User Stories
Review of Maple T.A.
By: David Fisher
"In February 2003 we linked up with Maplesoft’s Canadian
headquarters for an online seminar and were impressed by this new product’s
ability to accept alternative forms of an answer, using the power of
the computer algebra software Maple to compare a student’s response
with the correct one."
"Maple T.A. has proved most useful in ‘gateway testing’,
ie. initial assessment of new students, but has also been used for part
of the assessment in a number of our Level 1 modules and service teaching."
"An important advantage of Maple T.A. over other CAA software is
the Maple-graded question. Here, Maple is used to compare a student’s
response with the correct answer. If the two are regarded as equivalent
by Maple, then the answer is graded as correct unless some form of the
answer has been specifically excluded."
"As a means of providing unlimited revision and practice material
on basic mathematical topics it is of great value; we have not yet exploited
its full potential in this area but have been developing more question
banks for the purpose."
Excerpts from "Review of Maple T.A." by David Fisher, in MSOR
Connections, November 2004.
For the complete article, click here. (PDF, 191 KB) |