Getting Started with IMathAS

Purpose of this document

This document will guide you through the process of creating your first IMathAS course and setting up a few items and assessments. This is not a comprehensive guide; please refer to the help file for more detailed information on any process.

This document presumes that you have Course Creator rights. If you have Teacher rights, you will not be able to add a new course to the system yourself; contact your IMathAS admin to setup the course, then start this document at step 2.

1. Adding a New Course

1. After logging in to IMathAS, click on "Go to Admin Page" in the grey control panel box.
2. Click the "Add New Course" button.
3. Enter your course name and an enrollment key. The course name is the name that will show up in your "Classes You're Teaching" list and in the student's "Classes You're Taking" list. The enrollment key is the password that students must enter to enroll themselves in your course.
4. Click "Submit".
5. Back at the Admin page, note the Course ID of the course you just created. Your students will need both your Course ID and enrollment key to sign up for your course.
6. Click on the Course Name to enter your course. In the future, the course will show up on your Home Page under "Classes You're Teaching".

Note: If you have Admin or Course Creator rights, you will not automatically be registered as instructor for the course. To do so, click the "Add/Remove Teachers" link, then click the "Add as Teacher" link next to your name.

2. The Course Page

When you first access your course, the only thing you will see is two grey control panel boxes. To familiarize yourself with the control options, here are some brief descriptions:

• Add an item: Used to add items to your course
• List Students: List the students in your course. This page also provides options for importing students into your course and for setting testing due date exceptions.
• Show Gradebook: Your course gradebook. From here you can review individual students' tests, adjust grades, accept overtime tests, and export the gradebook to a file.
• Manage Question Set: Search, modify, and add questions to the system question database.
• Manage Libraries: Add to or modify the question library structure.
• Copy Course Items: Copy items in your course, or copy items from other instructors' courses
• Export/Import Course Items: For sharing course items with other IMathAS installations.
• Shift all Course Dates: Change all course item dates at one time.
• Mass Change Assessments: Change several assessments' settings at once.

Once you add items to the course page, each item will have an icon attached to it. The icons change color based on the due date; grey when unavailable, and green for 2 weeks or more until due date, changing to yellow then red as the due date approaches

3. Add an Inline Text Item

Inline Text items display announcements or other text on the course page.

1. Select "Inline Text" from the "Add An Item" pulldown
2. Enter a title for the text item, e.g. "Welcome to the Class!"
3. Enter the item text. The editor will allow you to format your text item. The editor has been extended with support for math and graphs.
   • To add math, click the `(sum +)` button. This will enter a red box with backticks into the editor. Type in your math using calculator-style notation, for example x^2/5. Click outside the red box, and the math will render
   • To add a graph, click on the graph button. Depending on the browser you're using, you'll either see an empty graph. In Internet Explorer with AdobeSVG installed, double-click on it. In other browsers, click on the graph, then hit the graph button again. A popup window will come up allowing you to enter equations to graph
4. Enter an "Available After" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
5. Enter an "Available Until" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
6. Click Submit
7. You will be returned to the course page, and should see your text item displayed. You can use the "Modify" link to alter the item.

4. Add a Block

Blocks are used to group similar items (by chapter or week, for example). This allows you to hide from students a set of items by date. Teachers will see non-current blocks collapsed, keeping the course page cleaner.

1. Select "Block" from the "Add an Item" pulldown
2. Enter a title for the block, e.g. "Chapter 1"
3. Enter an "Available After" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
4. Enter an "Available Until" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
5. The "When not available" option allows you to decide whether to hide the block from students outside of the available dates, or whether to show the block condensed. In a Week structure, you will probably want to hide the blocks from students. If you're using IMathAS for practice tests, you may want to show the blocks collapsed so students can access old practice tests.
6. Click Submit
7. You will be returned to the course page. If you the block shows an "Expand" button, click it to expand the block

5. Add a Linked Text Item

Linked Text items create a link on the course page to a longer text item, an uploaded file, or to an external website.

1. Select "Add Linked Text" from the "Add an Item" pulldown inside of the block you created. This will place the item inside the block.
2. Enter a title for the item, e.g. "Syllabus"
3. Enter a summary, if desired. The summary will display on the course page
4. Decide on what you want the item to be:
   • Typed text: Enter the text in the text box provided
   • Web link: Enter the link in the text box, starting with "http://". Example: "http://www.imathas.com"
   • File: Skip past the text box, and click the "Browse" button to select a file to upload
5. Enter an "Available After" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
6. Enter an "Available Until" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
7. Click Submit
8. You will be returned to the course page. The title and summary for the item will be displayed. Click on the title to view the item

6. Create an Assessment

Assessments are computer-gradable tests or homework sets.

