I finally took the leap. I signed up for a domain (algebrahut.com) and webhosting services (bluehost) just a few days ago. You can even visit www.algebrahut.com, though there is not much to do there just yet. It is going to be a massive work in progress for some time to come. I have all these ideas I want to explore, but I’m having to tell myself just to focus on a couple of ideas with an end in sight.
I am hosting algebrahut.com via bluehost. After signing up, they gave me a call to confirm. I wasn’t available, so they left a message. I haven’t returned the call, but that’s good customer service on their part.
I had been researching the concepts I had in mind for my site and found that much of it seemed over my head. However, once I ‘got my hands dirty’ with it, everything I had read made much more sense. In one day, I was able to set up a Moodle account and, on a seperate day, a phpbb3 forum that renders math using mimetex.
To my surprise, phpbb3 allows buttons (bbcode) that type in all the code using shorthand and inserts it in the post, so the user doesn’t have to know all the mess of code that goes into rendering the math images. I want to change the text on the button, an option not immediately available in the phpbb3 software. I went to view the code through bluehost’s cpanel, but my computer froze up at the over 1000 lines of code. I’ll have to try it again. Ultimately, I want to have a math forum that makes typing the math almost as easy as typing words, where the math looks like the way it is written by hand. Again, a work in progress.
Bluehost has made setting up Moodle and the phpbb3 forum a cinch. I’m sure doing it manually would have been much more challenging. Bluehost has this program called cpanel, within which there is fantastico deluxe, which makes the installation of Moodle and phpbb3 as simple as a few mouse clicks. I found it very easy to have a content delivery system like Moodle and a phpbb3 forum set up and ready to go in a matter of hours. I was anticipating it taking days or weeks.
Another task I have in mind is to port this blog over to the front page of algebrahut.com. I think I read somewhere that could be done fairly easily.
As for other tasks, I have taken a break. I seem to be at a dead-end for the 4-color theorem. I thought I had something going, but when I finally sat down and tried to carry my ideas to their final conclusion, I wasn’t able to force only 4 colors upon my configurations. I still had to accept that it might have been possible that a 5th color was needed. It a sneaky problem. Just when you think you’ve got it cornered, it gets away from you all the same.
The smart pen I’ve mentioned in my previous post continues to amaze me. However, my students didn’t really seem to go for viewing the homework solutions with the audio. It does take quite a bit more effort to do the homework solutions while having to explain them, and if they students continue to act disinterested in them, then I was stop doing the homework solutions with audio. However, I can still use the pen for writing the solutions and uploading them without audio. It will save me from having to scan one page at a time.
Well, I hope you’ll take the time to visit www.algebrahut.com from time to time. I will be sure to post progress on this blog.
Thanks for reading.
~The Witchdoctor
Tags: Algebra Hut Website Info, algebrahut, help, math, math forum, smart pen, tutor
