Toolbox

This application helps instructors transform their courses/lectures so that these can be taught in online environments.

Install packages and save Categories/Building Blocks and online ideas to the Database

1. To install the packages needed for the application to run, please refer to requeriments.txt
2. Create json5 representations of both the building blocks and teaching tools/ideas.
3. Store these files (generated in step 2) in data/categories and data/ideas directory respectively.
4. Execute python manage.py read_data --save_category and python manage.py read_data --save_idea to store the information into the database.

Architecture

Apps

• tbcore: handles the core functionality of the website and contains the database models used throughout the project.
• plan: here one can find the code that allows the users to create, update, read and delete course plans.

Database

These are the models implemented throughout the development of the project:

• Category: Every instance (data point) contains information about a single building block (e.g., category_name, short_description etc.)
• OnlineIdea: Every instance (data point) contains information about a single teaching tool (e.g., idea_name, implementation_steps etc. )
• Plan: used to store information about user's course plans.
• PlanCategoryOnlineIdea: establishes ForeignKey relationships to the Category, OnlineIdea and Plan models. It also used to manage the user's notes.

About the json5 files.

The content of this website can be easily modified by making changes to the json5 files found in the data directory. Take these into consideration when making changes:

• The content is written in Markdown.
• Execute python manage.py read_data --save_category or python manage.py read_data --save_idea to save changes to the database.

Static files (json5)

The supporting documents and images used throughout the json5 files are stored in the tbcore/static directory:

• support_documents: this directory contains supporting documents (e.g.,pdf files).
• images: this directory contains the images used in the json files.

How to update the Support documents or images:

1. Make changes to the files stored in the support_documents or images directory.
2. Update the json files with the new information.
   1. For example, to add the image human_touch.png, you can use the following code snippet (style it as desired): <img src=\"/static/tbcore/images/human_touch.png\" alt=\"Human Touch\" width=\"40%\" height=\"50%\" class=\"rounded mx-auto d-block\">"
   2. To add a support document called How_to_add_task_plugIn_to_Stud.Ip_course.pdf, you can use the following code snippet (style it as desired): <a href="/static/tbcore/support_documents/How_to_add_task_plugIn_to_Stud.Ip_course.pdf" target="_blank">Tasks (reflection) Plug-In</a>
   3. Execute python manage.py read_data --save_category; python manage.py read_data --save_idea and python manage.py populate_db to save changes to the database.

Docker

You can develop or deploy this application using Docker.

Development

1. Create a .env.dev file from env.dev-example

   cp .env.dev-example .env.dev
   

2. Start the ToolBox

   docker compose -f docker-compose.yml up
   

3. To access the Toolbox visit http://localhost:8000/

Production

1. Modify nginx/nginx.conf according to your specific case.

2. Create a .env.prod file from env.prod-example. Modify the values of .env.prod according to your specific case.

   cp .env.dev-example .env.prod
   

3. Start the ToolBox

   docker compose -f docker-compose.prod.yml up