[Xerte] More Questions
Robert Fant
rfantster at gmail.com
Tue Jan 20 16:31:32 GMT 2009
Outstanding Julian, thank you.
This is exactly the "jump-start" I needed.
I've got my dragable textboxes (with LaTeX symbols) going, my target area is
working and I'm playing with the "replace / snap" and "0 / 1"
parameters.
I'll work on things for a while but I know my next questions will pertain
to:
1) the background of the (dragable) text areas and the target area.
2) Snap-to (what exact location)?
3) How to check for accuracy and give feedback.
I will do a lot of reading and try to get some of it figured out.
Please be patient with me. Once I get the basics figured out, I'm sure
I'm going to create some very nice stuff.
This is getting EXCITING!
On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 3:07 AM, Julian Tenney <
Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
> What you need to do is develop a page in Xerte that has the drag and drop
> functionality you need. save that page as a model, then use the Xerte page
> type in the templates to include it in your project.
>
> so open a new Xerte file, and in the page:
>
> add three graphic icons (or text icons), give them IDs of dd1, dd2 and dd3
>
> below them add an interaction icon
>
> to the interaction icon add a target area response
>
> Set the dragItems property to dd1~snap~1,dd2~replace~0,dd3~replace~0
>
> (this is a comma seperated list of items that will trigger the response:
> the first bit is the iconID, the second is whether to replace, snap, or
> leave the icon when it is dropped in the target, the third is whether to
> prevent further drags (1) or not (0)).
>
> Add icons and code to the response if need be - i.e. to show feedback.
>
> Experiment with those combinations. You can have many targets and each
> target can have many icons associated with it in this way. Highlight the
> target area, and press SHIFT-F5 and you can drag the target to the right
> place on the screen. Use the help. Drag and drop are the trickiest
> interactions to set up.
>
> J
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk on behalf of Robert Fant
> *Sent:* Mon 19/01/2009 23:26
>
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
> *Subject:* Re: [Xerte] More Questions
>
> Here is an activity I built.
>
> http://robertfant.com/Algebra1/eXe/Chapter4/solutions_dragndrop.html
>
> If I could use math expressions (symbols) in these text boxes (whether
> LaTeX or images), it would open things up tremendously. And I'm guessing
> that if I can figure out how to do it for any of the activities, it would be
> about the same for all of them.
> For instance, for the category, instead of "y = 2x + 1" if I could put
> the image of an actual graph in there, then the kids drag the points
> (solutions) into that category, etc., etc.
>
> Unfortunately, if I'm understanding things correctly, all of the
> "Activities" have this "text only" limitation.
>
> Though I am open to alternatives to the drag-n-drop idea, it cannot be
> denied that the kids (students), love the drag-n-drop thing. I can't
> explain why they get such a kick out of moving things around on the screen
> like that but, . . . if it gets them to do math then that's what I'll
> do.
>
>
> Julian, have a thanked you for your help and patience lately?
>
> Thank You Sir
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 3:52 PM, Julian Tenney <
> Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> ahh - I see now - you want to do drag and drop with images in the
>> template. Currently that functionalty isn't in there. I can look at it at
>> some point. In the meantime, try thinking differently - does it have to be
>> drag and drop? Think about the actual skill you want the learner to
>> demonstrate - there is often an alternative to drag and drop,
>>
>> J
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk on behalf of Robert Fant
>> *Sent:* Mon 19/01/2009 21:49
>>
>> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>> *Subject:* Re: [Xerte] More Questions
>>
>> Honestly, the "limitation" is my programming skills.
>>
>> However, I can generally look at some code, figure some things out and
>> tweak things to meet my needs.
>>
>> What I would like to attempt is to create a drag-n-drop activity using the
>> pageTemplate (wizards / templates), and tweak this code, using the logic
>> that is created via the wizard.
>> So, my question was, can I edit the XML file, to have it show (or refer
>> to) a graphic rather than just that literal text that I placed in there via
>> the wizard.
>>
>>
>> Does this make any sense?
