PHASE (Prairielearn-based HKN Assessment Suite for ECE) is an online problem-driven review system for UIUC's ECE student body, based on the immense work done by PrairieLearn. It allows review questions to be written by HKN Members for anyone studying for classes that would benefit from interactive, self-paced content practice using arbitrary HTML, JavaScript, and Python. This enables very powerful reviews that can randomize and autograde themselves, and can access client and server-side libraries to handle tasks such as graphical drawing, symbolic algebra, and student code compilation and execution.
This project is intended for HKN Alpha internal development, but open-source contributions from anybody are welcome! Please see our Contribution Guidelines for more information.
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What benefit does having a self-hosted instance of PrairieLearn have when so many classes at UIUC already use it?
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- While some classes have already adopted the PrairieLearn online-feedback model for their exam/project review, many technical classes have yet to adopt this. This tends to make studying for those classes significantly more difficult to practice while getting instant feedback on mastery progress. Students using this platform may benefit from the review capability this would provide them in a time-crunch scenario where structured studying is unavailable to them at that moment in time.
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- This doesn't necessarily mean classes with existing PrairieLearn structure can't be a part of this project. We welcome ALL question contributions for ECE/ECE-adjacent classes listed or yet to be listed on the HKN Alpha Wiki! The more review available to ECE students, the better we're making lives better for everyone involved.
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- Self-hosting it over using UIUC's instance also allows for our review resources to be better managed instead of held up by constant correspondance with ENGRIT admins.
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Why use this over traditional review materials HKN has made in the past (i.e. worksheets, practice problems, live-presentation questions)?
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- Using PrairieLearn to automate and autograde people's understanding of content directly allows better statistics and better utility to the students regarding their performance before, during, and after review sessions. From anecdotal remarks made by HKN alumni and current members, the benefits of embracing PrairieLearn are immediately accessible to everyone in the student body since PrairieLearn is familiar to them.
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Should this be used for everything now?
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- Our hope is that this becomes a de-facto platform for all ECE class content regarding Student Services. While adoption will take some time, it would be unwise to switch everything immediately during alpha smirk development. The normal resources for review should still be updated, but migration will likely be expedited and/or inevitable once this reaches stable
Check out HKN Alpha's PHASE instance (phase.hkn.illinois.edu) for a demo.
Consult PrairieLearn's Instructor Guide if you're a HKN Alpha member that wants to contribute questions for classes you've taken and have done well in.
Consult PrairieLearn's Developer Guide if you're a HKN Alpha member (likely on SSC) or anyone that wants to contribute to the advancement of developing this platform to its full potential.