Learning Helper Web Application
Documentation
4
/1
0
/2007
OVERVIEW
Developers
: Ron Hoppes, Mike Caron
Platform: Linux RedHat
Database: Postgresql
Scripting
Language
s
: PHP
, Javascript
Background
The Learning H
elper
is a data
-
driven web site where district
teachers
can post
references to
web
site addresses and resources that directly or indirectly support instruction based in the districts
established learning standards.
These resources can then be shared among the district teaching
staff
and with the commun
ity
also
. Web resources can be classified to specific district learning
standards through a seri
es of preloaded pull
-
down menus;
eliminating the need for teachers to
tediously refer back to paper copies of the standards.
Learning Helper
is a rework
of an
earlier project that was
originally
intended to be a resource for
any user from within the district to
post ideas and articles. Because of this,
a few of
the
data
table
names don’t necessarily reflect an accurat
e description of
the table’s
function
.
In ad
dition, there
are some fields in the tables
that
are not used by the application as it is now.
For example, the
Category
table was originally for users to select from a
n
established set of
categories that their article would be classified
under
. Then the
Topic
table after that would
provide a list of given topics that
were
directly
tied to each c
ategory and
would
further
classify
the
article.
The
Articles
table was for containing the actual article or web site resource that the
user
was
post
ing
.
The remai
ning tables are more appropriately named as they were created after the decision was
made to convert the application into a program
specifically designed to
directly support
classroom instruction
based on
Centennial’s
established
learning standards.
Datab
ase and tables
The following is
the database name and
list of
associated
t
ables
and their function
s
:
Database
name
:
databank
Tables
names and purpose
:
c
ategory
Instructional Subjects
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-
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o
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Web site names and URL’s that teacher’s feel support the Outcomes and
p
瑡湤t牤r
class_cart
References to
records in the A
rticles
table
that individual teachers want to
use for their class instruction on a
ny
given day
group_cart
References to
records in the A
rticles
table
that teacher groups (by grade
for
elementary, subject
for secondary
) want to use for instruction
users
Authorized users
who can
input articles and class cart records
, and their
associated school, grade, team information
s
chools
S
chool names and types (elementary, middle, high)
t
eams
T
eaching teams associa
ted with
each
schools
d
istrict
D
istrict information displayed on Learning Helper title banner
Each table has an associated Sequence that supplies the table with a unique record identifier or
“record ID”.
Web server folder structure
The application
The
Learning Helper
application is
located
in
a
directory named
helper
off the
web
server’s
root directory.
The program files that allow teachers to create their own profiles is
under Centennial’s
Intranet directory. The path is
/intranet/helper
This a
llows only Centennial uses to access these files, thus prohibiting outside users from
creating profiles.
A hyperlink on Centennial’
s I
ntranet home
page takes users to the above location.
NOTE: files in any directory named
old
can be deleted.
Teacher
p
hotos
The path to school building codes and their corresponding teacher photos is:
images/teachers/{building code}/
Each subdirectory named
(
by school code
)
houses the teacher photos for that school.
These subdirectories must be created
appropriately
by
the webmaster or network
manager.
The subdirectory names
must correspond to the school codes stored in each
user profile.
In the teachers’ profile (users table), the designator (user_bldg) stores the school
for
which the teacher is assigned. Each school
code
must have a
corresponding subdirectory
that houses the teacher pictures for that school.
If the
user_photo
field (boolean type) in the users table is marked “f” the application
will not attempt to display the teachers photo. If it is marked “t” th
e application will look
down the path of the teachers
user_bldg
for the photo file
with the same name as the
users
user_name
.
Example:
user_name
is sue_smith
user_bldg
is bc
The application
looks for the file:
/helper/images/teachers/bc/sue_smith.jpg
Application images
The path to i
mages used to represent
Subjects (Math, Reading, etc.) is
images/subjects
.
Other images used throughout the application are stored in the
images
folder.
TABLE
RELATIONSHIPS
Category
table
category_rec_id
Topics
tabl
e
category_rec_id
topic_rec_id
Content
table
topic_rec_id
con_rec_id
Outcomes
table
out_content_rec_id
out_rec_id
Standards
table
std_outcome_rec_id
Articles table
art_rec_id
user_id
C
lass_cart table
class_art_rec_id
Users
table
user_id
G
roup
_cart table
group_art_rec_id
Articles
table
The Articles
table
is typically queried on its Content field which contains the concatenation of
the following codes which are derived from the other tables based on user input (the resulting
codes are gene
rally referred to
as “Content or Standards Codes”. Example:
Subject letter i.e. “m” (math)
from the Category table
(Subjects)
Topic (Grade) number i.e. “3” (3
rd
grade)
from the Topics table
Content number i.e. “2”
from the Content table
Outcome letter
i.e. “b”
from the Outcomes table
The codes together look like this:
m3.2b
The above code combination would be described as “math, grade 3, content 2, outcome b”
Because a posted
article (web site) could be relevant to several outcomes/standards, the
Content
field could contain a series of these code combinations separated by spaces:
m3.2b m3.2c m4.2b
m4.2c
If the user chooses to search for all web sites that relate to Social Studies, 4
th
grade, a query
would be initiated t
hat looks for all articles
where the string
“
ss4
”
is contained
somewhere in
the Content field.
