Your questions in WebAssign can use randomly-selected values. The simplest use of this is a math question that uses different numbers for different students, but you can also show different chemical equations, text, images, or other information appropriate to the question.
- Prerequisites
- Perl Variables and Functions
When you randomize values in your questions, those values are assigned to Perl variables that can then be used in Question, Answer, or Solution.
- To deter cheating
- Depending on the randomization settings you choose for the assignment, your question can use different randomized values for each student or for each class. This makes it difficult for students to crib answers from each other.
- To reuse questions
- You can use the same question on an exam that you used for a previous homework assignment. The concept you are testing remains the same; only the values your students use to solve the problem are different.
- To allow students to practice another version
- You can enable the Practice Another Version feature for your assignments, but students can only use the feature for questions that use randomized values.
- To help your students learn by providing another version after a specified number of attempts
- Your assignment can require a new randomization after a specified number of attempts. This lets your student see the answer to a question that they were unable to answer correctly, figure out how the problem should be worked, and then answer the problem for credit using a different set of values.
Although they are enabled in your assignment settings, all of these behaviors work only for questions that use some method to randomize question values.