A Tutorial on TAOAS

D. P. Story

Description

THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRONTheoretical and Applied MathematicsA Tutorial on TAOASD. P. Storyc 2004 [e-mail] 13, 2004 Version 1.0Table of Contents1 Introduction 32 System Restrictions and Access. 32.1 System ...................... 32.2 Places to Access TAOAS.................... 33 The TAOAS Experience 33.1 Login to TAOAS ........................ 43.2 The Class Page ......................... 43.3 The Quiz ............................ 53.4 The Marked Quiz 5Section 1: Introduction 31. IntroductionThe AcroT X Online Assessment System, or TAOAS for short, is a systemEto deliver online quizzes to the student in the Portable Document Format(PDF).There are three types of questions that can be posed using the AcroT XEauthoring system: (1) multiple choice; (2) math fill-in; and (3) text fill-in.This article describes the functionality of the TAOAS system, whatto expect, and how to take the quizzes. It is hoped you will read theseinstructions carefully, and follow along with the working examples as well.When you finish, there will be a quiz. :-)2. System Restrictions and Access.This section describes the computer system restrictions for using TAOASand strategies by which you as a user can gain access to such a system.2.1. System RestrictionsThe system delivers the quizzes in PDF in order to obtain typeset qualitymathematics on the computer display screen. With the desire to use PDFcomes several (major) restrictions:1. You can only use ...

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• Publié par: Lalip
• Nombre de lectures: 18
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON Theoretical and Applied Mathematics

A Tutorial on TAOAS

 c 2004 [e-mail] January 13, 2004

D. P. Story

 

Version 1.0

Table of Contents 1 Introduction3 2 SystemRestrictions and Access.3 2.1 SystemRestrictions .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 2.2 Placesto Access TAOAS .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 3 TheTAOAS Experience3 3.1 Loginto TAOAS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 3.2 TheClass Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 3.3 TheQuiz .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 3.4 TheMarked Quiz .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Section 1: Introduction

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1. Introduction The AcroT X Online Assessment System, or TAOAS for short, is a system E to deliver online quizzes to the student in the Portable Document Format (PDF). There are three types of questions that can be posed using the AcroT X E authoring system:(1) multiple choice; (2) math fill-in; and (3) text fill-in. This article describes the functionality of the TAOAS system, what to expect, and how to take the quizzes.It is hoped you will read these instructions carefully, and follow along with the working examples as well. When you finish, there will be a quiz.:-)

2. SystemRestrictions and Access. This section describes the computer system restrictions for using TAOAS and strategies by which you as a user can gain access to such a system.

2.1. SystemRestrictions The system delivers the quizzes in PDF in order to obtain typeset quality mathematics on the computer display screen.With the desire to use PDF comes several (major) restrictions: 1.You can only use this system on aMicrosoft Windows platform. This means WinXP and Win2000 operating systems.No Mac, Unix or Linux. 2.Adobe Reader 5.0 or later is required. 3.The system uses cookies, so they need to be enabled on your browser; JavaScript functionality must also be enabled.(Most browsers have cookies and JavaScript enabled by default.)

2.2. Placesto Access TAOAS You can gain access from anywhere you can be connected to the Internet andMost studentsare on an acceptable system, see ‘System Restrictions’. will have access to a proper system at home.Otherwise, the following locations around campus have TAOAS friendly PCs. 1.Bierce Library:Here you can “check out” a wireless laptop, and take the quiz in the quiet of the library.Recommended. 2.Math and CS computing labs, second floor of CAS (College of Arts and Sciences).A username and password are needed to login to these computers. 3.Various Engineering Computer Labs.

3. TheTAOAS Experience In this section, we describe the steps to login to the system, and what to expect as your work your way through the various pages to take a quiz.

Section 3: The TAOAS Experience

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3.1. Loginto TAOAS Go to the TAOAS home page at http://fbsd1.cs.uakron.edu/acrotex/ and click on the appropriate link to your class.Your instructor, no doubt, has a link to the login page on your class home page as well, so don’t try to type this URL into your browser, you may mistype and get upset with me.:-( If all goes well, you should be on the login page of your instructor’s classes (either myself, Dr. Story, or Dr. Price, both of us are teaching Cal- culus I). Your instructor will provide you with ausernameand apassword. The next steps are as follows: 1.From the drop-down list, select your class (this semester there is only one Calculus I class listed).There is another class listed, Math 101, which is a fake class used for testing the system, should not used by calculus students. 2.Enter yourusernameIt is important to enterin the ‘User Name’ field. usernamein the correct field!(Last semester, several students entered usernameandpasswordin the wrong fields, this lead to frustration and heartache.) 3.Enter yourpasswordin the ‘Password’ field.See comments above. 4.Click on ‘Login’ button.(This may not be necessary if you pressed the ‘Enter’ key after filling in your password.)

