A Tool for Formatting CS Lectures in HTML

(Beyond Microsoft PowerPoint)

by Hugh McGuire
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If can read this, then you can teach computer ! (;-)

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Why use HTML for CS lectures?

HTML supports advanced media as well as PowerPoint. HTML can certainly be displayed in a large font-size. HTML can be used on more platforms than Microsoft PowerPoint: LINUX/UNIX ones. PowerPoint requires slicing material into slides; HTML can contain an unbroken computer program. PowerPoint monopolizes the screen; with a Web-browser, one can have multiple windows IDE, command, PowerPoint will always be circumscribed to what Microsoft has implemented so far; HTML/XML is already infinitely extensible (Java Applets provide arbitrary functionality)

Blanks can engage students and highlight material

Providing pre-formatted material to students is nice; can present more material than by writing everything during lecture. But if you pre-format all material, students just watch the lecture (even with fancy media). So leave some material to be filled in. In addition to engaging students taking notes, this distinguishes filled-in material highlighting it.
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The tool here, fmt_html , facilitates formatting CS lecture-notes in HTML

Whereas HTML does provide the noted capabilities, writing HTML is tedious. fmt_html generates HTML including preparing blanks based on specific material you want filled in. Source-material for fmt_html serves as lecturenotes, integrating the material to be filled in blanks and comments that you read (not display).
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Usage of fmt_html
(current version is `beta/`alpha) command-line:
> fmt_html lecture.txt [flags] >

yields lecture.html optional flags can specify course-name etc. for title-material used in the HTML. fmt_html written in C, so portable (and easily modifiable, if desired).
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Example of processing by fmt_html

lecture.txt : allocation: |$m_array_name$ = | ^new^ |$elt._type$[$ncols][$nrows$];|

lecture.html (rendered by Web-browser) :

allocation: m_array_name = elt._type[ncols][nrows];

Details of processing by fmt_html

fmt_html does WYSIWYG work, generating HTML such as <br> for line-breaks, &amp; for & , etc. facilitating presentation of code. Also: ~ &nbsp; (space) |material| material (code) $material$ material (slanted) ^material^ ( blank) <!-- material --> (no output)
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Comments on this proposal and authors responses to comments

Less support [than PowerPoint] for reordering. But cutting and pasting work fine. You can already convert PowerPoint to HTML. But HTML generated from PowerPoint still lacks some of the advantages of this scheme: blanks, flexibility of display, integrated lecture-notes, Would be interested to know if it is available for the general teaching population to beta test it. Yes! Please contact the author. 9

Feedback from students

An advantage of HTML noted by students is that it is searchable for terms, e.g. static, quicksort. Avoid voluminous blanks: students generally cant take notes as fast as one can type. Though this scheme makes it very easy to change lecture-materials, if you print copies for students ahead of time, then refrain from changing the lecture until after presenting it: presenting a version different from whats printed is disconcerting.
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Future work
Formal study teaching some students using fmt_html , some using PowerPoint etc., and then comparing how well students learned. Obtain evaluation of fmt_html by lecturers comparing its utility to PowerPoint etc. General development of the tool: a GUI interface, more error-checking, inclusion of a Java Applet for drawing during lectures,
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Acknowledgements and References

The use of blanks is derived from [B.F. Skinner] (discussing helping his daughter memorize a poem). The utilization of the `control-characters ~, $, and | is derived from LaTeX [Lamport] and TeX [Knuth]. Various people prepare CS lectures in HTML [Holland et al.], [Rodger], [Ross]. There are papers about media for presentations [Boyle et al.], [Hlynka et al.], [Presnell et al.].
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