PREP 2011 Notes June 24

Meeting at Carriage House June 24, 2011

Communication

IRC = Internet Relay Chat

• Go to webchat.freenode.net and use channel '#webwork' (all lower case)
• get a nickname and enter the capcha properly
• IRC is a place to hang out and ask/answer questions related to Webwork

Dick Lane

The Problem Library

• Looked at the webwork course on the PREP server 'PREP 2011 Calculus 3'
• Discussed the design of various problems
• Use COMMENT('blah','blah') after the macros have been loaded and before the end of the document. The strings will then show up in searches and in the blue box below the problem in the library browser.
• Discussed several other ideas related to homework sets. (Set 'Lane-day2' demonstrated)
• Showed 'Get a new version of this problem'.
  • Implemented by editing PGcourse.pl file located in the macros subdirectory for the particular course
  • Comment in or out as desired.
  • Generally, the first presentation of the problem is the one that will be graded and any other attempts with new random values are just for practice.
  • Showing how to add hints to problems

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BEGIN_HINT
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• • One may always want to add hints to all problems to at least include something like "See Professor" after several failed attempts.

Jason Aubrey

Newbies

• Library Browser

Jeff and John

Bug Reports

• How to submit bugs in the problem library

Usage Info

• Sending information on local usage back to the NPL
• Privacy concerns

Improvements to the Library Browser

• Change "Edit it" link to a "View Source" button?
• Change "Try it" link so that you can try a live problem directly from the library browser?
• Discussion on ways to improve the viewing of problems in "Edit Homework Sets"
• Use of popups to help set tags for problems

Mike Gage

Webwork Development

• Library Browser 2

Dragging problems
Gridify
Rearranging order of problems

Final Discussion

Library Browser 2 features

• Location of menu items
• Hiding stuff
• Making the moving of items easier to follow
• "Locking" of open materials
• More like iTunes if possible

Developing materials for classes

• Some discussion on whether one should edit stuff for open courses