What does LBot do?

Lbot provides interactive tutorial about a topic, for example:

<gry> start xyz
<lbot> Hi! welcome to ecourses
<lbot> i will give you some new information
<lbot> and prompts for practice
<lbot> please write 'next' to continue
<gry> next
<lbot> nice! my name is lbot
<lbot> i will prompt you sometimes and wait for your answer
<lbot> when i do that, please answer me then write 'next' to continue
<lbot> PROMPT: how many characters are there in my nick? after your answer write "next" on a separate line to proceed
<gry> 4
<gry> next
<lbot> 'xyz' completed, please choose a next topic when you are ready
<lbot> topics available: irc, news100, news101, volunteer, ssh, unix101
<lbot> to start a topic write "start <topic>", for example "start news100"

Is there a demo?

You can try LBot at our webchat, https://gamja.lecturify.net/.

It should take you less than 5 seconds to connect.

Type 'start xyz' to start your first class.

How do I add a new LBot course?

Each course is in one file.

The above 'xyz' course file is like this:

Hi! welcome to ecourses
i will give you some new information
and prompts for practice
please write 'next' to continue
----
nice! my name is lbot
i will prompt you sometimes and wait for your answer
when i do that, please answer me then write 'next' to continue
PROMPT: how many characters are there in my nick? after your answer write "next" on a separate line to proceed
----
'xyz' completed, please choose a next topic when you are ready
topics available: irc, news100, news101, volunteer, ssh, unix101
to start a topic write "start <topic>", for example "start news100"
----

Send your files to support+lbot@lecturify.net with 'New course xyz' in subject, replacing 'xyz' with your new course name.

How does LBot know the response?

In the current version, LBot doesn't check response. Answer checking can confuse the student, as there may be more than one correct answer, and if the student didn't solve it properly then they require assistance immediately. One of the strengths of LBot is that it is on live chat (IRC chat) and a volunteer is expected to be available to help. LBot only helps by not requiring volunteer to type the same content over and over.

LBot relies only on a volunteer being present to check, and on the course to be written well so that the task is reasonably easy to complete independently. You can also add a hint to the answer in the next section that follows the question (for example, add "My nick length was 4." in the last section of the example above).

How long should the courses be?

Course length depends on topic and which students are interested, my courses are 4 to 10 sections on average and then I put the next course into next part (unix101, unix102, etc like the jrmu course). However, this depends on time commitment. For longer courses, in first section you could write 'This may take 20-30 minutes, please confirm you have this time available now before you begin' as a first prompt.

Why is this useful for me?

Many groups have routine training processes to teach new volunteers, for example, how to add a translation, how to use a unix computer, and the like. While these can be documented on a web page, this may make it more challenging for some newcomers to begin, as they may find documentation too confusing. Chatting with newcomers provides them with real time feedback which may increase engagement.

You can also learn school subjects in LBot and improve your proficiency in your selected subject. This may help with academic assessments and university admission examinations.

Do you have a completed example?

The news101, news100 courses are successfully used to write new articles at http://en.wikinews.org by interested volunteers, as it provides guidance on news article requirements to pass peer review. This may improve your English proficiency and exam results.

The tr course is successfully used to translate this web site, http://www.lecturify.net as it provides guidance on signup and translation file format.

How do I schedule a class?

We host a free and open-source calendar, Easy!Appointments, which is available at http://book0-lg.host.lecturify.net. This helps to connect teacher volunteers with student volunteers at a convenient time. You can either contact us to add yourself, in which case you can manage your schedule, or host your own calendaring system.

How do I add LBot in my chat?

You can either ask Lecturify to add LBot to your channel, or run it yourself. We can help you with the installation. The source code and existing courses are available in http://lecturify.net/lbot.zip. LBot can run on Windows, Mac, or Linux.