Application Note

Using MathType with Learnwise

This AppNote explains the steps required to upload a MathPage document to Learnwise using zip files, and how to add GIFs created with MathType to a Learnwise assessment. The use of Learnwise accounts, courses, and other features is beyond the scope of this article. If you need more information about Learnwise, contact your school's Learnwise administrator, refer to the Learnwise web site, or contact the Learnwise technical support staff.

If are unfamiliar with zipping files, you may need to refer to your zip utility's help files, contact the vendor's technical support staff, or ask your Learnwise administrator for assistance.

Solution

This notice addresses the following topics:

1. Getting started
2. Creating a MathPage Document
3. Creating the zip archive
4. Uploading the zip file into a Learnwise course
5. Using MathType to create assessments in Learnwise

Getting started

This document assumes you already have a Learnwise account. If you have an account, but are new to Learnwise, refer to SIMS.net Learning Platform Help for help in getting started, and for additional resources that may prove helpful.

Creating a MathPage Document

Use MathType with MathPage™ technology and Microsoft Word 2000 or newer to create your HTML course documents. See the MathType documentation if you are unfamiliar with the process.

Creating the zip archive

By default, when creating web pages, Microsoft Word creates a folder with the same name as your Word document. When using the Export to MathPage command, if you target Images (GIFs), this folder contains all your GIF images. Be sure to include this folder in your zip archive, as well as the HTML file (with the .htm extension) and the JavaScript file mathpage.js. For a more complete discussion of which files to include under different circumstances, refer to the article Copying and Moving MathPage Documents.

After identifying the files you need to upload to Learnwise, you need a zip utility such as WinZip, OnTrack's ZipMagic, or Aladdin StuffIt to create a zip file for each web document that you want to upload. A zip compression utility is built into Windows XP. If you are unsure how to create a zip archive, refer to the documentation for your zip utility. If you are using Windows XP, refer to Windows Help.

Uploading the zip file into a Learnwise course

After creating a zip file containing your MathPage document and its required support files, you can do the following to upload it to a Learnwise course:

Note: The rest of this discussion assumes you have logged on, have created a course, and are ready to upload your zipped MathPage document.

1. Access your course file store via Your Course > Tutor > Content (Go) > Files, and click on Upload Folder.
   
    
2. On the next screen, click on Browse to find your zipped folder, then click Submit.
3. Go to your course menu structure, decide where you want your web page to be located, and click + Item.
   
    
4. On the next screen, click Locate.
5. Click the Add button associated with the HTML file in your MathPage.
   
    
6. On the next screen, give the item a title, such as Seq and Rec Relations, and click Submit.
7. To check out your new MathPage, go to the PIM and navigate to the page from your course menu.
   

Using MathType to create assessments in Learnwise

This process consists of four steps:

1. Setting MathType's Web and GIF Preferences
2. Using MathType to create GIF equations
3. Writing assessment questions in Learnwise
4. Zipping the folder of GIFs, uploading it to the Learnwise course file store, and inserting the assessment into your course

Setting MathType's Web and GIF Preferences

1. If you don't know your course code, ask your Learnwise administrator for it. (In this example the course code is ACmat0002.)
2. Create a new folder for your GIFs, and make note of the folder name. (In this example, the folder name is finalexam_files.)
3. Open MathType and select Web and GIF Preferences from the Preferences menu. Leave all values set to their default values, except for the two items shown below:
   
   <IMG SRC="../../../ACmat0002/finalexam_files/$(FileName)" style="position: relative; top: $(Base_PT)pt">
(You must type the line above exactly as it appears here, except replace the bold blue text with your course code and folder name.)
    
4. Click OK to close the Web and GIF Preferences dialog.

Creating GIFs from MathType equations. Creating GIFs from MathType equations is fairly straightforward. If you're unsure how to do this, refer to pages 60 and 74 in the MathType manual. If you don't have a copy of the manual, you can download one. Note: Don't save the individual GIFs until you're ready to type the questions in Learnwise, since MathType copies the image tag to the clipboard when you save the GIF. You'll need to paste this image tag into your assessment question.

Writing assessment questions in Learnwise

1. After logging on to Learnwise, access Assessments via Your Course > Tutor > Content (Go) > Assessments. You can include MathType equations in all types of assessments, but we will use multiple choice here. (Remember, this isn't a tutorial on how to use Learnwise, so we won't go into the details of creating the assessment or the questions. We will only deal with adding equations to a question.)
2. Type your question. When you're ready to insert the equation, press Ctrl + V to paste the image tag into the question. Follow the same procedure for the assessment Correct Answer and Incorrect Answer(s).

Zipping the folder of GIFs, uploading it to the Learnwise course file store, and inserting the assessment into your course

1. Zip all the GIFs together into a zip folder, and upload it as described above.
   Note: It's important that the zip folder be named the same as the folder containing your GIFs, so in this example, our zip folder would be named finalexam_files.zip. Further, this zip folder must contain only GIFs. If you use the compression utility built in to Windows XP, and you zip the folder by right-clicking on the folder and selecting "Send To > Compressed (zipped) Folder", the name will be correct, but there will also be a folder of the same name inside your zip. If using Windows XP, it's better to select all the GIFs in the folder either by pressing Ctrl+A on the keyboard, or by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking each GIF separately. Then you can send them to a compressed folder and rename the folder.
2. Insert the assessment into your course as described above.
3. Here's how our example question looks in the assessment:
   

Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge the help of Helen Foster, without whom this AppNote would not have been possible.

Feedback

If you find the Learnwise AppNote useful, and would like to see better integration with MathType, please send us your comments at feedback@dessci.com.