AutoEd 2.0 An Online Courseware and Motivation System
Contents
1. 1 00 pm 6496 2 Days Past Due Assignments Test Name Due Date Grade Time Remaining Tutorial Quiz 6 March 13 2013 1 00 pm 1096 Completed Assignment 6 March 13 2013 1 00 pm 096 Past Due Assignment 5 March 7 2013 1 00 pm 1696 Completed Tutorial Quiz 5 March 4 2013 1 00 pm 4496 Completed Tutorial Quiz 4 February 11 2013 1 00 pm 8396 Completed Assignment 4 February 11 2013 1 00 pm 496 Completed Tutorial Quiz 3 February 4 2013 1 00 pm 10096 Completed Assignment 3 February 4 2013 1 00 pm 096 Past Due Assignment 2 January 26 2013 1 00 pm 2396 Completed Tutorial Quiz 2 January 26 2013 1 00 pm 096 Past Due Tutorial Quiz 1 January 18 2013 11 00 pm 096 Past Due Assignment 1 January 18 2013 11 00 pm 096 Past Due Hide Past Due Assignments Figure 5 2 1 A screenshot showing the test listing for PHYS 122 21 5 2 2 Active Test When the student clicks on an active test the student 1s immediately taken to that test If the student had already previously attempted the test the test marks are generated and displayed For each question the student has the option to submit the question for marking clear the question save the question if they wish to work on it later or retry the question When the student chooses to retry a question a new question template is randomly generated for the current test However the core structure of the question remains and only the question values change to give the student a fresh start on the quest2. A coin lies at the bottom of partly filled rectangular tub of water as shown below It is observed that a light ray from the coin that travels at the angle of 30 degrees measured from the water surface just misses the tub edge at point A Take the distances AB BC 1 0 m and the index of refraction for water n 4 3 Y A Calculate the critical angle 8c Tor the water air interface You don t need units 48 6 v B Determine the angle 6 shown in the diagram 40 5 e Hint Don t forget units 82 C What is the depth h of the water Figure 4 1 1 A screenshot of a sample question Notice the retry and save button also the hint Don t forget units 4 1 2 Profile System The new and improved AutoEd 2 0 user interface includes a student profile system which allows students to have their own profile page Each student profile page includes many features to help keep the student motivated First the student can view which assignments are due for their currently registered courses as well as how many days are remaining until the assignment s due date Secondly students have the ability to set goals to help keep the student motivated and focused in the course Students are also given the ability to rate courses that they have already completed as well as the courses they are currently enrolled in Using these ratings a list of course suggestions are displayed on each students profile page Another feature of the profile system is
3. KEY uid uid ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini AUTO_INCREMENT 22 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS points id int NOT NULL AUTO INCREMENT wid char NOT NULL score int 11 NOT NULL tid int 11 DEFAULT NULL description varchar 255 DEFAULT NULL PRIMARY KEY id ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini AUTO INCREMENT 2 ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini AUTO_INCREMENT 12 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS privacy uid char 5 NOT NULL picture int NOT NULL degree int NOT NULL level int NOT NULL courses int 11 NOT NULL goals int 11 NOT NULL badges int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY uid ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS questions id int 21 NOT NULL AUTO INCREMENT hash varchar 255 NOT NULL value text PRIMARY KEY id ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini AUTO INCREMENT CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS tests wid char NOT NULL sid int 21 NOT NULL stid int DEFAULT NULL completed varchar 10 NOT NULL UNIQUE KEY uid uid tid ttid ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS user wid char NOT NULL remote uid int DEFAULT NULL firstname varchar 00 NOT NULL lastname varchar 100 NOT NULL password varchar i00 NOT NULL email varchar 100 NOT NULL birthdate va
4. including the name and degree that is displayed on their profile page as well as their email address Students are also able to change their current password by providing their old password a new password and a password confirmation This page also allows the student to choose what information 1s made public to other students when their profile page is viewed The student can choose to either hide or show their profile picture degree current level points enrolled courses badges and goals by simply checking or unchecking the item On this page the student also has the option to stop all email messages from the system by clicking the Remove Email button as well as the option to deactivate their account by clicking the Deactivate Account button 19 Education System Settings Logout Profile Transcript Rate Content Badges Change Information Change Password First Name Old Password Last Name New Password Email E Confirm password Degree Major 1 Change Privacy Settings Remove Email Deactivate Account Privacy Settings Select the content that you do not want other users to view Figure 5 1 8 A screenshot showing the system settings page 5 1 9 System Header On each page of the user profile system the user is presented with the same page header Here the user can select from four tabs Profile which takes the student to their profile page Transcript which takes the student to t
5. badge until they have acquired it resulting in increased motivation and engagement in the system Along with each badge a ratio is displayed This ratio describes how many other users have acquired the badge By doing this we can challenge students to work towards badges they have not yet completed resulting in increased motivation to also acquire the said badge Figure 3 3 below shows the current list of badges available to the user Badges All My Badges All Badges Believer Y Set first goal x2 First v Be the first student to submit a test x4 Genius Y Obtain a grade of 100 on a test 3 times x4 Keener Y Submit a test at least 3 days before it s due date 3 times x1 Level 2 Reach level 2 x0 Level 3 Reach level 3 x0 Level 4 o Reach level 4 x0 Level 5 Reach level 5 x0 Student Y o Became a registered user x29 Figure 3 3 A screenshot of all badges available to the user Notice the badge ratio under each badge A checkmark denotes that the badge has been completed 3 4 Student Goals In most games today there are clearly defined objectives that you must complete in order to win the game or beat another player The process of working toward a set target and seeing your progression towards this target can be very exciting When you finally complete an objective or check of a task you also get a boost of self confidence To take advantage of this method a student goals module was implemented Students stay motivated
