chcko randomly parameterized exercises automatically checked (formerly mamchecker)
Project description
chcko
Educational problem server at
developed at
with example content package
chcko.eu wants to collect problems, usable by students with or without learn coaches around the world.
chcko makes it easy to compose a problem set for students, it checks the answers and gives the results.
The focus is on collecting science problems not about code or format.
The problem packages are python packages. the whole system can be installed locally too.
URL
Pages are requested with this URL format:
../<lang>/<page>?<query>
Pages are:
edits: add roles and choose a color
content: specific content items or overview if no query
done: done problems
todo: assigned problems
roles: roles, only if user is logged in
some additional helper pages
Example URLs:
With && instead of one & as separator in a content query, is called a course, here. In a course only one problem at a time is shown. &&& marks the current position. For example, .../en/content?r.bd&&r.ba&&&r.a has r.a as current item in the course.
See queries for details.
Use Cases
No Login
Without login a random Student is generated. One can revisit the Student later via the URL, for example
https://chcko.eu/en/done?School=7f277b84&Period=8084&Teacher=5ab4&Class=87b5&Student=459671edc836
With Edits one can choose names. One can choose names via the URL, too. For example:
https://chcko.eu/en/edits?School=noschool&Period=2020&Teacher=noteacher&Class=myclass&Student=me
Without login these names, random or not, are not protected. Their ownership changes to a logged-in user when accessed, either via Edits or via URL.
Step-by-step try in class without logging in:
Agree on a common ID for School, Period, Teacher and Class and a scheme for the Student, e.g. FirstnameL[astname].
School can be considered as Namespace
Teacher can be considered as Subject
First the teacher, then the students do:
open https://chcko.eu
Go to Edits (top left)
Enter the IDs. The teacher is a student, too, but I suggest ------- for the student field.
Press [OK].
All students do a problem (e.g. enter https://chcko.eu/en?r.bu in the address line).
The teacher enters the URL .../en/done?<classId>&*&* to see if everybody was successful. From right to left this means:
any problem (*)
of any student (*)
of the class <classID>. The actual class ID must be used.
Students can query the results of all, too, and possibly help each other.
Reserve a Name
Login in. Go to Edits and choose a name. Alternatively visit the URL, e.g.:
https://chcko.eu/en/edits?School=noschool&Period=2020&Teacher=noteacher
Create a Class
In the Edits tab, the Student input box uses the first of ;, as a separator to create a whole class with no owner (independent of logged in or not). Then send an email to the students, with the link to be filled with their name:
https://chcko.eu/en/todo?School=noschool&Period=2020&Teacher=noteacher&Class=myclass&Student=<name>
If they log in, they take ownership of the role.
Assign
To assign to others, you need to be logged in.
In the content tab choose the problems or use an URL:
At the end of the page you can choose classes or students to assign to. Assigning a course (with the &&) assigns the problems individually.
Check Done
To check the done problems of others, you need to be logged in.
Change to the teacher (= subject) / class role.
Go to the done tab.
Add ?*&* to the URL:
*&* means: don’t take the default but any student and problem. ?<school>&<period>&<teacher>&<class>&<student>&<problem> is defaulted to the left with the current role names if omitted.
See done for details on queries.
Content Packages
Example content layout:
chcko-r ├── chcko │ ├── conf.py │ ├── _images │ │ ├── r_dg_c1.png │ │ ├── ... │ └── r │ ├── initdb.py │ ├── __init__.py │ ├── a │ │ ├── de.html │ │ ├── en.html │ │ └── __init__.py │ ├── b │ │ ├── _de.html │ │ ├── de.rst │ │ ├── _en.html │ │ ├── en.rst │ │ ├── __init__.py │ │ └── vector_dot_cross.tex │ └── ... ├── ... ├── README.rst └── setup.py
__init__.py is always there. Altogether it is a Python package, with chcko namespace For problems, given() in __init__.py provides random numbers and calc() solves the problem.
