Introduction

This system is particularly useful for producing interactive course content where the expressive power of LaTeX is helpful, e.g. with math, physics, CS content. latex2edx provides interactivity via the introduction of a basic new macro, the “answer box” edXabox, which defines a mechanism for student input, as well as how that input is to be graded. Also introduced are structural macros for defining course structure.

Version 1.2 provides, in addition, structured access to the adaptive hint system built into the edX platform, via a generalized hints system. This system allows hints to be provided for custom, multiple-choice, option, and numerical response problems, based on student responses. The hint system provided by latex2edx allows authors to specify hints via pattern matching, based on matching strings, numerical value ranges, mathematical symbols and functions, and arbitrary boolean combinations of patterns.

Version 1.3 adds documentation, and the edXvideo, edXdiscussion, and edXdndtex macros. It also provides regexp matching for string-match hints, textbox for customresponse, fixes edXmath, and provides filename and text file line number output for most error messages. For example, when the syntax of an included python script is found to be bad, you’ll be told which file.tex the error is in, and the line number of the edXinclude statement. This version also adds new –section-only, –xml-only, and –units-only output formats, enabling different workflows. Using these flags allows processing of input tex files which do not specify edXcourse, or edXsection, for example.

See project homepage:

https://people.csail.mit.edu/ichuang/edx/latex2edx

Usage

Usage: latex2edx [options] filename.tex

Options:

--version             show program's version number and exit
-h, --help            show this help message and exit
-v, --verbose         verbose error messages
-o OUTPUT_FN, --output-xbundle=OUTPUT_FN
                      Filename for output xbundle file
-d OUTPUT_DIR, --output-directory=OUTPUT_DIR
                      Directory name for output course XML files
-c CONFIG_FILE, --config-file=CONFIG_FILE
                      configuration file to load
-m, --merge-chapters  merge chapters into existing course directory
-P, --update-policy-file
                      update policy.json from settings in latex file
--suppress-policy-settings
                      suppress policy settings from XML files
--suppress-verticals  do not automatically add extra verticals needed for
                      Studio compatibility
-S, --section-only    export only edXsections (sequentials) -- no course or
                      chapters
-x, --xml-only        export only xbundle xml file -- no separate course
                      content
--units-only          export only units, including problem, html -- no
                      course, chapter, section
--popups              enable equation and figure popup windows on clicking
                      their references

Quick Example

See live demo course: https://edge.edx.org/courses/MITx/MIT.latex2edx/2014_Spring/about

The source code for the demo course is here: https://github.com/mitocw/content-mit-latex2edx-demo

Here is an annotated input tex file which generates the source for an edX course:

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\documentclass[12pt]{article}

\usepackage{edXpsl} % edX "problem specification language"

\begin{document}

% edXcourse: {course_number}{course display_name}[optional arguments like semester]
\begin{edXcourse}{MIT.latex2edx}{latex2edx demo course}[semester="2014 Spring"]

% edXchapter: {chapter display_name}[optional arguments like url_name]
\begin{edXchapter}{Basic examples}

% edXsection: {section display_name}[optional arguments like url_name]
% this turns into a <sequential> in the XML
\begin{edXsection}{Basic example problems}

% edXvertical: {vertical display_name}[optional arguments like url_name]
\begin{edXvertical}

% edXproblem: {problem display_name}{attributes: url_name, weight, attempts}
\begin{edXproblem}{Numerical response}{attempts=10}

What is the numerical value of $\pi$?

% \edXabox: answer box, specifying question type and expected response
\edXabox{expect="3.14159" type="numerical" tolerance='0.01' }

\end{edXproblem}
\end{edXvertical}
\end{edXsection}
\end{edXchapter}
\end{edXcourse}
\end{document}

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