[LON-CAPA-users] New Content/Problem Editor - Input needed NOW

[Stuart Raeburn]

Hi,

> I want two really new products :  an editor and a converter.
>
> For the converter:
>
> I would also like to see a little conversion program available that takes
> a problem that was in some document/text format and convert it to a
> Loncapa problem format.

Although discussion of the conversion capabilities of the current  
LON-CAPA is a little off-topic, just a quick reminder to mailing list  
subscribers of the testbank import functionality currently available  
in Authoring Space, added in LON-CAPA 1.2 (plain text import only),  
and extended in 2.7 (2008) to also support import of RTF and HTML  
formatted content.

Question types which may be imported are: Multiple Choice, True/False,  
Multiple Answer, Essay, Fill-in-the-blank, and Ranking/ordering.

Images embedded in imported content are preserved:
(i) for RTF documents, the images are extracted from the RTF using  
RTF::HTMLConverter
(ii) for HTML documents, the user will be prompted to upload images  
referenced in the file during the initial file upload

See: https://loncapa.msu.edu/adm/help/tex/Testbank_Formatting.hlp
for information about question formatting required in the uploaded file.


Stuart Raeburn
LON-CAPA Academic Consortium


> Hi,
>
> I have been programming a long time, mostly with XML edit, but I use the
> color editor when I want snippets of code for problem types or inserts
> whose exact format I've forgotten.
>
> The XML editor may be sparse, but the color editor is way too big (long?)
> for a screen. It's easy to lose your place long question with many options.
>
> I want two really new products :  an editor and a converter.
>
>
> For the editor:
>
> I really like the idea of a wysiwyg.
> I like having code snippets as selectable inserts.
> I like the XML editor.
>
> Here's an idea: How about a split screen similar to a lot of the
> programming IDE's out there. Each pane can be turned on or off to avoid
> clutter. Each pane can be moved outside the current window, into it's own
> window for easy reference.
>
> I visualize one pane as the XML editor, one pane as a sidebar of code
> snippet selections and one pane as a sandbox that runs the problem as it
> is so far - a "What does the student see so far" window. That would be the
> all improtant "wyg" part of wysiwyg. Like the "tryit" editor - an example
> can be found here:
> [ http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/tryit.asp?filename=tryjsref_style_display
> ]http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/tryit.asp?filename=tryjsref_style_display .
>
> The code snippet sidebar can be organized into button menus. Maybe:
> problem types, perl or javascript stuff, media inserts, graph stuff,
> everything that is available on the color editor drop down menus. (Maybe
> even some snippets that do specific things, like pick randomly from a list
> of images.) Each menu might have a description, and a visual of what it
> does in the problem (an example.) When selected, an example problem might
> open in a window with the pertinent code snippet highlighted for easy
> copy/paste into the XML editor, or maybe just the code with an
> explanation. When dropped into the XML editor, it's effect will be
> reflected in the "wyg" pane of the problem so far.
>
> It would be a little bit similar to the large array of problem types
> available when starting a problem. I would imagine having not just the
> name of the problem type, but a picture of a sample problem output pop
> up..
>
> ( While we're discussing this, maybe we can fix that page too. Make the
> selection of problem type not driven by names, but pictures of a sample
> output. It's annoying to have to click on each name and look over the
> samples until you hit the one you really wanted.)
>
>
> For the converter:
>
> I would also like to see a little conversion program available that takes
> a problem that was in some document/text format and convert it to a
> Loncapa problem format. To make it simpler, maybe the author could
> highlight the variable names, and choose the problem type format before
> submitting the question text to the program.
>
> I think that would go a really long way making new teachers comfortable.
> They can take the tons of this stuff they already have and get their
> favorites into loncapa. They can also feel comfortable creating new stuff
> in any word processor and convert it to loncapa.
>
> Such a converter may seem to have limited capability, but I would estimate
> that a good 80-90% of the stuff I've seen could be handled by even a
> simple converter. Certainly it could handle multiple choice and fill in
> the blanks, and simple numerical questions, and questions with
> combinations of these as parts. (I've made one for fill in the blanks and
> simple numerical problems. I dislike typing.)
>
> It wouldn't even have to be a perfect conversion, just get a base
> framework in the XML editor from which to work. If it's multiple choice,
> stick a multiple choice snippet into the XML using the text that's they've
> input. Let the author flesh it out further. If there's an image in the
> doc, stick an image snippet in the XML. If there's a graph in the doc,
> stick a graph snippet in the XML. Now the author has a really good place
> to start tweaking if necessary. (If it detects some kind of insert, it
> could ask - do you want this to become a dynamic graph or an image?)
>
> So, I'd like : a document converter, and an editor with sidebar helper
> screens and a wyg (what you got). Now it becomes a collaboration between
> author and machine.
>
> Brad