Generated files start with _ (_<language_id>.html). <language_id>.rst can contain tikz images and are statically converted to _<language_id>.html with:
doit -kd. html
It is better to just stick to HTML, though. HTML files are actually stpl template snippets, for example r/a/en.html:
%path = "maths/trigonometry/sss"
%kind = kinda["problems"]
%level = 11 # school year starting from elementary
The sides of a triangle are
a={{ g.a }},
b={{ g.b }},
c={{ g.c }}.
How big are the angles (in degrees).
%include('chcko/getorshow',examples=['e.g.'+e for e in ['23.3','100','56.7']])
Non-problem texts are OK, too, but should be minimal and context-free, as they are composed to a page via the URL query string:
https://chcko.eu/en/content?r.a&r.by
Replace the & with && to make a course:
https://chcko.eu/en/content?r.a&&r.by
In the URL
content items are <author_id>.<content_id>
corresponding to the folder chcko/<author_id>/<content_id>/
initdb.py fills the database with content items. It is generated using:
doit -kd. initdb
To add a new content package on https://chcko.eu:
name it chcko-<author_id> not existing yet on pypi (.e.g. r is already taken)
test it locally
upload it to pypi
add it to requirements_ndb.txt with a pull request
https://chcko.eu will be updated timely.
You can also run a server locally with:
runchcko
If chcko is not installed:
runchcko_with_sql.py
Not installed content packages must be parallel to the main chcko folder.
New Package
Create a new content package with:
runchcko --init chcko-<id>
You run this command also to fill a repo you started on github and cloned.
Add a new content item with:
doit -kd. new
or:
doit -kd. rst
Edit the problem text in en.html using a text editor. See the example above.
Then from the root of the content package:
doit initdb runchcko
Tools
If your are familiar with Linux, use it, possibly on a virtual machine like virtualbox. But all the needed tools are also available for Windows and Mac.
On your PC you will need
Then in a CLI and folder of your choice:
git clone https://github.com/chcko/chcko cd chcko pip install -r requirements_dev.txt pip install chcko
installs the python packages for development.
Sphinx is only needed if you use RST. And Latex is only needed if you use Sphinx plugins (sphinxcontrib.tikz, sphinxcontrib.texfigure).
Development
Purpose
Chcko is yet another solution for computer aided instructions (CAI). The internet has a huge potential in teaching and learning.
The main purpose:
Automatically correct problems
Infrastructure to organize teaching (school, period, teacher/subject, class, student)
allow teachers/coaches to quickly check the problems of students
The use is of course not confined to schools. Teachers, professors, tutors, coaches, students, autodidacts, … can add problems and check themselves or others.
Share content via separate content packages like chcko-r.
The numbers in problems are randomly generated. This way a problem can be reused. Students sitting next to each others in class will have different numbers and therefore cannot copy the results.
Chcko can be used remotely as well as in class.
In class students can use the browser on their smartphones to answer problems. Teachers can immediately see, who answered correctly or who has not yet answered. This way the teacher is faster to find those students who have not yet memorized something or have not yet understood a concept or a relationship.
Students can do problems immediately after the teacher’s explanation in class in the same lesson. This way the students
need to pay attention, because they will have to know immediately afterwards
cannot copy from others, because the numbers are different, even with problems only due in the next lesson
do not need to admit that they have not understood, because the teacher sees, if they are unable to do the problem. Some students are too shy to ask. And there are other reasons, why student’s incomprehension can stay unnoticed for too long.
The teacher cannot look at all the done problems of a class at the same time, but the software can. To do it sequentially in class would hold up the students. If the teacher takes the exercise books home, there is an unwanted delay in feedback for the students.
More parallelism in class is very important in order to make the time spent there worthwhile for the students.
The time spent by a teacher to correct exercise books is also better invested in a good preparation:
how to motivate the students
how to present the topic as easy as possible
which questions to ask to practice and verify that the students have understood
Plan
Every content has a unique ID = ID_author.ID_content. This way no ID coordination is necessary once the author has an ID.
