Grading on a Tablet Steven M. McKay August 2, 2016 Contents 1 Introduction2 2 Gathering Required Pieces2 2.1 Adobe Acrobat Pro........................3 2.2 Python 2..............................3 2.3 gradepages.py, converttojpg.py, byuexamheader.sty and tablet- grader.sty.............................3 2.4 Ghostscript or Imagemagik....................4 2.5 Auto Multiple Choice.......................4 2.6 LibreOffice.............................5 3 Workflow5 3.1 Preparing your Document....................6 3.2 Creating the AMC Project.................... 12 3.3 Grading.............................. 15 3.4 Post Processing.......................... 17 3.4.1 Convert the pdf files to jpg files............. 18 3.4.2 Run OMR......................... 18 3.4.3 Create the Spreadsheet.................. 18 4 Unusual Circumstances 20 4.1 Single sided or double sided exams............... 20 4.2 Multiple Sections......................... 20 4.3 Printer Setup on OS X...................... 20 1 1 Introduction This document outlines one possible way to grade exams on a tablet. I do not claim that it is the only way, or even the best way. It is a method that works for me. In order for me to be able to grade on my tablet, I have had to deal with the following requirements: • I need to be able to transfer the exams to pdf's in an easy way. • I need to be able to split the exams by page number, so that I can grade one problem at a time, or one page at a time. • I need some way for the scores of each exam to be recorded automati- cally. • I need some way for the exams to be returned to the students. There is no one piece of software that meets my needs. In some cases, I needed to write the software myself, as it did not appear to exist. In the sections that follow, I hope to be able to document how an interested instructor can also grade on an ipad (or any tablet - I have not verified windows tablets, but they probably work.) 2 Gathering Required Pieces The following software is necessary to perform the above functions. (There may be some software that is not on this list, but is used as part of one of the software packages below. Note that most software listed (except my scripts and acrobat pro) is software that was developed on linux operating systems. They can be installed using the package system for that environment. If you are on a mac, most can be installed using macports (www.macports.org). You will need macports to install AMC anyway, so you might as well use it for the other pieces. The caveat is that you can install LibreOffice directly without macports. • Adobe acrobat pro. (This may not be necessary). • A python 2 operating environment (probably 2.7+) • gradepages.py, converttojpg.py, and tabletgrader.sty*. 2 • Ghostscript and Imagemagik (Imagemagik may require ghostscript) • Auto-multiple-choice (available at http://home.gna.org/auto-qcm/) Note that AMC has other requirements. It normally runs on linux. I have a copy running on osx. I don't know but I don't think it can run on windows. There are workarounds. • LibreOffice (preferred) or OpenOffice. 1 2.1 Adobe Acrobat Pro Acrobat pro is needed for one function only: to batch print many separate files. This is necessary on OS X, because the underlying CUPS printing system does not know anything about printing presets, and so it is impossible to specify two sided printing, or stapling on the command line. There may be another way to do this, but on a mac, it seems problematic. In linux, you can use CUPS software (standard on most systems) for this task, so you probably do not need Acrobat. Depending on the printer you use, you may also be able to avoid acrobat. I mention one workaround in the Unusual Circumstances section at the end of this document. 2.2 Python 2 Some of the scripts I have written are in python, so a working version of python will be needed on the computer you use. 2.3 gradepages.py, converttojpg.py, byuexamheader.sty and tabletgrader.sty These are scripts that I have written. gradepages.py is a script I wrote to split a pdf of exams into separate pages. I like to grade one page at a time, and this helps my workflow. gradepages.py uses two packages: PyPDF and img2pdf. In order to use gradepages, you will need to install these packages first. Once you have a working python installation, you need to go to pybrary.net/pypdf and follow the instructions. (Note: There is a PyPDF 1.13 and a PyPDF 2. 1Starred items are packages that I have created myself. 