Math Symbol Palette

Updated December 30, 2022 12:29

Inspera Assessment

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The article Tips and examples of Math Symbol Palettes provides you with examples of premade math palettes.

Content

What is a math palette toolbar?
Make a math palette
Adding the palette to an Math entry, math working or essay question

What is a math palette toolbar?

When candidates answer a Math entry or Math working question in Inspera Assessment, a math palette will become visible when hovering over the answer box.

The math palette is also available in essay questions in the toolbar:

With this function, the candidate gets the opportunity to answer with math symbols or any other LaTeX symbols.

The purpose of the configurable math palette is to enable institutions to customise the palette to the specific requirements in the question. The custom palette is then applied to a particular math entry, math working, or essay question.

Permissions

Creating and editing palette is only available for Authors with extended access. The option will be available in the Author drop-down menu.

All authors can use the published palettes.

Make a math palette

Setup

Get started by creating a new Math palette, or by copying an existing one from the list.
Give the palette a name at the top left. The name is required to publish the palette. Make sure to save with the floppy symbol.

Note: Options and Setup in the header are greyed out because there is no functionality attached to them in the context of the math palette.

Configuration - preview and design

The left panel will show the preview of the palette, while the configuration will happen in the right panel. The code for the different symbols that are standard in the palette can be edited to remove or add symbols or functions.

The beginning of the code for basic looks like this:

You can remove or add sequences.
We encourage you to play around and test because you can always reset to default (up to the right). Be careful of commas and brackets, too many or too few will not work.

Note: Make sure to test your palette before using it in a real test.

What can be added to the toolbar

Some LaTeX symbols are possible to add to the palette. The math editor relies on a third party library (MathQuill) that is no longer being maintained. A full list of symbols is not available. Please make sure to preview and test any symbols used. We recommend testing from the candidate perspective by setting up a test and using the newly added symbols as a candidate.

Publishing the math palette

Once you are ready to publish the palette, all you have to do is to click on Publish now at the top right of the page.

You will be presented with a review of the palette, where name, and configuration are validated. You will not be able to publish the palette if the configuration is not valid.

When everything is green, you can publish the palette. It will then become available for all authors.

Making changes to the palette

The palette cannot be edited while it is published. To unpublish, click on the button at the top right. Make the necessary changes and publish the palette when you are ready.

Note: When the changes are published, the new version of the palette will be applied to all questions the palette is added to. Be careful with changes as they might impact tests that are already planned.

Adding the palette to a Math entry, math working, or essay question

This part is available for all authors.

Create a new question or edit an existing one to add the custom palette. At the right panel, go to Advanced and click Select under Math Symbol Palette.

This step must be repeated for each math entry, math working, or essay question in which you want to use a palette (i.e. a palette cannot be set as a default across questions).