A Short, Selective Mobius Guide
Topics
What is Mobius?
Mobius
is a STEM-focused, course-based, online software system that
lets authors and instructors create interactive learning and
assessment materials.
A typical course will have students learn from narrated lectures sprinkled with
live, self-check questions, interact with applets for
visualization and experimentation
and assess themselves with quizzes.
Mobius also offers a number of management features: course instructors
and student rosters, course gradebooks and
IMS LTI
connections to other Learning Management Systems eg UW's LEARN system.
Mobius uses MathJax software for producing
content with quality-looking mathematics notation.
Underlying Mobius are
Maplesoft's computer algebra system Maple and the assessment system MapleTA
giving Mobius a capable assessment system able to
recognize not only mathematically equivalent answers but also
non-unique answers that can be checked for requested mathematical properties.
The purpose of this guide is to help instructors learn Mobius
as quickly as possible.
UWaterloo Open Mobius courses
The following web sites are public, free, non-credit courses built with
Mobius at UWaterloo. They illustrate lessons, assignments (quizzes)
and interactions with students:
- Open Math - 4 linear algebra courses for university
- CEMC - 11 math courses and 4 programming courses for high school and middle school
- Open Engineering - 1 engineering chemistry course
- Open Science - a chemistry course and a physics course for high school
UWaterloo uses Mobius in many large first and second year STEM courses.
Among the nearly 100 Mobius courses in 2019 are CHEM 120, 123, 140, 220, 254, 262; PHYS 111, 112; BIOL 273, 303; MATH 127, 128, 228; STAT 202, 230, 231, 340; ACTSC 231, 331, 372; AMATH 250; CO 250; CHE 101, 102; CIVE 123; EARTH 238; ECON 101; GENE 123; ME 212; MTE 120, 203, 204; NE 121, 222L.
Examples of question types within lessons for student self-checks, feedback and practice
Note the use of headings, images and question layout in the
examples that follow.
- algorithmic questions, algorithmic plots, "How Did I Do?" and "Try Another" interactions in a lesson
(Calculus and Vectors > Curve Sketching > Algorithm for Curve Sketching)
- "How Did I Do?" numeric questions and narrated, animated slide in a lesson
(note alternative format button)
(Worked Example: Significant Figures in measurements and calculations)
- drawing vectors sketch question along with multiple-choice, math expression (using math editor), and number with unit questions, all
with "How Did I Do?" interactions
(Physics Problems for Practice and Review > Mechanics > Projectile Motion)
- number list question with non-unique correct response
(question 7)
- 2 examples of adaptive numeric question type (3 sections, 5 sections apiece)
- options: 1 verify attempt, "Start Over" button
- question strategy: if original question is answered unsuccessfully then
build up needed knowledge throughout next sections, then repeat question
in last section
- collection of a multiple-choice, list (drop-down menu), drag-to-sort questions and several hide/show solution areas
- "unlimited" (algorithmic) linear algebra practice questions, similar to a quiz or assesssment
- Geogebra app and question examples embedded on CECM Mobius pages
Question Types
Summary below (more details).
- clickable image - pick the right spot on an image (example)
- essay - long answer response (text and math in text editor); manually graded;
- free-body diagram - draw force vectors on background image
- HTML - question creation requires HTML and javascript code to present a question and then evaluate a student's response - a very general question type
- list - select from a drop-down menu or enter a response in a text box; partial credit, text matching options (regex)
- math formula - formula or equation (options: units, list of formulas)
- maple-graded - requires grading script to allow checking non-unique answers, partial credit, mathematical properties of the response
- matching - match items from one list to items from another list
- math app - requires designing and coding an interactive Maple application using buttons, sliders, plots, input and output boxes; the final state of the app is graded (example and demos)
- multiple choice and multiple select - select one or more correct answers from list of options
- numeric - enter a decimal number with optional units; graded by tolerance and number of significant digits
- document upload -manual grading of student files (pdf, image, docx, ...)
- sketch - response is drawing lines or curves on a graph paper background (options: select a region, draw asymptotes, select lines)
- sorting - place items in the specified order
- true/false
- adaptive question - a multi-section question; each section can hold more than 1 question;
each section can be repeated; each section decides based on student responses if the whole question ends or advances to the following section
Question attributes of note:
- algorithmic variables - scripted values used in a question and answer
to create multiple (but similar) versions of the question
- variables can be assigned random values:
- a random number from a given range e.g. -10, in .1 increments
- a random function from a list of functions
- a matrix with a certain rank
- a plot from set of plots
- variables can be constrained or filtered by conditions e.g. $x > $y
- algorithmic grading code - a small script that analyses a student's response
- How Did I Do? button: allow students to check their
answer (useful in lessons). Can limit number of question attemtps.
- Try another button: again useful for lessons with algorithmic questions to
allows students to repeat a new instance of the question
eg https://courseware.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/11/assignments/63/11
Assignment Types
Summary below (more details).
- Anonymous Practice - unlimited attempts, graded results displayed (but not recorded)
- Homework or Quiz - typical graded quiz, settings for duration, date, #attempts, feedback, ...
