Learning Online Network with CAPA Author’s Tutorial And Manual March 17, 2021 LON-CAPA Group Michigan State University 1 CONTENTS 2 Contents 1 Introduction to Authoring in LON-CAPA 6 1.1 AboutThisManual................................ 7 1.2 LoginasContentAuthor............................. 7 1.3 RolesScreen.................................... 8 1.4 MenuOptions................................... 8 1.4.1 InlineMenu ................................ 8 1.4.2 RemoteControl.............................. 9 1.5 ResourceTypes .................................. 10 1.6 DescriptionofAuthoringSpace . 13 1.7 SearchingExistingResources . 15 1.8 BrowsingExistingResources. 17 2 Help 17 2.1 OnlineHelp .................................... 17 2.2 WheretoFindAdditionalHelp . 18 2.3 Requesting New Features and Submitting Suggestions . ....... 18 3 HTML Page Overview 19 4 Problem Types in LON-CAPA 19 4.1 ProblemTypes .................................. 19 4.1.1 Foils .................................... 19 4.2 RadioResponseProblems ............................ 19 4.3 OptionResponseProblems. 19 4.3.1 Option Response Problems with Concept Groups . 19 4.3.2 Example:ConceptGroup . 20 4.3.3 Example: MatchingProblem. 20 4.4 StringResponseProblems . 21 4.5 NumericalResponseProblems . 21 4.6 FormulaResponseProblems . 21 4.7 MathResponseProblems............................. 22 4.8 CustomResponseProblems ........................... 22 4.9 FunctionPlotResponseProblems . 22 5 Authoring Content in LON-CAPA 22 5.1 AuthoringandEditingContentPages. 22 5.1.1 CreatingEquations ............................ 23 5.1.2 How to Edit Existing Content Pages . 25 5.2 Authoring Problems Using LON-CAPA . 25 5.3 GeneralProblemEditing. 26 5.3.1 AuthoringSurveys ............................ 27 5.3.2 AddingPicture .............................. 27 5.3.3 DynamicPlots .............................. 28 CONTENTS 3 5.3.4 ImportingTestbanks ........................... 28 5.3.5 Answer Display Overview . 29 6 Authoring Radio, Option, String Response Problems 30 6.1 AuthoringRadioResponseProblems . 30 6.1.1 Randomization .............................. 33 6.2 AuthoringOptionProblems . 33 6.3 SimpleOptionResponse: NoConceptGroups . 34 6.4 AuthoringaStringResponseProblem . 35 7 Authoring Numerical, Formula, Custom Response Questions 36 7.1 Authoring Numerical Response and Formula Response Problems . ..... 36 7.2 ThePartsofaNumericalResponseProblem . 37 7.3 Simple Numerical Response Answer . 40 7.4 SimpleScriptUsage................................ 40 7.4.1 VariablesinScripts . 41 7.4.2 Variables in the Text Block . 41 7.4.3 VariablesintheAnswerBlock . 42 7.5 CallingFunctions ................................ 42 7.5.1 Numerical Response Randomization . 43 7.6 AuthoringFormulaResponseProblems . 43 7.7 Dynamic, Randomized Problems: Putting It All Together . ........ 45 7.8 Units,Format................................... 45 7.9 ForMoreInformation.............................. 45 7.10FormulaResponse................................. 46 7.10.1 SampleSpecifications. 46 7.10.2 FormulaNotes .............................. 47 7.10.3 ExampleFormulaResponse . 47 7.11 AuthoringMathResponseProblems . 48 7.12 CustomResponseProblems ........................... 50 8 Authoring Dynamically Generated Plots 52 8.1 SpecifyingCurvestoPlot . 53 8.1.1 PlottingDataPoints ........................... 55 8.1.2 PlottingFunctions ............................ 55 8.1.3 DataandLineStyles ........................... 55 8.2 PlotLabelsandKey ............................... 57 8.3 PlotAxesDetails ................................. 57 8.4 ColorSelection .................................. 60 9 Authoring Function Plot Response Problems 60 9.1 Introduction.................................... 60 9.2 Elements...................................... 61 9.3 Rules........................................ 62 CONTENTS 4 10 Using Libraries 68 10.1 AuthoringLibraryFiles . 68 11 Authoring Adaptive/Conditional Hints 71 12 Publishing Your Resources 79 12.1WhatisMetadata? ................................ 79 12.2 PublishingaResource .............................. 80 13 Printing Your Resources 82 13.1 PrintingfromAuthoringSpace . 82 13.2 PrintingaSubdirectoryofProblems . ...... 82 13.3 TipsforImprovingPrintOutput . 83 13.3.1 TeXsizeAttribute............................. 84 13.3.2 TeXwidthAttribute ........................... 84 13.3.3 TeXDropEmptyColumnsAttribute . 85 13.3.4 ImageTeXAttributes . 85 13.3.5 TeXTypeAttribute ........................... 86 13.3.6 TeXItemgroupWidthAttribute. 86 13.3.7 TeXLayoutAttribute . 87 13.4 TroubleshootingPDFErrors . 87 14 Authoring Maps: Sequences and Pages 88 14.1 AuthoringSequences . 88 14.2 Authoring a Simple .sequence With The Simple Editor . ....... 89 14.3 Authoring a Simple .sequence With The Advanced Editor . ...... 