ToolboX is an integrated development environment designed to introduce computer programming in academic subjects with originally no competences in this matter. Its design is based on the premise that, when solving a problem, a student performs a sequence of computations, that can be expressed in a computer language, similarly to how it is done on a notebook or blackboard. Besides the environment and the academic contents, ToolboX compiles students' usage data and process it by means of big data algorithms based on artificial intelligence. These techniques perform knowledge acquisition about the students community, that can be used afterwards to improve teaching and resource planning. As examples of this knowledge, gifted students, ADHD and dyslexia can be prediagnosed.
Functioning
ToolboX is a didactic resource that teachers can use at the classroom or in the computer room. When the program is launched, it shows a simple development environment, made of a command window, a text editor to write the program, and an optional graphic window. After choosing a problem list, the student must solve each of them by writing a program. It also provides help commands and other commands for debugging and running the program. When the solution computed by the program is correct, it shows the next problem, until the whole list is completed. The programming language used is GNU Octave, for being a scientific programming language, widely used in education, science and engineering.
Problem definition
ToolboX is based on the notion of :es:problegrama|problegram to represent problems of a wide range of academic subjects. The definition includes information like the statement, tips or wiki help, its numeric solution, proposed programs, and a take-home-message after the task is solved. The relations of problems are just lists with the names of the files in JSON format. , "takehomemessage": "The power of a fraction derives from the product of fractions.", "author": "ToolboX", "URL" : "toolbox.uma.es", "CC" : "BY-NC-SA 3.0"
Installation
ToolboX can be installed in the Andalusian public centers from the Guadalinex repository, as well as in the Andalusian network of rural centers :es:|Guadalinfo. The program can also be installed out of these networks, in two different ways:
On a computer with a Debian-basedLinux distribution, ToolboX can be installed from a file following these steps: Ubuntu version history#Ubuntu 16.04 LTS $ wget -N --quiet toolbox.uma.es/download/toolbox_latest.deb $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo dpkg -i toolbox_latest.deb dpkg: dependency problems prevent...
The must be first downloaded, and then install UNetbootin. Next, a pen drive is plugged in, UNetbootin is run, and the ISO file is burnt as a live version with persistent storage :
select the downloaded ISO file
specify the size of the persistent storage, for example 1000MB
When the copy process completes, the system is restarted from the live version on the pen drive, which is selected as the booting method to access the BIOS and select the preferred booting method. Once the system has booted from the live version, the main menu can be accessed from the upper-left corner, and ToolboX can be found in the Programming category.
User instructions
After running ToolboX, the screen is divided into three areas: a system console, a text editor, and a graphic window. By typing the 'task' or 'help' commands in the console, information is obtained on the task modules and the list of available commands. Once a task is loaded with command 'task', 'tip' and 'wiki' might provide additional information. Each task is solved by typing a program on the text editor, and running it with the 'go' command in the console.
Distribution
In version 0.0, it was oriented to the Spanish educational system and included problem lists for all pre-university subjects. It was distributed in a USB flash drive provided to the students, which instructors can apply for online. This drive contains a live Linux distro, the interpreter of the GNUOctave programming language, and the ToolboX and necessary software. ToolboX is currently distributed under GNU GPLv3 license. Its first version includes a repository of tasks for several subjects of pre-college education. The is available in a public repository.
