Basic Features

Toodle provides the essential functionality required to manage tutors, courses, allocations, working hours, and student volunteering within the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.

These features establish the foundation of the Tutor Management System, allowing academic staff to allocate tutors while considering course requirements, availability, and weekly working-hour limits.

Course and Tutor Management

Toodle maintains records of the school's courses, tutors, and students.

Course information includes the course code, name, academic details, tutor requirements, and scheduled teaching sessions.

User profiles contain relevant information such as:

• Name and university identification details.
• Year of study.
• Courses and recorded marks.
• Weekly working-hour capacity.
• Availability for tutoring work.
• Current and pending tutor allocations.

Administrators manage platform-wide records, while lecturers manage academic activities for their coordinated courses.

Authentication and Role-Based Access

Toodle uses Auth0 for authentication and provides role-specific access to application functionality.

The system supports four roles:

Role	Main Responsibilities
Admin	Manages users, courses, roles, academic settings, and platform-wide workflows
Lecturer	Coordinates assigned courses, manages tutors, and reviews academic workflows
Tutor	Views allocated work, manages availability, submits timesheets, and requests excusals
Student	Browses courses, submits marks, applies for tutoring, and volunteers for available work

After authentication, users are directed to the relevant application interface according to their role and onboarding state.

Protected backend operations enforce the required role and course permissions.

Tutor Marks and Eligibility

Toodle stores students' course marks and allows academic staff to verify submitted marks.

When evaluating a potential tutor, the system considers:

• Whether the tutor has a recorded mark for the course.
• Whether the mark has been verified.
• Whether it meets the course's minimum requirement.
• Whether the tutor has sufficient remaining working hours.
• Whether the proposed work fits their availability and timetable.

These checks support informed allocation decisions and help prevent unsuitable assignments.

Eligibility rules are enforced by the backend, rather than relying solely on the frontend interface.

Tutor Availability

Tutors can record the days and times during which they are available to work.

This information is compared with course sessions and existing commitments to identify potential timetable conflicts.

The availability system helps staff determine whether a tutor can reasonably accept additional work.

Changes to availability are considered when evaluating allocations and scheduling decisions.

Tutor Allocation Board

The Allocation Board provides academic staff with a central interface for managing tutor assignments.

Instead of allocating tutors through disconnected forms, staff can review courses, staffing requirements, available tutors, and existing allocations in one place.

The board supports:

• Viewing tutors assigned to each course.
• Identifying courses that require additional tutors.
• Creating and updating tutor allocations.
• Reviewing pending allocations.
• Viewing eligibility and scheduling warnings.
• Protecting selected allocations from unintended changes.

Allocation Validation

Before an allocation is saved, Toodle evaluates the proposed assignment against relevant constraints.

Constraint	Validation
Academic qualification	Checks the tutor's verified mark against the course requirement
Availability	Checks whether the tutor is free during the selected work
Timetable conflicts	Identifies overlapping teaching commitments
Weekly hours	Checks the tutor's remaining working-hour capacity
Course capacity	Considers the course's staffing requirements
Existing allocations	Identifies duplicate or conflicting assignments

The application displays validation results to help staff make informed decisions.

Where the system supports manual overrides or pending allocations, the backend applies the relevant validation policy.

Timesheet Submission

Tutors can record the work they have completed through the Timesheets feature.

A timesheet records information such as:

• The relevant course.
• Dates on which work was completed.
• Hours worked.
• Descriptions of completed activities.
• Submission and review status.

Tutors can create entries, review their recorded hours, and submit timesheets for staff approval.

Academic staff can review submitted timesheets and approve them or request corrections where necessary.

This provides a structured record of tutoring work for academic administration.

Excusal Requests

Tutors can request permission to miss a scheduled teaching session.

The request identifies the relevant course, session, occurrence date, and reason for the absence.

Academic staff review the request and approve or decline it.

The system records the tutor's explanation and the review outcome separately, allowing both parties to understand the decision.

Approved excusals can initiate the process of finding replacement coverage for the affected session.

Student Volunteering

Toodle allows students to volunteer for available tutoring opportunities.

When additional tutors or replacement coverage are required, academic staff can publish an overflow opportunity.

Students can:

1. Browse available volunteering opportunities.
2. Review the relevant course or session information.
3. Submit a claim for suitable work.
4. Track the outcome of their claim.

Academic staff review submitted claims before assigning work.

Approved volunteering opportunities are reflected in the relevant allocation or dated session coverage workflow.

Role-Specific Interfaces

Each Toodle role is presented with functionality relevant to its responsibilities.

Administrators and lecturers can access academic management workflows, tutors can view and manage their assigned responsibilities, and students can discover opportunities to participate.

The application also provides responsive navigation to support desktop and mobile access.

For detailed instructions on completing these tasks, see Role Workflows.