6. bar getResults str This function returns the search results for the given string showDelete id This function handles the showing and hiding of the delete buttons for goals ajaxCall url f This function handles all Ajax calls The data is passed to the given url and the function f is executed when the Ajax call returns deactivate This function sends an Ajax request to deactivate the current users account removeEmail This function sends an Ajax request to remove the current users email account deleteGoal id This function sends an Ajax request to remove the current goal completeGoal id This function sends an Ajax request to update the database to make a goal as completed and if the Ajax request returns true then display a green checkmark with the goal 41 References 1 Aplia http www aplia com 2 Pushak Alyosha AutoEd An Online Assignment Generation and Marking System Undergraduate Honours Thesis UBC Okanagan 2011 3 Gradiance http www gradiance com 4 Bramus 2011 http www bram us 5 Prototype 2012 http prototypejs org 6 JQuery 2013 http jquery com 7 S Deterding S Bj rk L E Nacke D Dixon E Lawley Designing Gamification Creating Gameful and Playful Experiences 2013 8 L S Ferro S P Walz Like this How game elements in social media H and collaboration are changing the flow of information 2013 42
7. by setting goals and completing goals at their own pace In the AutoEd 2 0 system students set their own goals and mark them as completed when they feel the goal has been reached 3 5 Email Reminders To help keep students motivated and reduce incomplete assignments an email reminder feature was implemented In the AutoEd 2 0 system students are sent emails to remind them of active assignments as well as when they are due along with a reminder to keep working to achieve badges and earn points An email is sent to a student if there are active tests that the student has not yet completed and if the student has been offline for 3 or more days If the student wishes to not receive any more emails they can deactivate the email reminders in their profile settings page 4 High Level Architecture This section provides a high level overview of the AutoEd 2 0 system and illustrates how it relates to the previous system r User Info gt Registration User Info MON Enrolled Courses gt Enrolled Courses Courses View User Info profile User Info View Active Active Tests Tests Active Tests Y gt Student ser Badges Broch pa User Badges Courseware Past Due Test l View Past Pest Due Test Motivation System Data Due Tests Se ree System Data aay 4 e SR E lt User Goals View Goals je User Goals Question Answers View Question Grade 8 Hint Content Rat
8. new level the sense of achievement is constant This constant feel of achievement can boost student confidence motivation and engagement in online learning 3 Motivation System 3 1 Approach Games are widely used and known for their immense entertainment capabilities They bring out the competitive nature in humans which strives them to win the game at hand Our approach to motivation was that of gamification which means taking concepts of gaming and using them in a non gaming environment to increase student engagement and motivation 7 By using these concepts we can create a sense of incremental achievement and make a competitive and challenging environment for the students which in turn will increase student engagement and motivation in the AutoEd 2 0 system 3 2 Points amp Level System In almost every video game imaginable there is the capability to level or rank up With each new level gained a player is given a more prestigious rank among the other players resulting in a boost in confidence and overall enjoyment of the activity In the AutoEd 2 0 system students are awarded points for their achievements such as completing a new badge or completing a test The better you do on a test the more points the student receives For example if a student completes a test with 10096 that student 18 awarded 10 points where a student who completed the same test with 8096 would receive 8 points As students gain points they are a
9. prototype EE 38 a tere a ro eer et elon Peta ee ta cats Se a 38 SCMIpts GUCSHON E 38 Ee E EE 39 28 Database DDL Script o 47 48 49 50 51 52 52 54 JCREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS badges bad int 22 NOT NULL AUTO INCREMENT bname varchar i50 NOT NULL description varchar 255 NOT NULL picture varchar 50 NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY bid Ejcreate TABLE IF NOT EXISTS courses eid int NOT NULL enum varchar 2 NOT NULL department varchar i50 NOT NULL ename varchar 255 NOT NULL eredits int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY cid ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET utf8 EJCREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS enrolled uid char NOT NULL ezd int 11 NOT NULL grade varchar 50 NOT NULL progress int 11 NOT NULL rating double NOT NULL difficulty double NOT NULL interest double NOT NULL completed char NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY uid cid KEY cid ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini EJcREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS feedback id int NOT NULL AUTO INCREMENT system varchar 10 NOT NULL feedback text NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY 18 ENGINE MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET latini AUTO_INCREMENT gt CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS goals gid int 22 NOT NULL AUTO INCREMENT uid char 5 NOT NULL description varchar 255 NOT NULL progress int NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY gid uid
10. the student allows this content to be publicly displayed otherwise it is not displayed 31 badges php Summary Selects all the badges from the system as well as the badges the user has completed and displays these badges to the user This page also handles the badge toggle events rate php Summary Selects all the courses the user has completed or is currently taking and displays the users rating for each course as well as the average rating for this course When the course name 18 clicked a panel 1s displayed which allows the student to submit a new rating settings php Summary Displays the settings form where users can change their user information including their name degree and email address The user can also change their password change their public information remove their email or deactivate their account scheduledTask php Summary This file sends emails to students if they have been inactive on the system for 3 or more days while there are active tests feedback php Summary Contains two text areas one for the old system and one for the new system to allow for user feedback sendPassword php Summary Generates a random temporary password for the user and sends it to the email address the student provided This temporary password 18 stored as the user s password until the student changes the password on the settings page 32 tests php Summary Generates the users active tests and past due tes
