Category: Numbas

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Meet the Digital Exams Team

As the new 2023-24 academic year begins, we’d like to introduce the Digital Exams Team here in LTDS, who lead on the University’s Digital Exams via Inspera. A team of Learning Enhancement and Technology Advisers work together to facilitate digital exams through Inspera Assessment. Inspera Assessment is the University’s Digital Exam system used for present-in-person secure online assessments.

Meet the Team

First up we’ve got Maddie Kinnair who is one of our two Inspera Co-Leads. Maddie joined the team in September 2022 and has worked within the area of Learning and Teaching for 6 years. Maddie first joined HE in 2014 and has previously worked in the School of Computing, HaSS Faculty and within Central Services.

Maddie is also the lead for our peer assessment and feedback tool Buddycheck.

Next up, we’ve got Kimberly May-O’Brien, our second Inspera Co-Lead. Kimberly joined the team in July 2023, having worked at the University since 2019. Kimberly previously worked in the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, as well as the central Equality, Diversity and Inclusion team.

Finally, we have Susan Barfield who started working at the University 13 years ago, initially in NUIT as part of the ReCap team, she then joined LTDS in 2019 as lead on online marking and feedback using Canvas and Turnitin, whilst also supporting digital exams.

More Information

You can find out more about Inspera and the training webinars and videos available to colleagues via the LTDS website.

If you have any queries around Digital Exams, you can contact the Digital Exams Team via Digital.Exams@newcastle.ac.uk.

Numbas is the other centrally supported Digital Exam platform. You can contact the Numbas team via Numbas@ncl.ac.uk.

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EAMS: 13 – 24 June, 2022

The School of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics will host the fifth international conference on E-Assessment in Mathematical Sciences (EAMS). The conference aims to bring together researchers and practitioners with an interest in e-assessment for mathematics and the sciences. It will consist of a mix of presentations of new techniques and pedagogic research, as well as workshops where you can get hands-on with leading e-assessment software including our own Numbas.

EAMS 2022 is an entirely online conference with a mix of live sessions and web-based activities, and plenty of opportunity for discussion and collaboration. Before the conference starts there will be a programme of optional training workshops available for participants to get hands-on with state-of-the-art maths e-assessment software.

Live talks will take place over Zoom at 9am and 4pm BST (UTC +1) each weekday, with recordings available later. The online format and longer timescale allow participants to engage more deeply with the material presented.

The call for talk and workshop proposals is currently open. If you have some research or an innovative technique related to mathematical e-assessment that you would like to present, then please submit an abstract at eams.ncl.ac.uk/call-for-speakers by 13th May. We’re actively seeking to increase the diversity of our attendees and speakers, and particularly encourage speakers from groups under-represented in previous editions of EAMS to submit proposals.

To attend the conference please register for free at eams.ncl.ac.uk/register.

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E-ASsessment in mathematical sciences conference (EAMS) 2021

The fourth international conference on E-Assessment in Mathematical Sciences (EAMS) takes place between 21st June and 2nd July 2021. The conference brings together researchers and practitioners with an interest in e-assessment for mathematics and science. 

EAMS 2021 will again be an entirely online conference, following last year’s successful move to a fully virtual format. The conference will feature a mix of live sessions and web-based activities, with plenty of opportunity for discussion and collaboration. 

As many of us have spent much of the last year delivering teaching and assessment online, EAMS 2021 presents an opportunity to share best practice, for experts in the field to present the latest developments, and for those new to e-assessment to get hands-on with software. 

Live talks will take place over Zoom at 9am or 4pm BST (UTC +1) each day, with recordings available later. We hope that the online format and longer timescale will allow participants to engage more deeply with the material presented. 

The call for talk and workshop proposals is currently open. If you have some research or an innovative technique related to mathematical e-assessment that you would like to present, then please submit an abstract at eams.ncl.ac.uk/call-for-speakers. 

To attend the conference, please register for free at eams.ncl.ac.uk/register. 

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Numbas and the migration to Canvas

This post provides some further information on how the move to Canvas affects Numbas tests.

Will my Numbas tests roll over to Canvas automatically?

