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32 | reyssat | 1 | |
17238 | bpr | 2 | <h3>Advantage of WIMS versus locally installed softwares</h3> |
32 | reyssat | 3 | <ol> |
4 | $tit No need of software installation and/or update by users.$titend |
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5 | All installation and/or update of background software is done on the |
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6 | server side, which can be anywhere on the internet. On the client |
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7 | machine, only a common web browser is required (which needs not to be |
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8 | very up to date). |
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9071 | bpr | 9 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 10 | $tit No need to learn the usage and the syntax of a particular software package.$titend |
17238 | bpr | 11 | As WIMS uses the html standard for user interface, a user, in particular |
32 | reyssat | 12 | a student, has only to use his usual knowledge of html browsing (which |
17238 | bpr | 13 | is now a common knowledge), in order to work on WIMS applications. <br> |
32 | reyssat | 14 | This is not the case for any of current mathematics softwares; all of |
15 | them require a training period before the user can work on it. This |
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16 | training period may be more or less lengthy, but we remark that the |
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17 | knowledge of using a particular software is not a universal knowledge, |
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18 | and such a knowledge usually has a short lifespan. |
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19 | Moreover, teaching knowledge about a commercial software contradicts |
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20 | with the principle of commercial neutrality of a public education |
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21 | institution. |
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9071 | bpr | 22 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 23 | $tit It provides a means to collect the knowledge and experience |
24 | of the whole educational community.$titend |
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17238 | bpr | 25 | WIMS is a modular system, where each application is a separated module |
9071 | bpr | 26 | whose links with other modules are done in the usual html way. |
32 | reyssat | 27 | This allows modules |
28 | to be developped independently and remotely. It is our hope that as many |
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29 | educators as possible will add their knowledge and experience to the |
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30 | system by contributions in the form of new modules or improvements of |
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31 | existing ones. |
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9071 | bpr | 32 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 33 | $tit It allows student - teacher interactions in several ways.$titend |
9071 | bpr | 34 | Organized under the structure of |
1091 | bpr | 35 | $(ref1)class$(ref2)class">classes</a>, |
17238 | bpr | 36 | a WIMS system allows teacher |
32 | reyssat | 37 | to assign works for his students, and get reliable informations about |
38 | the progress (and/or difficulty) of the student in real time. This may |
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39 | allow the teacher to give more personalised guide to the student. |
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40 | The big advantage of such a system based on internet is that there is |
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41 | no site restriction: any work done from any site (local or remote) is |
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42 | valid, and is taken into account. |
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9071 | bpr | 43 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 44 | $tit It provides a dynamic interaction between different components, e.g. |
45 | between exercises and computing tools.$titend |
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46 | For example, practically no software dedicated to exercises can |
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17238 | bpr | 47 | interface a computational tool as easily as WIMS does. |
9071 | bpr | 48 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 49 | $tit It can be more powerful than any given software for certain works.$titend |
17238 | bpr | 50 | Because WIMS can use different (dedicated) software as backend engine, |
32 | reyssat | 51 | even several softwares for one application or one request. |
9071 | bpr | 52 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 53 | </ol> |
54 | |||
17238 | bpr | 55 | <h3>Disadvantage of WIMS versus locally installed softwares</h3> |
32 | reyssat | 56 | <ol> |
57 | $tit Low speed of reaction.$titend |
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17238 | bpr | 58 | Because usually every WIMS response has to travel through internet. |
32 | reyssat | 59 | This will improve when internet speed improves. |
9071 | bpr | 60 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 61 | $tit Limited computational power and programming capability.$titend |
62 | If a user has a heavy computational job and/or has to design a complicated |
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63 | script to get his job done, he should work directly on the appropriate |
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17238 | bpr | 64 | software. It is not at all the intention of WIMS to interface such |
32 | reyssat | 65 | activities. |
9071 | bpr | 66 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 67 | $tit Limited capability of the graphical interface.$titend |
68 | The html graphical user interface is not very suited for interactive |
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69 | works. |
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9071 | bpr | 70 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 71 | </ol> |
72 | |||
17238 | bpr | 73 | <h3>Advantage of WIMS versus hand calculators</h3> |
32 | reyssat | 74 | <ol> |
75 | $tit Easier to use.$titend |
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17238 | bpr | 76 | A html page used by WIMS for user interface is much more comprehensible |
32 | reyssat | 77 | than any hand calculator. |
9071 | bpr | 78 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 79 | $tit (Much) more powerful. $titend |
9071 | bpr | 80 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 81 | </ol> |
82 | |||
17238 | bpr | 83 | <h3>Disadvantage of WIMS versus hand calculators</h3> |
32 | reyssat | 84 | <ol> |
85 | $tit Non-portability.$titend |
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17238 | bpr | 86 | WIMS is accessible only to computers connected to internet. |
9071 | bpr | 87 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 88 | </ol> |
89 | |||
17238 | bpr | 90 | <h3>Advantage of WIMS versus interactive web applications based |
14524 | bpr | 91 | only on java or javascript</h3> |
32 | reyssat | 92 | <ol> |
93 | $tit More powerful and more versatile.$titend |
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17238 | bpr | 94 | As WIMS can embed java or javascript programs in its applications, a |
95 | wisely designed WIMS application just extends the capability of java or |
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17228 | bpr | 96 | javascript. <br> |
17238 | bpr | 97 | And WIMS can really do more: |
32 | reyssat | 98 | even if it is theoretically possible to develop java applications which |
17238 | bpr | 99 | has the same power as a software used as a backend engine for WIMS, it |
32 | reyssat | 100 | would take too much effort to develop (is it reasonable to re-write TeX |
101 | in java?), and would be so big that it would take forever for an http |
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102 | query to load. |
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9071 | bpr | 103 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 104 | $tit Easier to develop.$titend |
17238 | bpr | 105 | Because WIMS language is first based on html (easy to learn), with an |
32 | reyssat | 106 | extension specifically designed for this purpose. |
11288 | bpr | 107 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 108 | $tit Allows student-supervisor interaction.$titend |
109 | The design of server-based interactivity for users allows the back-end |
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110 | communication with supervisors, and much more (performance analysis, |
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111 | automatic intervention from supervisors, etc). |
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9071 | bpr | 112 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 113 | </ol> |
114 | |||
17238 | bpr | 115 | <h3>Disadvantage of WIMS versus interactive web applications based |
14524 | bpr | 116 | on java or javascript</h3> |
32 | reyssat | 117 | <ol> |
118 | $tit Lower speed of reaction.$titend |
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17238 | bpr | 119 | Because usually every WIMS response has to travel through internet. |
32 | reyssat | 120 | This will improve when internet speed improves. One can also use |
17238 | bpr | 121 | embedded javascript or java in a WIMS application, in places where |
32 | reyssat | 122 | response speed is important. |
9071 | bpr | 123 | </li> |
32 | reyssat | 124 | </ol> |