11. them engaged and motivated to increase their performance in the course 2 Background The idea of an online system to complete assignments and tests is not new There are many systems today such as Aplia 1 and Gradiance 3 that allow for online interactive learning However these systems lack the features needed to keep students motivated Aplia 1 for example is affiliated with many textbook publishers that allow Aplia 1 to be an interactive learning tool in conjunction with these textbooks Although Aplia 1 has many great features such as topic tutorials and intuitive test completion capabilities it is missing key features to keep students engaged and motivated A relatively new concept in the realm of student motivation is the idea of gamification Gamification is the approach of using gaming concepts in non gaming environments to make them more engaging and fun to use 7 Completing tests and assignments online can be very stressful and unpleasant which leads to reduced student engagement and motivation By using concepts of gaming which most students are already accustomed one can make a normally stressful environment into a relaxed and fun environment By offering badges points and the ability to unlock achievements or gain precedence through the use of a level system a sense of incremental achievement can be portrayed to the student 8 As students obtain these small gains through the completion of badges or by reaching a
12. AutoEd 2 0 An Online Courseware and Motivation System by Eric Wein A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE HONOURS in The Irving K Barber School of Arts and Sciences Computer Science THE UNIVRSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Okanagan April 2013 O Eric Wein 2013 Abstract AutoEd 2 0 1s a web based courseware system with an integrated user profile system that allows students to complete assignments and tests online The system was developed to be a remodeling of a previous system AutoEd 2 to include a better user interface along with a points and badge system to keep students motivated Each student upon registration 1s given a profile page where they can set goals rate courses view recommended courses and earn various badges Students are also awarded points for their achievements whether it be obtaining a new badge or achieving an A on a test As students earn points they go up in level to further award the more motivated students The system was designed using various methods to keep the system modularized and easy to expand and build upon This paper will demonstrate the use of gamification to increase student motivation in online courses and indicate whether or not students do better when using the AutoEd 2 0 system Table of Contents P uot E t 11 Table EPI aa V AcknowledgementSs sssssssseeeeresessssse
13. OVERALL QUALITY DIFFICULTY INTEREST OVERALL QUALITY DIFFICULTY INTEREST OVERALL QUALITY DIFFICULTY OVERALL QUALITY DIFFICULTY Rating for PHYS 112 Difficulty 1 Q2 3 4 5 High Interest 1 Low 2 2 4 9 5 Hign Figure 5 1 6 A screenshot showing the content rating page 5 1 7 Badges When students click on the badges tab they are taken to the badges page where the student has three choices The student can either view only the badges they have achieved view all the badges available or view both their badges and all available badges in one list With each badge comes the badge name a description of the badge a check mark if the badge has be completed and a number denoting how many students all together have completed the badge Below is a screenshot showing the badges the student has completed For a picture showing all available badges please refer to figure 3 3 18 Education System Settings Logout Profile Transcript Rate Content Badges Badges All My Badges My Badges Student Y Became a registered user Believer Y Set first goal Genius wv Obtain a grade of 10096 on a test 3 times First wv Be the first student to submit a test Keener wv Submit a test at least 3 days before it s due date 3 times Figure 5 1 7 A screenshot showing the student badges page 5 1 8 Settings Students can access the settings page by clicking the settings tab of the system header Here the student can change their personal information
14. The student leader board would be available to all students and teachers of the system The board would show all the students and their rankings with the students rank being determined by the number of badges the student had completed and the number of points they had acquired The leaderboard would only show the student if the student allows it in the settings page Including such a leaderboard would increase the competitive nature of the badge and points systems resulting in the students working harder to be ranked higher on the leaderboard Another feature that was not implemented was a student message board Here students and teachers would have the ability to post comments about the system current tests or have general discussions By including this feature the system would allow for more social interaction and collaboration between the students adding to the relaxed feeling of the system The third feature that was not included due to time constraints was a new user interface for the AutoEd teacher system Like the old student interface the layout and overall look of the system 18 very dull cluttered and confusing to use Therefore a new clean and intuitive teacher interface is needed The final feature that was not included 25 was a student store where students would use the points they have earned to buy various perks For example a student could use their points to extend the due date of a test or to buy a redo attempt of a past due t
15. asy to expand and re use in other parts of the system The API works by making data requests to the JSP code of the old system passing the URL of the needed file along with the required parameters Using these parameters 11 the JSP generates the content of the requested page which is passed back to PHP as a string Once the PHP API function has received the file contents string from the old JSP code the data 1s parsed to remove the required data PHP Code JSP File URL amp Parsed File Contents Parameters Wrapper amp API Data zn d Ae File Contents JSP Code Query amp d Requested Data Parameters SQL Server Database Figure 4 2 A diagram showing how data 18 passed between the old and new system 12 5 User Manual 5 1 Profile System 5 1 1 Logging In When a student first navigates to autoedu ok ubc ca they are presented with the login screen Here the user must enter their student number and password that they registered with The student also has the option to register if they have not already retrieve their forgotten password and give user feedback gec Education System Login Student Number Password Submit Figure 5 1 1 A screenshot showing the system login page 5 1 2 Registration Before the student can use the system fully they must first register in the system Here the student is required to provide a student number password first and last name a valid email address the s
