Re: Get Grades Done: the joys of Org's simple power

[Diego Zamboni <diego@zzamboni.org>]

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Hi Devin,

Your could try https://org-web.org/ - it allows online editing of Org files
and a quick test shows that it supports the automatic update of checkbox
counts.

--Diego

On Wed, 10 Jun 2020 at 22:39, Devin Prater <r.d.t.prater@gmail.com> wrote:

> So, I’ll try to not turn this into a novella. I am a “Technical
> Assistant”, and I teach at an adult education sort of trade school. This
> probably sounds normal, but the only sort of catch is that I am blind, and
> so are  many of my students, the rest having some vision loss.
>
> So, I have to find workarounds for just about everything I do. I teach
> Assistive Technology, which is basically how to use tech as a
> blind/visually impaired person. We have our courses on 😣Moodle😣, because
> apparently no one has created a learning system that deals with directories
> and config files for those who do best in that environment, instead of
> freaking databases, and web interfaces even fatter than I am. I do hate web
> interfaces, and web interfaces wrapped in “apps” too. It shouldn’t be an
> app if its built on web tech. Yes, you too, Electron!
>
> Anyways, I have some manual tests I do. I have the questions in an
> Org-mode file, with checkboxes I can check or leave unchecked. Up until
> recently, I went down the list and graded them manually. But I thought “Now
> wait, can’t the computer do this for me? I mean, Org-mode is so powerful,
> why not make a Lisp thing that does that for me?” So, being a very beginner
> programmer who still finds it daunting to move my blog from Jekyll to
> Hugo—I’m almost done with that—and can only print stuff with Python, that
> didn’t work out so well. I’ll have to actually read through the Elisp Intro
> to get better at that.
>
> Then, I thought I’d look into the Org manual and see if there was a way to
> “count” checkboxes. And there is
> <https://orgmode.org/manual/Checkboxes.html>!  So, I can just put [%] on
> the heading where I want the grade, and my goodness, it works! I no longer
> have to manually grade the assignments! That saves so much time for me, and
> now I just wish the world was in Org-mode so I could just manage everything
> else through its power as well.
>
> Now, I do wish I could share these “self-grading” performance tests with
> others. I’ve tried exporting one to HTML, but the grade doesn’t seem to
> update automatically like it does in Org-mode. And no, other teachers
> around me are *not* going to switch to Org-mode, let alone Emacs, for this.
> So, does anyone have any ideas for how this can be shared? I don’t know any
> Javascript or anything.
>
> So, thanks so much to the Org maintainers, and the community that keeps
> Org alive. It’s allowed me to write and share so much, and soon I’ll be
> using it even more with Hugo.
>

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