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Connexions Employee Training Module

Module by: Adan Galvan

Summary: (Blank Abstract)

Introduction

Welcome to the Connexions project! As an employee of the Connexions project, we expect you to work diligently to create high quality modules. By following the correct procedures and memorizing some of the basics, you too can become a Connexions expert!

note:

This tutorial is only for employees of the connexions project. All non-employees should see the author-interface tutorial.

Getting Started - The Basics

So you've gotten all your paper work filled out with the help of our trusty project coordinator and are wondering what's next. What is necessary to begin your new job as a CNXML editor? Below are a few things that will be absolutely required for you to begin programming and to begin fulfilling your duties as a Connexions employee.

Accounts

Connexions Account

There are a couple of accounts that you'll need in order to begin working as a Connexions employee. The first thing that you will need is an account for the Connexions web-based Student/Author/Instructor interface. This can be obtained by contacting the system architect. Come into the Connexions office to speak with him about setting up your Connexions account. Your username will probably be your usual owlnet account (unless otherwise specified). You will be provided with your password, which only you will know. The system architect will not know your password, but he will be able to provide you with it should you happen to forget it. This password will provide you access to the interface which is located at http://cnx.rice.edu This step should take no more than five minutes.

You will also need an account for the mountainbunker.org site. This password will be different but the username will remain the same. You can change this password from the edit my info section of the mountainbunker site. More information on your password can be obtained from the system architect or the project coordinator.

ECE Account

The second account you will receive upon completion of your paperwork with the project coordinator is your ECE account. This account will use the same username and password as that of your owlnet account. Once you have completed your paperwork this account will take about a day to be activated. Once this account is activated you can access any computer in the connexions office as well as those in the electrical engineering department. This will make it convenient for you as an employee, since you will now have the option to:

  • Work from your room
  • Work in any Owlnet Lab
  • Work in any electrical engineering department computing lab
  • Work in the Connexions Office
  • Work anywhere you want (even if you don't have access to the internet)
Unfortunately, the last option will allow you to author modules, but not submit them into the repository (more on this later).

Required Software

There are a couple of required installs that you will have to make in order to begin now that you have access into the system.

Mozilla

Mozilla is an open source web browser that allows users to view pages encoded with mathML. This is advantageous to the Connexions project since modules are often very mathML intensive. Mozilla is not the only web browser that supports mathML, but is it the best. Mozilla is available in all of the owlnet and ECE labs. Simply type mozilla at the command prompt to get Mozilla started. There are at least two other sources for Mozilla.

If you download Mozilla from the mozilla web page, be sure to get the build that is mathML enabled. If you obtain Mozilla from the quick start page, follow the steps and in no time you will have Mozilla installed.

Connexions Roadmap

If you were a student in a course that is part of the Connexions, then you probably have seen the Connexions roadmap. This 'roadmap' is what allows students to easily and quickly navigate modules for their respective courses. As an employee, you will need the roadmap to:

  • View existing courses
  • Create and view new courses
  • View the cnxml and mathML tutorials
The roadmap can be found at the student quick start page. Simply follow the simple steps to install the roadmap with Mozilla. To learn more about the roadmap view the roadmap tutorial.

Administrative Information

There are a couple of items that need to be addressed before you begin authoring your modules. These items will be discussed below.

Mountainbunker

One of internet sites that you will be visiting frequently is mountainbunker.org. This site has many useful links and resources for you to use as a connexions employee. Let's begin discussing some of the great information you will find on mountainbunker.

Site Navigation

Home

The home page is the default page that loads after you log into mountainbunker. Use this link if you wish to return directly back to the homepage.

note:
Use the mountainbunker password that you set up with the system administrator in order to first log into the system.

My Tasks

In order to get problems solved quickly, it is often best to assign certain tasks or bugs to specific connexions workers. Additionally, you may occasionally wish to assign yourself to a certain task. The My Tasks link has three different things for you to do.

  • Search for tasks.
  • View tasks assigned to you specifically.
  • View tasks assigned to your teams.
Each task has the following labels:
  • ID-id number to identify the task.
  • Date-date of submission.
  • Type-type of task.
  • Priority-priority of task
  • Description-description of the task.
  • Submitted by-name and email of person who submitted the task.
note:
These labels will have to be filled in when submitting a new task.