16. e For each input field for the i th question for the given test we make an Ajax call to ajax php passing the users answer to be saved for later ajaxCall url f This function handles all Ajax calls The data 1s passed to the given url and the function f is executed when the Ajax call returns submitTest This function submits all input fields for the current test getMarks type This function returns the marks for each question of the current test If type is not active we disable all input fields and buttons clearAll This function clears all input fields for the current test saveAll This function saves all input fields for the current test scripts script js Summary This file 1s used to handle all collapsing panels toggleDiv divToShow This function handles all showing and hiding for the given div element expand divName This function expands the given div element collapse divName This function collapses the given div element showDiv divName This function makes the given div element visible getCourse This function sets the hidden input field values for the selected rating values showRating This function is used to expand the rating form for the select course and load the correct rating values toggleBadges This function handles the toggling of the two badge panels in badges php 40 setProgress barName amount This function is used to set the percentage of a progress
17. e 5 2 3 A screenshot showing a sample past due test 6 Development 6 1 Challenges Throughout the development of the AutoEd 2 0 system two main issues came to the surface The first problem came from showing the student goals The original idea was to show the student s progression in achieving their goal However because students create their own goals there is no way to determine what the goal is or what needs to be done to achieve the given goal Therefore the system now allows the student to mark their own goals as completed when they feel they have achieved the goal Another major problem came from integrating the old AutoEd system with the new AutoEd 23 2 0 system Because the old system was written in the JSP programming language and the new system was written in PHP programming language the functionality of the old system could not be copied into the new system In order to resolve this issue a PHP wrapper and API were created to act as an abstraction layer for the passing of data from the old system to the new 7 Results and Feedback The AutoEd 2 0 system was available for students of two first year physics courses for the last three weeks of the winter semester of the 2012 2013 school year Over this period of time the system had 43 registered users along with 27 completed badges and 394 awarded points These numbers show that for the small subset of students who have switched to the new system they have been very active in th
18. e AutoEd 2 0 system For the last two weeks of the semester the system was gathering student feedback such as The new system is fun with all of the new levels and badges to earn Anonymous and the system is very well designed and easy to use Anonymous From this feedback students give the impression that they have really enjoyed the system and believe it is a huge improvement over the old AutoEd system However because the system has only been available for three weeks the data set gathered thus far 1s too small to make any conclusions whether or not the AutoEd 2 0 system has reached its goal of increasing student performance in online courses Though it seems the students who have been using the AutoEd 2 0 system really enjoy using it and far prefer it over the old system However the system still needs to go through user studies and a HCI evaluation 24 8 Conclusions AutoEd 2 0 is a valuable interactive online learning tool to help keep students motivated and engaged in their online courses The system was used by two first year physics classes for 3 assignments Feedback given by the students was very good Most students really like the new badge points and level systems with most comments resulting in the student choosing the new system over the old 9 Future Work Due to time constraints not all the planned features were implemented in the AutoEd 2 0 system One feature that was desired was a student leader board
19. e registration form and inserts content into the database uploadPicture uid file update This function is used to handle profile picture uploads The given file to be uploaded file must be of type jpeg or png and can be at most 5mb in size When a student first uploads a profile picture a personal directory is created to store all profile picture for the user These directories are stored in the uploads directory sendPassword uid This function generates a new random password and sends this new password via email to the user if id equal to Sud userInfo uid Returns an array containing all the users information from the database checkBadge uid bid This function checks 1f the user with the given id has completed the badge with id equal to bid If the user has not completed the badge then the database is updated to show the user has completed the badge addCourse uid course This function adds a new enrolled course for the user getEnrolled uid This function returns all the courses the user is currently enrolled in getGoals uid This function returns all the user goals and whether they are completed or not getBadges uid id This function returns the user s and system badges If id is equal to 3 then 3 random badges are returned to the 36 user as seen on the users profile page Otherwise all the student s badges and all the possible badges are returned recomendedCourses uid This f
20. ed The fifth and final section of the profile page is the Course Suggestions section Here the student 1s displayed the top 3 rated courses in the system that the student has not already completed Please refer to figure 4 1 2 to view a sample student profile page 5 1 5 Transcript Along with the student profile page is the student transcript page All the courses the student has competed are shown here For each course the page shows the course name the number of credits the student earned the course status and the rating for the course 16 Settings Logout Y Education System Profile Transcript Rate Content Badges Student Transcript Student ID 34814103 Course Credits Status Rating PHYS 112 3 Completed 4 5 Figure 5 1 5 A screenshot showing the system transcript page 5 1 6 Rate Content The AutoEd 2 0 system allows students to rate the courses they are currently enrolled in and the courses they have already completed For each course the student gives two ratings between one and five five being the highest One rating is for the course difficulty and one rating is for the interest of the course Along with the student s course rating the overall average rating for the course is displayed 17 Settings Logout wy Education System Profile Transcript Rate Content Badges Rate Your Courses Select the course you would like to rate Course My Rating Average Rating PHYS 112 4 5 5 5 3 5 3 3
