Changes between Version 27 and Version 28 of BoltIntro

Timestamp:

Jan 31, 2008, 5:01:07 PM (16 years ago)

Author:

davea

Comment:

--

BoltIntro

@@ -1 +1 @@
 = Berkeley Open Learning Technology (Bolt) =
 
-Bolt is a toolkit for web-based teaching and training.
-Its main features:
+Bolt is a toolkit for web-based training and education.
+Bolt makes it easy to create a simple online course -
+a sequence of lessons and exercises.
+Any Web content may be used - HTML, Flash, video, etc.
+Students create accounts, log in, and take the course;
+Bolt provides navigation links, keeps track of where
+students are, and records their grades on the exercises.
 
- * Tools for estimating and comparing the effectiveness of lessons.
- * The ability to make courses 'adaptive' based on individual student characteristics.
- * It is based on PHP, a simple but powerful scripting language.  Any Web content may be used, including HTML, Flash, video, etc.
-
-Bolt is designed for educational contexts in which there
+However, the strength of Bolt is its support for
+''evolutionary adaptive courses''.
+Such courses evolve over time.
+At any point, they contain various ''experiments''
+that estimate and compare the effectiveness of alternative lessons.
+On the basis of experimental outcomes,
+lessons may be changed, added, or discarded,
+and courses may be made 'adaptive' so that different materials
+are shown to different students.
+Thus, Bolt is ideal when there
 is a constant arrival of diverse students,
 and in which course developers have the need and ability to continually
 analyze and improve the effectiveness of the teaching materials.
+
+Bolt is implemented in PHP, a simple scripting language.
+If you know PHP, it's easy to add new features to Bolt
+(but you don't need to know PHP to use Bolt).
 
 [BoltTutorial Tutorial]