The STACK (System for Teaching and Assessment using a Computer algebra Kernel) set of plugins extends your abilities as an instructor to provide feedback to students regarding their work on mathematics and other related subjects.
In brief, the STACK plugin provides a new question type for Quizzes that “concentrates on student-provided answers which are mathematical expressions.” This is a powerful plugin for instructors who want to provide students with high quality feedback based upon the students answers.
The plugin uses Maxima to render and analyze the mathematical expressions created by instructors and students and, one of the most often ‘missing’ pieces of any plugin, STACK is decently documented by its developers for both instructor and student. Back in 2012, the the Transforming Assessment webinar series featured a presentation about how to use STACK, check it out here [direct video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aqYgCohLlk]:
Hi,
STACK is available by default on all gnomio.com and milaulas.com sites.
If you are going to use it frequently just email us asking to enable the “optimised” mode for you.
Regards,
Gnomio Support Team
Thank you for highlighting STACK.
Just one correction. The video you link to was part of the Transforming Assessment webinar series (http://transformingassessment.net – recommended). It was not hosted by Moodle.
Thanks for the correction, Tim. Updated!
Thanks for highlighting this plugin.
I’m always keen to hear from users with suggestions and welcome contributions at all levels, from reports of students’ experiences, example questions, tips and better documentation through to new code.
STACK is sophisticated and I make no apology for that: we are trying to automate formative feedback in university (and high school) mathematics. As a result STACK can be hard to learn, so please don’t hesitate to contact me if you are stuck.
There is a demonstration site with the plugin installed here: http://stack.bham.ac.uk/moodle
Chris