21. eecreessssssseccreessssssesecereeesssssseeerreressssseeeeeee vi 1 e e INED DUET 1 1 2 Thesis Statements 2 BACON daa ai a EE aaron 2 a alii Sea cee lel SS 3 Soe ede POAC De ated EE 3 3 2 Points amp Level System ausu tu neum e 4 5 9 4 Student Goals od ete o e tet tote i bete de ted 6 3 5 Email IS T 4 High Leyel Archi aa ado melvin tat 7 8 dl pesbQ 8 47 Profile SYSte S eua retire e at Co i E EERE REE 9 As AA O EOE A 11 Gr User Mies 12 b T e E E EE 12 Dol Poser ner 12 5 LAA PW ea GE 101 EE 13 9 1 3 Password Becovery cus osea ivit rnb I bv YE CEPR EX EVER NIS 14 pled student Profile Page oan E ERR RU USER MI M d 15 DO PACA E 16 5 1 6 Rate COMA AS 16 5 lT EEN 18 ASEO O TORENT RT OREO RT ORE OR eR 19 A anakane ne naait 20 Doa Co urseWa re LC A nona eae etes aute 20 D oL 4656 EE O det do dde de e dud 20 D22 buerg ege eet de ere ee ee ege 21 5 2 9 Past DUS E e EE 21 6 DBveloprie ee salada ee 22 A 22 T Resultsand Peedback ai coop EO o bod bodie DN M DOE 23 Eed ER 9 Euture EN 24 G44 0 6521 8160 are ee Pre eat te cit c ee 26 4 Table of Figures Figure 3 3 A screenshot of all badges available to the user 6 Figure 4 System architecture diagram EE 8 Figure 4 1 1 A screenshot of a sample ouestion 9 Figure 4 1 2 A screensh
22. email 1s immediately deleted to avoid any space issues userFeedback id feedback This function enters the users feedback into the database for the given system 1d 38 JavaScript Files js bramus jsProgressBarHandler js Bramus 4 is an open source JavaScript package for web development This package includes the jsProgressBarHander js file which allows for various easily adaptable progress bars js bramus prototype js Prototype is an open source JavaScript framework which adds useful extensions to the browser scripting environment 5 scripts jquery js Query 1s a fast small and feature rich JavaScript library It makes things like HTML document traversal and manipulation event handling animation and Ajax much simpler with an easy to use API that works across a multitude of browsers 6 scripts question js Summary This file handles all activity for a completing a test This includes submitting saving retying and clear questions e clearQuestion id This function clears all input fields for the question with the given id e regenQuestion index test id This function generates a new question for the current index and test by making an Ajax call to ajax php requesting a new question e markQuestion i tid The function marks the i th question for the given test e saveQuestion i tid This function saves the i th question for the given test 39 mySaveQuestion i tid sav
23. est they did not complete In order for this feature to be included some collaboration and acceptance would be needed by the professors of the online courses 26 Appendix Table of Contents Database LD 28 29 EE 29 connect OB ne oh e roh d rni 29 header piso tva E D 29 ND EE 29 el 30 30 IOSOHL BID Lees ct t stetit b iR RENE n et E nt LE UE 30 Index PAra Lr LI AMI MAI E E RN 30 search EE 30 Prom DID EE EA edet a o D d 30 badges pilis E 31 pube Pi 31 o METTE S o OE 31 scheduled TAS pipa A A A A aves 31 O mthi mtt apii abus nti eeen institu deste 31 2 e LH HE EE c dU EP 31 tests pea uds tad E Dae deep dE 32 ser KE e n aon db a aac a aaa 32 27 templates header Dipara A ees sadn ais acai 32 templates footer php 32 mude DLO PhD NN ada 32 includes email validator php 33 ieniplates phpaes pipzuuoausu usu Kise st RU d uM 33 PSM ALES ME LIONS PODA AAA AAA 33 SURO AIT DI reir era enano 33 PEW OPA Bete Hoa 33 APUUSCES e ouem md m m LM E EE 34 JavaScript EE 38 js bramus jsProgressBar Handler JS iii rs 38 Js bramus
24. estion saves a question and returns if the question was correct and the hint e case submit test used to submit an entire test for grading as well as give points and badges relating to tests e case removeEmail used to remove the users email from the system 30 e case deactive deactivate the user s account from the system meaning to remove all content about the user from the system e case completegoal used to mark a goal as completed e case deletegoal used to delete users goal from database register php Summary Displays the registration form and handles user registration which includes profile picture uploads login php Summary Displays the login form and handles user login logout php Summary Handles user logout by destroying all session variables index php Summary Displays the user profile page including the user s information points and level profile picture current courses active tests user goals user badges and suggested courses search php Summary Handles all search bar activity as a student types into the Search People search bar content is immediately displayed profile php Summary This page is called when the user searches and views the profile page of another student This page displays the allowed information for the selected user Each section of the profile page is denoted by a flag either 0 or 1 If a section is labeled O then
25. he first section contains the information about the student including the student s name degree of study current level and their progress to their next level The student can easily add a new profile picture by clicking on the profile picture frame and uploading a new image The second section displays the student s currently enrolled courses along with the currently active assignments for each enrolled course For each active test the test s name due date and the number of days left until the test s due date are displayed 15 The student can start a test by simply clicking on the test name or by clicking on the course name the student can view all assignment and tests for the selected course The third section of the profile page displays the student s goals that they have set Along with each goal is the option to remove 1t or mark the goal as completed A completed goal is denoted with a green checkmark Students can easily add a new goal by clicking on the add symbol to the right of the Current Goals title The fourth section of the student s profile page displays the badges that the student has unlocked Here three randomly selected badges that the student has completed are displayed When a student hovers over each badge the badge name is displayed Along with the three badges the student s badge ratio is displayed This ratio represents the number of badges the user has acquired to the total number of available badges to be unlock
26. he markup for the Search People search bar results 37 transcript uid This function returns an array containing the information for the student online transcript getLevel uid This function aggregates all the given users points and determines what level they are at and returns this level getPoints uid This function returns the total number of points for the given user getProgress uid This function returns the users progress to their next level addPoints uid points tid description This function givens points to users as well as a description of what the user did to earn the points deactivateAccount uid This function handles the removing of all the users content from the database when they deactivate their account badgeRatio uid This function returns the users badge ratio this ratio is the number of badges the user has completed over the total number of badges checkFirst uid ttid This function checks if the given student was the first student to submit the given test checkSubmissionGoal uid ttid This function returns the number of days before the due date that the given test was submitted removeEmail uid This function removes the users email address from the system The system requires an email address for the user so a system email address Was created ubcocoursewaretrash gmail com to take the place of the users email address When an email is sent to this email address the
