[racket] classroom response system

This sounds like a neat idea and like Joe and John said, "eminently doable." 

While it sounds like you want to add a menu entry to DrRacket so that students can "Open URL" instead of "Open File", I think you're better off having students download files from URLs and open them from their command line instead. We run our labs that way, it works well, and it is a no-effort solution. 

Otherwise I'd also recommend that you look at the handin collection, which allows students to submit solutions to a server and instructors to accept solutions and run tests on them. 

Since the teaching languages come with their own test mechanism (see check-expect), running instructor supplied tests is as easy as supplying files with 'broken' definitions that fail all tests. Clicking 'run' in DrRacket runs these tests and tells students how their solution is doing. 

-- Matthias





On May 17, 2013, at 11:36 PM, Danny Heap wrote:

> A colleague has developed a classroom response tool that allows
> students to download exercises, write solutions, and then either
> visualize the execution of their solution or run unit tests, and then
> submit their solution.  The instructor can display a histogram of of
> the submissions that passed various tests, and then sample some of the
> interesting examples to discuss with the class (all this assumes
> wireless coverage for the classroom).
> 
> This is currently implemented for Python, but my colleague wants to
> extend it to other languages.  He has a student looking into the
> feasibility of implementing it for DrRacket, with the rough idea
> being:
> 
> 	-- Students and instructors run local instances of DrRacket
>           (hence access to the Stepper for student languages)
> 	-- Run the tests either client- or server-side in a sandbox
> 	-- Get files to/from DrRacket to server somehow
> 
> Since either students or the instructor will want to load files that
> are stored remotely (either starter code for exercises or student
> submissions), we're trying to figure out how DrRacket can open code
> that lives at a URL in the definitions pane.  Any suggestions are very
> welcome.  Also, anyone who is curious about the project is welcome to
> contact Andrew Petersen <andrew.petersen at utoronto.ca>.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Danny Heap
> BA4270			416-978-5899
> heap at cs.utoronto.ca	http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/~heap
> ____________________
>  Racket Users list:
>  http://lists.racket-lang.org/users