Permutation Widget

The Permutation widget helps develop highly interactive and creative questions to test learners' concepts, especially in text-heavy courses. It provides the functionality to drag and drop the correct choice (card) at the right place. You can create two types of questions from it:

1. Sequence type questions

2. Missing cards questions

Edit mode

Up to 20 choices/cards can be added. On each card, you can add the following:

• Text & mathematical symbols (LaTeX support is provided)

• Images

• Combination of the above two

Learners can view the solution or submit their answers via the given checkboxes.

Published mode

Here’s a basic view of what is visible at the learner’s end.

Learners can arrange/submit cards before submitting them for evaluation via the "Submit" button.

Sequence problem

Consider evaluating learners regarding the following problem: Arrange the given C operators in the order of their precedence, where the leftmost card should have the highest precedence.

Please follow the animation below to understand how to create a sequence-type question with the permutation widget.

Try arranging the cards below to see how this widget will work for the above animation.

Note that a card with a dotted-line border around it can be dragged & dropped to any position.

Problem

Consider the following equation: $2+2=4$. Let's say we have cards for every operator & operand of this equation & we want learners to identify the correct position of each card. The basic idea is to use the permutation widget as follows:

Now you see, we have 2 cards with the number $2$ written on them. Here's a problem. Cards are not linked content-wise. If the learner places the 3^rd card in the first position or the 1^st card in the third position, it will be considered a faulty solution. But technically, the solution is correct.

Solution: Link the card to a position

We know that our card in the first position is the same as the third card. Let's link the third card to the first one.

Linking the card solves the problem. It indicates that the first and third cards can share each other positions. Below is the implementation of this sequence.

Missing card problem

Consider evaluating learners regarding the equivalence of this equation: $p \land (q \lor r) \equiv (p \land q) \lor (p \land r)$.

We can ask learners to fill in the missing operators using the permutation widget by giving them a pool of cards to drag & drop. Below is an animation of the permutation widget for you to understand the missing card problem.

Problem

Did you notice a problem? Why would we want learners to know the choices as: $\land$, $\lor$, and $\land$. Also, we're explicitly telling that $\land$ occurs twice in the solution. This makes it easier for learners to guess the solution. To solve this problem, let's use the 'Link to the card at a position' option.

Solution: Link Card to a Position

We know that our card in the 7^th position is the same as the 3^rd card (content-wise). Let's link the 7^th card to our 3^rd card and notice the change.

You may have noticed that a card from the bottom pane is gone; there are only 2 cards shown to learners now. But isn't that a problem? We need a total of 3 unlocked cards for learners. Let's try using the 'Quantity' option.

We set the quantity for both cards to 3. This leaves no room for hint for learners that which card occurs how many times in our solution.

You can try the widget below for the above animation. Drag & drop the cards into the blank spaces and submit your solution.