Offline Use of CODAP?

[michaelkaskadamis@gmail.com]

Hello,

Is there a way to use CODAP fully offline without any internet connection? If not currently, are there plans to introduce this feature?

Thanks,
Michael Kaskadamis

[Bill Finzer]

Hello Michael,

We don’t provide a way to launch CODAP while offline and we don’t have plans to do so. However, once CODAP is launched it functions with very little interaction over the internet. You can open and save documents locally and do most exploration and analysis without requiring internet access. Here are some exceptions that occur to me off the top of my head:

• Map backgrounds won’t display.
• Plugins won’t open.
• Example documents can’t be accessed.

I’m sure there are quite a few others.

Since CODAP is open source, one can download that source and run completely locally. (But this is not for the faint of heart.)

What motivates your question? Are you in a situation that would benefit from offline access?

Bill

[michaelkaskadamis@gmail.com]

Hello Bill,

Thank you for your detailed response regarding CODAP’s capabilities and limitations when used offline.

To provide context, I am currently working on several chapters for a mathematics textbook that is aimed at middle school students in Greece. One of the core aspects of these chapters is introducing students to the world of data analysis, and in my assessment, CODAP stands out as an excellent tool for facilitating data exploration. The interactive nature of CODAP, coupled with its intuitive interface, makes it an ideal candidate for integration into our curriculum. I plan to align the data sets from the book with CODAP’s functionalities to offer students a hands-on approach to understanding statistical concepts and do data explorations.

However, there’s a specific criterion set by our Ministry of Education which necessitates that all software activities recommended within educational materials be available for offline use. The rationale behind this requirement, I believe, stems from a couple of reasons:

1. Not all schools across the country have consistent and reliable internet access, which might hinder the learning process if students are solely reliant on online tools.
2. Additionally, not all students may have regular access to the internet at home, making it difficult for them to engage with homework or extended learning activities that necessitate online tools.

Given this backdrop, while I understand that CODAP is not natively designed for offline usage, the fact that it’s open-source offers some hope. I recognize the complexities associated with setting up an open-source tool for local use, especially if it’s not explicitly designed for it. However, if there’s any guidance or resources you could provide on how one might go about setting up CODAP for offline use, it would be immensely beneficial. This would ensure that we can cater to the widest possible audience and not inadvertently exclude students due to technical limitations.

Thank you once again for your time, and I look forward to your thoughts on this matter.

Warm regards,

Michael

[Author]

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