90 14.4 Addinglinksandconditions . 92 14.5PageMaps..................................... 95 14.6 Courses:Top-levelSequence . 95 15 Tags Used in XML Authoring 96 15.1ResponseTags................................... 96 15.1.1 numericalresponse............................. 96 15.1.2 imageresponse............................... 97 15.1.3 optionresponse .............................. 97 15.1.4 radiobuttonresponse . 98 15.1.5 dataresponse ............................... 98 15.1.6 externalresponse ............................. 98 15.1.7 Attributes For All Response Tags . 99 15.2 responseparamandparameter . 99 15.3 FoilStructureTags .............................. 100 15.4HintTags ..................................... 100 15.5InputTags..................................... 101 15.6OutputTags.................................... 101 15.7InternalTags ................................... 107 CONTENTS 5 15.8ScriptingTags.................................. 107 15.9StructureTags .................................. 108 16 <script> Tag 109 16.1 SupportedScriptFunctions . 109 16.2ScriptVariables ................................ 112 16.3 Table:LON-CAPAFunctions . 112 16.4 Table: CAPA vs. LON-CAPA Function Differences . 121 17 Bridge Task 126 17.1 IntroductiontoBridgeTask . 126 17.2 BridgeTaskFeatures . 127 17.3 AuthoringBridgeTask .............................. 128 17.4 BridgeTaskXMLEditing ............................ 128 17.4.1 .TaskHeaders............................... 129 17.4.2 .Task Parameter and Variable . 129 17.4.3 .TaskQuestionsandCriteria. 131 17.4.4 .TaskFinishingUp ............................ 133 17.5 BridgeTaskEditMode.............................. 134 17.5.1 Introductions ............................... 135 17.5.2 QuestionsandCriteria . 135 17.5.3 ParameterandVariable . 138 17.5.4 EditModeFinishingUp . 141 17.6SettingUpaBridgeTask ............................ 141 17.6.1 BridgeTaskandSlots . 142 17.6.2 Bridge Task and Conditional Resources . 142 17.7 HandingInBridgeTaskFiles . 143 18 WebDAV access to Authoring Space 144 19 Appendix: Symbols in TeX 156 20 Appendix: Physical Units 157 1 INTRODUCTION TO AUTHORING IN LON-CAPA 6 1 Introduction to Authoring in LON-CAPA LON-CAPA is a web-based content management system that helps to organize and present your course website, deliver and manage assignments, and manage student enrollment, as- sessment, and grading. Typically all author functions will be completed using a web browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE or similar). The one exception to this is where your LON-CAPA domain has been configured to support webDAV access, in which case you may be able to carry out standard file operations (copy, move, add file etc.) using your computer’s standard filesystem interface, after you have established access to your authoring space volume. LON-CAPA has three work spaces: the ROLES menu, the course/community space where courses are developed from resources, and the authoring space where resources are composed and published. There are two user manuals for LON-CAPA, a course coordinator manual and author manual. Also, there are quick reference guides to building a course and building an exam, available at http://help.loncapa.org . This is the author manual used to create resources such as problems that can later be added to your course. Before creating problems, you should have: developed learning objectives that you want to evaluate for your course/community • determined the appropriate question formats and developed your problems for input • into LON-CAPA. Examples for question formats are provided in this manual and also when authoring a problem. developed the directory structure that you plan to use to organize your resources • Overview of the Authoring Process Graphics, problems, and html pages are all considered resources. Additional resources include reusable snippets of perl, xml, cascading style sheets, etc. This manual documents the process used to create and organize the more advanced types of resources. The authoring process involves these steps: create or upload a resource. The resource can combine other uploaded resources such • as graphics, code snippets, or problem sequences test and revise your resource • publish the resource to make it available for integration into a course/community • and/or sharing revise your resources after publishing to improve clarity or eliminate bugs • Importance of Planning your Directory Structure Once a resource has been published, the published version can never be moved or deleted. Thus, it is important to plan your folder structure. Old resources can be marked obsolete, and the version in your authoring space deleted, but the published version(s) will remain in your folders in the locations in which they were originally published.