Tour of Web-Based Instructional Tools


Instructional Materials | Online Evaluation | Online Testing | Online Grade Reports | Online Calendars | Bibliography Tools

Instructional Materials

Most of our instructional Web pages were produced using "Simple Marked Text," MTX for short. MTX is a plain text format that is easy to learn and use. Instructors (or their staff) can create MTX formatted files with any word processor or text editor. The MTX2HTML program converts these files into HTML pages in a matter of seconds. Many labor intensive tasks (such as creating interactive tables of contents for each page) have been automated. Give MTX a test drive at the URL below.

A Five Minute Guide to HTML and MTX

http://www.med.ufl.edu/medinfo/mtx/guide/

Online MTX to HTML Converter (instant web pages!)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/mtx2html.html

Sample of HTML Lecture Slides Generated by MTX2HTML

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/year1/bcs/slides/abdomen/

Full MTX Documentation

http://www.med.ufl.edu/medinfo/mtx/docs/

Online Evaluation

The evalCGI testing engine supports several varieties of evaluation form (open/closed, named/anonymous, subject menus, required elements, etc.). Data are stored in machine readable text files compatible with popular scan form readers. Submit the word "stats" as the ID code for any of these forms to see a real-time listing of who has evaluated whom thus far.

Evaluation Menu (a directory of related forms)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/eval.cgi?demo/

Open Evaluation with Subject (no ID code required)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/eval.cgi?demo/chemistry

Closed/Named (non-anonymous) Evaluation (use "1234" for the ID code)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/eval.cgi?demo/anthro

Closed/Named Evaluation with Subject (use "1234" for the ID code)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/eval.cgi?demo/biochem

Closed/Anonymous Evaluation with Subject (use "1234" for the ID code)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/eval.cgi?demo/meche

Document Reading Verification (electronic signature, "1234" for ID)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/eval.cgi?demo/test

All of these forms are created "on the fly" by the CGI program. Simple ASCII text files are used to define each form:

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/evaltext.html

Online Testing

All of these materials were generated by MTX2HTML. The MTX question format mirrors the way faculty normally prepare questions for exams:

?What color is the sky?
@Green
	Not Today
@Blue*
	The atmosphere causes the sky to appear blue.
@Yellow
	Only at sunset

The first question mark (?) tells the system that what follows is a question. The at signs (@) mark each possible answer. The star (*) indicates the correct answer(s). The indented lines are optional feedback for each choice.

Closed Online Quiz (use "1234" for the ID code)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/other/quizdemo/quizdemo.html

Open Review of the Same Material (no ID code required)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/other/quizdemo/revdemo.html

Open Online Quiz (with extensive feedback)

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/year1/histo/quiz/mh01.html

Testing data are stored in machine readable text files compatible with popular scan form readers.

Online Grade Reports

We now report test scores and grades over the Web. Each student has a secret ID code for this purpose.

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/secure.cgi?demo/

(Valid ID codes are 11111, 22222, 33333, 44444, and 55555.)

Online Calendars

We use these calendars for course overviews, small group scheduling, departmental events, etc. In the future, "meta-calendars" will superimpose several calendars into a composite. This will allow distributed calendar maintenance. Under Development

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/cal.cgi?omi

Bibliography Tools

Used to publish bibliographies for education and research. Topic-based queries can be included as live links from Web pages or email messages. Under Development

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/bibtools.cgi

Live Link to "Hypertext" Bibliography

http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/bibtools.cgi?file=medinfo&query=hypertext


   Author: Richard Rathe, MD / rrathe@dean.med.ufl.edu
 Location: http://www.medinfo.ufl.edu/omi/docs/tour.html
  Created: July 8, 1997   Modified: January 14, 1999