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LiaScript

Create & Share Interactive online-courses with LiaScript

{{0-1}} Wikipedia

                          {{0-2}}

Symposium Internationale Lehre, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 19.11.2021

André Dietrich, Sebastian Zug

This material was designed with LiaScript and is available by the Link


                         --{{1}}--

These are Sebastian and André your hosts of the today's session about creating and sharing online-courses with LiaScript. If you want to, you can try out different presentation styles by switching them within the settings. Additionally, if you want this course to be served within another language, try out the experimental google-translation.

                          {{1-2}}

Pic: Sebastian Zug Sebastian Zug is Professor of Software Engineering and Robotics at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. His technical research focuses on outdoor robotics and the modeling of sensor errors in these scenarios. In addition, he works on concepts and tools for the digitalization of teaching. The main focus is on the collaborative development of OER teaching materials and cooperatively used remote laboratories. In this area, Sebastian Zug coordinates several national research projects.

Contact: Sebastian.Zug@informatik.tu-freiberg.de

Pic: André Dietrich André Dietrich is originally a robotics and embedded software developer, now working as a researcher at the TU Bergakademie Freiberg. Due to struggles with common Learning-Management-Systems and authoring-systems, he started the development on LiaScript, a language-based approach for creating interactive and open online-courses. His current research interests are language design, new web technologies and online education with focus on open educational resources.

Contact: Andre.Dietrich@informatik.tu-freiberg.de


Motivation

 {{0-1}}

--{{0}}--

How should teaching materials be created that really deserve the OER idea? They should be freely available AND manipulable. Some protagonists of the community emphasize the first aspect and annotate a PDF document as open. But courses on a topic are very different, a teacher sets varying priorities or chooses another contexts. Hence, the offer of a usage is not enough. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide materials that can be revised and newly compiled. The Figure illustrates this. A number of authors corrected errors and developed content that goes into different directions. This also results in completely new course configurations or translations of content. But which basic expectations have to be implemented to meet this goal?


Version 1.0                           Version 1.1
+---------------------------+          +---------------------------+
| Course  German Literatur  |          | Course  German Literature |
| Authors John Muster       | "Error"  | Authors John Muster       |
|                           |------->  |         Angelika Maier    |----->
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|          |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| In 1756 Goethe visited    |---.      | In 1786 Goethe visited    |--.
| Italy ...                 |   |      | Italy ...                 |  |
                                |                                     |
                                |                                     |    +----------------------------+
                                |                                     |    | Course  Deutsche Literatur |
                                |                                     |    | Authors John Muster        |
                                |                                     .--> |         Angelika Maier     |
                                |                                          |         Steve Gray         |
                                |                                          |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
                                |                                          | 1786 reiste Goethe nach    |
                                |                                          | Italien ...                |
                                |       Version 1.0
                                |      +---------------------------+
                                |      | Course  Goethe & Schiller |
                                |      | Authors John Muster       |
                                .-->   |         Angelika Maier    |----->
                                       |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
                                       | The correspondence during |
                                       | the Italian journey ...   |

Conditions for implementation:

  • Freely available editors and tools
  • Integrated sharing mechanisms
  • Automated version management
  • Support of interactive content
  • Concepts for internationalization

{{1-2}}

--{{1}}--

Would it be possible to implement this idea in standard slide formats? I guess you can answer this question by yourself if you tested the integrated version management in PowerPoint for instance. Of course, the sharing mechanisms are easy to realize by just copying a file, but you have no control or overview about new versions provided by another lecturer. Additionally, the capabilities to provide interactive content are very limited.

PowerPoint slide example from the hosts


Expectations and goals Methods
Editor tools ... separate open source or commercial software
Sharing mechanims ... by copying files
Version management ... only direct line predecessors
Interactive content ... limited
Internationalization ... have to be done manually

 {{2-4}}

Wikipedia as a web-based system has brought together millions of authors and users. Why does this project succeeds?