27. heir online course transcript Rate Content which takes the student to the course ratings page and finally the Badges tab which takes the student to the badges page Along with these four tabs are two links the Settings link which takes the student to the settings page and the Logout link which logs the student out of the system Finally the system header contains a search bar where the student can search for other students and view their profile pages if the selected student allows it UBC Settings Logout W Education System Profile Transcript Rate Content Badges Figure 5 1 9 A screenshot showing the system header 20 5 2 Courseware System 5 2 1 Test Listings As part of the profile page all of the student s currently enrolled classes are listed When the student clicks on one of these course names the student is taken to the test listings page where they see all active and past due tests for the selected course Along with each test the name due date grade and the time remaining until the due date 1s displayed Students also have a choice to view or hide their past due tests For each past due test the system displays whether the student had completed the test or whether the test is past due meaning the student did not finish the test PHYS 122 Introductory Physics Il Test Name Due Date Grade Time Remaining Tutorial Quiz 7 March 25 2013 1 00 pm 10096 Completed Assignment 7 March 25 2013
28. hrough the use of gaming concepts and cleaner user interfaces we can increase student engagement and motivation in online education systems 8 To achieve this a motivation system was built on top of an online courseware system to keep students engaged and increase student motivation to complete assignments 1 2 Thesis Statement In 2011 undergraduate student Alyosha Pushak developed the first courseware system known as AutoEd 2 This system was developed into two parts one for students and one for professors Professors create question templates which are used to randomly generate questions making up a test Students are assigned tests where they submit answers online and receive immediate feedback whether they have correctly answered the question Students are also presented with a hint if they incorrectly answer the question to help aid them in their next attempt Although the original AutoEd system contained many great features its user interface was very dull and confusing and most importantly it was not engaging for the user The contribution of this thesis is the development of a new user interface including a motivation system for the AutoEd courseware system This user interface includes a social profile system where users earn badges and points for their accomplishments as well as the ability to set goals and rate courses The goal is to create an online courseware system to allow students to complete courses online while keeping
29. ingys Content Content Ratings L Q Marks and Hint Sch Completion H uestion Marks and Hints View Course Question Answers Course Suggestions Suggestions Course Suggestions Figure 4 System architecture diagram 4 1 Modules 4 1 1 Test Completion AutoEd 2 0 is a web based courseware system with an integrated user profile system The courseware system allows students to complete tests for their registered courses online Professors of these online courses create question templates and using these templates a test is created by generating random questions for the test When completing a test students can save their answers if they decide they need a break or to finish the test at a later date Like the old system students can also choose to retry questions However where the old system would re generate the entire test even the questions the student had already answered correctly and the new system only regenerates the current question template By doing this the student does not lose the questions they have answered correctly and can focus on the questions they have answered incorrectly When submitting an answer to a question students are given immediate feedback whether they answered the question correctly or not The system also displays hints to the user if their answer is incorrect to help in the student s next attempt 3 l Submit Clear l Save Retry
30. ion without making the question any easier or harder When the student submits a question the question 1s immediately graded and marks are returned in real time along with a hint if the student answered incorrectly The student can also choose to submit the entire test at once clear the entire test or save the entire test For a screenshot of a sample active test question please refer to Figure 4 1 1 5 2 3 Past Due Test When the student clicks on a past due test the student 1s immediately taken to the selected test Along with the test all the marks for each question are displayed When viewing a past due test students can view the answers they submitted and whether they are correct or not However all input fields and buttons are disabled therefore the student cannot change or submit new answers 22 Tutorial Quiz 3 1 l Submit I Clear Save Retry Three capacitors C 3yF C2 3yF and C 3 pF A What is the equivalent capacitance Ceg of the circuit To enter a number in scientific notation 2 0E 6 F use the format 5E 6 x Hint Don t forget units 36 0 B What voltage AV is required to store 7 2 E 5 C of charge on the Cea 2 Submit Clear Save Retry A parallel plate capacitor has an area of 5 00 E 4 m and a plate separation of d 1 00 E 3 m The material between the plates is air What is its capacitance 4 425 12 F Finished Geer Ai Save All Figur
31. is project Finally I would like to thank Alyosha Pushak for developing the original AutoEd 2 system for without its key features this project would not have been completed vi 1 Introduction 1 1 Motivation While many online education systems exist today they lack many of the features needed to keep students motivated Most systems are strictly a question and answer approach which can be very dull for the student causing a lack of motivation and an increase in procrastination When students lack motivation they leave their work until the last possible moment resulting in rushed work and poor results Take Aplia 1 for example this system is a great interactive online learning tool however the system does not give anything back to the student to keep them engaged and wanting to play longer on the system By incorporating concepts such as user awards goals and profile pages the system could engage the student by portraying the feeling they are achieving something more than just completing a test 8 Today s youth are very familiar with gaming and the many aspects of gaming By using these gaming concepts that students are already accustomed in a non gaming environment we can create a familiar and relaxed atmosphere for the student Furthermore by using concepts that the student is already familiar with the system learning curve is minimal allowing the student to use the system straight away to its full potential Therefore t
