Now\n that face-to-face teaching in many institutions has been cancelled in \nresponse to the coronavirus crisis, many lecturers are looking for ways \nto move their teaching and assessment online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve put this page together as a reference to describe how Numbas could be used to help your students and to replace paper-based assessments.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Numbas is a free, open-source e-assessment system for mathematical subjects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key features include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s an editor at numbas.mathcentre.ac.uk<\/a> where you can create your own questions or reuse existing questions. It\u2019s quick to sign up and we have lots of documentation and tutorials<\/a> to get you started. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbas\n exams run entirely on the student\u2019s device, so the student\u2019s experience\n is not affected by a spotty internet connection. Once the exam starts, \nthe only communication with the server is to report scores back (even \nthis is optional \u2013 if you don\u2019t want to track students\u2019 scores, Numbas\n can run entirely standalone). Other systems need constant communication\n back to the server to render mathematical notation or to handle marking\n and navigation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you\u2019re using the Numbas LTI tool, instructors can: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Numbas was originally designed for use in our mathematics and statistics programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, Numbas has also been used for many other subjects, including engineering; chemistry; physics; business studies; psychology; sports science; accounting; and biomedical science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even non-mathematical subjects can benefit from Numbas by making use of its several multiple-choice question types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Automatic assessment gives students immediate feedback, allowing them to work at their own pace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Randomised questions are good both for practice and for exams where you don’t want students to be able to copy off each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There’s a lot of free material available to use under a permissive Creative Commons licence. Use the Explore page<\/a> or the search facility to find content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow the tutorials at docs.numbas.org.uk<\/a>. They will show you how to browse the question database, write your question, and deliver an exam to your students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve done that, there\u2019s full documentation on every feature of the editor, as well as \u2018how-to\u2019 instructions for common tasks<\/a>. A good next step is our document on effectively planning a Numbas question<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Post your questions to the numbas-users mailing list<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re happy to answer questions emailed to numbas@ncl.ac.uk<\/a>, but please understand we\u2019re quite busy at the moment! <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s more detailed info in the Numbas documentation<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For purely formative material, you can just share a link to a Numbas exam<\/a>.\n Students can complete the test, but their scores won\u2019t be saved \nanywhere. This is a good solution if you want to quickly provide a bank \nof revision material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To\n save scores, you need a virtual learning environment that supports \neither SCORM (Moodle and Blackboard do, among others) or LTI (pretty \nmuch everything). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The table below shows which standards are supported by common VLEs. <\/p>\n\n\n\nHow it works <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What can I use it for?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why should I use it? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How do I get started? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Where can I get help? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Delivering Numbas tests to students <\/h2>\n\n\n\n