Numbas tests are attached to a particular course in a VLE, and therefore will not be moved across when we change from Blackboard to Canvas. Tests will need to be set up again for the new academic year, which is no bad thing as you will need to make some decisions about the set up in Canvas. See the section How do I create a Numbas test in Canvas? below.

Remember that Numbas tests are prepared on the Numbas Editor (the Public Editor is at numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk). This means that you can redeploy your existing test in Canvas.

How can I access scores from Numbas tests deployed in Blackboard?

If you require scores from Numbas tests deployed in Blackboard then you should access these before the close down of Blackboard on July 31st.

However, the Numbas LTI tool will continue to have a record of attempts. A request can be sent to numbas@ncl.ac.uk if you need access to data after the close down of Blackboard.

How do I create a Numbas test in Canvas?

Numbas can be deployed in Canvas in two ways:

  • as a module item, alongside other learning resources; or
  • as an assignment.
Numbas
module item		Numbas
assignment
Add Numbas content ✅ ✅
Record student scores ✅ ✅
Hide from calendar, to do list, etc ✅
Restrict by date ✅
Add scores to Gradebook ✅
Use as a pre-requisite ✅

The following videos demonstrate the set up of each. For full step-by-step instructions see the Canvas Orientation Course.

Adding a Numbas test as a module item

In the following video, I add a Numbas test as a module item in Canvas:

Adding a Numbas Assignment

In the following video I set up Numbas as an assignment in Canvas:

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E-Assessment in Mathematical Sciences (EAMS) 2020 Conference

The Numbas team in the School of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics is running the third international conference on E-Assessment in Mathematical Sciences (EAMS), taking place between 22nd June and 1st July 2020. The conference brings together researchers and practitioners with an interest in e-assessment for mathematics and science.

Following successful events here in Newcastle in 2016 and 2018, EAMS 2020 will be an entirely online conference, featuring a mix of live sessions and web-based activities, with plenty of opportunity for discussion and collaboration.

As many of us prepare to continue delivering teaching and assessment online, EAMS 2020 presents an opportunity to hear from experts in the field and get hands-on with software, including Numbas, which is used extensively across the University, in subjects that include Biomedical Sciences, Chemistry, Engineering, Maths, Physics, Psychology and Sports Science.

Live talks will take place over Zoom at 9am or 4pm BST (UTC +1) each day, with recordings available later. We hope that the online format and longer timescale will allow participants to engage more deeply with the material presented.

The call for talk and workshop proposals is currently open. If you have some research or an innovative technique related to mathematical e-assessment that you would like to present, then please submit an abstract at https://eams.ncl.ac.uk/call-for-speakers.

To attend the conference, please register for free at https://eams.ncl.ac.uk/register.

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New Digital Learning Website

Student working on laptop

We are excited to announce the launch of a new Digital Learning website go.ncl.ac.uk/digitallearning

This new site brings together the digital learning activities taking place across the University, providing you with information, step by step guides and ideas to help you to get the most out of digital technologies for learning, teaching and assessment.  

Visit the site to find out about: 

Canvas– the University’s exciting new Virtual Learning Environment replacing Blackboard from 1st August 2020. Staff and students can find project updates, information about the support available, answers to FAQs and upcoming events. 

TEL Services, lots of information about our centrally supported technologies and systems, digital exams and access to TEL guides providing you with step by step instructions. 

Blended Learning, if you want to explore online educational materials and collaborative learning opportunities with traditional face-to-face delivery, visit these pages for inspiration and support. 

We will be continuing to update the site with resources so please let us know if there is anything else you would like to see that can support you in your role. Get in touch at LTDS@ncl.ac.uk. 

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Numbas and Canvas

It’s recently been announced that Newcastle will replace Blackboard with Canvas as our main virtual learning environment from the 2020/21 academic year. We’ve had a few questions from colleagues about how this will affect Numbas, so this is a short note to say, in essence, it won’t.

Numbas is currently linked to Blackboard using the LTI standard, which Canvas also supports. When we switch to Canvas, links to Numbas will work the same way.

This is what adding a Numbas resource in Canvas looks like.

Multiple institutions around the world are already successfully using Numbas with Canvas. We will of course do our own testing before the switch happens.

