Formulas question type: Difference between revisions

Formulas question type
Type	question type
Set	N/A
Downloads	https://moodle.org/plugins/view.php?plugin=qtype_formulas
Issues	https://tracker.moodle.org/browse/CONTRIB/component/14833/?selectedTab=com.atlassian.jira.jira-projects-plugin:component-summary-panel
Discussion	https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=181049
Maintainer(s)	Jean-Michel Védrine

Revision as of 21:22, 7 December 2014

This article is a stub. Please help improve Moodle Docs by editing it and adding some content.

Usage

You would enter your 'sets' (called 'lists' in formulas questions) in the 'Random variables' field when creating question as:

a = {100, 125, 150, 175, 200};
b = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
c = {10, 12, 14, 16, 18};

When an attempt is started a, b, and c will take a value drawn from the corresponding list at random.

You can then define other variables depending of these ones in the 'Global variables' field if you want. For instance if you need the value of a+2*b somewhere in your question text or Combined or general feedback, just define

d=a+2*b; in 'Global variables'

Once you have defined your variables, you can use them in all the question's texts putting them in curly braces (for instance {a}, {b} or {d}). This is true not only for the Question text but also for all feedbacks and hints when you use interactive behaviour (The author thinks that the fact that variables can't be used in calculated question's feedback is a serious problem to give students an appropriate feedback using the values they saw in their attempt)

Other advantages

Another big advantage of formulas questions is that a question can have several 'parts' and all parts using the same variables; and even more, the answer to each part can not only be a number but a vector if you want.
Last thing, formulas questions has a complete unit system that is quite useful for engineering

Author

Jean-Michel Védrine

Moodle versions

2012062500 (Moodle 2.3) or newer

Translations available

This plugin is also available in Mexican Spanish

Installation

It's a Moodle plugin, so you must install it (or your administrator must do it).
Currently formulas question type plugin is not available in the Moodle plugins Directory
You must download it from the author's Github repository.
And you must install another plugin (Tim Hunt's adaptive multipart behaviour) so that it works.

Drawbacks

Mastering formulas questions is difficult, there is a learning curve
Documentation is not very good, it was written by Hon Wai Lo (original author of the formulas questions for Moodle 1.9 and 2.0, Jean-Michel Védrine upgraded it for Moodle 2.3 to 2.8), unfortunately Jean-Michel Védrine never had time to improve it
It's a Moodle plugin, so you must install it (or your administrator must do it). Currently formulas question type plugin is not available in the Moodle plugins Directory, you must download it from the author's Github repository. And you must install another plugin (Tim Hunt's adaptive multipart behaviour) so that it works.
As any addon, you will be dependent in the future of the maintainer to upgrade it when a new Moodle version is released

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Questions}}
+{{stub}}
 {{Infobox plugin
 |type = question type
@@ Line 5: / Line 7: @@
 |discussion = https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=181049
 |maintainer = [[user:Jean-Michel Védrine|Jean-Michel Védrine]]
-|float = right
+|float = left
 }}
+==Usage==
+You would enter your 'sets' (called 'lists' in formulas questions) in the 'Random variables' field when creating question as:
+ a = {100, 125, 150, 175, 200};
+ b = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
+ c = {10, 12, 14, 16, 18};
-Please see the Github documentation for the Formulas question type at [https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_formulas https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_formulas]
+When an attempt is started a, b, and c will take a value drawn from the corresponding list at random.
-==Overview==
+You can then define other variables depending of these ones in the 'Global variables' field if you want. For instance if you need the value of a+2*b somewhere in your question text or Combined or general feedback, just define
-This is a question type plugin for Moodle with random values and multiple answer fields.
-The answer fields can be placed anywhere in the question so that we can create questions involving various answer structures such as coordinate, polynomial and matrix.
+ d=a+2*b; in 'Global variables'
-Other features such as unit checking and multiple subquestions are also available.
+Once you have defined your variables, you can use them in all the question's texts putting them in curly braces (for instance {a}, {b} or {d}). This is true not only for the Question text but also for all feedbacks and hints when you use interactive behaviour (The author thinks that the fact that variables can't be used in calculated question's feedback is a serious problem to give students an appropriate feedback using the values they saw in their attempt)
-These functionalities can simplify the creation of questions in many fields related to mathematics, numbers and units, such as physics and engineering.
+==Other advantages==
+* Another big advantage of formulas questions is that a question can have several 'parts' and all parts using the same variables; and even more, the answer to each part can not only be a number but a vector if you want.
+* Last thing, formulas questions has a complete unit system that is quite useful for engineering
-==History==
+==Author==
-This question type was written by Hon Wai Lau and versions for Moodle 1.9 and 2.0 are still available at the original author website at the date of this writting https://code.google.com/p/moodle-coordinate-question/downloads/list
+[https://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=8026&course=5 Jean-Michel Védrine]
-This question type was upgraded to the new question engine introduced in Moodle 2.1 by Jean-Michel Vedrine
 ==Moodle versions==
-This version is compatible with Moodle 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8
+2012062500 (Moodle 2.3) or newer
 ==Translations available==
 This plugin is also available in Mexican Spanish
+==Installation==
+* It's a Moodle plugin, so you must [[Installing_plugins|install]] it (or your administrator must do it).
+* Currently formulas question type plugin is not available in the Moodle plugins Directory
+* You must download it from [https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_formulas the author's Github repository].
+* And you must [[Installing_plugins|install another plugin]] (Tim Hunt's [https://github.com/maths/moodle-qbehaviour_adaptivemultipart adaptive multipart behaviour]) so that it works.
+==Drawbacks==
+*  Mastering formulas questions is difficult, there is a learning curve
+* [https://code.google.com/p/moodle-coordinate-question/wiki/Documentation Documentation] is not very good, it was written by Hon Wai Lo (original author of the formulas questions for Moodle 1.9 and 2.0, Jean-Michel Védrine upgraded it for Moodle 2.3 to 2.8), unfortunately Jean-Michel Védrine never had time to improve it
+* It's a Moodle plugin, so you must install it (or your administrator must do it). Currently formulas question type plugin is not available in the Moodle plugins Directory, you must download it from [https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_formulas the author's Github repository]. And you must install another plugin (Tim Hunt's [https://github.com/maths/moodle-qbehaviour_adaptivemultipart adaptive multipart behaviour]) so that it works.
+* As any addon, you will be dependent in the future of the maintainer to upgrade it when a new Moodle version is released
+==See also==
+* [https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=273642#unread this forum thread].
+* Github documentation for the Formulas question type at [https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_formulas https://github.com/jmvedrine/moodle-qtype_formulas]
 [[Category:Contributed code]]
@@ Line 36: / Line 58: @@
 [[Category:Mathematics]]
+[[es:Tipo de pregunta fórmulas]]
-[[es:Tipo de pregunta fórmula]]