Review and Fix Cycle Simulator

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About This MicroSim

A layout review patches what the checklist flags, but two rules keep it honest. The smallest patch rule says to make the smallest change that resolves the defect, because a broad edit can fix one defect and create three. The fix cycle limit says to stop after three review-and-patch cycles and report what remains, because repeated tweaking usually signals a deeper problem that needs a person.

The mock screenshot starts with three FAIL items: 1.1 clipped row labels, 1.3 a residual text stroke and 3.1 a title running under the JSON panel. For each, the Choose a patch menu offers three candidates in mixed order:

• the smallest correct patch, which clears the defect and nothing else;
• an over-broad patch, which clears it but also changes an unrelated value and creates a new FAIL (2.2, 4.1 or 3.3);
• a wrong-cause patch, aimed at a different cause, which changes nothing visible.

Each Apply patch and re-capture redraws the screenshot, re-walks the checklist strip and uses one cycle. After the third cycle the simulator locks until you Stop and report. The report gives the final state (clean, partial or unfixed), counts defects fixed, new defects and cycles used, and explains every choice.

Learning objective: The learner will judge whether each proposed patch follows the smallest patch rule and decide when the fix cycle limit requires stopping and reporting.

Bloom level: Evaluate. Bloom verb: judge.

How to Use

1. Pick a FAIL item in Defect (or click it in the checklist strip).
2. Read the three candidates in Choose a patch. Tick Show hint from the fixes catalog if you want the catalog entry.
3. Choose the patch you judge smallest and correct, then press Apply patch and re-capture.
4. Watch the screenshot, the strip and the log. Continue until everything passes or the three cycles are used.
5. Press Stop and report and read the explanations. Press Reset to try a different path.

Iframe Embed Code

You can add this MicroSim to any web page by adding this to your HTML:

<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/microsims/sims/review-fix-cycle-simulator/main.html"
        height="562px"
        width="100%"
        scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Audience

Teachers, instructional designers, learning-technology developers and learning-analytics practitioners (college undergraduate and professional development).

Duration

20 minutes

Prerequisites

• Layout defects and the fixes table (Chapter 13)
• The layout reviewer's ten-step workflow (Chapter 13)

Activities

1. Judge before applying (8 min): For each seeded defect, rank the three patches from best to worst and write one sentence of justification. Then run the cycles.
2. Deliberate mistake (5 min): Reset and apply one over-broad patch on purpose. Explain why a clean result is now impossible within three cycles.
3. Ratchet (3 min): Apply a wrong-cause patch. Relate it to the chapter's warning against widening the same number again.
4. Report (4 min): Write the report a reviewer would send after a partial run: files touched, defects with evidence, edits, final state.

Assessment

• The learner reaches a clean state in three cycles using only smallest patches.
• The learner justifies why each rejected patch is over-broad or aimed at the wrong cause.
• Exit question: "After three cycles one FAIL remains. What do you do, and what goes in the report?"

References

1. Chapter 13: Quality Assurance and Automated Layout Review — layout review, the smallest patch rule and the fix cycle limit.
2. Regression testing — Wikipedia article on re-checking after a change, the reason every patch is followed by a re-capture.
3. p5.js noStroke() reference — the smallest patch for a residual text stroke.
4. p5.js textAlign() reference — the smallest patch for a title that collides with a panel.