Bolt Tutorial, Part III: Analytics

Micro-experiments

Suppose you have two alternative lessons for a given concept. They may be completely different, or they may differ in appearance. Which is better? Or is each better for some identifiable subset of students? To investigate, create a micro-experiment in which students are randomly shown one lesson or the other, and then perform an exercise.

function show_lesson() {
    return select(
        name('show_lesson'),
        valuator('rand'),
        lesson(
            filename('lesson1.php')
        ),
        lesson(
            filename('lesson2.php')
        ),
    }
);

return sequence(
    name('course'),
    show_lesson(),
    exercise(
        filename('exercise.php')
    )
);

This uses a new control structure, select(). This takes a 'valuator' function (in this case, random) and a set of units. It shows the unit for which the valuator function has the largest value.

Lesson comparison

After a number of students have passed through the micro-experiment, you may have enough data to conclude something about your lessons. To do this, go to the course Control Panel and click Lesson Compare.

Course maps