Teacher Change Requests Made Simple With Copilot
Simplifying change requests for teachers is a crucial step in empowering educators to effectively utilize technology and improve their workflows. Often, teachers find themselves hesitant to directly modify program code or digital tools due to a lack of technical expertise or fear of breaking existing systems. This discomfort can lead to a backlog of desired improvements and a feeling of disempowerment. To bridge this gap, we can implement a system that makes submitting and understanding change requests straightforward, even for those with minimal coding knowledge. This article will explore how well-defined issue templates, designed with teachers in mind, can revolutionize the way feedback and modification requests are handled, ensuring that their valuable input is not lost and can be readily acted upon by tools like Copilot.
The Challenge of Direct Program Modification for Educators
Teachers are not comfortable modifying program directly, and this is a sentiment echoed across many educational institutions. The complex nature of software development, with its intricate code, dependencies, and potential for unintended consequences, can be daunting for individuals whose primary focus is pedagogy and student learning. When teachers encounter a bug, a missing feature, or an area for improvement in the educational software they use, their immediate instinct is often not to dive into the code. Instead, they might resort to workarounds, accept the limitations, or express their needs in ways that are difficult for technical teams to interpret. This disconnect between the user's need and the developer's understanding is a significant bottleneck. Without a clear and accessible pathway for communicating these needs, valuable insights into how software can better serve the classroom are often missed. The result is software that may not be fully optimized for its intended users, leading to frustration and underutilization. Empowering teachers means providing them with tools and processes that lower the barrier to entry for suggesting improvements. This isn't about turning teachers into developers; it's about creating a language and a system where their educational insights can directly inform technological enhancements.
Furthermore, the unsurety about what to put in the issues to explain what they need is a common pain point. Teachers are experts in their field, understanding the nuances of student learning, curriculum delivery, and classroom management. However, translating these educational requirements into technical specifications can be a significant hurdle. They might describe a problem in terms of its impact on students (e.g., "This feature is confusing for my third graders") rather than its technical cause or desired solution (e.g., "The button placement for this function lacks contrast and is too small for younger users"). This ambiguity can lead to extensive back-and-forth communication, delays in implementation, and misinterpretations that result in changes that don't quite hit the mark. The goal is to create a system that guides teachers to provide the necessary details without requiring them to become experts in software development.
The Solution: Issue Template Forms for Common Tasks
To address these challenges, the most effective approach is to make a series of issue template forms for common tasks. These templates act as guided questionnaires, prompting teachers to provide specific, actionable information. Instead of facing a blank "new issue" page, they are presented with a structured form that breaks down the request into digestible sections. Each section is designed to elicit the critical information needed for developers or AI coding agents to understand and act upon the request. This structured approach not only simplifies the process for teachers but also ensures that the submitted information is consistent and comprehensive. By standardizing the input, we dramatically reduce the ambiguity and guesswork involved in processing change requests. These templates can be tailored to various types of requests, such as bug reports, feature enhancements, or usability improvements, ensuring that the right questions are asked for each scenario.
Designing Effective Issue Templates for Copilot
Make sure enough details are required so Copilot coding agent can easily be assigned these tasks without further explanation. This is the core of our recommendation. For Copilot, or any AI coding agent, to efficiently handle tasks, the instructions must be precise and unambiguous. The issue templates should be meticulously crafted to include all the necessary context. This means moving beyond just asking "What is the problem?" to prompting for specific details like: the exact location of the bug, the expected versus actual behavior, the conditions under which the bug occurs, and any error messages displayed. For feature requests, the template should guide the teacher to describe the desired functionality, the user story (who needs this and why), the expected outcome, and any specific UI/UX considerations. Including fields for suggested solutions or hints can also be invaluable. If a teacher has an idea about how something could be fixed or improved, providing a space for them to articulate this, even in non-technical terms, can offer a significant starting point for the AI. The goal is to create a "ready-to-code" issue, minimizing the need for human interpretation or clarification before the AI can begin its work. This not only speeds up the development cycle but also allows the AI to learn and improve its understanding of educational software needs over time.
What Constitutes a Well-Defined Issue?
A well defined issue typically includes these items (at a minimum), and our templates will be designed to capture them systematically. When a teacher submits a request through a template, they will be guided to provide the following essential components, ensuring clarity and completeness:
Clear Problem Description
Clear problem description is paramount. This section of the template will prompt teachers to articulate the issue they are facing in straightforward language. It will ask them to describe what is happening, where it is happening within the application, and what the impact is on their teaching or student learning. For example, instead of saying "The grading tool is broken," a teacher might be guided to say: "When I try to enter a grade for Assignment X in the Gradebook module, the system freezes and I have to close the application. This prevents me from updating student scores promptly." The template can offer prompts like: "What were you trying to do?", "What happened instead?", and "Who is affected by this issue? (e.g., me, my students, a specific group of students)". This ensures that the core problem is understood from the user's perspective, providing the necessary context for troubleshooting or development.
Clear Acceptance Criteria
Clear acceptance criteria define what success looks like for the proposed change or fix. This is often the most challenging part for non-technical users, so the template will guide teachers by asking them to describe the desired outcome in terms of observable behavior. For a bug fix, acceptance criteria might be: "The grading tool no longer freezes when entering grades for Assignment X." For a feature request, it could be: "After clicking the 'Generate Report' button, a PDF report of student progress for the selected date range is displayed on the screen." The template will include prompts such as: "How will we know this problem is solved?", "What should the system do now when this task is performed correctly?", and "What specific conditions must be met for this change to be considered complete?". These criteria act as a checklist for developers and testers, ensuring that the implemented solution meets the user's expectations.
Hints, Tips, and Suggested Solutions
Including hints, tips, and suggested solutions to get started can significantly accelerate the resolution process. While teachers may not be able to provide code, they often have valuable insights into the system's behavior and potential workarounds or desired functionalities. The template can include a section for teachers to share any observations that might be helpful. For instance, they might note, "This issue seems to happen only when I use the Chrome browser, but not in Firefox," or "I noticed that if I save the document before entering the grade, the freeze doesn't happen." For feature requests, they might suggest, "Perhaps a button similar to the 'Export to CSV' feature could work here?" This information can provide developers and AI agents with crucial clues, reducing the time spent on initial investigation and exploration. It bridges the gap between the problem as experienced by the user and the technical steps required for a solution.
Limitations, Related Information, and Other Context
Finally, capturing limitations, related information, and other context ensures that the request is fully understood within its operational environment. This section of the template can be used to detail any known constraints, such as specific versions of operating systems or browsers used, network conditions, or other software dependencies. Teachers can also link to related issues, previous discussions, or relevant documentation that might provide additional background. For example, a teacher might add: "This is related to issue #123, where the export function was also behaving unexpectedly," or "I am currently using Windows 11 with the latest version of Microsoft Edge." Providing this comprehensive context helps to prevent misunderstandings, identify potential conflicts with other features, and ensure that the solution is robust and compatible. It also serves as a valuable reference for future development and troubleshooting, creating a richer knowledge base about the software's real-world usage.
By implementing these detailed issue template forms, we can transform the process of change requests for teachers. This structured approach empowers educators to articulate their needs clearly, provides technical teams and AI agents with the precise information they require, and ultimately leads to more effective and user-centered educational technology. For more insights into effective issue tracking and management, you can explore resources on GitHub's documentation on issue templates.