Wikipedia

--{{2}}--

Wikipedia has a different approach that is much closer to the OER idea. The German entry for "Federal Republic of Germany" looked back on 15850 changes in May 2019. 3928 users have contributed to this. Wikipedia thus ensures the timeliness and quality of the data stock. But where is the key to success? Wikipedia stores the entire history of a document. This makes it possible to reconstruct changes, to merge versions, and thus, to discuss or eliminate errors very easy.


Expectations and goals Methods
Editor tools ... embedded into website
Sharing mechanims ... website
Version management ... complete
Interactive content ... non existent
Internationalization ... have to be done manually

  {{3-4}}

Wikipedia provides an integrated editor directly connected with the version system!

 --{{3}}--

The content in Wikipedia is edited in a simple description language, wikitext. The syntax combines specific symbols for defining titles, paragraphs, and images with the actual content. Unlike Word or PDF documents, a wikitext is a simple text file. Users can make changes in the description language directly within the browser. No separate tool and installation are necessary. LiaScript was motivated by this idea but combines the concept with requierments of an Learning managment system.

LiaScript - Basic Concepts

                         --{{0}}--

The development on LiaScript started as a side-project within the "Industrial eLab" project in Magdeburg. You can check out the following video resource, which shows an earlier version of the system as well as an historical outline.

                          {{0-1}}

!?Open Course Development with Liascript

                         --{{1}}--

We needed a way of providing educational content for programming courses and thought that a language-based approach instead of a tooling- or platform-based might provide a higher degree of freedom, exchangeability, and sustainability, next to some other benefits.

                           {{1}}
  • Completly text-based content representation

  • No backend required

  • Works offline (PWA)

  • Open-Source development and Versioning

  • Faster development cycles

  • ... and more

                           --{{2}}--
    

And finally, we wanted to have a system that can be used for different purposes, we wanted to use it for presentations, but in the same way also for developing interactive books, or to have something like YouTube-screencast with automated text-to-speech output.

Purely Text based content

  --{{0}}--

In order to flatten the learning curve and to not reinvent the wheel, we decided to rely on Markdown. But, we also wanted to have an extendable language with support for interactivity and beyond the possibilities of today's Learning Management Systems.

LiaScript based the description language Markdown.

    {{1-2}}

  --{{1}}--

Markdown is a pretty simple Markup-language to learn. Everything starts with a # or heading. The number of hashtags defines the heading number. In LiaScript these headings are also used as separators between different "slides". A paragraph is simply a block of text/sentences that are separated by an empty line. Thus, empty lines do not only provide a visual separator for the author, but posses also a semantic value as separators between blocks. By the way, it makes no difference if you use only one or multiple empty lines.

Markdown content:

# Headline 1

That's a paragraph!

## Headline 2

_**Highlighted text** in italic font_

* Point 1
* Point 2

... and an embedded Equation $a=cos(b)$!

Resulting output:

Headline 1

That's a paragraph!

Headline 2

Highlighted text in italic font

  • Point 1
  • Point 2

... and an embedded Equation $a=cos(b)$!



      {{2}}

      --{{2}}--

Tables are also self-explanatory. The only thing that is relevant in this case is the use of colons within the separators between the head and the body. The position of colons is used as an indicator of whether the column should be aligned to the left, right, or centered. The LiaScript interpreter adds the possibility to sort the table by clicking onto the sort-button on the right corner of every column header.

Markdown Content:

| Tables               |      Are      |  Cool |
| -------------------- |:-------------:| -----:|
| *** columns 3 is *** | right-aligned | $1600 |
| ** column 2 is **    |   centered    |   $12 |
| * zebra stripes *    |   are neat    |    $1 |

Resulting output:

Tables Are Cool
*** columns 3 is *** right-aligned $1600
** column 2 is ** centered $12
* zebra stripes * are neat $1

Interactive Elements

LiaScript extends the description language Markdown by animations, interactive elements, and a macro-system.

