Key Terms used in Oppia

Terms

• Topic

• Story

• Skill

• Subtopic

• Exploration

• Card

• Content

• Interaction

Topic: A topic refers to the subject matter to be taught (e.g., Decimals, Fractions). A topic will consist of a set of stories.

Story: Stories are non-contrived (realistic) scenarios that teach the topic. If the topic is Decimals, then the first story—aiming to introduce the concept—might be a scenario where a customer is in a shop and has to pay an amount in dollars and cents. A story consists of a linearly ordered set of explorations or lessons, i.e., within a story, a student must complete the first lesson before moving on to the second.

Skill: A skill is simply what the student should be able to do. Following our example of Decimals, skills might include ‘Comparing Decimals’, ‘Adding Decimals’, ‘Converting Decimals to Fractions’ etc. Skills are normally associated with a topic.

This diagram summarizes the relationship between the above concepts:

Topic hierarchy in Oppia

Subtopic: In Oppia, a subtopic refers to a group of skills within a topic. Subtopics are created to provide students the opportunity to review and practice skills.

Note

• If a skill is not assigned to a subtopic, students will not be able to practice that skill.

• If a topic contains no subtopics, students will not be able to practice the topic.

Subtopics created for practicing skills

Exploration: Explorations are lessons or learning units in Oppia. From a learner’s perspective, explorations resemble a conversation between themselves and the tutor. This conversation takes the shape of:

• the tutor asking questions (content)

• the student answering (interaction)

• the student getting feedback (response)

Card: An exploration is made up of a series of cards, with each card comprised of the tutor’s question (the content) and the student’s answer (the interaction).

Content: Content refers to the question the tutor asks in a card. The content may include pictures, and a brief description of the context before a question is asked.

Interaction: Interactions refer to the answer that the student gives to the content (question asked), and the resulting response (feedback) from the tutor. The type of interaction depends on the type of exploration—a Math exploration has different interaction options from a Programming one.

This diagram summarizes the relationship between the above concepts:

Exploration hierarchy in Oppia