Timesheet

When you click on the Timesheet link you will be taken to a page which consists of a simple timesheet applet. You are not required to use this applet, but it is very useful. Simply record the number of hours you worked for a specific day in the boxes labeled M-F. Hit the save button to store the hours worked. Record the number of hours worked throughout the week and save yourself the trouble of having to remember when you worked later. Hit the clear button in order to begin recording hours for a new week.

Progress Reports

For administrative purposes, we require that every employee of connexions submit a progress report indicating a few things.

  • Work done in the previous week.
  • Problems encountered during the previous week and how you dealt with them.
  • Future plans.
note:
There is a sample progress report on mountainbunker.
warning:
Progress reports are mandatory and failure to submit one each week will result in your time sheet not getting turned in. i.e You will not get paid!
The progress report page will show all the of the students and staff and the progress reports for the past ten weeks. After that time any progress report can be viewed using the search at the bottom of the page.

Announcements

Any changes or announcements for the mountainbunker site will be posted here. Announcements are shown by date by default. There is also an option to view the announcements by team. Simply click on show by team. Each announcement will contain:

  • team
    note:
    Only for team announcement view.
  • date posted
  • announcement summary
  • announcement author
  • announcement text
Check back here often to keep up with all the important news regarding mountainbunker.

Team Minutes

During team meetings it is important to take minutes, since it is often difficult to get everyone to attend at once. You can check here to see if your team/teams met and what transpired during the meeting. Each entry here represents a different meeting. There are three things that you can do from this page.

  • Submit new minutes
  • View current minutes (from your teams)
  • View current minutes (from other teams)
Submitting new minutes is self-explanatory and can be easily done by clicking on the submit new minutes link.

Edit My Info

The edit my info link will take you to the page which will allow you to:

  • change your password
  • edit you name
  • edit your email address
  • choose whether or not to receive weekly email reminders for your progress report
Simply fill in the fields and click on update user to change your info. The reset button reverts your info back to its original format.
note:
Your info will not be updated if you do not hit update info.

Figure 1: Screen-shot of edit my info page.
Figure 1 (editmyinfo.png)
Submit Bug

By clicking on submit bug you will be able to submit a bug about any trouble you are having with any software developed or maintained by Connexions. This includes:

  • Author Interface
  • Roadmap
  • Mountainbunker
  • Risa
and many other specific bug types (eg. browser funkiness, bad hyperlink, etc.).
note:
It is very important for you to submit bugs that you find! We will all benefit from finding and dealing with these bugs.

Log Out

Once you are done visiting the site, click the log out link to log out of the system.

Documentation

The documentation section of the navigation bar will allow you to visit pages with tons of information on many subjects directly and indirectly related to Connexions.

Each of the links in the documents section will contain lists that are similar to the image below.

Tools

In the tools section you will find commands and hints about tools that you will use when working for connexions. You can submit a new tool by clicking on the Submit tool link. Each entry will contain:

  • name
  • date and submitter info
  • description and use info

Specs

In the specs section you will find links to the specifications you will need to refer to when working for connexions. Certain specifications will be used more than others. These include:

  • cnxml specification (currently 0.5)
  • mathml specification (currently 2.0)
  • qml specification
note:
These specs are very important and will be required when composing modules!

Tutorials

In the tutorial section you will find links to tutorials on cnxml, mathml, qml, and other connexions related languages. The tutorial section will be updated as the links become available. For more information on the tutorials see the Connexions Tutorial section.

Wikis

In the wikis section you will find links to wikis regarding many different subjects such as mathml, cnxml, etc. The term wiki is discussed below.

Definition 1: wiki
A wiki is a kind of collaborative website. Pages can be changed on the spot by clicking "Edit this page", and certain conventions are followed to simplify writing and linking. A wiki web usually has a particular focus or subject orientation.
Anyone interested may add comments on a subject that they wish to collaborate on. More info on wikis can be found at the Zwiki home page.