      {{1-3}}

Tables & Data

--{{1}}--

Thus, if you see the following table, how would you visualize it?

<!--
data-title="Government expenditure on education"
data-xlabel="year"
data-ylabel="% of GDP"
data-show="true"
-->
| Year | Finland |     USA | Germany |   China |
| ---- | -------:| -------:| -------:| -------:|
| 1995 | 6.80942 |         | 4.42079 | 1.84192 |
| 1996 | 6.86052 |         | 4.48319 | 1.85338 |
| 1997 |         |         |         |         |
| 1998 |         |         | 4.45345 | 1.84432 |
| 1999 | 5.86960 |         |         | 1.88803 |
| 2000 | 5.71687 |         |         |         |
| 2001 | 5.84797 |         |         |         |
| ...  | ...     |         |         |         |
--{{2}}--

Probably also as a line-chart, and this is what LiaScript does as well. It tries to find patterns for the most appropriate visualization.

 {{2-3}}
Year Finland USA Germany China
1995 6.80942 4.42079 1.84192
1996 6.86052 4.48319 1.85338
1997
1998 4.45345 1.84432
1999 5.86960 1.88803
2000 5.71687
2001 5.84797
2002 6.02477
2003 6.17476
2004 6.16849
2005 6.03605
2006 5.93809 4.27930
2007 5.68608 4.34302
2008 5.84676 4.40954
2009 6.48517 4.88047
2010 6.54070 5.42001 4.91368
2011 6.48200 5.22389 4.80779
2012 7.19254 5.19485 4.93331
2013 7.15848 4.94378 4.93496
2014 7.15155 4.98948 4.93112

     {{3-5}}

Quizzes

--{{3}}--

Quizzes in LiaScript, as we hope, are self-explanatory and are always associated with brackets or brackets in combination with parenthesis.

--{{4}}--

For example a multiple-choice quizzes can be defined as follows, only with the power of your keyboard. No further configuration is required. And if you want to convert it into a single-choice quiz, simply replace the inner brackets by parenthesis.

  {{4}}

What is the solution of $y=2x+3$ for $x=5$?

    [[X]] 13
    [[ ]] 17
    [[ ]] 3
    [[?]] Replace x by the actual value 5 in the equation.
****************************************

This is the explanation ... $ y(5) = 2x+3 = 2\cdot 5 + 3 = 10 $

??[Prince of Persia 4D](https://archive.org/details/msdos_4D_Prince_of_Persia_1994)

****************************************

What is the solution of $y=2x+3$ for $x=5$?

[[X]] 13
[[ ]] 17
[[ ]] 3
[[?]] Replace x by the actual value 5 in the equation.

This is the explanation ... $ y(5) = 2x+3 = 2\cdot 5 + 3 = 10 $

??Prince of Persia 4D




     {{5}}

External Components

                  --{{5}}--

And finally, if want to embed an external resource and you have no idea of how to do that, you can also rely on our extension to links. Simply add two question marks. In this case LiaScript will try to oEmbed the content of the link or at least try to add this as an iframe.

??[anatomy of the eye](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/the-human-eye-extrinsic-muscle-contraction-20-dc9c88630b6c42a8b242fd6024d0697f)

??anatomy of the eye


Presentations, Books, etc.

--{{0}}--

Everything that is related to animations, is associated to braces. Double braces at the beginning of a block indicate the point in time when something should appear or disappear. Braces surrounded by dashes can be interpreted as the explanation for a specific point. That's it, if you change the representation of the course, these elements will be treated differently.

    --{{1}}--
See this important table.

     {{1-2}}
| I   | appear    | at  | first |
| --- | --------- | --- | ----- |
| and | disappear | at  | two   |

     {{2}}
* I will remain till the end
* and do have some {3}{__inline animations__}
* inline effects can also {3-4}{disappear} ...