>>
>>
>>
>> Otherwise, does someone have a drag-n-drop.rlo file that I can download,
>> open in raw Xerte, and inspect the logic, overall structure.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Julian Tenney <
>> Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> use graphic icons to display graphics. I'm not sure what limitations
>>> you think you've found?
>>>
>>> ------------------------------
>>> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk on behalf of Robert Fant
>>> *Sent:* Mon 19/01/2009 18:43
>>> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>>> *Subject:* Re: [Xerte] More Questions
>>>
>>> This line comes from an original XML file, (the target area):
>>>
>>> <category name="y = 2x+ 1">
>>>
>>> and it displays y = 2x + 1 exactly like that, which is as
>>> expected.
>>>
>>> My question is; Instead of the XML file holding a literal text argument,
>>> can it hold a reference to (lets say) an image? And, instead of displaying
>>> this literal text, display the image instead?
>>>
>>> <category name=" <image src=\"http://host.com/image\<http://host.com/image/>">
>>> ">
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Only being able to display and use text in the activities is extremely
>>> limiting, especially in mathematics.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 3:51 AM, Julian Tenney <
>>> Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm not sure what you're trying to do here, but anything's possible…?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>>>> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Robert Fant
>>>> *Sent:* Saturday, January 17, 2009 3:37 PM
>>>>
>>>> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>>>> *Subject:* Re: [Xerte] More Questions
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Not to belabor this but . . .
>>>>
>>>> Is is possible that the XML entry could be the address to an image,
>>>> rather than a literal text string? Even if I have to edit them by hand.
>>>>
>>>> <category name="y = 2x+ 1">
>>>>
>>>> If I can get something like this to work (using math symbols in the
>>>> activities), then I won't have to do any (much) scripting and the templates
>>>> will work wonderfully.
>>>>
>>>> +++++++++++++++
>>>>
>>>> Otherwise, are there any other math folks (programmers), on the
>>>> listserve that have figured this out. Have any math folks created a
>>>> Learning Objective file such as this that they'd like to share?
>>>> I believe that if I can see an example, I can dissect it and transfer
>>>> the technique to create others. I just don't understand the application
>>>> well enough to get started on such a project.
>>>>
>>>> As you all can well imagine, this has been an ongoing struggle for
>>>> mathematicians since the very beginning of the internet. Fantastic tools
>>>> are being developed (such as Xerte), that lend themselves very nicely to all
>>>> topics (except math). Those pesky symbols are necessary but get in the way
>>>> of our (online) progress.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for your time, patience, and consideration on this matter.
>>>>
>>>> Robert
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 7:40 AM, Julian Tenney <
>>>> Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> It's text only here, but if you use Xerte in it's raw form, it ought to
>>>> b easy enough to have a dag and drop activity that lets you sort different
>>>> types of latex into different groups.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>>>> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Robert Fant
>>>> *Sent:* Friday, January 16, 2009 1:20 PM
>>>> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>>>> *Subject:* Re: [Xerte] More Questions
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hey Thanks Julian,
>>>>
>>>> I apologize for asking such a primitive question. I don't know how I
>>>> missed that in my readings.
>>>> Nonetheless, I got it going and it works just like you said.
>>>>
>>>> Hopefully this next question will not be so trivial.
>>>> I just created a "categorizing" activity, works great.
>>>> As I understand it, all "item" entries are stored in the XML file. Is
>>>> it possible for the items to be LaTeX code/images (or any image type)? Or
>>>> are we limited only to text here?
>>>> I would guess that the answer to this will apply to all of the different
>>>> activity entries.
