using labsjs to get index of PhET sims in WISE

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Scott Cytacki

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Jan 17, 2015, 10:37:02 PM1/17/15
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Hiroki was wanting to get a listing of PhET sims in WISE. I mentioned at the summit that using labsjs would be a nice way to do that. But I didn't get a chance to demo it.

Kurt sent this link around in another thread:

https://labsjs.blob.core.windows.net/sdk/LabsJS-1.0.4/labshost.html?lab=https://phetmixapp.cloudapp.net/phet?PostMessageLabHost


Just some background for people that haven't looked at labs.js.  First it is not associated with Concord's Lab interactives. It is used by Microsoft's Office/Mix. The 'labshost' page above supports embedding any page into an iframe. The link above pre-loads a PhET specific page. 
If the embedded page speaks the postMessage API of labs.js, the 'labshost' page lets you interactive with the embedded page, and inspect the results.

The embedded page that is loaded above is a page made by Kurt that shows an index of the PhET sims. You can click one of the phet sims in the index page that comes up, then select insert. You can see how the 'configuration' text updates.  If you copy the configuration text after this, reload the page, then paste configuration text, and click view. They you will see the sim that previously selected.

If WISE had a step (could be a webapp step) that was a bridge between labs.js and WISE, then authors could use this same PhET embeddable page to select one of the PhET sims.  And when the project was run the selected sim would show up for the student. And additionally there is a page just like this for Khan videos, so you would get an index page of those too. And finally Noah made some progress making a similar page for Concord Lab Interactives, so if that was finished you would get those as well.

Here are the docs on labs.js:

And the source code:

Note that much of documentation is not relevant. You don't need several things that are described. Kurt it would be great if you could make a documentation page that was specifically for developers that want to use labs.js just with the postMessage API.  And from WISE's point of view they'd need documentation on the LabsJsServer. However the source of labshost.html seems to document it pretty well.

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Scott Cytacki
The Concord Consortium

Jonathan Lim-Breitbart

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Jan 23, 2015, 2:27:08 AM1/23/15
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Thanks for detailing this Scott.  This is a great direction!

We would love to have an easy interface where curriculum authors can choose from a list of interactives and content from PhET, Concord Lab, etc. and pop them into a WISE step.  Eventually, it would also be great to allow authors to specify parameters, starting states, data to log, etc.  We'll definitely be investigating this more on our end and would love to collaborate with the content providers to get this type of interaction set up.

(The WISE and PhET folks are actually planning to meet again soon to continue working on our integrations, so we'll definitely make this a topic of discussion.)



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Jim Slotta

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Jan 23, 2015, 7:44:10 AM1/23/15
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SO funny that these are some of the exact goals we were struggling with 13, 14 years ago in WISE 3.  I still have the scars from java client.  This is a much better direction! 
j
ps - Jon or Hiroki, could you say a bit more about WISE 5, what it will bring that is a step forward form WISE 4?  ANy changes to portal, etc?

Hiroki T

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Jan 28, 2015, 1:56:41 PM1/28/15
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Hi Jim,

We're still in the planning stages of WISE5, figuring out what the WISE5 project structure will look like, what the design will look like, how to transition from WISE4 to WISE5, and such.

At this point, we think that WISE5 will mostly be a client-side change to accommodate the need for new kinds of student interactions like adaptive navigation and use on mobile devices. There will be some changes on the server-side to expand WISE’s capabilities so it can interoperate with outside systems (e.g. PhET, CC-Lab/CODAP, NetLogo/Tortoise, Nutella?) more easily.

We wrote up a "WISE5 Goals" document here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N0Yj3KJH4sKELc9ZgXv6IgFWR3d_A3o9cOEv4xFVags/edit?usp=sharing. It doesn't include everything, but it will give you an idea of where we're headed.

Hiroki
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Jonathan Lim-Breitbart

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Jan 28, 2015, 2:33:47 PM1/28/15
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Yep, the doc Hiroki linked to outlines our major goals as of now.

We also have some additional goals for down the line.  For example:
  • Redesigning the WISE public site (design, aesthetics, content)
  • Redesigned user account pages and creating a more useful teacher home page/run manager
  • Redoing the project library and better supporting user-generated content (public WISE library)
  • Integrating social/collaboration tools more closely with teacher accounts (like the Discourse-based discussion area, custom projects, teaching tips, etc.)
  • Building a new authoring tool
Also, real-time communication/messaging will also be a bigger part of WISE5 and this will be integrated across different tools like the teacher Classroom Manager and student project interface.  The growing automated assessment and feedback tools in WISE will integrate with the messaging system to enable real-time alerts, scaffolding, etc.

 

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Jonathan Lim-Breitbart
Feature Developer and Lead Designer
Web-based Integrated Science Environment (WISE)
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