Conversion of the Computer Aided Instruction Tools to use Database Connectivity International Conference on Computer Science and its Applications 2004 Julian Rosenthal Rika Yoshii, Ph.D. (advisor) Computer Science Department California State University, San Marcos, USA Please ignore the paper in the Proceedings and read the revised version that was included in the packet.

Background of the CSUSM Tutoring Tools Projects Set of authoring tools and languages to create tutoring systems. Written in Java. Little or no programming experience is needed. Conversational tutoring with high-quality frequent interactions to provide adaptive learning with individualized pacing. Based on the Irvine-Geneva Course Development System. (Educational Technology Center of UC Irvine)

Introduction The CSUSM Script Editor-Interpreter Pair The two parts are The Script Editor which is used by a pedagogical designer to create conversational lessons. The Script Interpreter which causes the actions of the tutor. Can go back and forth in the Editor-Interpreter pair to test out ideas during a design session.

Features allows students to enter free form answers and analyze it to provide individualized help. able to use student performance records to determine help and exercise sequences. makes it easy to create graphics sequences.

Editor Parts Module Creation Screen Specify lesson module name and file name. Overall Design Screen Add and delete tracks and their exercises. Exercise Creation Screen Specify track and exercise name. Specify text display speed. Use tabs to go to various screens for specifying exercise components.

Exercise Creation Screen Specify/enter: –Instructional material –Question –Student answer categories and patterns for each category –Hints –Graphics With sequence of actions between them as transition signals –Go to next exercise from here (SN) –Go to a specified exercise (e.g. SL02) –Go to a specific port in an exercise and its specified text with or without clearing the port (e.g. SQ-00, SHC01, SG100) Depending on student performance (e.g. got answer category 1 more than 4 times E0101>>04)

The motivation for the new phase of the project 1.) improve compatibility with other JDK based tools/IDEs 2.) improve the usability for the designer 3.) implementation of a Database driven application to ease the conversion to an applet

Five Parts of the New Phase 1.Independence from Visual Café 2.Implementation of the Signal Dialog -To help the designer create transition signals 3.Implementation of the Exercise Diagram -To present an overview of an exercise to the designer 4.Creation and Connection of the Database tables for the Script Editor to store the lesson design -works with MySQL and Oracle 5.Creation and Connection of the Database tables for the Script Interpreter to use the lesson design and to store the student performance -works with MySQL and Oracle

Independence from Visual Cafe Visual Café was the Integrated Development Environment initially used for our CAI Tools. Makes the program dependent on Visual Café, because some of Visual Café’s classes are not provided with Sun’s JDK, which means that it was not possible to edit and run lessons with the CAI tools without Visual Café. The Script Editor and Script Interpreter can now be run using any Integrated Development Environment that uses Sun’s JDK.

Implementation of the Signal Dialog The SignalDialog Aids a designer to create syntactically correct “trasnsition signals” by making selections from a Graphical User Interface. Displays English version of the signals as confirmation. The user does not need to know or remember the syntax of the signals. Any non-programmer should be able to create a lesson using the CAI tool.

Implementation of the Signal Dialog Example: For ##SCC00##

Implementation of the Exercise Diagram The Exercise Diagram Gives the designer a way to review a particular lesson from a structural standpoint. == Graphical representation of a signal sequence between exercise parts.

Implementation of the Exercise Diagram Example:

Creation and Connection of the DB tables for the Script Editor The DataBase implementation is a step away from the JDK version dilemma problem when using object serialization. The DataBase implementation is a step towards the creation of a centralized collection of student data for a lesson. The use of a DataBase, instead of files to read from and write to, is a step towards easing the process of converting the Editor tool into an applet.

Creation and Connection of the DB tables for the Script Editor Example: Exercise Screen

Creation and Connection of the DB tables for the Script Interpreter While the implementation of the Editor was focused on collecting data while moving from JPanel to JPanel or from Table to Table, the focus of the Interpreter lies strictly with retrieving a lot of lesson and student data at start-up to initialize the system and then to run it and to update the student performance data.

Creation and Connection of the DB tables for the Script Interpreter Example: Student History Screen

Future Tasks for the Next Phase Usability analysis and modifications The conversion of these Tools into applets The maintenance of a centralized database with all the inherent security issues. Some guidance or food for thought: The applet sandbox and the Java security model for applets might hinder the conversion initially. The most important points to know and consider are: What is the applet sandbox? What constitutes the security model for an applet? How is this security model different from that of an application? Can an applet open a DB connection to the server without violating the sandbox and/or security model?

Setup Requirements The Java Virtual Machine -any version of the Java Software Development Kit (SDK, aka JDK) or Java Runtime Environment (JRE) after version 1.1 available for free from the Sun Microsystems website ( Java Database Connectivity Drivers for MySQL Driver version was used in order to stay compatible with versions of the JDK prior to JDK 1.4 and herewith not to create another dependency problem. Java Database Connectivity Drivers for Oracle The Drivers are contained in following file: classes12_g.zip Additional useful tools -JBuilder Foundation is a Java Integrated Development Environment available for free from Borlands’ website ( - Case Studio is a Database Planning and Creation Tool available from following web-site: ( This tool was extremely useful for script creation, Field Planning, Relation Creations and Entity Relationship Diagrams. -FreeVCS is a free Source Code Control tool available at following website: ( ).