Creating interactive student activities that store student work directly in edX.
Davidson Next has developed with support of OpenCraft a drawing tool that allows learners to use their mouse (or finger on tablets) to draw directly to screen. This drawing tool has been used to create activities ranging from drawing a best fit line through a set of data, to producing graded free-body diagrams in physics. This tool is currently used in the Davidson Next AP Physics content for drawing vectors and making measurements of physical pheonomena. The tool has been adapted for Macroeconomics to allow students to draw simple economic curves, e.g., Supply and Demand under various economic situations.
The tool was originall designed with vectors in mind. Many problems in introductory physics start with students drawing force diagrams, but that work is often reserved for paper calculations and feedback is not given until the diagrams are graded by an instructor. The vector drawing tool below is embedded live in edX and provides students the ability to save their work online and receive immediate feedback.
edX Live DemoAfter the initial design of the vector drawing tool, it was clear we may be able to adapt the tool to draw segments for Macroeconomics and other applications in Physics. In Macro, we now have several problems that involve students drawing supply and demand curves under various economic conditions. Again, students get immediate feedback and their work is saved to the edX platform. We hope to expand these features such that learners have freedom to draw more of the graphical components (axes, labels, non-linear curves, etc.).
edX Live DemoOne of the most exciting aspects of the drawing tool is the idea of making physical measurements. The image below is of a diffraction pattern, which comes from an experiment performed by an AP instructor in the "Diffraction and Interference" content for Davidson Next. The image and tools have been scaled such that readings from the drawn segments (or rulers) allow learners to directly measure distances on the pattern; mimicking what would be done in a real laboratory setting. Learners then take their measurements and performance data analysis (see data entry and plotting tool).
edX Live DemoVector drawing has a number of possible applications. We found an interesting use of the tool in our Atomic Transitions unit. Learners draw appropriate transitions based on a problem prompt. Grading is based upon the vertical location of the tip and tail of each vector.
edX Live DemoThe drawing tool was largely built around JSXgraph (described below). In addition, modern HTML/Javascript/CSS provide some of the refined features of the tool.