Wondering to charge or not to charge for new Gradebook module

Hey Victor,

Thanks for your feedback. I love your addons, and value your opinion. Since I did this on my own time because I wanted something for my own teaching, I guess it just comes down to if I want return for my hours…

Thanks, Zac

So long as the fee is modest ($14.95? $19.95?), I would suggest charging for your work. Assuming you did a good job, it reinforces the value which you yourself assign to its quality and your time. Even teachers can afford a modest fee. (Nearly) anyone who can make effective use of your module will want it, free or not.

On the down side, while most EE add-on authors provide awesome support even for their free modules, charging a fee implies, even though it does not enforce, a high(er) commitment to customer support by the developer.

Zac,

This sounds interesting and I’d be interested in purchasing this. Of course, I’d have to see how it functions and maybe get some screens and a tut before I consider anything - but it seems like something I would certainly use in a non-commercial environment.

Hey,

Thanks for your interest! I have had the backend to the module done for a while, but never got around to templating it so that students could login and see their grades.

I will finish it up (with some docs) so that you can check it out.

Zac

Dear Zac,

I think this module is a fantastic concept and can really picture this being put to good use. I’d reckon the front-end functionality is more important than back-end access for students. Administration on the other hand, is obviously different.

Please do keep me posted on your developments.

Thanks!

I’d say don’t narrow your vision for this module. Businesses often provide training/online training and tests/quizzes and they need to keep track of quiz results for certification/re-certification. If done right and combined with a quiz module, this could become a low cost learning management system solution for small to medium size businesses. Much of this sort of thing is done manually using spreadsheets in a lot of businesses right now.

Would have to agree with Shannon. Coupled with a quiz module (with maybe an optional time limit), I can picture this being just as powerful as some of the systems currently used online if not even better. As a user of some of the systems already available (Blackboard, etc.), I can say with full confidence that this sector is lacking and untapped. The only casualties really is management and worst of all, to the student body.

Definitely. Some companies have their employees taking 20 or so Safety courses alone that have recertifications coming up yearly, every 2 years, etc., etc. Tracking this for 200-500 employees is very tedious with a spreadsheet! And, that’s just the safety courses… they usually have to take many others. Full blown LMS systems are insanely expensive with no good reason. Definitely not something small to medium businesses can afford.

And, you can also look to post secondary schools as well. The systems out there aren’t great. Blackboard is the standard and it certainly has issues…. it’s expensive too I believe.

EE with an LMS/Quiz module would be sweet! I’ve thought about creating it. And this would definitely be a chargable module if done right.

I totally need this NOW!!

We have a site in development that needs to run online tests and certifications for people in the finance industry (yes, them!). There’s a huge demand for something like this that can run inside EE. Right now, we may be forced to ditch EE altogether for this project, because there’s just no way it can be set up using EE’s current weblog / custom fields / forms structure.

I think most EE developers would be willing to pay quite a reasonable fee, as their clients would be willing to front the cost for something like this that can work inside EE, with all the membership management benefits you already get with EE.

Nik

@ Nick… I totally agree! There is a big demand in business for employee training management systems. A good module would be fantastic. I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Here’s a basic list of what we would like (I hope Zac G’s still reading this!!)

• some way to create “question groups” or “question sections” (lets call them “Tests”), so users have to answer, say, 5 or 6 multiple-choice questions to complete a particular “Test”. at the bottom would be a submit button for the whole “Test”;

• some way to create questions with multiple choice answers in the Control Panel

• some way to “Flag” or “Mark” the right or correct answer in each question (when creating the questions), so the system can record and return the results;

• some way to record test results for: a. each individual signed-in member who takes and completes a test (e.g. see all the answers by John Doe) b. aggregated results for ALL the signed-in people who have taken a particular test (e.g. see all the answers to Question A in Test B)

• some way to restrict access to Tests to signed-in members / member groups only (and assign which member groups are allowed to view/access a Test). Obviously necessary so we know WHO has taken which test.

• some way to DELIVER those results: either in an web page template (an exp:weblog with custom fields), or emailed out to pre-defined recipients, or exported to an XLS / CSV file.

• some way to leverage EE’s date system, so Tests can be scheduled to ‘start’ and ‘expire’ at preset dates/times (optional: can be turned on or off)

Nik

It seems like you’re of a split mind. On the one hand, you want to make your module available to educational users for a low price (or no price at all). But on the other, it seems clear that there are some applications for which this sort of module is useful – corporate training looming large among them.

Why not segment your market by license terms? Educational users can have it for price X, business users for price Y. Most people are great about adhering to the author’s license terms, and you’d find there would be plenty of folks happy to pay price Y as long as it’s reasonable.