3.2. TheClass Page After successfully logging in, you should arrive at your class page.Your name should appear near the top, to indicate you are known to the system. On this page you can 1.Take a quiz by clicking on the appropriate quiz link. 2.View the solutions to a previously taken quiz. 3.Change your password. 4.Exit the system using various links provided. Associated with each quiz is adeadline; a date by which you must take the quiz. Theremay be several variations on the same quiz, upon clicking on a quiz link, a variation of that quiz is served up to you.More on taking the quiz, in Section 3.3, below. Similarly, for solutions, you cannot view the solutions until after a cer- tain designated date.See Section 3.4 for more details. You can also change your password, but be sure to remember it, or write it down.It will be in effect then next time you try to login.

Section 3: The TAOAS Experience

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3.3. TheQuiz Click on a quiz link, and you will be served up a quiz.The first thing you should see is a small PDF that says that it is checking for the validity of the user system.This PDF checks whether you are on a windows PC and whether you have Adobe Reader 5.0 or later.If you fail at either of these two, you are sent to an error page. Assuming all is well, a quiz (in PDF) should be loaded into your browser. Your name and student ID are pre-populated. Warning: Donot let anyone have yourusernameandpasswordas they will have access to your Student ID number, and you really don’t want that to happen, do you? If you decide to exit the quiz, do so now using the up arrow in the upper right-hand corner.The quiz starts on the next page, once you turn to this next page, an entry in the database will show that you looked at the quiz, and an initial score of zero is recorded for you. Turn to the next page to begin the quiz. The purpose of the quiz is to enableyouto testyourunderstanding of the topics, and to testyourproblem solving skills.Use the outcome of the quizzes as a gauge of your abilities—adjust your study habits accordingly. As mentioned before, the quiz consists of a series of multiple choice, math fill-in and text fill-in questions. Important: Readthe questions, and carefully work out the solution on a separate sheet of paper.(With multiple choice, its easy to guess, but don’t do that!) At the end of the quiz, click on the “Submit” button.Your score should appear, something like:‘out of 15Score: 12’. Recordthis score for your personal records, then exit using the navigational arrow provided.The quiz is set so that you can’t print it out—for security reasons.You can obtain a printed copy of the quiz after the quizzing period is over. 3.4. TheMarked Quiz When the quiz period is over for a particular quiz, then you are permitted to view your marked and scored quiz, and to even print it out.Follow the steps described earlier to get to the class page (see ‘Login to TAOAS’ on page 4) and click on the “View Quiz Results” link. Again, you will see your name near the top of the page to indicate that these listings correspond to your quizzes.All available quizzes are listed. Click on the one you want to view.The same PDF document for checking the system appears, if you pass, then the quiz you took should appear in the browser.Your name and student ID are again pre-populated. Your score should appear in the lower left-hand side of the cover page. Go to the next page, to see the first question of the quiz.The quiz should be

Section 3: The TAOAS Experience

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marked (an indication or your answer being right or wrong.)The following notation is used. 1. Multiple Choice:Your answer is marked with a black check (✔). If your answer is correct, it is marked with a green check (✔your). If answer (black check) has a red cross (✕✔) through it, your answer was wrong. Inthis case, the correct answer is marked by by green filled circle (●). Ifthe correct answer has a green rectangle around it, that means the instructor has included a solution to this problem.Click on the green rectangular region, and jump to the solution.Return to the quiz by clicking on the green rectangle following the solution. 2. Math and Text fill-in:Your response is pre-populated into each of the text fields.The border of the text field itself is either green or red. The green color indicates your answer was correct (congratulations!) the red means your answer was not correct (ouch!).You’ll see an “Ans” button.Click on it to see a correct answer to that problem. If the “Ans” button as a green boundary around it, that means the instructor provided a solutions to this problem.To see the solution, “Shift-Click” on the “Ans” button to jump to the solutions.Return to the quiz by clicking on the green rectangle following the solution. The instructor may optionally include marginal scores—scores in the mar- gins. Thisis useful for partial credit!(Yes, some multiple choice questions have partial credit—there is only one really correct response, but credit can be given to some of the other choices.) Once you’ve viewed and/or printed your quiz.Exit the system with the navigational arrows provided.  See the interactive version of this document, “Tutorial on TAOAS”, on the Calculus I home page.This document contains some interactive quizzes you can practice on.The document can be viewed online, or downloaded to your hard drive, and viewed using the Adobe Reader outside the browser.