- Proctored Exam - graded quiz requires proctor authorization to start
- Mastery Dialog - graded quiz requires degree of mastery (number of correctly answered questions) to proceed to another group of questions, one question at a time is presented, submitted, and graded
- Study Session Dialog - results not recorded, flashcard style question presentation (one question at a time is presented, submitted, and graded), students can skip or repeat questions, exit at any time
- Adaptive assignment - current performance in an assignment determines the next question or branch of questions to be presented (question branches can be organized by level of difficulty or topic)
Mobius Help Pages
Overview of the DigitalEd instructor help pages:
- chapter 1: an overview of just the assessment assignment part of Mobius
ie the MapleTA part of Mobius
- chapter 2: how Mobius classes work
- a Mobius class is a course where
students interact with course material, take online assignments
i.e. quizzes, and look at their Mobius grades
- how to create a class and how to use the class File Manager for uploading
and organizing file content
- University of Waterloo instructors connect their
Mobius and UW LEARN courses to share a common course roster
and to allow automatic grade transfer from Mobius to the LEARN system
- students see content on their class home page as a list of Units - see chapter 4
- chapter 3: how to use the course calendar; the calendar is not turned on in
the UW Mobius authoring server at this time
- chapter 4: how to make a lesson
- a Lesson is an assembly of html pages, slideshows, questions,
and math apps
- a Unit is a collection of Lessons and Assignments
- students engage with course content by selecting a unit
and then a lesson within a unit
- a diagram shows how Mobius content is named and organized:
- a course is a collection of Units
- a Unit is a collection of Lessons
- a Lesson is a collection of Sections and/or Pages
- a Section is a collection of Pages
- a Page is a collection of Blocks
- a Block is one item of {Question, Text (HTML), Slideshow, MathApp, or
Question Group (i.e. collection of questions)}
- chapter 5: how to make a slideshow
- includes self-playing slideshows, and slides with transitions,
narration, interactive questions and math apps
- table of slideshow editor command icons - scroll down a bit to see the table named "The Slideshow Editor Toolbar"
- chapter 6: how Mobius assignments work
(a Mobius assignment is an online quiz)
- an assignment is a collection of questions plus some settings about
when the assignments starts, ends, how long it lasts, and when feedback is
available
- chapter 7: about the Content Repository where course content is created
and organized
- this chapter is about using the Question Editor to make
Mobius questions,
organizing content by type and content tags, adding hints and feedback
content to questions, creating and using common delivery settings (called policy sets)
- for details about slideshows see chapter 5
- for details about creating and grading a Math App question see chapter 8
- for details about creating a Math App see the list of Math App videos
in the video section at the end of this page
- chapter 8: how to create the many different question types
- chapter 9: how to create questions with features such as 2D, 3D plots,
numeric tolerance and significant digits, units, random numbers,
algorithmic variables and access to the Maple math engine for a variety of
functions useful for writing questions and answer checking code
(see section 9.18. Functions and Arguments)
- chapter 10: a description of the class gradebook including assignment and
question statistics and rubric grading
- chapter 12: how to use course modules to share (export and import) course
content among courses
Chapter sections to look through:
Videos
- four overview videos on youtube
Overview of the Class Homepage
The Difference Between a Lesson and an Assignment
Overview of the System Homepage
Overview of the Login Page
- 36 short Mobius how-to videos
Setting Up Users and Classes
How To Initially Setup Your Course
Creating Users
Creating a Class
Adding Users to a Class
Navigating the Content Repository
Overview: Creating Questions
Viewing Your Content
Lesson Authoring
Designing a Lesson
Customizing the Properties of a Lesson
Slideshow Authoring
Overview of the Slideshow Editor
Creating and Managing Slides in the Slideshow Editor
Adding Transition Markers to your Slideshow
Creating a Video Slideshow
Assignment Authoring
Designing an Assignment
Adding Questions to an Assignment
Customizing the Policies of an Assignment
Question Creation
Creating a Multiple Choice Question
Creating a True/False Question
Creating a Clickable Image Question
Creating a Drop Down Menu Question
Creating a Matching Question
Creating a Mathematical Formula Question
Creating a Multiple Selection Question
Creating an Adaptive Question
Creating an Essay Question
Creating a Numeric Question
Creating a Scanned Document Question
Creating a Sorting Question
Creating a Fill-in-the-Blank Question
Creating a Free Body Diagram Question
Creating a Maple Graded Question
Creating a Sketch Question
Gradebook
How to Change a Student’s Grade using the Gradebook
How to Export Grades from the Gradebook
How to Search for Grades in the Gradebook
How to View a Student’s Assignment Submission
How to View Item Statistics
- videos on Maple Math Apps:
- other videos
MathJax Extras
Miscellaneous
- files uploaded to the class File Manager should use alphanumeric names
(including underscores and dashes) but not spaces or any kind of brackets
Contact
Paul Kates
Mathematics Faculty CTE Liaison
pkates@uwaterloo.ca, x37047
Updated: Fri May 1 01:38:18 2020.