    --{{2}}--
The bullet point list is also quite important, it contains some sub effects

    --{{3 Russian Female}}--
Первоначально создан в 2004 году Джоном Грубером (англ. John Gruber) и Аароном
Шварцем. Многие идеи языка были позаимствованы из существующих соглашений по
разметке текста в электронных письмах...
--{{1}}--

See this important table.

 {{1-2}}
I appear at first
and disappear at two
  {{2}}
  • I will remain till the end

  • and do have some {3}{inline animations}

  • inline effects can also {3-4}{disappear} ...

    --{{2}}-- The bullet point list is also quite important, it contains some sub effects

    --{{3 Russian Female}}-- Первоначально создан в 2004 году Джоном Грубером (англ. John Gruber) и Аароном Шварцем. Многие идеи языка были позаимствованы из существующих соглашений по разметке текста в электронных письмах...

    --{{4}}-- If you try out the experimental Google translation, you will find out that everything gets translated and also the voice will change, except for the Russian text, this will remain.

Plugins for different lectures

LiaScript can be extended by individual plugins interacting with JavaScript Libraries.

                     {{0-1}}

1. Computer Science (Contributor Yannik Höll)

```cpp
#include <iostream>

int main() {
  int max = 0;
  std::cout << "How many Hellos?";

  std::cin >> max;

  for(int i=0; i<max; i++)
  printf ("Hello, world %d!\n", i + 1);

  return 0;
}
```
@LIA.eval(`["main.c"]`, `g++ main.c -o a.out`, `./a.out`)
#include <iostream>

int main() {
  int max = 0;
  std::cout << "How many Hellos?";

  std::cin >> max;

  for(int i=0; i<max; i++)
  printf ("Hello, world %d!\n", i + 1);

  return 0;
}

@LIA.eval(["main.c"], g++ -Wall main.c -o a.out, ./a.out)


                   {{1-2}}

Mechanical Engineering (Contributor TU Chemnitz)

{
  "id":"chaos-pendulums",
  "gravity":true,
  "nodes": [
    { "id":"A0","x":200,"y":400,"base":true },
    { "id":"A1","x":280,"y":480,"m":2 },
    { "id":"B1","x":279,"y":481,"m":2 },
    { "id":"C1","x":278,"y":482,"m":2 },
    { "id":"D1","x":277,"y":483,"m":2 },
    { "id":"A2","x":360,"y":560,"m":3 },
    { "id":"B2","x":359,"y":561,"m":3 },
    { "id":"C2","x":358,"y":562,"m":3 },
    { "id":"D2","x":357,"y":563,"m":3 },
    { "id":"A3","x":440,"y":640,"m":4.7 },
    { "id":"B3","x":439,"y":641,"m":4.7 },
    { "id":"C3","x":438,"y":642,"m":4.7 },
    { "id":"D3","x":437,"y":643,"m":4.7 }
  ],
  "constraints": [
    { "id":"a1","p1":"A0","p2":"A1","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"a2","p1":"A1","p2":"A2","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"a3","p1":"A2","p2":"A3","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"b1","p1":"A0","p2":"B1","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"b2","p1":"B1","p2":"B2","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"b3","p1":"B2","p2":"B3","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"c1","p1":"A0","p2":"C1","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"c2","p1":"C1","p2":"C2","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"c3","p1":"C2","p2":"C3","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"d1","p1":"A0","p2":"D1","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"d2","p1":"D1","p2":"D2","len":{ "type":"const" } },
    { "id":"d3","p1":"D2","p2":"D3","len":{ "type":"const" } }
  ],
  "views": [
    { "show":"pos","of":"A3","as":"trace","id":"view1","stroke":"rgba(255,0,0,.5)" },
    { "show":"pos","of":"B3","as":"trace","id":"view2","stroke":"rgba(0,255,0,.5)" },
    { "show":"pos","of":"C3","as":"trace","id":"view3","stroke":"rgba(255,255,0,.5)" },
    { "show":"pos","of":"D3","as":"trace","id":"view4","stroke":"rgba(255,0,255,.5)" }
  ]
}

