Integrating an online programming lab into ILIAS

Numerical Mathematics and knowledge of elementary computer algorithms are essential parts of any engineering education. While our university provided access to computer programming languages and computer algebra systems, their installation on the students home computer often turned out to be a challenge and solving installation problems required an essential time of any freshmen course. To overcome these problems, the University of Stuttgart developed an online web-based programming tool, the VipLab, which allows hosting manifold computer programming systems from C to MATLAB while providing a simple online development environment to students. In the past, this programming lab was based on SCORM modules, following our own conventions defined in the LiLa project. However, SCORM has a couple of limitations, too, and the overall weak integration requires a needlessly complicated workflow for both lecturers creating exercises and students handing in homework solutions. In this work, we describe these limitations and how to overcome them by a solution specific to the Learning Management System (LMS) used at the University of Stuttgart.