new ground school web app

[[email protected]]

I have developed a new web-based application for students doing ground school. The current questions are USA-centric, ,based on the FAA "Glider Flying Handbook" and also the FAA test questions, from which the written test is drawn. Demo account follows:

URL: http://gliderquiz.com
User: gliderdemo
PW: passpass

The app tracks your progress, and asks you questions repeatedly until you have mastered them. I'm looking for feedback please. If you want to use the app, let me know and I will create a personal account for you.

I want the app to be available for free. I may accept donations, since it will cost me about USD $50 per month to host it.

Gary Hethcoat
Northern California Soaring Association (student pilot)

[Matt Herron Jr.]

On Saturday, December 26, 2015 at 7:29:53 AM UTC-8, wrote:
> I have developed a new web-based application for students doing ground school. The current questions are USA-centric, ,based on the FAA "Glider Flying Handbook" and also the FAA test questions, from which the written test is drawn. Demo account follows:
>
> URL: http://gliderquiz.com
> User: gliderdemo
> PW: passpass
>
> The app tracks your progress, and asks you questions repeatedly until you have mastered them. I'm looking for feedback please. If you want to use the app, let me know and I will create a personal account for you.
>
> I want the app to be available for free. I may accept donations, since it will cost me about USD $50 per month to host it.
>
> Gary Hethcoat
> Northern California Soaring Association (student pilot)

Hi Gary,

Looks interesting. goof flash card type trainer. A few comments;

answers are caps sensitive so "14 cfr" is wrong but "14 CFR" is right
I don't understand what the "Mark correct" , "Mark incorrect" buttons are for.
you might want to ask Russel Holtz or others that have written well respected training books for feedback.

Thanks for putting this together. We need more ways to support entry into the spot.

Matt

[Gary Hethcoat]

Hi Matt,

Thanks so much for the feedback. I'll fix the case sensitivity.

As for "Mark Correct/Incorrect", sometimes your answer may be so close it should be right, this gives you some control over whether you want that
question to be repeated. I could put some context help on that one.

Gary

On Sunday, December 27, 2015 at 9:02:08 AM UTC-8, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:

>
> Hi Gary,
>
> Looks interesting. goof flash card type trainer. A few comments;
>
> answers are caps sensitive so "14 cfr" is wrong but "14 CFR" is right
> I don't understand what the "Mark correct" , "Mark incorrect" buttons are for.
> you might want to ask Russel Holtz or others that have written well respected training books for feedback.
>
> Thanks for putting this together. We need more ways to support entry into the spot.
>
> Matt

[Gary Hethcoat]

By the way, I need help getting the word out, so if any of you have a local club mailing list with students who may be interested, please cross-post with the URL and demo login.

I'm having a great time developing the app, but I need users in order to justify its existence :-)

Gary

[Soartech]

> since it will cost me about USD $50 per month to host it.
>
> Gary Hethcoat

Hi Gary,
Hosting can be much less than that. I pay $4.95 a month for two web sites using Amazon hosting. Just shop around.

[Gary Hethcoat]

Yes, I know, but it a Java servlet based app with a database. Most providers don't have the facilities. I will shop around, though, there may be alternatives. Right now it is on AWS, which I use for work.

Gary

On Monday, December 28, 2015 at 7:08:35 AM UTC-8, Soartech wrote:
> > since it will cost me about USD $50 per month to host it.
> >
> > Gary Hethcoat
>
> Hi Gary,
> Hosting can be much less than that. I pay $4.95 a month for two web sites using Amazon hosting. Just shop around.

[Chri Rua]

Gary,

I think you're off to a good start. I'm a student as well. I spent about 30 minutes going through the GFH sections.

Three thoughts:
1 -- I like the "fill in the blank" question style. But. There are quiet a few questions (mainly when referencing specific CFRs out unit conversions) where you should include some sort of prompt that defines the expected answer since the app matches to specific "book" answers.

Are you using match() without a lot of RegEx expressions to except flexible responses? If yes, add more RegEx as you get time to code them (or something similar). Not everywhere, mind you -- I know they take a while to do "right".

2 -- Some of the graphics are quite big, I would look at the source images and try to resize them to be "just big enough" so you minimize load times where you can (give those on Wi-fi and cellular data a break wherever possible).

3 -- On your next evolution, it would be nice to see the quiz home interface incorporate a way to generate quizzes on the fly.

Keep up the good work,

-- Chris

[Chri Rua]

*** I'm reposting my original message with edits; I didn't give specific information in one section of my original reply ***



Gary,

I think you're off to a good start. I'm a student as well. I spent about 30 minutes going through the GFH sections.

