Conceptual StatisticsThrough Graphing

Conceptual StatisticsThrough Graphing

Wen-hao Zeng

Brian Nemsick

Lijun Zhu

Ricky Liou

Ethan Hayes

Drew Boatwright

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IntroductionIntroduction

• Goal of the project– Create a way for students and instructors to view

statistics on concepts through graphing

• Motivation– Currently there is no option to see statistics based on

concepts– Valuable information

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So how do we start?So how do we start?

• Research– Two Methods

• Jquery/Highcharts• Python

• Division of Labor

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Highcharts IntroductionHighcharts Introduction

• Highcharts is a platform for creating Interactive Javascript Charts.

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Benefits of HighchartsBenefits of Highcharts

• Easy implementation on webpages• Multiple types of graphs• Highly Customizable• Full API• Many Demos

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Getting The DataGetting The Data

• X-axis– Concepts in an assignment

• Y-axis– Numerical information

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X-axisX-axis

• Con_per_assign.php– Looks at tags(concepts) for questions in an

assignment and stores those concepts in a table

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Y-axisY-axis

• Two initial methods– Ethan’s in-line processing (mySQL queries)– Drew’s post-processing (Parsing in PHP)

• Comparison of the two methods– Ethan’s: 8 seconds O(1)– Drew’s: 60+ seconds O(n2)

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ImplementationImplementation

• Chart.php– Called through ITS_jquery

• GET variables passed through– Contains multiple graph views

• Student/Instructor/Stacked/Percentage

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ImplementationImplementation

• Screen.php

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Additional Option for InstructorAdditional Option for Instructor

• Profile.php– View Graph for either whole semester or Individual

Student

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Python IntroductionPython Introduction

• Python is a useful calculation and data analysis tool.

• However, ITS wasn’t compatible with Python• In order to allow future be based on Python,

fundamental works must be done• Producing a student summary graph is a good

objective for the fundamental work

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What have we achievedWhat have we achieved

• Successful installation of several useful module for python, both on local and dev5– Matplotlib– MySQLdb

• Successful communication between PHP and Python– jpgraph

• Successful production of student summary graph using real student data from MySQL

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Python Plotting ImplementationPython Plotting Implementation

• Use Python to extract the data from MySQL tables.

• Use Python to filter attempted concepts and to sort tags alphabetically.

• Plot tags and data with Matplotlib storing the result in a PNG file

• Use HTML/PHP to display the PNG file.• Have PHP pass the necessary inputs to generate

the appropriate graphs.

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Python Plotting ImplementationPython Plotting Implementation

PHPStudent/Semester & assignment

Python

MySQL

Query

Display PNG Plot Matplotlib

Save PNG Plot

Tags & Data

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Python Plotting : Example Student PlotPython Plotting : Example Student Plot

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Python Plotting : Example Instructor PlotPython Plotting : Example Instructor Plot

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PHP Plotting ImplementationPHP Plotting Implementation

• Considering PHP was unable to use portions of the Matplotlib module in Python script on dev5 due to a unsolved dependency issue, an alternative approach to the original plan was used to produce the graphs.– The burden of producing the graph is shifted to PHP

side– Avoid using Matplotlib to achieve PHP and Python

communication.

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PHP Plotting ImplementationPHP Plotting Implementation

PHPStudent & assignment

PythonTags & Data

MySQL

QueryTags & Data

Graph

Produce

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PHP Plotting ImplementationPHP Plotting Implementation

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ResultsResults

• With these results…– We have two methods of graphing the statistical

information for concepts– We have a way of communicating with Python

through PHP.

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Future WorksFuture Works

• Resolve the minor dependency issue with Matplotlib in PHP.

• Finding even more efficient queries to pull the Y-axis data.

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Questions?Questions?