Numworx provides ample content for developers of teaching material. Numworx offers a collection of some 200 course activities (around 2,000 pages). Teachers and developers can adapt these activities using Numworx tools to integrate these with their own educational products.
The Numworx system
Numworx comprises various modules, incorporating the following:
- Numworx Author,
- Numworx Widgets,
- Numworx Player and
- Numworx LMS.
Numworx Author
Interactive course activities (content) for use by students are created in Numworx Author. This is a Java based WYSIWYG authoring environment. While much interactive teaching material is created by IT experts, Numworx Author allows for the creation of complex digital teaching material without specific IT expertise.
The author environment is based on a text editing environment system with rich text layout possibilities (including media) and excellent integration of mathematical notation.
Creating and integrating complex digital course material with Numworx Author
Authors have access to a wide range of item types for interactive assignments such as:
- Text answer boxes
- Multiple choice items
- Drag-and-drop items
- Solution boxes with formula insertion
- Solution boxes with optional multiple lines for step-by-step solutions
- Items for inserting graphs, for example
Numworx Player
Course activities created with Numworx Author can be played in Numworx Player. The Player generates course activity pages and makes these interactive, for example by responding with feedback to student input. Numworx Player employs CAS (Computer Algebra System), enabling teachers to analyze student input. A mathematical problem may have different – yet mathematically equivalent – solutions. With CAS it is possible to recognize that equivalence and to provide meaningful feedback to students. Numworx Player also collects data while the course activity is functioning and passes this to the LMS (Learning Management System), charting each student’s performance. While this can be done in Numworx LMS, Numworx Player can also communicate with other systems.
Numworx LMS
Numworx LMS – Learning Management System - is the online environment in which course activities are presented. Teachers present activities per class or group, after which the students work on the activity. Teachers may - if required - access Numworx Author via Numworx LMS. Numworx is also compatible with Learning Management Systems of other suppliers.
Numworx Widgets
In addition to the basic modules, Numworx also offers a collection of widgets designed for specific complex interactions such as simulations, 2D and 3D construction tools, statistics tools etc. While in many systems widgets generally have limited functionality, many Numworx widgets offer a level of complex functionality previously only available with stand-alone applications. Numworx’s widget collection is easily expanded and third-party software can also operate as a widget using the API supplied.
Check out Widgets
Recognizing handwritten formulas
Students write mathematical notation on a touch screen with a stylus, the system recognizes the handwriting and immediately converts it into usable data. This cognitive software is being developed with Utrecht University in 2017 to provide the best possible support for mathematical activities in a digital environment.