1. Select "Add Assessment" from the "Add an Item" pulldown inside of the block you created.
2. Enter an Assessment Name. Example: "Sample test"
3. Enter a Summary. This will display on the course page. Example: "A sample test"
4. Enter an Intro/Instructions. This will display at the beginning of the assessment. Example: "Answer all the questions"
5. Enter an "Available After" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
6. Enter an "Available Until" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
7. Select Assessment Options
   • Time limit: The number of minutes to allow for the test. Enter 0 for no time limit
   • Display method: Select whether to display the full test at once, one question at a time, or allow students to skip around between questions.
   • Default Points per Problem: How many points each problem should be worth. This can be overridden for individual questions
   • Default Attempts per Problem: How many tries a student should be allowed at each problem. This can be overridden for individual questions
   • Default Penalty per Attempt: What percent penalty should be applied for missed attempts. For example, if this is set at 10%, then if a student misses one attempt then completes the problem successfully, they will receive 90% of possible points. This can be overridden for individual questions.
   • Feedback method: How much detail should be provided to students. This option also can set the test type. The choices are:
     • Final Score: Only show the cumulative score at the end of the test
     • Score on each question at end: Show the score on each question at the end of the test
     • Score on each as its submitted: Show the score for a question once it is submitted. This option only applies to the "one question at a time" and "skip around" display methods.
     • Practice test: Show the score on each question as it's submitted, allow a student to regenerate the test. Scores are not saved.
     • Homework: Show the score on each question as it's submitted, allow a student to try a similar problem if they miss one to regain full credit.
   • Show answers: Select when to make the answers available to the students. In testing mode, you can select to make answers available immediately (through the gradebook), or only after the test due date. For practice tests and homework, you can select to show answers after a number of attempts.
   • Shuffle item order: Randomize the question order for each student. Otherwise the test will present questions in the order you specify
   • All items same random seed: Rarely needed. Only needed if you need all questions to generate the same data.
   An example set of options for homework might be:
   • Display method: Skip around
   • Attempts per Problem: 3
   • Penalty per Attempt: 40%
   • Feedback method: Homework
   • Show answers: After 2 attempts
   Since the answer is shown after 2 attempts, these settings would allow a student to earn 20% of possible points just for trying the problem.
8. Click Submit. You will be taken to the Add Questions page
9. Click the "Select Libraries" button.
10. In the libraries pop-up, select the "Examples" Library and click "Use Libraries"
11. Click "Search" to list all the items in the library.
12. Click "Check/Uncheck All" to select all the problems. Alternatively, you can use the "Preview" button to preview individual questions, and select the questions you wish to use.
13. Click the "Add Selected (using defaults)" button to add the questions to the assessment.
14. Click "Done"
15. You will be returned to the course page

Note: While an assessment is available, you will be unable to add or remove questions or change some test options. This is to prevent messing up the scores of students who have already completed the test. To modify the test after its available, you need to change the available dates.

7. Set up a Discussion Forum

Discussion forums allow students to post questions or comments. The discussion forum system in IMathAS is a simple threaded discussion setup, designed primarily to allow question-and-answer postings.

1. Select "Add Forum" from the "Add an Item" pulldown
2. Enter a Forum Name. Example: "Homework Questions"
3. Enter a Description. This will display on the course page. Example: "Ask homework questions here"
4. Enter an "Available After" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
5. Enter an "Available Until" date and time. Click the calendar icon to pop up a calendar.
6. Click Submit
7. You will be returned to the course page. Click on the Forum Name
8. Click "Add New Thread"
9. Enter a Subject for the posting. Example: "Welcome"
10. Enter a message
11. Select a post type. These options are only available to teachers.
    • Regular post
    • Displayed at top of list. Good for announcements or instructions, this moves the post to the top of the thread list
    • Displayed at top and locked. Places the post at the top of the thread list, and does not allow replies to the post
12. Click Submit
13. Click on your post Subject to view the message.
14. Use the breadcrumbs (location listing at the top of the page) to return to the course page

That's it!

That's the basics of creating items in IMathAS. There is a lot more to IMathAS, such as managing the question set or libraries, or writing new questions.

© 2006 David Lippman
This guide was written with development grant support from the WA State Distance Learning Council
Last Modified: 10/13/2006