CM is a life-saver for large classes because it almost solves some problems:
I did this!
There are different errors:
Server-side OCR cannot identify the student. Such errors are fixed manually really promptly. This usually happens when the email does not match the name 1;
Server-side OCR misidentifies the student and misatributes the work. This is the worst possible error which happens rarely, and usually happens when the email does not match the name.
Some pages are not scanned properly and should be rescanned. See below fail-safe.
all bold. (c) The students are not numbered, each page contains unknown number of names. I create the list at the morning of exam or a night before, 14 points, sufficient spacing, numbers, 25 names per page (the lat pages of the groups are smaller if we divide students into groups according to locations)
The major limitation of CM out-of-the-box was that each assessment has one variant. If I have several variants they recommend to make a separate CM assesment for each variant.
This hurts. Why? Assume that I have 9 variants for each Quiz (I have 16 tutorials offered during at 9 different time slots) this means 9 x 7 assessments for quizzes and
The work-around for the second problem is not to export marks to Quercus, but to download to csv files and then manually upload them to a Quercus the same mark column. I never tried this since I found much better solution. And it does not address the first problem anyway.
How to create BIG pdf file to give to PrintShop? CM recommends:
make your pdf file, upload to server, say how many students, put full marks to problems. Then we clone this pdf file, put on each page QR-code and we give you this big file to download.
We do exactly this but the file we upload to the server has the same number of pages but is either empty or contains only common elements. Then we download this file and postprocess. What is it? My smart LaTeX script overprints each booklet by a corresponding problem set.
I want to give 9 different versions of Quiz so each tutorial gets its own version. Then 1-100 get variant 1 for TUT0101, 101--200 Variant 1 for TUT0102 in the same time slot, 201--300 get variant 2 for TUT0201, ... . (I really want each tutorial section start from a good
number). Finally I remove many unneeded booklets and go to Printshop.
Actually some booklets are not just removed but taken to a separate file which I email to ATS if requested.
Ditto for Tests with Morning Sitting, Noon Sitting, may be Afternoon Sitting, Main (Night) Sitting and Deferred Sitting.
My script also prints Booklet Number (it knows it!) by Huge Digits in the top left corner of the front page, so students can record it easily.
Some (too many) students cheat on Quizzes. They cheat a lot. I doubt if this gives them a big unfair advantage but other students think so. And it is a huge demotivator. I worked so hard, and these cheaters...
So I give in each section several variants (it means A LOT work for me and a bit of extra work for TAs). And there are two seemingly conflicting requirements:
My supersmart LaTeX script 2 overprints each booklet by a corresponding problem set, prints booklet numbers in huge digits and also shuffles the bookets. As a result in pdf file (and in the PrintShop delivery)the sequence is Booklet 1 with variant 1 Booklet 21 with variant 2 Booklet 41 with variant 3 Booklet 61 with variant 4 Booklet 81 with variant 5 Booklet 2 with variant 1 Booklet 22 with variant 2 .....
When I first gave (during the lectures) the multiversion quiz one student too smart for his own good approached me with the question if I know that different students got different problems 😂 I answered So what? And how do you know?!! Late some students expressed appreciation that cheaters were given a hard time. Does it eliminate cheating? Not completely but if you have two identiacal solutions of students sitting side-by-side I could not be sure if there was a cooperation or one of them simply snooped, now if I have two such solutions but there were say 2 students between them, I know that they cooperated and can give 0 to each without fear to punish an innocent.
Or, BTW, assume that I want to give them table of integrals. What is the best way to deliver? My LaTeX script also inserts these two pages in the end of each booklet. These pages do not have QR-codes and should not be uploaded to CM. Students are instructed to detach them from the test booklet (but some fail so one need to check the booklets before cutting corners).
People in PS (I have a good relations with them, we chat every time, were confused You say that the booklet has 16 pages but it says '1 out of 14'
? 😕 I said look at the last 2 pages!
They looked, saw no QR-code and said Oooh! You mathematicians are so smart!!!
😮.
Once I sent the same booklet into Printshop and to ATS and both were used. What should I do?
You can guess which one I used.
This should be forbidden, especially usage of non-utoronto mail servers as it violates privacy). ↩
See Here's an example of my LaTeX script. You need to modify it for your own needs ↩