Eric Koncina
Unilur is a rmarkdown template usefull to create documents for tutorials, practicals or examens. It allows the rendering of two distinct pdf/html files from a single rmarkdown file:
- The main file containing the exercises or questions without solutions
- The second one including the expected answers to the questions/exercises
These templates introduce additional possibilities such as the:
- Creation of colored boxes to highlight some markdown or R content.
- An examen template allowing:
- to create multiple choice questions.
- to draw a box asking students for their name during an examen.
- to draw dotted lines to fill in answers
The source code is hosted on github. To install the R library, run the following code:
devtools::install_git('https://github.com/koncina/unilur.git')The library contains example templates illustrating some of the possibilities.
To use the tutorial template, adjust the output format in the document header as follows:
output:
unilur::tutorial_html: default
unilur::tutorial_pdf: default
unilur::tutorial_html_solution: default
unilur::tutorial_pdf_solution: default
Use the Rstudio knit button and knit to the wanted output format. Keep in mind that the output file will end with a suffix (which can be adjusted in the YAML header):
_questionforunilur::tutorial_htmlandunilur::tutorial_pdf_solutionforunilur::tutorial_html_solutionandunilur::tutorial_pdf_solution
Additional parameters of the unilur format can adjusted in the YAML front-matter. The table below summaries the different settings (default values are bold):
| parameter | value | description |
|---|---|---|
| question_suffix | text (_question) | suffix appended to the question pdf/html |
| solution_suffix | text (_solution) | suffix appended to the solution pdf/html |
| credit | yes/no |
Show a link to this homepage |
Answers or solutions are written within a code chunk with the solution = TRUE option. The content of these chunks will be wrapped within a green box.
```{r, solution = TRUE}
# Only visible and evaluated in the solution file...
plot(cars)
```
You can also write markdown formatted text by using asis chunks:
```{asis, solution = TRUE}
# This is a title
And the text can be formatted as **bold** or *italic*
You can also list some items:
- item 1
- item 2
```
To highlight some content and wrap it within a colored box, specify the box = "<color>" and eventually boxtitle = "<title>" arguments in the chunk (use the colors defined by colors() or define your own).
```{asis, box = "red", boxtitle = "My red box"}
This is a **red** box and titled *My red box*
```
```{asis, box = "green"}
This is a **green** box without title
```
```{asis, box = rgb(159, 129, 247, maxColorValue = 255), boxtitle = "Custom color"}
It is also possible to use **custom colors** defined as hexadecimal color codes or using the `rgb()` function.
```
The unilur::examen_pdf and unilur::examen_pdf_solution templates (relying on the latex exam class) extend the possibilities of the tutorial template:
- include an identification box to ask for the student's name
- leave space with dotted lines between questions to write in the answers
- generate multiple choice questions
| argument | value | description |
|---|---|---|
| id | yes/no |
draws a box to ask students for their name |
| mcq | oneparchoices, oneparchoicesalt, oneparcheckboxesalt, oneparcheckboxes |
theme for the multiple choice questions |
Questions are defined as fifth-level 5 headings (##### question). It is possible to leave some space with lines in the main pdf file allowing the students to write down their answers. Just set the response.space = <s> chunk argument (in inches) together with solution = TRUE.
---
title: "Examen demo"
author: "John Doe"
date: "19 April, 2016"
output:
unilur::examen_pdf:
id: yes
unilur::examen_pdf_solution:
id: yes
---
##### Write your answer below
```{asis, solution = TRUE, response.space = 1}
This is the hidden answer generating lines in the main pdf file.
```
##### Second question
```{asis, solution = TRUE, response.space = 0.5}
This would be the expected answer to the question
```
Lists can be rendered as multiple choice questions. Write the list within an asis chunk and set the option mcq = TRUE like in the example below:
```{asis, mcq = TRUE}
- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 3
- Item 4
- Item 5
```
The output theme of MCQ can be adjusted in the YAML front-matter as shown below:
output:
unilur::examen_pdf:
mcq: <mcq theme>
The snapshots below show how the different <mcq theme> values look like:
| mcq theme | result |
|---|---|
oneparchoices |
 |
oneparchoicesalt |
 |
oneparcheckboxes |
 |
oneparcheckboxesalt |
 |
For the oneparchoicesalt and oneparcheckboxesalt options, it is possible to specify the number of items per line with the mcq.n chunk option (default is 3).