[Edu-sig] Interactive Coding Web Pages?

[kirby urner]

On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 10:24 AM, Peter Farrell <funcalculus at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hello to the Group!
>
> I'm redesigning my math-using-Python-programming course and need your
> input.
>
> I'd like to have the participants enter their code on a site like they do
> at CodingBat or CodeWars: the site tests the code and immediately gives the
> user feedback.
>
>
You ask excellent questions.

However the word "course" is underspecified in it's left to the imagination
to guess if this course is

(A) delivered purely virtually,
(C) with a teacher in a classroom where students join in a learning
process, or
(B) a hybrid.

Do they use CodingBat with a teacher in the room looking over their
shoulders, or are they on their own in a personal workspace (like a cubicle
or study carrel).

You may be familiar with Michigan's Nexus Academy environment.  The
students enter a proctored environment with adult supervision, a cafeteria
and gym may be provided, various breakout rooms and meeting rooms.  However
the teachers in this picture tend to patch in from remote locations, either
for real time content delivery and interaction, or more asynchronously.


> Has anybody done this? Is there a template available for doing this, or is
> it a custom job?
>

At O'Reilly our approach was to spin up a workstation in the could, behind
a login credential, already provided with IDE + required tools.  Were I
doing it today, the workstation would come with the Anaconda distribution
and Visual Python, a few other bells and whistles (maybe povray).


>
> Is there an easier way, using an online IDE where teachers can set up
> classes? Would you recommend going with IPython/Jupyter notebooks instead?
>

A lot depends on whether students need to do the equivalent of "passing in
homework".

Given we were issuing certificates, we wanted to look at aspects of style
as well as substance, so even if a program delivered the correct user
experience, we might send it back for a next iteration, based on lack of
documentation or other such standard.

Sometimes the submission would pass, but the mentor would nevertheless
point out areas that could use improvement, so "pat on the back with
advice".

Writing programs to replace human mentors never seemed like a feasible way
to go, but then there's no harm in turning students loose in entirely
automated environments for workout purposes.  After all, Python itself
provides such an environment.

At PDX Code Guild we think a student:teacher ratio of about 12:1 is ideal.
But that's an intensive in-person meetup.  If we factor in the distance
education aspects, then the ratios may be a lot different.  Not all
students are active at once is the main thing, so the effective teacher
caseload is not a linear function with number enrolled.

A core question is whether you plan to provide a "world" behind a login,
and if so what's in that world.  Most educational materials come without a
login.  I just bought Python Programming for Biology for $60 and do not
expect to need to login anywhere.  But then neither will I be getting a
credential for reading it.  The goal is to continue improving the STEM
content of my course materials.

Kirby


<https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig>

>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/attachments/20160330/0acfaaeb/attachment-0001.html>