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Showing posts from November, 2009

Critical Thinking Required in Online Learning

I teach hybrid courses this semester. My experiences show that the new online learning platform has its advantages as well as disadvantages. The platform obviously allows a more flexible course schedule, encourages self-paced learning, and provides potentials to build a more supportive learning environment among students and between instructor and students. However, the platform does require students must think critically and solve problems effectively and efficiently. The up-side is that the online learning strengthens the training of critical thinking skills for students. But it also could result more pressure over students. If students are not ready to take the challenges, and feel overwhelmed than they can take, it might cause more class drops. I believe that the online education world requires more guidance from teachers. Teachers should communicate, encourage, and mentor students actively. Modern technology provides facilities and opportunities to build an individua

Convert LaTeX to HTML

Today I spent quite lots of time to figure out how to convert LaTeX source files to HTML documents. I was trying to install latex2html using fink . The installation of tetex-base failed quite a few times. Eventually I got latex2html installed using fink . Unfortunately, the conversion from my tex files to HTML documents again failed to read document parts. I finally gave up and remove my fink installations from my computer. I then did a few minute google search to use htlatex from TeXShop since I have TeXShop installed in my Macbook. What I did is copy the file htlatex.engine from /Applications/Tex/TeXShop.app/Contents/Resources/TeXShop/Engines/Inactive/TeX4ht/ into folder /Users/ /Library/TeXShop/Engines/ Then, I am able to compile my tex files using htlatex in TeXShop . It works perfect!