Maple T.A.

What’s New in Maple T.A. 8.0

Enhance Student Learning with Adaptive Questions

• Provide more information.
• Let the student try a simpler version of the question before retrying the original problem.
• Walk the student through the problem one step at a time.
• Try the same question again for reduced credit.
• Present whatever other approach the instructor feels is appropriate.

• When a new version or solution step appears.
• The number of attempts that are allowed at each stage.
• How much credit the student gets, including partial credit for incomplete answers and penalty deductions for repeated attempts.
• If the correct answer should appear after the problem has been attempted the maximum number of times.
• When to move onto the next question in the assignment.
  
  Other Recent Additions

Flexible Matrix Questions (2011)

• Matrix questions are now highly flexible and easy to respond to. Students can enter arbitrary matrices of any size, in an intuitive, natural way. The instructor grades individual elements or the entire matrix at once, allowing greater precision in feedback and the option of partial grading.

Palettes for Integrals and Derivatives (2011)

• A natural math notation response area is available for all types of Maple-graded questions. The new math editor for responses to Maple-syntax questions offers palettes for a wide collection of math expressions, including new palettes for derivatives and integrals. Instructors can ask questions that require these elements in the response without requiring the students to know Maple syntax.

Powerful Mathematics Engine (Every year)

• Every version of Maple T.A. uses the latest release of Maple as its mathematics engine. This means that all the new mathematics and visualization tools of Maple are always available to Maple T.A. users.

Maple T.A. is the system of choice for those who want full control over their question content. Whether you want to customize the many available questions or write your own, Maple T.A. provides the most comprehensive, easiest-to-use authoring tools available for mathematics-based content.

New in Maple T.A. 8

Enhanced Question Designer

The question designer in Maple T.A. provides an intuitive environment for authoring and modifying question content. The question designer walks you through the process step-by-step, providing a point-and-click interface for creating a wide variety of question types. It also helps you create powerful algorithms for algorithmically-generated questions, and guides you through the process of adding hints, feedback, and solutions to your questions.

In Maple T.A., the question designer has been extended to provide an interface for authoring adaptive questions and controlling their behavior. It includes an easy method to define your primary and secondary questions, determine when each section appears, and control how the responses will be graded.

New Question Content

New and improved questions are now available from the Maple T.A. Content Center. There are hundreds of new questions, and hundreds more have been enhanced to include hints, solutions, and algorithms. Topics include calculus, precalculus, physics, chemistry, and statistics. All questions can be used as-is or they can be further customized to best suit your needs.

Everything Else You Want in a Testing and Assessment System

Of course, Maple T.A. has all the features you would expect in any testing and assessment system, in addition to all the features that make it ideal for math-based testing, including lots of different question types, control over numerous aspects of the assignments, and a gradebook that is second to none in terms of its flexibility and analytical tools.

New in Maple T.A. 8

Secure the Testing Environment Using the Maple T.A. Proctored Browser

The internet provides reams of useful information and tools to students, but when they are taking a test or doing a graded assignment, instructors sometimes wish it was not quite so easy to get at. With Maple T.A. 8, instructors can declare the internet and local computer programs off-limits by requiring students to take their test or assignment in the Maple T.A. Proctored Browser.

• When using the Maple T.A. Proctored Browser, students must stay inside the Maple T.A. environment until the test or assignment is completed. They cannot access other web sites or programs.
• Instructors can require the use of the Maple T.A Proctored Browser through a simple check box in the assignment policies.
• The Maple T.A. Proctored Browser can be installed on lab computers in advance, or students can download and install it themselves.

Other New Features

Instructors can require that students access Maple T.A. from a given list of IP addresses, to ensure students can take assignments only from approved computers or labs.

The student’s name and student number appears at the top of every page, so supervisors can ensure that the correct student is taking the correct test.

A new assignment property allows the cumulative assignment score to appear at the top of the page as the student takes the assignment, so students can monitor their progress as they go.

Recent Additions

Enhanced Gradebook (2011)

The flexible gradebook in Maple T.A. provides all the tools you need to track and analyze your students’ progress. It captures student results for individual assignments and questions within an assignment, allows you to set up grading schemes that include work done outside of Maple T.A., import and export grades, and more. Its unsurpassed statistical analysis tools provide in-depth insight of the results from the student, assignment, and question point of view, so you can get the information you want in the form you need.

In 2011, the gradebook was enhanced to include even more options for analyzing grades, so instructors can gain a detailed understanding of how students are performing. Enhancements include:

• The grading scheme for the entire course can be defined inside Maple T.A., with appropriate weightings and flexible policies for dealing with missed, repeated, and worst assignments.
• Instructors can view all responses to an assignment question, enabling them to easily look for patterns, such as common errors.
• Instructors can access complete gradebook data for assignments given to multiple child classes.
• Class grades for external assignments can be imported into Maple T.A. using a CSV file.

Administration

Maple T.A. can be seamlessly integrated into all your institutions’ systems and routines, ensuring a smooth experience for students, instructors, and administrators alike.

New in Maple T.A. 8

Integration with Course Management Systems

You can incorporate Maple T.A. into virtually any course management system through the use of the following tools.

• The Maple T.A. Connector for Blackboard® Software (available separately) integrates Maple T.A. into your existing Blackboard course management system.
• Maple T.A. includes a connector for integrating with the Moodle™ course management system.
• A web services API allows you to build your own connector to integrate Maple T.A. into other course management systems, including custom-built solutions.

New in Maple T.A. 8, connectivity with course management systems has been extended to include Moodle 2.

Administration Tools

Maple T.A. comes with an administration interface that makes it easy to set up and monitor Maple T.A. Starting from this single screen in Maple T.A., administrators can configure email, Maple, Apache Tomcat, and the underlying database, view usage statistics, and more. New tools in Maple T.A. 8 allow system administrators to monitor individual Maple T.A. software components.

Recent Additions

Translatable Interface and Language Packs (2010, 2011)

Maple T.A. has full support for international languages, including:

• Support for international characters in questions
• A translatable interface, including menus, buttons, instructions, and messages displayed to the students and instructors

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