[LON-CAPA-users] Anyone planning to attend the Visualization in Science Gordon Conference in July? A couple of questions about demonstrations.

[rlight]

I am hoping to attend the Visualization in Science Gordon Conference in
Oxford this summer (if I can get some university travel support) and was
wondering if anyone else associated with LON-CAPA was planning to attend.
(Guy Ashkenazi went to the one four years ago).

Information on the conference is at
http://www.grc.org/programs/2005/visualiz.htm

I am thinking of submitting a poster describing LON-CAPA as it relates to
chemistry, particularly the organic problems I've been working on this
term--and if anyone else is planning to attend and do the same perhaps we
could coordinate what is presented.  (Would I be correct in ascribing credit
for the &chemparse and JME editor functions to the two Guys--Albertelli and
Ashkenazi, and the incorporation of Jmol visualization to Jim Maxka?--or
should others get credit as well?)


I don't know for sure, but I think (if a poster is accepted) there will be
an opportunity in an IT lab full of computers to show some demonstrations.
Probably even to enroll interested people in a demo course.  If so, I'm
starting to think about the best way to set one up, so if anyone has
examples they can point me to, that would be helpful.

To that end, here are a couple of questions:

1.  If I want to mingle some information, discussion, etc together with a
problem or two, do I do that as  "page"?  (I've seen some resources where
there is a page of reading where every once in a while a problem appears for
the student to complete, rather than just a list of problems as I've been
using in my course).

2.  How does one set up a problem in such a demo (or in a course for that
matter) that includes a button where a new randomization can be generated
after the problem is answered correctly?  (This would also be useful in a
course if you wanted to give students some opportunity to "practice"--and in
that case can it be set up without "grading" it?)  I seem to recall a
discussion that this was possible, but don't remember how, and I don't find
anything in the on-line training manual about it.  One could "demonstrate"
this re-randomization while in construction space, but I'm interested in how
someone logged into a demonstration course could try out problem variations.

3.  As a slight variation on this question, do I recall discussion of the
ability to make a "resource" available on a web page without involving a
log-in to a LON-CAPA server?  Is that what the "public-no authentication"
option in publication is for?  When one makes such a "public" link, does the
problem come up with only one randomization, or is it possible to view
different versions of the problem by reloading the web page?

Robley Light

*************************************************************
Robley J. Light                         Professor Emeritus, Chemistry and
Biochemistry
Department of Chemistry          		Phone:   (850) 644-3844 
   and Biochemistry                   	Email:  rlight@chem.fsu.edu   
Florida State University             	Fax:      (850) 644-8281
Tallahassee, FL 32306-4390    Home Page:
http://www.chem.fsu.edu/editors/rlight