Three thoughts:
1 -- I like the "fill in the blank" question style. But. There are quiet a few questions (mainly when referencing specific CFRs out unit conversions) where you should include some sort of prompt that defines the expected answer since the app matches to specific "book" answers.

Are you using match() without a lot of RegEx expressions to except flexible responses? If yes, add more RegEx as you get time to code them (or something similar). Not everywhere, mind you -- I know they take a while to do "right".

2 -- Some of the graphics are quite big, I would look at the source images and try to resize them to be "just big enough" so you minimize load times where you can (give those on Wi-fi and cellular data a break wherever possible).

3 -- On your next evolution, it would be nice to see the quiz home interface incorporate a way to compose quizzes on the fly which are of a certain number of questions and can be customized to drawn questions from user-selected sections.

Keep up the good work,

-- Chris

[Gary Hethcoat]

Hi Chris,

Just the kind of feedback I'm looking for, thanks!

Let me know if you would like to have a personal account and I will create one for you.

Gary

On Monday, December 28, 2015 at 3:06:52 PM UTC-8, Chri Rua wrote:
> *** I'm reposting my original message with edits; I didn't give specific information in one section of my original reply ***
>
>
>
> Gary,
>
> I think you're off to a good start. I'm a student as well. I spent about 30 minutes going through the GFH sections.
>
> Three thoughts:
> 1 -- I like the "fill in the blank" question style. But. There are quiet a few questions (mainly when referencing specific CFRs out unit conversions) where you should include some sort of prompt that defines the expected answer since the app matches to specific "book" answers.
>
> Are you using match() without a lot of RegEx expressions to except flexible responses? If yes, add more RegEx as you get time to code them (or something similar). Not everywhere, mind you -- I know they take a while to do "right".
>
> 2 -- Some of the graphics are quite big, I would look at the source images and try to resize them to be "just big enough" so you minimize load times where you can (give those on Wi-fi and cellular data a break wherever possible).
>
> 3 -- On your next evolution, it would be nice to see the quiz home interface incorporate a way to compose quizzes on the fly which are of a certain number of questions and can be customized to drawn questions from user-selected sections.
>
> Keep up the good work,
>
> -- Chris

[PAGA]

Hello Gary,

First thanks for sharing this tool.

I agree with Chris above, the corrector must allow for lower case, close answers or even typos; also when asking for numerical answers, allow for some rounding?

It is hard to automate such a test without a human corrector (which why some people do better on the written test vs the questions of an actual human examiner) : multiple choices might not be ideal for testing people knowledge and so it is in theory better to leave it as an open question format, the student really has to think about the right answers instead of eliminating the wrong ones.

Your graphics are cool, make sure you name the proper owner or author to avoid copyright issues, hopefully nobody will bother you with it.

Another thing, I have not tried too many questions but might have found a wrong one : it seems to me that your question about km to statute miles seem to convert to nautical miles... Also how many digits do you expect for such an open question?

Keep up the good work, happy new year

Paga

[PAGA]

Hello Gary,

First thanks for sharing this tool.

I agree with Chris above, the corrector must allow for lower case, close answers or even typos; also when asking for numerical answers, allow for some rounding?

It is hard to automate such a test without a human corrector (which why some people do better on the written test vs the questions of an actual human examiner) : multiple choices might not be ideal for testing people knowledge and so it is in theory better to leave it as an open question format, the student really has to think about the right answers instead of eliminating the wrong ones.

Your graphics are cool, make sure you name the proper owner or author to avoid copyright issues, hopefully nobody will bother you with it.

Another thing, I have not tried too many questions but might have found a wrong one : it seems to me that your question about km to statute miles seem to convert to nautical miles... Also how many digits do you expect for such an open question?

Keep up the good work, happy new year

Paga

[Gary Hethcoat]

Thanks so much Paga. I'll be doing another round of work on the app soon. Also -- please spread the word to any other student pilots you know.

Gary

On Thursday, December 31, 2015 at 5:08:33 AM UTC-8, PAGA wrote:
> Hello Gary,
>
> First thanks for sharing this tool.
>
> I agree with Chris above, the corrector must allow for lower case, close answers or even typos; also when asking for numerical answers, allow for some rounding?
>
> It is hard to automate such a test without a human corrector (which why some people do better on the written test vs the questions of an actual human examiner) : multiple choices might not be ideal for testing people knowledge and so it is in theory better to leave it as an open question format, the student really has to think about the right answers instead of eliminating the wrong ones.
>
> Your graphics are cool, make sure you name the proper owner or author to avoid copyright issues, hopefully nobody will bother you with it.
>
> Another thing, I have not tried too many questions but might have found a wrong one : it seems to me that your question about km to statute miles seem to convert to nautical miles... Also how many digits do you expect for such an open question?
>
> Keep up the good work, happy new year
>
> Paga