LON-CAPA Help

• Defaults that can be overridden in an individual course by a Course Coordinator

  Currently, there are five domain defaults of this type (which can be overridden using Settings > Course Settings > Display with "Display of resources" checked).

  • Default method to display mathematics expressions included between < m > and < /m > tags.

    Starting with LON-CAPA 2.11.3 the default renderer used to display math can be set to one of: MathJax, Convert to Images (mimetex), or TeX to HTML (tth). The domain default in effect for a user will be for the domain of the user's current role. However, if a user has selected a renderer from the Math display settings in User Preferences that will take precedence over the domain default. Furthermore, if the course setting: Force use of a specific math rendering engine has been set, that will take precedence (in course context) over both the user preference and the domain default. If no default renderer has been set, MathJax is used in LON-CAPA 2.12 and later, whereas TeX to HTML (tth) is used in LON-CAPA 2.11 and earlier.

  • Student formula entry uses inline preview, not DragMath pop-up

    For problems that require a formula input via a textbox, the default is to show the math expression in a previewer below the textbox, as the student types. The alternative is to use the older (Java-based) DragMath pop-up which allows the student to compose the expression in a WYSIWYG-style editor in a pop-up window and then save it to the textbox in the main window using a "Save and Close" button.

  • Molecule editor uses JSME (HTML5) in place of JME (Java)

    For problems that require the student to "draw" an organic structure using a molecule editor, the default is to use the HTML5 version (JSME). The alternative is to use the older (Java-based) JME editor.

  • Chemical reaction response uses inline previewer in place of pop-up

    For problems that require the student to submit a chemical reaction, the default is to use an inline previewer which displays preview of the reaction with appropriately formatted stoichiometry and subscripts and superscripts as the answer is typed in a standard textbox. The alternative is to use the older pop-up window to type the answer and then to use separate buttons to preview a formatted version, and to save it to the main window.

  • Course requesters who may clone a course (besides course's owner and coordinators)

    This can be set to no additional requesters, or to any course requester in the domain, or if categories have been defined in the domain for institutional codes for official courses (in localenroll::instcode_defaults), to categories which must match in new and cloned courses (e.g., department and number).

• Defaults that can be overridden in an individual course by a Domain Coordinator

  Currently, there are six domain defaults of this type (which can be overridden via the "View or modify a course or community" interface).

  • responder count - number of responses needed before submissions made to anonymous surveys (with no identifying information) are viewable by Course personnel.

  • default course quotas - domain default for quotas (MB) for official, unofficial, community, and textbook course types for content uploaded directly to the course.

  • default course credits - whether credits may be specified for courses (Yes/No), if yes: default values for number of credits for official, unofficial and textbook courses.

  • submit button behavior post-submission

    The default is for the "Submit Answer" button in the current page to be disabled for 60s following answer submission. After processing a student's answer a new page is displayed. The setting to disable a button, (with or without a timeout), applies to the button in the old page in the time period before the new page is loaded by the browser.

  • lifetime of temporary tables (course's homeserver)

    The default lifetime (since last update) for "temporary" MySQL tables containing student performance data is 172800s (i.e., 2 days). A different default lifetime can be set by course type, which will apply to MySQL tables on the course's homeserver only.

    A reason to do this might be where a domain has created a custom script to export a course's grade data, by running SQL queries against the temporary tables.

    Note: student performance data are stored permanently in GDBM files; the temporary MySQL tables are simply used to speed up display when a Course Coordinator uses the Assessment Chart or Statistics functions in a course.

  • Username from LTI-mediated launch accepted without re-authentication

    For deep-link access to a specific folder (or resource) in LON-CAPA, mediated by LTI launch from a different system, the signed payload included on launch can include the username of the authenticated user who followed a link in another system. Whether such a username will be accepted, and a session launched for that username in LON-CAPA, or whether the user will be prompted to log-in to LON-CAPA in order to access the deep-linked resource(s) depends on the "Use identity" setting in effect for the current course. If the domain default is set to "No", then a Course Coordinator will not be given the option to set "Use identity" when configuring Link Protector(s) in a course, and all users will need to log-in to LON-CAPA to complete the launch process.