>>>>
>>>> Again, than you for your patience,
>>>>
>>>> Robert
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Jan 16, 2009 at 1:41 AM, Julian Tenney <
>>>> Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Fire up Xerte. Go to the templates menu, choose the pageTemplates option
>>>> there. Let it create a new project or you. Once it's done, you should be
>>>> faced with the wizard screen, and the insert menu in the top left. This
>>>> allows you to add pages to the project.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This is the way to use Xerte if you want to create content quickly,using
>>>> predefined templates – no need to script anything. You can create cutom
>>>> pages by loading up flash movies which do things not available in the other
>>>> page types.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The file type for this type of project is .rlt. When Xerte opens an .rlt
>>>> file it automatically opens the wizard interface. Underneath that is the
>>>> normal Xerte dev environment – if you close the wizard you will return to
>>>> it. To fire up the wizard again by doule clicking the Learning Object icon
>>>> (which now has a little cog wheel on it, indicating this is a data-driven
>>>> piece).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Probably best not to mess with the underlying .rlt file until you've
>>>> figured a bit more out – this is quite advanced Xerte.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The wizard interface allows you to edit an xml file (template.xml) which
>>>> contains your content. At runtime this file is loaded up, and the logic in
>>>> the .rlt uses the data in this file to construct the piece dynamically,
>>>> based on the data it finds in there.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If you've jumped straight into the quiz templates tutorial, and haven't
>>>> written any code before you'll have a lot of further questions – just shout,
>>>> but be aware this is quite advanced stuff, and you should defintitely learn
>>>> some coding first. Work through the getting started bit of the help file,
>>>> that should help quite a bit,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> J
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
>>>> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Robert Fant
>>>> *Sent:* Friday, January 16, 2009 3:12 AM
>>>> *To:* Xerte discussion list
>>>> *Subject:* [Xerte] More Questions
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> First, thank all of you (*Julian, John, and Patrick*), for your quick,
>>>> informative responses.
>>>> I feel much better but have a LONG way to go.
>>>>
>>>> I have actually created a couple of pages with some trivial (scrolling)
>>>> text boxes, math symbols, and a graphic, (must start somewhere, right).
>>>> Working through the quiz tutorial in the help menu, now. My programming /
>>>> scripting skills are minimal, so this is going to be tough.
>>>>
>>>> QUESTION(S): I got on John's online site and saw that one can "Insert"
>>>> various templates from a drop-down list, (inter-activities, media,
>>>> navigators, etc.). I don't seem to have all of this available with the
>>>> desktop version. What am I missing? Do I need to install these
>>>> templates? However, as I look through the directory where Xerte is
>>>> installed, I can see what appears to be folders with a lot of this stuff
>>>> available. I'm guessing I just don't understand how to implement any of
>>>> them.
>>>> The "template" directory in the help file just *seems* to only disect
>>>> and explain the various xml files.
>>>>
>>>> I suppose this is enough for now. I've been at this all day.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance for your help and expertise,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Robert Fant
>>>> Mathematics Instructor
>>>> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>>>>
>>>> rfantster at gmail.com
>>>> http://robertfant.com
>>>> Skype Username: rfantster
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Xerte mailing list
>>>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>>>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Robert Fant
>>>> Mathematics Instructor
>>>> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>>>>
>>>> rfantster at gmail.com
>>>> http://robertfant.com
>>>> Skype Username: rfantster
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Xerte mailing list
>>>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>>>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Robert Fant
>>>> Mathematics Instructor
>>>> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>>>>
>>>> rfantster at gmail.com
>>>> http://robertfant.com
>>>> Skype Username: rfantster
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Xerte mailing list
>>>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>>>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Robert Fant
>>> Mathematics Instructor
>>> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>>>
>>> rfantster at gmail.com
>>> http://robertfant.com
>>> Skype Username: rfantster
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Xerte mailing list
>>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Robert Fant
>> Mathematics Instructor
>> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>>
>> rfantster at gmail.com
>> http://robertfant.com
>> Skype Username: rfantster
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xerte mailing list
>> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
>> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Robert Fant
> Mathematics Instructor
> Technology Integration Enthusiast
>
> rfantster at gmail.com
> http://robertfant.com
> Skype Username: rfantster
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xerte mailing list
> Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
> http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/xerte
>
>
--
Robert Fant
Mathematics Instructor
Technology Integration Enthusiast
rfantster at gmail.com
http://robertfant.com
Skype Username: rfantster
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