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Student Guide

  • For: Student
  • Requires: A university GitLab account
Welcome to the GitPulse student guide. This section will help you understand how GitPulse works, what the system tracks, and how to effectively use the dashboard information.

Guide Contents

  • Getting Started - First login, dashboard navigation, and basic features.
  • Understanding Metrics - What compliance rules R01-R13 mean and how they affect your evaluation.
  • FAQ - Frequently asked questions and answers for students.

What is GitPulse?

GitPulse is a tool supporting DevOps education that automatically analyzes your work in GitLab projects. The system tracks:

  • Commit activity - regularity and work distribution over time
  • Issue management - creating, assigning, and closing tasks
  • Merge requests - code review and code integration
  • CI/CD pipeline - automated testing and deployment
  • Teamwork - work distribution among team members

GitPulse is not a surveillance tool. GitPulse only analyzes publicly available data from your GitLab projects. It does not track your personal activity, record your screen, or monitor time spent at the computer. The system evaluates teamwork outputs, not individual productivity.

How does it work?

flowchart LR
    S["You"] -->|"commit, issue, MR"| GL["GitLab"]
    GL -->|"webhook"| GP["GitPulse"]
    GP -->|"analysis"| D["Dashboard"]
    D -->|"metrics"| T["Teacher"]
  1. You work in GitLab - creating commits, issues, merge requests
  2. GitPulse automatically syncs data from your projects
  3. The dashboard displays compliance metrics and activity overview
  4. The instructor uses this data as input for evaluation

Important Notes

Academic integrity. GitPulse gives instructors evidence for reviewing the process, not a replacement for academic judgement. Artificially inflated activity, empty commits, superficial reviews, or attempts to bypass course rules can be checked directly in GitLab.

Best practices. - Work regularly, not just before deadlines - Use meaningful commit messages - Break work into smaller tasks via issues - Use merge requests for code review - Set up and maintain a CI/CD pipeline