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Home > Developers > Projects > LON-CAPA-NG > LON-CAPA 2.10 / LON-CAPA-NG Comparison

LON-CAPA 2.10 / LON-CAPA-NG Comparison

Disclaimer: This is work-in-progress. It is incomplete and subject to change.

Besides supporting additional business models, the main goal is simplification without dumbing down. Often, that means unifying things. Architectually, the system will move from a 1999 architecture to a 2013 architecture. Breaking immediate backward compatibility and having an explicit conversion process allows us to make wide-ranging changes where desirable.

2.10 vs. 1.0
  Add Strengthen Rebuild Discard
Grading Insertion of gradeable items from inside gradebook   One gradebook Separate assessment progress chart, spreadsheet (no backward compatibility), download functions
Edit gradeable items and associated comments from inside gradebook
Ability to bundle scores into categories
Add information to scores if they were relative or absolute     All grades are relative to weight
In-class clicker support      
  Grade upload, flexible number of entries    
Homework   Mechanisms to import wider range of content Libraries
Rubric-based free-response grading Current bridgetask functionality and format (no backward compatibility)
  Universal grading queues
  XML-extension (formerly "style files") to enable creation of response types
Accessibility of non-alphanumeric input Java-based input mechanism (organic, formula, graphs) to HTML5/JavaScript
Accessibility of non-alphanumeric output Unified dynamic graphing, including inside content, using for example GeoGebra Separate display mechanisms for dynamic graphics
Physical and other unit evaluation    
Consistency in formula evaluation between graphing, CAS, etc  
  One editor to build problems inside/outside of courses Course-contextual "Simple Problems"
Unified functional XML elements   Historical XML idiosyncrasies
Part parameter management All problems are "multipart," even if the number is "one." "Part 0"
Analytics/IRT Continual anonymous collection of performance data    
Peer grading/critique      
Collaborative documents (free version of Google Docs)      
SCORM RTE Import      
  Consistent behavior of all response types in open/closed/answer and correct/incorrect state Instructor view of student entered answer and answer history  
Assessment analysis/IRT on standards and learning goals across semester and courses      
    externalresponse - grading by external analysis and scoring tools  
Instructor feedback from "practice problems"      
Plagiarism detection analysis available to learner prior to submisssion Plagiarism detection for other formats than plain text    
Cluster Management Domain concept to control flow of information Cluster management in order to more quickly add and remove nodes and domains Separate cluster tables and "DNS"
Data and Parameter Management in Courses Cascading of parameters to nested folders at all levels Universal, persistent ID for resource inside courses Data tied to instance and folder ("symb")
Straightforward copying of materials and nested structures between courses  
User Management Way to delete users who never logged in  
Cource Creation Way to delete courses that were never used  
Method to charge for course access based on micropayments for included content Leftovers of token mechanism
  Selective cloning  
Communications Synchronous chatroom
Integration of message attachment content and content space Separate message attachments
Ability to directly reply to externally forwarded messages    
Q&A along the lines of Stack Overflow Standard social networking look and feel Separate RSS feeds/blogs
Notification side bar Separate calendar and announcement tool
Content Sequencing Branching in maps (was never fully functional, makes gradebooks incomprehensible)
Recommender system based on dynamic metadata One sequencing tool Separate Simple Editor (author space), RAT (author space), and Course Docs (course space)
Content Management One content space for any user More flexible, unified content rights management, including flexible co-authoring rights Content rights management, based on one space for each user Separate portfolio, author, and course space
One way to handling access, replication, etc, for content
Add way to delete content that was made available but never used    
Add pricing to content, micropayments    
  Continual anonymous collection of usage information    
Creative Commons licensing available     Proprietary licensing schemes
Dynamic taxonomy Search/browse - like online shopping with cart  
  Content import tools    
  Meta with tags on standards and learning outcomes    
Content Rendering   One-source, multiple target concept (print, online, reader device, ...)    
  Multilingual content    
  Accessibility of formula display Unified way of displaying formulas Multiple ways of displaying mathematical formulas
    Non-mathematical support of LaTeX
  PDF generation  
Installation     Support for short life cycle Linux distributions
Mechanism to verify integrity of remote installation    
Formal service packs and security patches for defined lifecycle of releases Release mechanism, using standard tools  
Architecture   Standard MVC architecture  
  RESTful services for interserver communication lonc/lond
  NoSQL database db-files
Modular test cases    
Course Management Contextual "What's New" ("Glass cockpit") "What's New" for both students and instructors    
"Signalling" for students on "What's New" regarding general course progress    
  Contextual links into relevant functionality    

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Site maintained by Gerd Kortemeyer.
Supported by the National Science Foundation under NSF-ITR 0085921, NSF-CCLI-ASA 0243126, and NSF-CCLI 0717790. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Initial funding for CAPA has been provided by the Alfred. P. Sloan Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

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