Every ID is also a folder
ID_author
ID_content1
ID_content2
…
IDs shall be as short as possible. They are best numbered through using a-z
numbers would not make it a Python identifier
capital letters would collide with windows case insensitivity for file names
Every content folder contains Python code and language files
A Python part (__init__.py) to randomly generate for problems. It is also needed for content without numbers: just keep it empty.
Language template files (en.html, de.html, it.html, fr.html,…) that will produce html. en.html should always be there as starting points for translations.
A static off-line step is possible, to create content from other formats, currently from restructured text files (.rst) using Sphinx. This allows to use Sphinx contributions like tikz and texfigure (tex, tikz, chemfig, …) to create graphics.
Human language context paths to problems and keywords are language dependent and are therefore in the language files.
More problems can be combined in one URL / http request (content query) e.g. to make a larger assignment.
Problem/Content pages can reference other content or inline it via the template engine (% include(`r.cy`) for html or or :inl:`r.cy` for RST).
Answers to problems are stored in a DB and combined with the language texts during loading.
A user role is identified by an ID path/hierarchy:
school 1-n period 1-n teacher 1-n class 1-n student
Via this hierarchy a teacher has fast access to the done problems of his classes and students via an URL query.
Teachers can assign problems to their classes/students, which they access via a todo query
Teachers see what their classes/students have done so far (done query)
Users initially get a generated role (generated random strings for each), which they can change, though (edits query). There users can choose a color to help then see in which role they are.
Registered users can have more roles (roles query). Registration can also be done via Google, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.
Design
The code tries to stay minimal.
Python 3 with bottle and a DB for the roles and problems.
Database:
The data model is:
school 1-n period 1-n teacher 1-n class 1-n student 1-n problem
The first 5 are called a role. A user has more roles. You can have more teacher=subject roles.
DB is there for answers to problems, not for the problem texts.
On other server the DB is a SQL database using SqlAlchemy
Environment Variables
- CHCKOSECRET:
a secret used to encode the user token cookie
- CHCKOPORT:
used to change port for local server
- SOCIAL_AUTH_<PROVIDER>_KEY:
for social login
- SOCIAL_AUTH_<PROVIDER>_SECRET:
for social login
Queries
The URL format is:
URL = "https://"domain"/"lang"/"page"
domain = "chcko.eu"
lang = "en"|"de"|...
page = ["content"]["?"{author"."problem["="count]"&"}]
| "done"[rlinc]
| "todo"
| "edits"
| "roles"
rlinc = [[[[[school&]period&]teacher&]class&]student&]("*"|query)
query = {field("~"|"="|"!"|"<"|">")value","}
If <lang> is dropped, the last language or the browser setting is used. See languages.py.
<page> is one of content, done, todo, edits and roles. roles requires a logged-in user, who can have more roles. content is default, if dropped.
<query> starts after the ? and it is a &-separated list. <query> can contain School=<LLL>&Period=<DDD>&Teacher=<RRR>&Class=<SSS>&Student=<TTT> for all pages.
content
With ../<lang>/content all current contents are listed. One can select more entries here.
../en/content?r.a&r.by=2 (r.a is equivalent to r.a=1) would create an English content page with one r.a and two r.by problems. ../en/?r.a&r.by=2 is the same, i.e. content is the default page.
Use && instead of & to show one problem at a time (course).
For logged-in users it is possible to make assignments to class/students with the same School-Period-Teacher prefix. You must have created the teacher role, before the others.
Problems have more questions and every question has points associated (default 1). After checking the entered values at the top there will be a summary of achieved points/total points twice, once not counting fields left empty.
The content index can be limited with:
link: the author id
level: corresponds to school year starting from elemntary (1, 2, …)
kind: problems texts courses examples summaries formal fragments remarks citations definitions theorems corollaries lemmas propositions axioms conjectures claims identities paradoxes meta
path: as given in the header of the content
done
../<lang>/done lists the done problems with date and time and whether they were correct. One can open every done problem or do it again. It is possible to delete the selected problems.
