Site update – Parsons puzzles, theme, Brave

Today is the first time I have touched the site in a very long time due to various commitments. I have implemented a few new things today outlined below:

I have upgraded the site theme – not a massive change but hopefully it should look a little better.

I have added a few more recommended books into the student books area.

I have also added the site to the Brave Rewards program for those who would like to donate any BAT tokens. More about this in another post.

The biggest thing that I have implemented today is a whole new section on Parsons puzzles specifically aimed at Python. The reason for implementing this was that I was investigating if I could do Parsons puzzles within Microsoft Forms. The answer I found was no, so I began to search for other online implementations of it which thankfully there was.

Based on js-parsons ( https://github.com/js-parsons/js-parsons ) I have implemented a few code tweaks and styled it to be a little clearer and placed it onto the site. I have added a few elements to it including a counter that will tell the user how many times they have tried the puzzle and notifications when they have got the code in the right order.

An important part that I felt was missing from the Parsons puzzle was actually being able to run the code when the user had completed it. If a student had got the code in the right order but still did not understand it, having it so they could run it and experiment with it seemed like a logical next step.

Within the notification the user can click on a link and be taken to repl.it to see the code running and working in real time. If they want to fork the code and experiment with it they can right away in order to break it down to understand the component parts or use it as a base for other work.

At the time of writing I only have 2 Parsons puzzles on the site working but I aim to add a lot more in the future.