Workflow

Generation                     Publication          Usage

                                                           .-----------.           Modes:
    | LiaScript Plugin A                            ╔══════| Browser   |══════╗
    |  | Plugin B                           native  ║      '-----------'      ║"- Textbook        "
    v  v                                  +-------> ║ Digital Systems         ║"- Presentation    "
+---------------------+                   |         ║ (Sprint 2021)           ║"- Slides          "
| # Digital Systems   |\          .-,(  ),-.        ╚═════════════════════════╝
| (Sprint 2021)       +-+      .-(          )-.            .-----------.
|                       | --> (     Cloud      )    ╔══════| LMS       |══════╗
|"##"Introduction       |      '-(         ).-'     ║      '-----------'      ║
| + ...                 |         '-.( ).-' SCORM   ║ Digital Systems         ║
+-----------------------+                 +-------> ║ (Sprint 2021)           ║
                                          |         ╚═════════════════════════╝
                                          |                .-----------.
                                          |         ╔══════| pdfViewer |══════╗
                                          | export  ║      '-----------'      ║
                                          +-------> ║ Digital Systems         ║
                                                    ║ (Sprint 2021)           ║
                                                    ╚═════════════════════════╝

"- Atom Editor with LiaScript Extention           "|"- [Github](https://github.io)         "
"- [CodiLia](https://github.com/liascript/codilia)"|"- [Dropbox](https://www.dropbox.com)  "
"  Online Editor @TUBAF                           "|"- [IPFS](https://ipfs.io), ...        "
                                                   |
                                                   |

{{1}}

Expectations and goals Methods
Editor tools ... generic text or online editor
Sharing mechanims ... via Github, DropBox, IPFs etc.
Version management ... using git
Interactive content ... implements a plugin concept
Internationalization ... automated translation (work in progress )

... Sharing via

            --{{0}}--

So how can you share your course with others? Actually you can put your course anywhere. The only thing that is required is the URL to your Markdown document.

             {{0-1}}

https://liascript.github.io/course/?YOUR_COURSE_URL.md

--{{1}}--

In order to have a strict version-control with support for multiple authors, versions, branches, etc. You can use any kind of online plattform like GitHub or GitLab, but also others.

  {{1}}
  • Plattforms with Version-Control:

    1. GitHub
    2. GitLab
    3. ...

    --{{2}}-- The Internet was a peer to peer system from its very beginning, but now also multiple projects catch on upon this idea, by integreating such features also directly into the browser, which allows to share content and entire websites directly from your local computer.

    {{2}}
    
  • Peer To Peer Systems with Browser-Support

    1. Brave-Browser with IPFS
    2. Beaker-Browser with Hyper
    3. ...

    --{{3}}-- And of course, you can upload your course documents to any ordinary webstore.

    {{3}}
    
  • Online stores

    1. DropBox

    2. NextCloud

    3. ... any ordinary webstore

      --{{4}}-- Or, directly share and edit it with others in a collaborative online editor, such as CodiMD or in our case CodiLia.

      {{4}}

  • Collaborative online editors ...

    1. CodiLia
    2. ...

Advanced Concepts

     --{{0}}--

Puhhh ... a lot of information for 20 minutes! Please take a closer view to our examples and documentations for diving deeper into LiaScript.

Save the date

                        --{{0}}--

We plan to dive into LiaScript in detail during a online-tutorial in December.

  1. When? Thursday, December 9th, 7pm

  2. Where? https://teach.informatik.tu-freiberg.de/b/seb-p67-jav-pw9

  3. Add to your calender

           {{1}}
    
<iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/13qctMBrrgbwJi" width="100%" height="100%" style="position:absolute" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe>

via GIPHY

Version History