WISE5 Roadmap

WISE5 Major Release Goals

5.8

1. Simplify Project Library, add better support for teachers to share projects
2. Teacher page redesign

5.7

Target release date: Jan 2018

1. Student homepage redesign
2. Authoring Tool user testing and improve UI/UX
3. Unit tests: add unit test for each file
4. Code-quality: updating code to adhere to code style conventions

5.6

Released: Oct. 16, 2017
Release notes: https://github.com/WISE-Community/WISE/releases/tag/5.6.0

1. Improve AT UI/UX, make it easier for teachers to use
2. Add grade-by-step view
3. Simplify Server codebase and remove unused database tables

5.5

5.4

5.3

5.2

5.1

5.0

WISE5 General Goals

WISE5 seeks to improve the client-side applications like the Student Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Teacher Classroom Management Tool, and the Project Authoring Tool. Many new features will be added, including adaptive navigation, planning activities, student notebooks, and real-time collaboration and notification tools. The projects will work on devices of all types and sizes. Changes to the server-side code will expand WISE’s capabilities to interoperate with outside systems.

1. New Project Structure

The project structure will be modified to support adaptive navigation, student-led investigations, and branching activities. Instead of having a linear step-by-step workflow, students will be transitioned between steps based on a new transition function and constraint system that takes student work and events as input. Multiple navigation interfaces like visual map and navigation lists will be supported. This gives authors more flexibility to create dynamic projects.

2. Components and Multi-Part Steps

A "Component" is a project data type that allows students to read text, watch videos, answer multiple choice questions, fill out a table, plot a graph, and perform other activities. This is the equivalent of steps in previous versions of WISE. Multiple components (of same or different types) can be displayed in the same page side-by-side or top-to-bottom, and components will be able to share data with each other (Ex: between simulation and graph).

3. Real-time collaborative tools

Real-time communication/messaging will play a major role in WISE5, and this will be integrated across different tools like the teacher Classroom Manager and student project interface. The growing automated assessment and feedback tools in WISE will integrate with the messaging system to enable real-time alerts and adaptive navigation.

4. Rewrite client-side (with AngularJS)

By rewriting the client-side code (Student VLE, Authoring Tool, and Grading Tool) with the new project structure and adaptive navigation in mind, everything will work more seamlessly. By having the AngularJS framework do most of the heavy-lifting, we won’t need to write as much code and will be able to focus more on user needs. We can also improve user interface and user experience as part of this effort.

5. Interoperability and Extendability

WISE5 will allow outside systems like NetLogo, SURGE, graphing libraries, and analytic tools to integrate more easily with WISE components and vise-versa. Installation sequence and documentation will be more simple and clear so that open source developers can develop with WISE easily.

6. Additional Goals

1. Redesign the WISE public site (design, aesthetics, content)
2. Redesign user account pages and creating a more useful teacher home page/run manager
3. Redesign the project library, improve visibility of user-generated content (public WISE library)
4. Integrate social/collaboration tools more closely with teacher accounts (like the Discourse-based discussion area, custom projects, teaching tips, etc.)