32. lso awarded with an increase in level The student must acquire 100 points to move up in level However as you go up in level 1t becomes more difficult to receive points For example if a student has reached level 3 by completing all the available badges the student can now only rely on their test scores to receive the same quantity of points On each student profile page the students level 18 displayed for themselves to see as well as other students to see when the students profile page 18 viewed Along with the student s level a progression bar is displayed showing how far the student has come and how far they have remaining to go to reach the next level By adding in the level and points system the student is able to view their incremental progression The points system is also used to foster competition between the students resulting in increased motivation to gain more points and in turn doing better on tests 8 3 9 Badges Today many games social networks and other online applications are using badges as a way to identify users who have mastered a topic or are more driven to finish a task Where points show incremental progress one can recognize more isolated achievements by accumulating and displaying badges In the AutoEd 2 0 system students are awarded badges for various accomplishments For example a student 1s awarded a badge for being the first student to submit a test The goal is to have students continuously work towards a
33. ot displaying a sample student profile page 10 Figure 4 2 Diagram showing data movement between the two systems 12 Figure 5 1 1 A screenshot showing the system login page cccccccecssseeeeeees 13 Figure 5 1 2 A screenshot showing the system registration page 14 Figure 5 1 3 A screenshot showing the student password recovery page 14 Figure 5 1 5 A screenshot showing the system transcript page 16 Figure 5 1 6 A screenshot showing the content rating page 17 Figure 5 1 7 A screenshot showing the student badges page 18 Figure 5 1 8 A screenshot showing the system settings page 19 Figure 5 1 9 A screenshot showing the system header 19 Figure 5 2 1 A screenshot showing the test listings for PHYS 122 20 Figure 5 2 3 A screenshot showing a sample past due test 29 Figure A1 A screenshot of the database DDL script 28 Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge Dr Ramon Lawrence my supervisor for his guidance throughout this project Without his continuous encouragement and supervision the completion of this project would have been much more difficult I also thank Giuseppe Burtini who shared his extensive knowledge expert opinions and development skills in the creation of th
34. rchar i5 NOT NULL year int 11 DEFAULT NULL degree varchar 00 NOT NULL level int 21 NOT NULL picture varchar i50 NOT NULL dateCreated datetime NOT NULL logoutTime datetime DEFAULT NULL PRIMARY KEY uid ENGINE InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS userbadges wid char NOT NULL bid int NOT NULL count int NOT NULL DEFAULT 1 PRIMARY KEY uid bid KEY bad bid ENGINEzInnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET latini Figure AI A screenshot of the database DDL script 29 PHP Files config php Summary Instantiates a global configuration array to store important information for use throughout the system connectDB php Summary Handles setting up connections to the MySQL conn and SQLServer remote conn databases This page also sets up the PDO abstraction layer to handle all calls to the database to prevent injection attacks by using prepared statements header php Summary Handles user session variables and decides whether the user is logged in or not ajax php Summary Handles all Ajax calls from the JavaScript files This file is structured as one large switch statement switching on the method parameter that is used in all Ajax calls The method parameter is used to select the correct actions to perform e case regen question used to generate a new version of a given question and returns the appropriate markup e case save qu
35. stem e isSerialized string This functions checks if a string 18 a serialization or not e getQuestionsByTest tid num null This function returns the list of questions for a given test id The questions are represented as a dictionary with a property called html This HTML is as simply as possible and is generated on the JSP side of the old system e getDatabaseDate timestamp null This function returns the date in the appropriate database format just as an abstraction in case the database 1s changed in the future e getTestMark tid remote id This function returns the grade for the test with the given test 1d tid e getTestsByCouse courseID userID condition This function generates all active and past due tests along with all their attempts for the given course 10 and user 1d e getTTID tid This function returns the test template id for the given test 10 apVusers php Summary This file contains all the functions needed for the features of the new user interface and motivation system e checkLogin uid password attempt This function checks if the student has provided the correct password for the given user id If 35 the password match then a new session 18 started and the student 18 redirected to the index php page register uid firstname lastname password birthdate email year degree file quiet false This function takes the information the user submitted in th
36. the user transcript section Here the student can view a transcript of their online courses Every online course the student has completed is listed in their personal transcript reminding the student what courses they have completed how many credits they have earned and the rating for that course The profile system also allows students to search and view the profile pages of other students By default no information 18 displayed to other students however each student has the option to select what information they want or do not want made public to other students Finally students can configure their email and other personal information in the settings page Below is a screenshot of a sample student profile page UBC Settings Logout YY Education System Profile Transcript Rate Content Badges Your Badges E ric Wei n Keep working to unlock new badges Bsc Major in Computer Science o o o LEVEL WEN 1 57 POINTS TO NEXT LEVEL Current Courses A PHYS 122 Introductory Physics Test Due Date Days Left Tutorial Quiz 7 March 25 2013 1 00 pm Completed Assignment 7 March 25 2013 1 00 pm 2 Days Current Goals V This is a completed goal This is a goal Guo Figure 4 1 2 A screenshot displaying a sample student profile page 10 4 2 System Overview The old AutoEd 2 system uses a Microsoft SQL Server database hosted on a campus server cssql ok ubc ca This database is used to store information abo
