Using Moodle to design Physics online courses with virtual and remote laboratories based on EJS

Luis de la Torre1, Sebastian Dormido1, Jose SánchezRuben Heradio2

1 Dept. of Computer Science and Automatic Control2 Dept. of Software Engineering and Computer Systems

July 26-30, 2014 - Minneapolis, USA - July 26-30, 2014 - Minneapolis, USA -

AAPT Summer Meeting, Minneapolis, 2014 American Association of Physics Teachers

Contents

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1. Motivation

2. Why Moodle?

3. Our approach for Virtual and Remote Labs (VRLs)

4. What is EJSApp?

5. EJSApp plugins

i. EJSApp

ii. EJSApp File Browser

iii. EJSApp Booking System

iv. EJSApp Collab Sessions

v. OSP

6. UNILabs – an example of an online course with EJS VRLs

1. Motivation

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• Online courses (Moodle)

• Experimental practices (VRLs)

• Easy construction of VRLs (EJS)

• Easy deployment of VRLs (EJSApp)

• Easy management of VRLs (EJSApp)

• Enhanced functionalities of VRLs (EJSApp)

• Enhanced functionalities of online courses (EJSApp)

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2. Why Moodle?

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• Integrates anything needed for a course (blocks, activities…).

• It can be customized to support the needed features.

• It can be used from any device (tablets, smartphones…).

• More than 60 million users (one of the most used LMS in the world).

• Moodle is a free open source LMS.

• Supports teachers with their teaching and learners with their learning.

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3. Our approach for virtual and remote labs

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(Moodle)

(EJS)

(ALMOST) ANYTHING YOU WANT!

(EJSApp)

4. What is EJSApp?

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Free & open source!

5 plugins

> 8000 downloads in one year and a half

Moodle Hat Award

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5. EJSApp plugins

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• Core plugin (EJSApp)• Storing data and other files (EJSApp File Browser)• Managing the access to the RLs (EJSApp Booking System)• Allowing collaborative work with the VRLs (EJSApp Collab

Session)• Accesing simulations from the OSP-ComPADRE library

directly from Moodle (OSP)

• Download them from https://moodle.org/plugins/browse.php?list=set&id=27

• Visit our channel in Youtube: UNEDLabs (http://www.youtube.com/user/UNEDLabs)

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5. EJSApp plugins - EJSApp

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• Add EJS applications to a Moodle course– Simulations or virtual laboratories– Remote laboratories

• Set standard Moodle conditions for accessing these new activities

• Automatic backup and restore features• Multi-language support• Personalize EJS simulations for each student• Different initial states for each EJS simulation

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5. EJSApp plugins – EJSApp File Browser

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• Extends Moodle’s Private Files native repository

• Store files saved from an EJS application integrated into Moodle by means of EJSApp– Image files– Text (data) files– State files

• Load previously saved states for a particular EJS simulation

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5. EJSApp plugins – EJSApp Booking System

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• Provides a way to manage the access to the RL resources– Students need to make a booking before they can

work with the RL– Teachers have free access to the RLs

• Sends e-mails to both students and teachers about the bookings and the state of the RLs

• Allows teachers to control the booking rights of students over each individual RL

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5. EJSApp plugins – EJSApp Collab Sessions

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• Real time collaboration with VRLs between two or more Moodle users– Student-student(s)– Teacher-student(s)

• The session director creates the collaborative session– Selects the VRL to work with– Selects the invited users

• Sends Moodle’s IMs and e-mails to the users invited to a collaborative session (Mobile too)

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5. EJSApp plugins – OSP

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• Access to the OSP-ComPADRE repository directly from Moodle– Over 500 ready-to-use simulations– Add them automatically as an activity to your

Moodle course using the EJSApp plugin

• Java and Javascript simulations• List all of them or search for a particular one• Read a brief description and watch an image

to get the look and feel of a simulation before you download it

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5. UNILabs – Online courses with EJS VRLs

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• Network of VRLs in different fields• Based on Moodle, EJS and EJSApp

http://unilabs.dia.uned.es

• Open course with free VRLs in Automatic Control

• Coming soon: a course with free VRLs in Physics (documentation only available in Spanish atm)

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Thank you for your attention!

AAPT Summer Meeting, Minneapolis, 2014 American Association of Physics Teachers