These codes are used for querying articles both from the
Web Resources
link and the
Learning
Standards
link on the home page.
The
Web Resources
page searches broadly for
user
-
selecte
d
subject
-
grade combinations.
For example,
a Math, Grade 3 selection
will generate a search for
all
articles containing
“
m3
”
in the Content field.
The
Learning Standards
page
displays the districts learning standards in detailed and
outlined “Curriculum
Guide” format.
If the user selects an O
utcome on this page it will
call a search
for
Content
combinations that match the outcome
and its subject and
grade.
i.e. “
m3.2c
” The purpose here is to find only web sites that
pertain
specifically
to the
selecte
d outcome.
U
SER RIGHTS
Users
are authenticated for their rights level to allow various operations. Users are evaluated
only by their
level
designator
in the
users
table.
A level 3 is necessary for access to the
Management
pages
in Learning Helper.
Manage
ment pages allow
the
creation o
f
Content/Standards records, edi
ting user records in mass, etc.
Use type
Level
Typically managers who need all rights: database
manager, webmaster, ITC Director, etc.
3
Typically classroom teachers
1
TABLE
STRUCTURE
S
Category
table
(referenced as “Subjects” within the Learning Helper application)
Column | Type | Modifiers
-----------------
+
---------
+
---------------------------------------
category_title
| text |
name
| text |
category_rec_id | text | default nextval(
‘
articles_seq
’
::text)
sort_order
| integer |
resource_type
| text |
subject_id
| text |
graphic
| text |
Topics
table
(referenced
as “Grades”
within the Learning Helper application)
Column | Type | Modifiers
-----------------
+
------
+
------------------------------------
topic_title
| text |
category_rec_id | text |
added_by
| te
xt |
topic_rec_id
| text | default nextval(
‘
topic_seq
’
::text)
category_title
| text |
topic_grade
| text |
Content
table
Column | Type | Modifiers
--------------------
+
---------------
-------
+
--------------------------------------
con_rec_id
| integer | default nextval(
‘
content_seq
’
::text)
con_subject_rec_id | integer |
con_grade
| text |
con_content_id
| text |
con_title
| text |
con_topic_rec_id
| text |
con_new
| character varying(1)
Outcomes
table
out_rec_id
| integer | default nextval(
‘
outcom
es_seq
’
::text)
out_content_rec_id | integer |
out_outcome_id
| text |
out_narr
| text |
out_subject_id
| text |
out_new
| text |
Standards
table
Column | Type | M
odifiers
--------------------
+
---------
+
----------------------------------------
std_rec_id
| integer | default nextval(
‘
standards_seq
’
::text)
std_outcome_rec_id | integer |
std_id
| text |
st
d_narr
| text |
std_ccg
| text |
std_csd_id
| text |
std_subject_id
| text |
std_content_id
| text |
std_outcome_id | text |
std_new
| text |
Articles
table
(referenced as Web Items within the application)
Column | Type | Modifiers
-----------------
+
---------
+
---------------------------------------
topic_rec_id
| text |
(corresp
onding Topic (actually “Grade”)
keywords
| text |
url
| text |
body
| text |
author
| text |
org
| text |
posted_by
| text |
a
rt_group_id
| text | default nextval(
‘
articles_seq
’
::text)
art_rec_id
| text | default nextval(
‘
articles_seq
’
::text)
email
| text |
author_email
| text |
title
| text |
date
| date |
category_title
| text |
category_rec_id | text |
topic_title
| text |
user_id
| text |
level
| integer |
content
| text |
local_file
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
false
’
(to designate if the article/file is stored on local webserver)
file_folder
| text |
(if article/file is stored on local web server, this is for the path)
type
| text |
intera
ctive
| text |
grade_k
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_1
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_2
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_3
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_4
|
b
oolean
| defa
ult
‘
f
’
grade_5
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_6
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_7
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_8
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_9
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_10
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_11
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_12
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_k_3
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_4_5
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_6_8
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
grade_11_12
|
b
oolean
| default
‘
f
’
Class_cart
table
(the users individual Cart items)
Column | Type | Modifiers
------------------
+
---------
+
-----------------------------------------
class_rec_id
| integer | default nextval('class_cart_seq'::text)
class_user_id
| integer |
class_cat_id
| integer |
class_image
| text |
class_type
| text |
class_date
| date |
class_url
| text
|
class_url_title
| text |
class_active
| boolean | default 't'
class_art_rec_id | integer |
Group_cart
table
(the Group Cart to which each user also has access
by their
corresponding
user_group
designation)
Column | Type |
Modifiers
------------------
+
---------
+
-----------------------------------------
group_rec_id
| integer | default nextval('group_cart_seq'::text)