Files

In the files section of the mountainbunker site, anyone can deposit files so that other team members may easily download them. This was implemented so that the number of large emails sent could be reduced. Simply click on the name of the team you are leaving the file for, and follow the instructions to upload the file.

Figure 2: Screenshot of Files page.
Figure 2 (files.png)

Calendars

In the calendars section of the mountainbunker site, one can view a calendar for the current and upcoming months. The calendar will contain important events for different connexions teams. With the correct permissions, one can also add items to the calendar.

note:
Contact the system architect in order to gain access to the calendar system.

Forums

In the forums section of the mountainbunker site, one can leave messages for other members of connexions teams. This functions as an alternative mode of communication. Simply click on the forum name to be taken to the particular forum. Each forum page gives you the option to:

  • Change View
    • Collapsed - hide all responses to posts.
    • Expanded - show all messages and replies.
  • View posts by date.
  • Post new messages to the forum.
note:
The forum section does not require special permissions like calendar sections.

Teams

In the final section of the navigation bar one can see a list of all the teams currently existing in the connexions project (content, style, etc.).

note:
These team links are very useful!
In each team link there will be much of the vital information that you will find by navigating through the mountainbunker site, all in one convenient place. The team pages allow you to:
  • Send a message to the mailing list for that particular team.
  • View the current tasks for that particular team.
  • View the files that have been deposited for that particular team.
  • View any announcements that have been made for that particular team.
  • View the minutes from recent meetings for that particular team.
  • Send a message to any member of the particular team.
This page should be the first place you visit upon entering the mountainbunker site.

Connexions Tutorials

Now that you have mozilla and the roadmap installed it's time to begin authoring modules. First, it is necessary to read through the following tutorials:

There are two methods for viewing these tutorials. It is recommended that you use the roadmap to go through these tutorials, since this will make them easier to navigate. Links to these tutorials are also available on the mountainbunker.org site.

note:

It is mandatory that you go through these tutorials! It is not easy to simply begin writing modules using the specifications references.

Author System

When developing modules for the Connexions repository you will have multiple tools at your disposal. You will be working both with local and web based tools. Although authoring modules is possible in any operating system, we recommend using Unix/Linux. This in conjunction with the author interface your local text editor will be the main tools used in the creation of your modules. In this section I give a quick review of the tools mentioned.

Author Interface

The author interface is an easy to use web based system that allows authors to view and manipulate modules. So what can you do with the interface?

  • Manage/view workgroups.
  • Create new workgroups.
  • Edit/view modules.
  • Create new modules.
  • Edit metadata.
  • Upload/download files associated with modules.
  • Create PDF files from modules that can be printed.
The interface has been designed to make it easy for you to carry out these various actions. Once you have an account it will be possible for you to enter the author interface and begin manipulating modules. To learn more about the author interface, view the Author Interface Tutorial.

Authoring Module Content

Although the author interface does allow you to edit modules directly online, for the most part you will not be using the author interface to write/edit your modules. It is often more convenient to use a local text editor to make changes to the actual text of the module, since a browser does not have the numerous options available for formatting and editing that a good text editor does. There are a couple of options when writing/editing modules:

  • edit the modules online through the author interface
  • download a copy of the module text to your local machine and edit it using:

Authoring with Emacs

Although one of the options is to edit the modules directly through the author interface, this is not the most efficient way to do so. For the most part you will not be using the author interface to write/edit your modules, but instead are advised to use emacs to edit your modules locally. A .emacs file has been created that allows users to quickly and easily edit their modules. With emacs sgml mode one can:

  • ensure correct indenting (especially important for mathML)
  • quickly and easily insert tags
  • edit/manipulate the text as easily as you would with any other text editor.
Notice:
For help on obtaining the .emacs file and using it with emacs ask your mentor or one of the connexions staff members.
For more information on emacs see an emacs tutorial

Authoring with Other Text Editors

Using other text editors is allowed, and encouraged if emacs is not available. Use these editors as you normally would, and save the file as a .cnxml file. Again, it is not mandatory to use emacs and the emacs connexions environment to edit your modules, but it is preferable.

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