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Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

by Christian Seberino -
Number of replies: 7
Some of my students use mathxl.com which has a mouse driven interface to enter complicated math expressions.  

I wonder if there has ever been any effort to something like that for Webwork?

I'm imagining it could be done just with the addition of some Javascript to homework problem web pages.  It would be modular and separate and not require mucking with internals of Webwork.  People could turn it on and off without messing anything up unless I'm missing something.

Thoughts?

Sincerely,

Chris
In reply to Christian Seberino

Re: Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

by Paul Pearson -

Hi Chris,

DragMath and MathView have been available since the release of WebWork 2.7.

  • Course Configuration --> PG - Problem Display/Answer Checking --> Use DragMath editor for answer entry --> True --> Save Changes

  • Course Configuration --> PG - Problem Display/Answer Checking --> Use MathView editor for answer entry --> True --> Save Changes
Best regards,

Paul Pearson
In reply to Paul Pearson

Re: Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

by Andras Balogh -
Thank you Paul! 

I missed out on these features so far and students in lower level courses who are struggling with parentheses will appreciate this!

On our WeBWorK v. 2.12 only MathView is listed in the course configuration.

DragMath is in the central localOverrides.conf file listed as disabled by default
 $pg{specialPGEnvironmentVars}{DragMath} = 0;

It can be enabled for individual courses by inserting the line
 $pg{specialPGEnvironmentVars}{DragMath} = 1;
 in the course.conf file using the File Manager

It took me several minutes to position the square root on the right number in
(4-sqrt(7))/2
and had to go through the usual hoops to permit the java running in safari.

Andras




In reply to Andras Balogh

Re: Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

by Michael Gage -
If you would like to try something experimental along these lines try adding this https://github.com/spirography/webwork-helper  to your chrome browser. Apparently it is also available at the chrome web store.  It runs entirely in the browser and works only on the chrome browser.

To view sites other than those at Rochester you will need to make the appropriate modification to the manifest.json file which currently restricts
access to the webwork.rochester.edu domains. 

It was written by Jeremy Spiro, a freshman at U. of Rochester.

Take care,

Mike

In reply to Michael Gage

Re: Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

by Larry Riddle -
This webwork-helper extension looks like a very interesting and helpful Chrome extension. But it seems that additional modifications than just to the manifest.json file must be made to get it to work for other sites. Has Jeremy any additional documentation for what those modifications might be?

Larry
In reply to Larry Riddle

Re: Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

by Andras Balogh -
A few other files also have references to rochester.
Once I changed those it seems to work.
Probably changes in not all these files are necessary:
manifest.json
inject.js
popup.js
popup.html


In reply to Andras Balogh

Re: Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

by Andras Balogh -
But then again, installing a locally modified extension requires developer mode, which might be too technical for some students and may not be permitted on university computers.
Maybe Jeremy could create a stripped down version of the extension that could work on all webwork sites without some of the extra features?

In reply to Andras Balogh

Re: Creating mathxl.com type mouse driven interface to enter math expressions for Webwork

by Andras Balogh -
Strange. The extension I modified sometimes does not work in all courses on the same server, or even on all problem sets in the same course.