37. ts and displays them in a table For each test the test grade 1s computed as well as how many days are left to the due date or whether it 1s past due If a test 1s active and the student has achieved a grade of 100 then the test is marked as completed userTest php Summary This page handles the loading and activity of completing a test By using the tid of the tests a set of random questions are generated for the user to complete If the student has already attempted the test then the question marks are generated and displayed This page contains two important variables getmarks and active If getmarks is true then the page is required to display the users marks If active 1s true then the page must allow the user to submit new answers If active 1s false then all input fields and buttons are disabled templates header php Summary This page contains the header information for the HTML pages to avoid using the same code throughout the site and to keep the system modular This file includes all the style sheets and JavaScript files needed for the site as well as the system toolbar templates footer php Summary This page contains the footer information for the HTML pages to avoid using the same code throughout the site and to keep the system modular 33 includes crypto php Summary Handles all password hashing for the system All hashing 18 done using a salted SHA256 hash includes email validator php Summar
38. tudent s birthdate year of study and finally their degree of study The student also has the option to upload a profile picture 13 Education System Register Personal Information Student Number First Name Last Name Password Confirm Password Email Birthday Year Level z L Choose File File No file chosen Degree Major Figure 5 1 2 A screenshot showing the system registration page 14 5 1 3 Password Recovery If a student has forgotten their password they can go to the password recovery page Here the student 1s required to enter their student number By doing this an email is sent to the email address associated with the provided student number which the student was required to provide during registration The email sent to the student contains a randomly generated string which the student can use as a temporary password Once the user has gained access to their profile page they can re assign a new password for their account UBC E Education System Password Recovery Please enter your student number below An email will be sent to the address you provided containing a temporary password Student Number Figure 5 1 3 A screenshot showing the student password recovery page 5 1 4 Student Profile Page When the student logs into their account they are presented with their very own profile page The student profile page 1s separated into five sections T
39. unction returns the three highest rated courses that the student has not yet completed or is currently enrolled in deleteGoal id This function removes the goal with the given id completeGoal uid gid This function marks the goal with the given id as completed for the given user id logout uid This function handles system logout by destroying all session variables for the current user privacySettings uid This function returns the privacy settings for the user An item either has the value 0 or 1 If an item has a value of 0 then the student allows for this content to be made public otherwise the content is not made public rateCourse cnum dept rating interest diff uid This function updates the students rating for the given course cnum dept with the given ratings for the given student 10 getCourseInfo cid This function returns all the content for the given course getCourses uid This function returns all the courses the student is currently enrolled in as well as all the courses the student has already completed getRating cid This function returns the average rating for the given course scheduledTask This function is ran every day at noon and checks for inactive students Students are inactive if they have been away from the site for 3 or more days while there are active tests This function sends an email to each inactive student search firstname lastname This function returns t
40. ut users and courses as well as test questions the users answers and users test scores This system was written in the JSP and Java programming languages and is hosted on the campus server cs suse 4 0k ubc ca This code includes the functionality for generating and marking tests The AutoEd 2 0 system uses a MySQL Server database hosted locally on the autoedu ok ubc ca server This database is used to store information about the user as well as all the information for the features of the new user interface This new user interface requires a lot of client side code hosted on the autoedu ok ubc ca server Therefore the server side of the AutoEd 2 0 system was implemented using the PHP programming language PHP 1s an easy language to use and much easier to integrate with client side languages such as HTML and JavaScript where the JSP language is not However because the old system was written in JSP we needed to develop a way to interact with the old system in order to re use the generating and marking test features Our solution to this problem was to develop a PHP wrapper and API The PHP wrapper and API are structured as a set of functions which are called throughout the HTML code This API served as an abstraction layer for the communication and passing of data between the two systems Using this code structure allowed for separation of responsibility between the server and client side code This made the project code very modular and e
41. y This file 13 used to validate user email addresses Each email address must be less than 256 characters with a minimum of 3 characters templates phpaes php Summary AES Cipher function for encrypt function input templates functions php Summary contains the function generatePassword length 10 to generate a random password for the user api api php Summary This file includes the tests php and user php files so the system remains modular By doing this the other files of the system only needs to require this file api tests php Summary This file contains all the functions needed for generating marking and submitting user tests e generateTID ttid remote ID Using the test template id ttid and the students remote id remote ID a new test id tid 18 generated for the new test attempt Returns a new test 1d tid e prepareJSON input This function is used to fix strange behaviour with JSON from the server side Returns a JSON string e checkAnswer tid index answer save true This functions takes a test 1d question index answer and a save value and 34 checks if the given answer is correct Returns an array containing the users mark and hint e getQuestion tid index new false Using a test id and question index this function returns a single question from a test template ordered by index Returns pre generated mark up for a question generated from the JSP code of the old sy
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