[Maths-Education] 4th July - Building online maths assessments using Numbas - free training event

[Ant Edwards]

Please see below for details on a free course on using the open-source
package Numbas to build online maths assessments.

Thanks,
Ant Edwards.
Project Officer, Maths Support
The University of York

Building online maths assessments using Numbas – 04 July 2013*Where*: LFA
015, Harry Fairhurst Building, The University of York, YO10 5DD
*When*: Thursday 4th July 2013, 10-4pm
*Cost*: Free
*Online booking*: http://goo.gl/zik6q

*Background*
Numbas is a web-based e-assessment system which makes it easy to create,
produce and deliver powerful, reusable and flexible online maths testing.
The system has been developed by a team at Newcastle University in response
to widespread frustrations with “off the shelf” VLE integration of maths
notation in question authoring and students’ answers and a desire for more
sophisticated randomisation of questions.

Free to use and open-source with a user-friendly interface, Numbas allows
the authoring of questions which include randomised content throughout and
LaTeX rendering of mathematical notation. Tests provide instant feedback to
the student, including rendering of the student’s answers in mathematical
notation while they type, and a practice mode which lets students
regenerate randomised questions for further practice without starting a new
session.

Tests can be delivered stand-alone or through a number of VLEs, including
Blackboard and Moodle, which can also track student progress and results.
See http://www.ncl.ac.uk/maths/numbas/ for a more complete introduction.

*The course*
This one-day hands-on course, led by the Numbas team from Newcastle
University, will provide an introduction and training on using Numbas and
its question authoring facility. The event is supported by the sigma
network for mathematics and statistics support (sigma-network.ac.uk), and
hosted by the University of York’s Maths Skills Centre and E-learning
Development Team.

*Who is this course of interest to?*

   - Anyone who has tried and been frustrated with maths notation in other
   e-assessment tools.
   - Academics and support staff who think assessing maths skills online
   should be easy for instructors and productive for students for practice,
   formative or invigilated summative assessment.
   - Those wishing to convert static maths problems into dynamic randomly
   generated question sets.
   - Anyone wanting to find out more about Numbas to evaluate its
   suitability compared to other systems.


*By the end of this course users will be able to:*

   - Create dynamic maths tests from pre-written question banks.
   - Author original questions using the Numbas questions authoring tool
   with options to include randomly generated variables and media such as
   video.
   - Create standalone maths tests which use SCORM to interact with popular
   LMS / VLE platforms, such as Blackboard and Moodle.
   - Contribute to the pool of shared maths questions and resources
   available through mathscentre.ac.uk.


*Timetable*
Please see
http://www.sigma-network.ac.uk/building-online-maths-assessments-using-numbas-04-july-2013/

*Cost*
FREE (supported by the North East England sigma Hub). Lunch and
refreshments will be provided.

*To apply*
Give us your details through the online booking form (http://goo.gl/zik6q)
and we will get back to you as soon as we can to confirm your place. Please
note places are strictly limited, to give all participants exclusive use of
a PC for the duration of the course.

For queries, please email ant.edwards at york.ac.uk.