WIRIS collection, “ready-made” mathematics for Moodle Quiz
Carles Aguiló, Ramon Eixarch
Maths for More
According to our experience, the ability to have random elements in
questionnaires are especially appreciated by authors. In addition, the automatic
evaluation of the provided answers is critical when using random questions. The
integration of a system that performs mathematical calculations (a Computer
Algebra System) is necessary for providing this automatic evaluation and for
making sure that the student’s answer is checked for mathematical equivalence
and not just a simple equivalence.
The user interface of the student is the second crucial element of any online
questionnaire system. Too often the student fails to provide the correct answer
due to minor syntactical errors that are introduced while typing in his or her
answer.
We present now the WIRIS collection (http://collection.wiris.com), released in
May 2011 and containing today over 2 500 exercises created by teachers and
shared under a Creative Commons license. This repository already shows a wide
variety of approaches; everything from a course specially designed for a child with
a learning disability using regular high school courses to a linear algebra course in
a technical university.
1. WIRIS quizzes in brief
1.1.
Introduction
In technical and scientific fields, such as mathematics, physics or chemistry,
random elements for questionnaires are especially appreciated by authors. With
random elements the student can obtain a new question each time in order not
only to test his or herself, but to train themselves in the resolution of a problem.
The automatic evaluation of the answers is also critical for random questions. The
integration of a system that performs mathematical calculations (a Computer
Algebra System) is necessary for providing this automatic evaluation and for
making sure that the student’s answer is checked using mathematical equivalence
and not simple equivalence. WIRIS solves this issue with the use of WIRIS CAS,
which also gives the teacher the ability to insert programming within his exercise.
Lastly, our experience has shown that the user interface for the student is a crucial
element of any online questionnaire system. Too often, the student fails to provide
the correct answer due to minor syntactical errors that are introduced upon typing
in his or her answer. WIRIS quizzes checks for the syntax of the answer
immediately and informs the student in real-time if the answer is not syntactically
consistent.
1.2.
Architecture and mathematical coding
In order to respect the structure of the questions as much as possible, WIRIS
quizzes adds a self-contained, mathematical section at the end of every question.
This section can be shown or hidden with the button “Show advanced” / “Hide
advanced”. This offers two advantages: all of your mathematics is grouped in a
single section and it doesn’t disturb the teachings or instructions of the rest of the
content.
The mark-up language used in this system is the WIRIS programming language. It
is a simple yet powerful mathematical language that uses standard mathematical
notation and allows the use of operations, intersection of loci, etc.
The WIRIS CAS calculator session will be shown at the bottom of the Moodle
question. The content creator can create libraries, as shown in picture 1, where he
or she can define functions and variables. In order to use these variables in your
Moodle instance, you simply add #variable_name in any text or HTML field.
Figure 1 – Architecture example
In the blocks following the library, the user can test his or her functions without
having to preview the question. This is useful when a question is random as it
allows a user to preview results quickly and thus check to see that the question
performs as expected.
1.3.
Question types
WIRIS quizzes does not create new question types. Alternatively, it improves the
existing question types by adding mathematics so that the teacher doesn’t
encounter any unknown challenges when working with mathematical questions.
Regarding the answers of the students, there are essentially two types of answers:
free text (Short answer and Essay) and selection (True/False, Multiple choice and
Matching), and a combination of these two, which is the Embedded answers
(Cloze).
WIRIS quizzes works with all of these question types and solves different problems
for each. Now, as a result of all of these question types being capable of containing
mathematics, the Numerical and Calculated types essentially become obsolete and
are no longer necessary.
For a selection question, WIRIS quizzes offers the capability of adding random
elements. For an open answer, the student can be presented with an equation
editor in order to insert a more complex answer. The teacher has the option to
decide whether the student needs an equation editor or if they are to answer using
a plain text field, as this depends on the question.
For any of the two cases, the question creator must provide an answer for the
question which basically means letting WIRIS do the job. The question creator
simply specifies which variable will store the answer.
1.4.
Short answer
In a Short answer question, the student gives an open answer that must be compact
and must have very precise syntax. It is very typical to have trouble with such
syntax.
WIRIS quizzes includes a system that helps the student avoid these types of
syntactical mistakes. This syntax checker is available to the student when he or she
uses the formula editor for his or her answer.
The syntax check system shows in real time if the answer is missing an element in
order to be a complete mathematical structure, such as a sum, a fraction or a
function. With this, missing symbols such as a parenthesis can be easily detected
and corrected.
Also, the use of a WYSIWYG visual editor reduces the number of syntactical errors,
as the preview is easily understood and immediately interpreted.
Figure 2: Syntax Check
2. WIRIS collection: The content database
The database is found at the following site: http://collection.wiris.com/quizzes.
This database today contains more than 2500 questions and it already shows a
relatively wide variety of approaches: from a course specially designed for a child
with a learning disability through regular high school courses to a linear algebra
course in a technical university.
The database is built on the principle of sharing and it is licensed using a Creative
Commons standard. For a first phase, we contacted teachers whose work we were
already familiar with. They sent us their quizzes and we created a Moodle instance
containing these questionnaires. Next, to facilitate searching the content we set up
a Drupal instance that serves as a front-end for this system. Moving forward we
hope to be able to automate these processes even further, both for the creation of
new questionnaires and for the downloading of existing questions.
3. Conclusions
WIRIS quizzes is today a mature tool that offers a wide range of configuration
possibilities for each user and question. It follows a minimal-invasion principle and
is a vast improvement to the functionality that Moodle offers.
With the new database, we have managed to create a free-access data source
where every teacher can find contents that suit their needs and that can be
incorporated or adapted to their specific needs. Our intention is to bridge the gap
between the Moodle expert and the newcomer, making it easier for math teachers
to find already existing resources and to deploy them in their courses.