Enhancing EJsS with Extension Plugins

Abstract

Easy JavaScript Simulations (EJsS) is an open-source tool that allows teachers with limited programming experience to straightforwardly bundle an interactive computer science or engineer simulation in an HTML+ JavaScript webpage. Its prominent place in Physics (where it has won several prizes) should not hinder its application in other fields (such as building the front-end of remote laboratories or learning analytics) after having adapted part of the functionality of EJsS to them. To facilitate the future inclusion of new functionalities in EJsS, this paper presents a new version of this tool that allows the enhancement of EJsS, letting it incorporate new tools and change its graphical user interface, by means of extension plugins (special software libraries). To illustrate the benefits of this distributable self-contained non-intrusive strategy, the paper (a) discusses the new methodological possibilities that the Plugins bring to EJsS developers and users, and (b) presents three plugins: one to support the plugin management and the others to easily set up a streamlined remote laboratory. Moreover, the paper also presents the main characteristics of that remote lab to allow readers take advantage of EJsS and the three plugins to set up new online experiments for their students quickly.

Laboratorio remoto para el robot educativo Dobot Magician

“…La herramienta EJsS se utiliza para crear la aplicación cliente que constituye el interfaz experimental del laboratorio remoto. Para facilitar el proceso, se utiliza la versión 6.0 de EJsS, ya que incorpora el soporte de Plugins, que es un nuevo mecanismo para extender la funcionalidad e interfaz de EJsS a las necesidades de sus usuarios [15].…”

“…Para lograrlo, han seguido una metodología similar a la que utilizan para desarrollar los laboratorios remotos de Control de Sistemas de la misma universidad [12,14], en la que un servidor (programado en Node.js) sirve 1) de gestor de la pagina web de las experiencias y 2) de pasarela entre su interfaz gráfica (diseñada en Easy JavaScript Simulations, EJsS) y el controlador (definido en un lenguaje de programación estándar) de los dispositivos del laboratorio. Además, dicha metodología contempla la posibilidad de desplegar todo el software del laboratorio en una Raspberry PI y gestionarlo de forma centralizada desde un EJsS con funcionalidades añadidas mediante un Plugin [10,13,15]. Más concretamente, para este laboratorio, y tal y como se muestra en la Figura 1, el brazo robótico del laboratorio es el Dobot Magician [1], que es controlado a través del puerto USB de la Raspberry PI mediante un programa escrito en Python, con el que interactúa con una nueva versión de nuestro servidor Node.js, a la que se le han añadido protocolos estandarizados de comunicación.…”

Solving Conformable Fractional Differential Equations with ``EJS Software and Visualization of Sub-diffusion Process

“…Easy Java/Javascript Simulations is a modeling application that enables non-computer scientists to develop simulations in two programming languages. Easy Java/JavaScript Simulations (EJS) is a free, open-source application with over a thousand simulations accessible in the ComPADRE digital library [4,13]. EJS automates operations like animation and solving ordinary differential equations numerically.…”

ULearnEnglish: An Open Ubiquitous System for Assisting in Learning English Vocabulary

“…Open-source software constitutes a strategic methodology for the collaborative development of software in different areas of knowledge. Learning environments have explored this approach [11] in areas such as the development of technology in final degree projects [12], the improvement of learning programming [13,14], the impact of using this strategy in companies [15], the enhancement of JavaScript Simulations for learning [16], and the use of drones to support distance learning [17].…”