group_user_id
| integer |
group_cat_id
| integer |
group_i
mage
| text |
group_type
| text |
group_date
| date |
group_url
| text |
group_url_title
| text |
group_team
| text |
group_bldg
| text |
group_art_rec_id | integer |
Teams table
(used for populating the
Team drop
-
down in the user
profile
, and other JOINS
, used mostly for
Centennial’s middle school teams
)
Column | Type | Modifiers
-------------
+
---------
+
----------------------------
-------
team_rec_id | integer | default nextval('team_seq'::text)
team_title | text |
team_type | text |
team_code | text |
Schools table
(used for populating the
Building drop
-
down in the user
profile
, and other JOINS
)
Column |
Type | Modifiers
------------
+
---------
+
--------------------------------------
sch_rec_id | integer | default nextval('schools_seq'::text)
sch_name | text |
sch_code | text |
sch_type | text |
Users tab
le
Column | Type | Modifiers
------------
+
---------
+
------------------------------------
user_id | text | default nextval('users_seq'::text)
user_name | text |
(user login name)
password | text |
leve
l | integer |
(for designating level of security, teachers=1, webmaster/manager=3
session_id | text |
(
unused,
originally for authentication
cookie, application now uses PHP sessions)
user_email | text |
user_path | text |
user_te
am | text |
user_bldg | text |
(user school code)
user_type | text |
user_first | text |
user_last | text |
user_photo | boolean | default 'f'
user_tag | boolean | default 'f'
(originally for TAG teachers
—
corresponds
with
other applications)
sped_level | integer |
(originally for Special Education
teachers
—
corresponds
with
other application
s
)
user_dept | text |
tag_level | integer |
user_sport | text |
(originally for Centennial’s middle school
—
corresponds w
ith another app.)
user_new | boolean | default 't'
(marked when webmaster creates new users
in
new_user.php
)
user_group | text |
(typically for users’ Group Cart items)
District table
Column | Type | Modifiers
------------
+
------
+
----------
-
dist_name | text |
dist_phone | text |
dist_email | text |
SCRIPT PAGES
auth_login.php
A
utheticates user login, creates a PHP session
and loads user data into session vars
auth
.php
Included in every page to authenticate users.
banner.php
Contains
the logo graphic and main menu.
bottom
_secti
on.htm
Text menu included in the bottom of each page
cart.php
Teachers create personal class cart
and group
items
common.php
Opens database connection
Users select Subject to search articles
edit_art
icle
.php
Aut
horized users can edit an article record
edit_content.php
Authorized users can edit a content record
edit_outcome
s
.php
Authorized users can edit outcomes
—
called
from
searc
h_content.php
edit_standards
.php
Authorized users edit standard
s
—
called
from
search_s
tandards.php
index.php
Point of entry for all users.
list_articles.php
Displays list of selectable articles (web sites)
—
called from curric_resources.php
list_topics.php
Displays list of selectable topics (grades) for a chosen subject
login.php
Form for use
r name and password
management.php
Menus/dropdowns for management section (adding editing contents, outcomes,
standards, users, etc.)
—
included in the top of each management page
mgnt_users.php
Authorized users can add edit user accounts
—
called from managem
ent.php
new_article.php
Form for authorized users to create new articles
new_article_help.htm
Help window for new_article page
new_content.php
Authorized users can create new content records
—
called from management.php
new_outcome.php
Authorized users can c
reate new outcome records
—
called from management.php
new_standard.php
Authorized users can create new standard records
—
called from management.php
new_
profile
.php
School district
employees
can create
a
new Learning Helper
profile
(stored in the Intranet
are
a of the web server)
print_standards.php
Displays the district learning standards in Curriculum Guide format with hyperlinks to on
the Outcomes to associated articles
problem.php
A
form data validation
page
.
report_problem.php
A form for users to send pro
blem reports to the web
master
; typically regarding articles
with hyperlinks that don’t work, etc.
search_standards.php
Part of the Management section that searches for Standards records to edit
search_subject_grade.php
Part of the Management section that
searches for Content records to edit
select_teacher.php
Part of the Learning Activities section; it allows the user to select the building then
teacher
send_problem.php
Part of the Problem reporting section that generates the email
standards_menu.php
Part
of the Management section that searches for Standards records to edit
teacher_menu.php
The menu is maintained in all pages for staff members see after logging in
teachers.php
Part of the Management section that searches for Teachers (staff) records to edit
view_article.php
U
sers
view articles
(web items)
DISCLAIMER
Centennial School District makes Learning Helper available to other school district free of
charge and without warrantee and/or guarantee of any kind.
Any copied use of Learning Helper
is done
so on an “as is” basis.
Centennial School District is not responsible or liable for any loss
or damage in its use
by other districts
.
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