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@benloh benloh released this 28 Jun 21:49
· 255 commits to master since this release
v1.0.0-final
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Version 1.0.0-final

Date Released: 11/19/2019

Branch: master

This is the feature-complete 1.0 release of the MEME application, released for the November 18, 2019 Rutgers study.

New Features

New features since the v1.0.0-beta release (see the beta release notes for the full list of features):

  • Screenshots are now supported via a Chrome browser extension.

  • Resources can now be edited via the admin interface.

  • Teacher, Classroom, and Group names can now be edited via the admin interface.

Bug Fixes

  • Setting the criteria for a comment would inadvertently change the comment id to the criteria id, making notes seemingly to disappear.

  • Research Logging has now been restored for all objects. (The database updates had broken a few log items).

To Install and Run

Running the system involves building and packaging the application, and starting up a game server, admin interface, and student devices.

I. Game Server

I.A. Check Out Game Server Code

This assumes you've already installed NodeJS. If you haven't, we recommend using nvm. This will allow you to select different Node versions. As of November 2019, we are currently using Node Version 10.9.0.

  1. Check out the master branch.
  2. npm ci -- You might need to install some packages before doing a clean.
  3. npm run clean:all -- Remove all existing database and node modules.
  4. npm ci -- Install node modules

I.B. Download Resources

The pdf and netlogo simulation resources are not currently in the repo. You will need to download them from the source (ask Joshua for them) and place them in the boilerplate/src/app-web/static/dlc folder.

I.C. Build and Run the Game Server

You should build and run the game server first just to make sure everything is working.

  1. npm run dev
  2. Point your browser at http://localhost:3000/ -- You should see the MEME login screen.

II. Building and Running the Electron App

Once you verify the game server is running, you can build and deploy a standalone Electron application for distribution to teachers, so all they have do to start a MEME server in their classroom is to double click on the MEME.app.

If you want to seed (no pun intended) a MEME Electron application with sample data, e.g. configure teachers, classrooms, and groups, example models, etc, you can just run the MEME application, make the changes, and then duplicate and the MEME.app.

The one thing that can't be easily changed via the admin interface are the resources, so generally it's best to download them first. (Technical note: By running the Electron app, you're automatically loading the db.js files in system/datasets/meme. If you want to edit the db.js files by hand for the Electron app, edit those.

To build and run the Electron app:

  1. Make sure all the resources you want to use are in the boilerplate/src/app-web/static/dlc folder.
  2. npm run package
  3. Find the app in boilerplate/dist/meme-darwin-x64/meme.app
  4. Double click the meme.app file to start it.
  5. Point your browser at http://localhost:3000/ -- You should see the MEME login screen.

You can copy and distribute the meme.app file by itself. But first, you might want to set up some template admin settings. See the "Admin Interface" section below.

NOTE: Because the meme.app Electron app is not a signed and notarized, you may have to disable some security features on your Mac to run it.

For more technical information about creating and managing the dataset, see:

Updating Resources in the MEME.app

If you've already built and distributed the MEME app and find that you need to add or change resources, you can still update resources in the MEME.app manually:

  1. Quit the MEME app.
  2. Find the "meme.app" file in your Finder.
  3. Ctrl-Click on the "meme.app" and select "Show Package Contents"
  4. Navigate to meme.app/Contents/Resources/app/web/static/dlc
  5. Copy your new resources into the dlc folder.
  6. Run the MEME app and use the admin interface to add the resources and assign them to classrooms.
  7. You can now duplicate the MEME app file and distribute it. The new resources should be included with the app.

III. Admin Interface

Use the interface to set up teachers, classrooms, groups, students, ratings definitions, criteria, sentence starters, and resources.

Each classroom can have its own ratings definition, criteria, and sentence starter, as well as a subset of the resources enabled for them. Resources are shared across all classrooms, but are only visible to the class if you enable it. This means you'll want to carefully set up each class's initial settings if you want them to be anything other than the defaults. No resources are enabled by default, so you will have to enable them for each class.

To access the Admin Interface:

  1. Start the Meme app.
  2. Point your browser at http://localhost:3000/#/admin -- You'll see the admin interface.

If you are running the server on a remote server, you can use the special ?danishpowers parameter to access the admin page.

IV. Client Machines

As of 1.0, the meme app should run on Chrome browsers on Mac laptops, Windows laptops, and Chromebooks. It should mostly work on Android tablets (though they have not been fully tested). Unfortunately there are known rendering issues with iOS Chrome.

IV.A. Install Screen Capture Extension

In order to capture screens when creating a new evidence, you will need to install the MEME Extension on each student machine.

  1. Check out https://gitlab.com/inq-seeds/screenshot
  2. Go to SETTINGS in Chrome (in "stacked dot" menu upper right)
  3. Go to EXTENSIONS (in left sidebar of settings screen)
  4. Enable Developer Mode
  5. Choose Load an Unpacked Extension
  6. Find the extension directory in screenshot repo
  7. Once the extension is installed, when students create a new evidence, a screenshot of the resource will be automatically captured.

NOTES:

  • As of November 2019, the extension has been confirmed to work with Chrome on macOS, Windows 10, and ChromeOS.
  • The screenshot only works when the Resource View is opened. If you're just viewing the Resource Library list, you can't capture the screen.
  • The app will work without the extension, but students will have to use other tools to capture the screen and manually insert them to evidence.

IV.B. Run as Student

To bring students into the app:

  1. Start the MEME app.
  2. In the admin interface, make sure you've created groups and added students to each group.
  3. Copy the student login tokens and hand them out to students.
  4. Copy the IP address from the MEME app, e.g. http://192.168.1.10:3000
  5. On the students Chrome browser, enter that URL: http://192.168.1.10:3000
  6. Enter the student login token.

NOTES:

  • Each model is owned by a group. A group can have any number of students. Any student in the group will have full author access to the model when they log in.
  • Sticky note comments are tied to individual students, but any student can edit any comment made by a member of their group.

IV.C. Teachers Viewing and Commenting on Student Work

Teachers can log in and view student work much as a student would:

  1. Start the MEME app
  2. In the admin interface, select the teacher, and write down their login token, e.g. MSBROWN-VYFZ.
  3. Point your browser to the student login URL, e.g. http://192.168.1.10:3000 (you can also use localhost if you're on the server).
  4. Login with the token.
  5. You should have read-only comment access to all student models in all of your classrooms.

Important Notes

Research Logs

  • Researcher logs can be found in meme.app/Contents/Resources/runtime/logs. Look for dated log files like meme.app/Contents/Resources/runtime/logs/2019-09102019-0910-log-102440.txt
  • Screenshots can be found in meme.app/Contents/Resources/runtime/screenshots.

NOTE: Over time research logs and screenshots can grow quite large. You'll want to keep an eye on disk space, especially if you use the same app over months.

Login Tokens

  • Student login tokens are based on group Ids. So if you delete a student from one group and add them to another, they will have a new token.
  • Teacher login tokens are based on their name, so if you update their name, they will have a new token.

Backups

We recommend daily backups. Better yet, back up after each classroom period.

  • The easiest way to backup is to just duplicate the whole MEME app.
  • If you want to save space, you can just grab the database file in meme.app/Contents/Resources/system/datasets/meme.loki (assuming you didn't rename the database or are running a different database file).
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