - Tab "External systems" - View without connections

As long as there is no connection to ILIAS, a corresponding message is displayed. To link a course to ILIAS, you can use the button Assign to external system. Then a pop-up window will open. Follow the steps outlined below to arrange the required settings.

View with all currently available systems for connection

Semester-dependent course view - Tab "External systems" - View with all currently available connections

	As options, you see connections to ILIAS and EvaSys - more are currently not available.
	Click on the symbol in the Actions column if you wish to delete an existing connection. The data transfer will no longer take place.

Connection to ILIAS

General information

Please keep in mind:

ZEuS is the master - any change made in ILIAS course folder will not be transferred to ZEuS!

An ILIAS environment with the title of the ZEuS course will be created automatically.
You choose the type of ILIAS environment in ZEuS (e.g. "one ILIAS environment for all parallel groups").
The course instructors will be registered as course administrators in ILIAS.
Course participants admitted on ZEuS will be transferred automatically to the corresponding course on ILIAS.
For the above to work, a registration procedure must be attached to the course on ZEuS; in other words, a period group relation ought to be assigned to the course in question.
The data transfer from ZEuS to ILIAS takes place once a day during night time.

Procedure for assigning connection to ILIAS

Step 1: Setup

In the pop-up window, which appears after the button Assign to external system has been activated, you can decide with which of the two available systems you wish to establish a connection and - after picking out an option - how the data transfer is to be configured.

Linking ZEuS with ILIAS - Step 1: Settings

Choose as External system the option ILIAS in the dropdown menu. Before that, please check whether all responsible and performing instructors have assigned as such to the course in ZEuS. Only then the instructors will get a course admistrator account on ILIAS. If however an instructor was forgotten, follow the procedure outlined bellow to add instructors after transfer link to ILIAS has already been established:

If you need to add or to change responsilbe or performing instructors to a course, it is necessary to first delete the existing transfer link to ILIAS and then set it again. This way the added course instructor will be automatically assigned as course administrators in ILIAS. These changes will be implemented in ILIAS a day after the changes were made in ZEuS. It is critical to pick the same "Kurserstellungstyp" (course mapping type) as it was set in the initial transfer link; for more information about course mapping types, see point 2 immediately below.

There are three available options which you can choose in the dropdown menu Course mapping type. A course folder in ILIAS will be created in accordance with your choice:

ILIAS - EIN Kurs für die gesamte Veranstaltung (ILIAS - ONE course folder for the entire course):
- Out of one course (with several parallel groups) in ZEuS one single course folder will be created for ILIAS
- Participants across the parallel groups will be assigned to one single ILIAS course folder.
ILIAS - Ein Kurs JE PARALLELGRUPPE einer Veranstaltung (ILIAS – One course for EACH PARALLEL GROUP of a course):
- For each parallel group on ZEuS a separate course will be created on ILIAS.
- Participants (of each parallel group) will be assigned to their respective course.
ILIAS - EIN Kurs je Veranstaltung und EIN UNTERORDNER JE PARALLELGRUPPE (ILIAS – ONE course folder for each course and A SUBFOLDER FOR EACH PARALLEL GROUP):
- One course folder will be created for the whole course, within the course folder on ILIAS a subfolder will be created per each parallel group of the ZEuS course.
- Participants (of each parallel group) will be assigned to their respective subfolder and to the course as a whole.

Caution! After-the-fact changes of the chosen course mapping type in ILIAS: After the initial transfer of the courses of a given semester from ZEuS to ILIAS (September for winter semester 2021/22), it is NOT possible to change the chosen course mapping type in the tab "External systems". After-the-fact changes of the course mapping type create problem as it not possible to change established course structure in ILIAS.

Current problem with course mapping types (winter semester 2021/2022)

We experience problems with the transfer of the data from ZEuS to ILIAS whenever two out of the three course mapping types are selected. These are ILIAS – One course for EACH PARALLEL GROUP of a course and ILIAS – ONE course folder for each course and A SUBFOLDER FOR EACH PARALLEL GROUP. We request that you do NOT use the two options for the time being. External software provider is working to resolve the issue. We expect that both course mapping types are available for use no later than for summer semester 2022. We will inform teaching support staff once the problem will have been resolved.

Activate the option Automatically assign responsible lecturers by ticking the box; persons registered in ZEuS as responsible lecturere will be then transferred to ILIAS as course administrators.

HINT: In case of changes in responsible or performing lecturers after the transfer connection to external systems has been established, it is necessary to delete the existing link and set it anew! Only then persons will be correctly transferred to external systems (ILIAS, EvaSys).

Should you wish that performing lecturers be transferred to ILIAS as course administrators, then activate the option Automatically assign performing lecturers by ticking the corresponding box.

Press Save to save the changes. This way the course data will be transferred to ILIAS automatically.

Step 2: After transfer setup

Linking ZEuS with ILIAS - Step 2: After the initial setup

	Observe that the option ILIAS - Ein Kurs JE PARALLELGRUPPE einer Veranstaltung (ILIAS – One course for EACH PARALLEL GROUP of a course) was selected. That's why four course folders for four parallel groups were created.
	If you wish to delete the transfer connection to ILIAS, for example the connection is no longer desired, you can do so at the level of the course view. For that, click the button in the Actions column. All created course folders for all parallel groups will then be deleted.
	It is possible to add additional persons as course administrators in ILIAS or delete those who were assidned automatically. This could be done separatly for each parallel group, that is, if the option a course folder per parallel group was selected. Start by clicking the symbol, which you will find in the column Actions.
	If you wish to add interface connection to EvaSys, click again on the button Assign to external system and create the connection as described below: Connecting to EvaSys.

Step 3: Selecting additional persons

Linking ZEuS with ILIAS - Step 3: Assigning additional persons to a course

	Bei entering Name of the lecturer or Organisation unit, you can restrict the search parameters. After clicking Search, the system will execute the search.
	All of the search criteria, you will see in the right-hand side. Tick off the boxes next to persons that are to be marked as responsible in ILIAS.
	Already assigned persons could be deleted by clicking on the symbol.
	Use Save at the end to save the changes and return to previous view.