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Numbas workshop and new version

We have just released another major version of Numbas, incorporating some exciting new developments which greatly expand Numbas’ capabilities. We’re also looking forward to running a workshop here at Newcastle University next month, ideal for those of you who would like to get started with maths e-assessment!

Introduction to Numbas workshop – 18th June

We are hosting an Introduction to Numbas workshop on 18th June, 10am-12pm, as part of the Learning and Teaching Development Programme.  This hands-on session is ideal for academic or technical staff who would like to create mathematical e-assessments and deploy them through Blackboard.

The session will cover:

·         getting started on the Numbas public database and editor

·         selecting existing questions to make tests

·         writing your own questions

·         using the Numbas tool in Blackboard

You can book on to the workshop via elements.ncl.ac.uk. Or for more information, drop us an e-mail to numbas@ncl.ac.uk

New release of Numbas

Over the past few months, Christian has been working tirelessly towards the release of Numbas v4.0, with a number of brilliant new features.

Full details can be found in this blog post on the Numbas website. They include:

  • a new pattern-matching system allowing, for example, to specify a pattern that a student’s mathematical expression must match in order to be marked correct.
  • more number types, including support for very small and large quantities using scientific notation. Useful for chemists and the like!
  • a new extension for geometrical figures, with particular attention to accessibility.

In addition, questions and exams on the Numbas Editor can now be shared with a permanent link. You can send a link to your students, to have a go at a question or test without any scores being recorded, like this. And items are embeddable, for example in a blog post, just like this one!

That one is from our Transition to University project, a collection of questions and tests written by students, alongside our e-learning unit, to support students making the transition from school to university.

I hope to see some of you at the Numbas workshop in June. Otherwise, if you are interested in finding out more about Numbas please don’t hesitate to drop me an e-mail to christopher.graham@ncl.ac.uk.

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Mathematical skills catch-up: 2018 award-winning NUTELA learning and teaching conference poster

The 2019 Newcastle University Learning and Teaching Conference takes place at the start of April, with the theme “The changing landscape of Higher Education”. We are looking forward to hearing about what has been going on around the University over the past year, as well as disseminating info on some of the projects we’ve been involved with here in the MSP E-Learning Unit.

Last year, we were delighted to accept the NUTELA award for best Technology Enhanced Learning  submission at the conference, for our poster “Mathematical skills catch-up: Developing a University-wide solution through online formative tests”. The poster described a project, supported by the University Education Development Fund (then ULTSEC Strategic Fund), which was carried out in 2017 to develop online formative Numbas tests for departments outside of our own.

The project is described in detail in this blog post and outputted nearly 150 questions, packaged into over 20 tests, covering everything from the volume of ice cream cones to the probability of rolling three sixes. The poster describes not just the resources created, but also how the collaboration between six students and several staff members worked, which might be of interest for anyone thinking of applying for the latest round of funding to work with students on a project. It also discusses how to easily add Numbas content to Blackboard, which is described in the following video:

If you don’t know about the excellent activities put on by the NUTELA (Newcastle University Teaching Enhanced Learning Advocates) team, then do check out their section of this blog. As part of the award we received a small amount of money from them to support further activities. This was used to help fund a (mainly Yorkshire-wide) tour last summer, where I was involved in talks and workshops at Durham, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam and Huddersfield, introducing Numbas and promoting the resources we have been creating, which we make available through our public editor and database. Since last summer’s conference, I am delighted to have been invited to also actually be “a NUTELA”, so I look forward to being on the voting/awarding side of the poster presentations this year!

I am certain that technology enhanced learning will be a running theme at this year’s learning and teaching conference. I’m pleased to know of at least one submission talking about Numbas applications outside of maths, as well as another poster in the pipeline from our unit (talk about conflict of interest 😆), this time on the slightly different topic of web-based / accessible lecture notes.

Don’t forget to register, and hope to see you there…

numbas-logo-large

Numbas is developed by the e-learning unit in the School of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics. If you have any questions, or are interested in using Numbas in your course, you can contact Chris at christopher.graham@ncl.ac.uk or the team at numbas@ncl.ac.uk