This web site will eventual host three projects related to the infrastructure of Physics Playground. The framework is build the four-process architecture of Almond, Steinberg, and Mislevy (2002).

Almond, R. G., Steinberg, L. S., and Mislevy, R.J. (2002). Enhancing the design and delivery of Assessment Systems: A Four-Process Architecture. Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment, 1.

Update 21 November, 2019. These are now fully functional and being used to score Physics Playground. Still debugging, but at least minimal functionality is available.

Proc4

This generally handles messages from the four process architecture. It also handles logging to databases and recovery of messages from databases.

Dependent Technologies

Proc4 is currently using the following R packages:

jsonlite For JSON parsing tools.
mongolite For connections to the mongo database.
futile.logger for logging error and debugging messages. Note that each packages (e.g., "Proc4", "EIEvent", "EABN" and "BNAS") has its own logger which can be directed separately.
R.utils for logging error and debugging messages. Note that each packages (e.g., "Proc4", "EIEvent", "EABN" and "BNAS") has its own logger which can be directed separately.

It also assumes that a Mongo database is installed locally (or that you have remote access). Instructions for downloading and installing Mongo can be found at the Mongo download center. This includes the mongoimport and mongoexport tools, which are a separate install on some distributions.

Releases

Note: at the moment, the packages are pure R code, so only the source release is provided.

Release	Source	Windows	MacOS	Manual	Notes
0.2-2	Proc4_0.2-2.tar.gz			Proc4_0.2-2-manual.pdf	First reasonably functional version.
0.4-1	Proc4_0.4-1.tar.gz			(Manual not available)	Used in May 2019 FSUS study..
0.4-2	Proc4_0.4-2.tar.gz			Proc4_0.4-2-manual.pdf	Trimed context names, fixed error handling, documentaiton cleanup.
0.4-4	Proc4_0.4-4.tar.gz			Proc4_0.4-4-manual.pdf	Added TableListener. Fixed issue with reading mongoexport json.
0.4-5	Proc4_0.4-5.tar.gz	Proc4_0.4-5.zip	Proc4_0.4-5.tgz	Proc4_0.4-5-manual.pdf	Operational. Added Status.php to dongle..
0.4-7	Proc4_0.4-7.tar.gz	Proc4_0.4-7.zip	Proc4_0.4-7.tgz	Proc4_0.4-7-manual.pdf	No Mongo versions of Listeners.

The Proc4 package contains extra code for managing the "Dongle" layer between the game engine and the other processes. This is described in the file Dongle.pdf.

The development code is available at the github repository is at: https://github.com/ralmond/Proc4/ The older developement tree is still available at: https://pluto.coe.fsu.edu/svn/common/Proc4/trunk/

The latest released version of Proc4, EIEvent, and EABN are now available through R-Universe. You can install the latest binary version using install.packages("Proc4", repos=c(CRAN="https://cloud.r-project.org", ralmond="https://ralmond.r-universe.dev")).

EIEvent (Evidence Identification by Event)

This is a rule based system for processing event logs to produce observables. A draft Rules of Evidence Manual describing the rule format and logic is available. There is also a "Quick Start" (20 pages!) guide which covers installation, setup and basic running Quick Start Guide

I gave a talk about this at the Maryland Assessment Research Center (MARC) conference. You can download the slides or view a video (warning 1.6 MB).

Releases

Note: at the moment, the packages are pure R code, so only the source release is provided.

Release	Source	Windows	MacOS	Manual	Notes
0.1-4	EIEvent_0.1-4.tar.gz			EIEvent_0.1-4-manual.pdf	Rules can be run and tested, but not yet integrated with database..
0.1-6	EIEvent_0.1-6.tar.gz			EIEvent_0.1-6-manual.pdf	Bug fix for rule tests.
0.4-1	EIEvent_0.4-1.tar.gz			EIEvent_0.4-1-manual.pdf (not yet available)	Used in May 2019 FSUS study..
0.4-2	EIEvent_0.4-2.tar.gz			EIEvent_0.4-2-manual.pdf	Efficiency Improvements and Complete Documentation.
0.4-3	EIEvent_0.4-3.tar.gz	EIEvent_0.4-3.zip	EIEvent_0.4-3.tgz	EIEvent_0.4-3-manual.pdf	Operational Version. Loader, Scoring and Rescoring Scripts included.

The development code is available at the github repository is at: https://github.com/ralmond/EIEvent/ The older version is in the subversion repository is at: https://pluto.coe.fsu.edu/svn/common/EIEvent/

The latest released version of Proc4, EIEvent, and EABN are now available through R-Universe. You can install the latest binary version using install.packages("EIEvent", repos=c(CRAN="https://cloud.r-project.org", ralmond="https://ralmond.r-universe.dev")).

EABN (Evidence Accumulation using Bayes Nets)

This handles evidence accumulation using Bayesian networks. It uses RNetica and Peanut for its Bayes net Engine.

Release	Source	Windows	MacOS	Manual	Notes
0.4-1	EABN_0.4-1.tar.gz			EABN_0.4-1-manual.pdf (not yet available)	Used in May 2019 FSUS study..
0.4-2	EABN_0.4-2.tar.gz	EABN_0.4-2.zip	EABN_0.4-2.tgz	EABN_0.4-2-manual.pdf	Now debugged.
0.5-2	EABN_0.5-2.tar.gz	EABN_0.5-2.zip	EABN_0.5-2.tgz	EABN_0.5-2-manual.pdf	No Mongo version now available. User manual and test suite (no Mongo version only)

The development code is available at the github repository is at: https://github.com/ralmond/EABN/ The older subversion repository is at: https://pluto.coe.fsu.edu/svn/common/EABN/trunk/

The latest released version of Proc4, EIEvent, and EABN are now available through R-Universe. You can install the latest binary version using install.packages("EABN", repos=c(CRAN="https://cloud.r-project.org", ralmond="https://ralmond.r-universe.dev")).

User Survey

We will add a user survey when this is completed. Please stop by to fill it out.

RSS Feed

I've added an RSS feed. The link is Proc4RSS.

Sponsorship Information

Work on the Proc4, EIEvent and EABN packages has been supported by the National Science foundation grants DIP: Game-based Assessment and Support of STEM-related Competencies (#1628937, Val Shute, PI) and Mathematical Learning via Architectual Design and Modeling Using E-Rebuild. (#1720533, Fengfeng Ke, PI). The development of the Proc4, EIEvent and EABN packages was led by Russell Almond (Co-PI).

Site last updated on 2022-07-14.