Introduction to Numbas

Christian Lawson-Perfect

Newcastle University

<section class="section2"><h2>Plan for today</h2>
<ul>
<li>Introduce Numbas and quick demo</li>
<li>Explore the Numbas editor</li>
<li>
<p>More advanced demo</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Lunch!</strong></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Design and write a question together</p>
</li>
<li>Supervised play</li>
</ul>
<hr/>
<ul>
<li>Numbas is an open-source web-based e-assessment tool.</li>
<li>It is aimed at numerate disciplines.</li>
<li>Developed by the e-Learning Unit in Newcastle University's School of Mathematics, Statistics & Physics</li>
</ul>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>Key features</h2>
<ul>
<li>Scalable, reliable and accessible to a broad range of users.</li>
<li>Easy to use.</li>
<li>Used by question authors who aren't experts.</li>
<li>Feedback is important.</li>
<li>Customisable everywhere.</li>
<li>Delivered through VLE or standalone.</li>
<li>Lots of maths features.</li>
</ul>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>A quick demo</h2>
<p><a href="https://numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk/exam/1973/numbas-website-demo/embed/" target="_blank">Numbas demo exam</a></p>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>Formative vs summative use</h2>
<p>Computer-aided assessment is great for formative assessment.</p>
<p>Students can try randomised questions over and over until they're happy.</p>
<div class="fragment">
<p>Summative assessment can pose problems:</p>
<ul>
<li>How to prevent cheating?</li>
<li>Can you ask sufficiently challenging questions?</li>
</ul>
</div><hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>Applications of Numbas</h2>
<p>At Newcastle, we use Numbas for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Formative use in a pre-entry course.</li>
<li>Diagnostic tests in week 1.</li>
<li>Banks of practice material to supplement lecture material.</li>
<li>In-course assessment.</li>
<li>Some final exams.</li>
</ul>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>Subjects using Numbas</h2>
<ul>
<li>Mathematics and statistics</li>
<li>Physics</li>
<li>Engineering</li>
<li>Chemistry</li>
<li>Business studies</li>
<li>Psychology</li>
<li>Biomedical science</li>
<li>Sports science</li>
<li>... and more</li>
</ul>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>Outside of Newcastle</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>800+</strong> institutions in the UK and around the world.</li>
<li><strong>3,000+</strong> users registered on public editor.</li>
<li><strong>8,000+</strong> questions and exams released for free reuse under an open access licence.</li>
</ul>
<p>(as of January 2020, <a href="https://numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk/stats/">as far as we can tell</a>)</p>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>The mathcentre editor</h2>
<ul>
<li>Open to everyone.</li>
<li>Collect ready-made questions into a custom test</li>
<li>Or write your own.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="http://numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk">numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk</a></p>
</blockquote>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>Task 1 - explore the editor</h2>
<p>Open the editor at</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk">numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Follow the "Getting Started" tutorial at</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://docs.numbas.org.uk">docs.numbas.org.uk</a></p>
</blockquote>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>More stuff</h2>
<p><a href="https://numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk/exam/12308/more-advanced-demo/preview/" target="_blank">More advanced demo</a></p>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>Task 2 - plan a question</h2>
<ul>
<li>What do we want to assess?</li>
<li>What must the student do?</li>
<li>How will they get it wrong?</li>
</ul>
<hr/>
</section><section class="section2"><h2>Thanks!</h2>
<p><strong>Website</strong>: <a href="http://www.numbas.org.uk">numbas.org.uk</a></p>
<p><strong>Email:</strong> <a href="mailto:numbas@ncl.ac.uk">numbas@ncl.ac.uk</a></p>
<p><strong>Twitter:</strong> <a href="https://twitter.com/NclNumbas">@NclNumbas</a></p>
<p><em>Source code</em>: <a href="http://github.com/numbas">github.com/numbas</a></p>
</section>