3 My code has not yet been updated to PyPDF 2, so you will currently need the former.) You can easily install img2pdf using pip (if pip is installed). "pip install img2pdf" will give you the package on your machine. gradepages also uses sqlite3, but that is usually installed by default. converttojpg.py uses ghostscript, and gradepages uses imagemagick. converttojpg.py is a command that takes all pdf's in the current directory, creates a jpg directory and converts the pdfs, putting the jpg's in ./jpg. The jpg files can then be sent to AMC directly. This is the only way I know to truly flatten a pdf that has been annotated on a tablet. However, it seems faster to convert to jpg and put the jpg in amc than to have amc deal with the pdfs directly. byuexamheader.sty and tabletgrader.sty are LATEXstyle files that simpli- fies common tasks and interfaces with AMC. They are not currently publicly available, but I will send them to you with the other scripts. You need to put them in a place where LATEXcan find it (which depends on the TEXsystem you are using). My scripts are not yet publicly available, so email me and I will send them to you. It is recommended to put the python scripts in a location that is in your path, and make them executable. I do not know how to do that in Windows, but in OS X or Linux, move the file to /usr/local/bin and run chmod ugo+x filename.py You should be able to run the file directly without writing python first. 2.4 Ghostscript or Imagemagik These are needed to convert pdf files to jpg. Even though auto-multiple- choice takes pdfs, for some reason, it loses any marks made on a tablet, even if the pdf is flattened first. So conversion to jpg saves the marks. 2.5 Auto Multiple Choice This is the heart of the tablet grading system. It allows the instructor to select a score for each problem in the pdf, and have the pdf compile the grades automatically. To obtain AMC, go to http://home.gna.org/auto-qcm/ and click on the download link. As far as I know, AMC currently cannot run on windows. It needs unix commands and GUI elements. I am sure it can be rewritten to run on win- 4 dows, but the authors do not have any desire to do so. It can run on many fla- vors of Linux, and there are pre-compiled packages in many distributions. It also runs on OS X. (I have it running on my mac mini.) To run on recent ver- sions of OS X, you will also need to install XQuartz (xquartz.macosforge.org), as Apple is moving away from it's native X11 server. If you are running Microsoft Windows on your PC, you have several choices. • Ask your CSR to set up a Linux server in the underground data center, and install AMC on that. (I have done this - talk to me if you want to do it.) This is less than ideal, but works. • Install Parallels or Vmware on your pc and install linux on that. • Set up your PC to dual boot windows and linux. • Construct a usb key containing linux and amc that you can boot from. This scenario is probably the most convenient. Go to http://project.auto-multiple-choice.net/projects/auto-multiple-choice/ wiki/Using_AMC_on_a_PC_without_Linux_(with_a_live-USB_key) to see the details. 2.6 LibreOffice Auto multiple choice creates a spreadsheet of grades. This spreadsheet can be written in openoffice format, csv format, or as a pdf file. The csv format means you can upload the spreadsheet to Excel. However, if you choose to download the spreadsheet to OpenOffice (or LibreOffice - this is my choice for several reasons) then the spreadsheets created by AMC give you color- coded information at a glance (such as which questions were not graded, if a student marked two answers when they were only supposed to mark one, etc). This makes it well worth it to download LibreOffice to your computer. 3 Workflow In order to use this system to grade, you need to follow the following workflow: 1. Prepare the document and create an AMC project. 5 2. Copy the exams. 3. Scan the completed exams. 4. Process the scans to obtain pdf's for each question (that the instructor needs to grade). 5. Convert the scans to jpg. 6. Send the converted jpg scans through AMC. 7. Within AMC, correct marking errors, calculate the grades, create the spreadsheet, and create an annotated exam for each student. 3.1 Preparing your Document AMC is a robust and versatile system for creating exams. Its capabilities far exceed what I am going to outline here. For more details, look at the manual. In this section, I am going to discuss the creation of an exam with a multiple choice section and a free response section.