The query
../<lang>/done?<school>&<period>&<teacher>&<class>&<student>&<problem>
allows
a student to filter his problems
a teacher to see the problems of his classes or students
Omitted entries on the left will be filled by the corresponding current role IDs. Therefore a student only needs <problem>, if it should be filtered at all. <..> are placeholders for the actual strings.
For ‘no restriction’ * is used.
An entry has this format:
name|field op value[,field op value[,...]]
name is the name of the record
field is a field of the record
All records have a name, userkey and created. School, Period, Teacher and Class have no other fields. In addition Student has color and Problem has query_string, lang, given, created, answered, collection, inputids, results, oks, points, answers, nr.
op consists of ~=!<>, where ~ means =. For the age (answered) of the done problem these abbreviations can be used:
d=days, H=hours, M=minutes, S=seconds
1DK&*&d>3,d<1 would show all problems younger than 3 days (d) and older than one day of students from class 1DK
Registered user’s data is protected against queries from anonymous users or other registered users.
todo
../<lang>/todo lists the assignments with date/time given and date/time due.
edits
../<lang>/edits allows to add, change or delete IDs for School, Period, Teacher, Class and Student. For fields left empty
- is used for logged in users
a random ID is generated non-logged-in users
Setting role IDs fails, if the role is owned already. Role prefixes of others are italic. These other users can query your done problems.
new will create a new role.
change will change the identification of the current role, i.e. all the problems done will be copied over.
delete will delete the role and all its done problems.
A color can be chosen to more easily see in which role one is.
roles
../<lang>/roles lists all roles of the currently logged-in user.
These roles can also be accessed via a drop down menu when hovering over the student ID. Then the currently open page will be reopened with the new role.
Permissions
One level of privacy is via the IDs you choose. How the IDs link to the real things is only know to you. You could use first or last letter of names, add some additional characters, or do some other obfuscation, without compromising an easy mapping to the real things or person for your purpose.
All unregistered users fall into one user category. Therefore every other unregistered user can query all other unregistered users’ problems (non-owned).
A logged-in user assumes ownership of non-owned roles.
If you register and create instances of school, period, teacher, class and student, then they are associated to you as a user (owned). Then you can query all instances below your instance in the hierarchy:
School
n Periods
n Teachers
n Classes
n Students
E.g.
If a teacher role belongs to you, then classes and students that use the same IDs up to and inclusive teacher as your IDs, then you will be able to query them in the done page, even if they belong to some other user.
A director in an educational institution could make a School ID. If all teachers use the same School ID, then the director will be able to query the whole hierarchy.
On the other hand, if you start your query above an instance that does not belong to you, you will not see anything below, even if you have instances somewhere in the deeper levels of the hierarchy.
In .../<lang>/done?<school>&<period>&<teacher>&<class>&<student>&<problem> you can drop instances from the left, immediately after the ?. .../<lang>/done?aclass&*&d>2 would query all problems of any student of class aclass not older than 2 days. For this to work aclass needs to belong to you. If it does not, but the teacher role above belongs to your, then you can still query by entering .../<lang>/done?ateacher&aclass&*&d>2.
History
2013
As I was about to engage in a teaching job in the beginning of 2013 I was looking for a way adequate for our times
to follow the progress of my students
to automate certain activities
I did not find a finished solution fitting to my ideas, but I found Google AppEngine, which seemed to be a good basis for an own project.
During my teaching job it was still in a very unsophisticated state, but it was usable already. During that time I added mostly problems, some summaries or other texts that did fit into the topics in class.
The first name, mamchecker, came about from this school’s abbreviation of the subject mathematics as MAM.
Since summer 2013 I restructured the code and added user management and I translated the problems and texts into English.
As I did not continue teaching in autumn, my major motivation for the additional effort was to make my initial effort usable for others.
2020
I was kept busy 5+ years by a employment. Now I revisited the project,
renamed it to chcko
updated it to Python 3 and
to the change at Google AppEngine (now part of GCP): ndb changes, no email any more
added support for SQL databases using sqlalchemy
made it a python package chcko
separated the content to a separate chcko-r package, as an example
made some fixes
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