We are happy to announce that Maple T.A. now supports the Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI) standard, which means that Maple T.A. can be easily integrated with course management systems that support LTI. Maplesoft officially supports LTI connectivity with Canvas, Blackboard Learn™, Brightspace™, Moodle™, and Sakai.

Using the LTI standard, you can integrate Maple T.A. directly into your existing course management or learning management platforms. This allows for single-sign on in one central location and Maple T.A. assignment delivery and grade pushing right inside of your existing solutions.

If you would like to use the LTI connectivity feature, please contact Maplesoft Technical Support at support@maplesoft.com. They will provide the instructions and files you need to set up your connection, and answer any questions you may have about how the integration works on your platform.

Jonny
Maplesoft Product Manager, Maple T.A.

Maplesoft will be hosting the 2015 Maple T.A. User Summit this June 15 - 17 in New York City. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about new trends in online education while networking and socializing with fellow educators and Maple T.A. users in the city that never sleeps!

We are happy to announce that the schedule has been finalized! The event will include keynote presentations, talks and discussions from users and Maplesoft staff, training sessions, a welcome reception and a boat cruise around New York City, 

If you'd like ot sign-up but still haven't - don't hesitate to do so today using the following link: https://webstore.maplesoft.com/taconference/register.aspx .

I hope to see you there!

Jonny
Maplesoft Product Manager, Maple T.A.

I wanted to let everyone know that there is a Maple 2015 update available. Maple 2015.1 provides:

• Support for high-resolution monitors (e.g. 4K, UHD)
• Updated translations for Brazilian Portuguese, French, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese
• Enhancements to the Explore command
• Improvements to the DataSets package
• Updates to the Microsoft Excel plug-in
• Enhancements to unit handling
• A variety of improvements to the math engine, interface, and documentation

To get this update, you can use Tools>Check for Updates from within Maple, or visit Maple 2015.1 Downloads.

If you are a MapleSim 2015 user, you already have this update, as it was part of the MapleSim 2015 installation.

Kim

Maplesoft will be hosting the 2nd annual Maple T.A. User Summit June 15 - 17 in New York City, USA.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about new trends in online education while networking and socializing with fellow educators and Maple T.A. users in the city that never sleeps!

Conference highlights include:

• Hear from long term users who have used the Maple T.A. technology to transform their classroom experiences.
• Get comprehensive hands-on Maple T.A. training.
• Learn about new technology developments at Maplesoft and how they can provide exceptional user experiences that have the power to ‘surprise and delight’.
• Network with other educators and Maple T.A. users from around the world.
• Take advantage of the social events organized as part of this summit. Socialize with peers and enjoy the sights and sounds of this amazing city.

We invite users who are using Maple T.A. in an innovative way in their classroom to submit a presentation proposal by March 18, 2015. For details, please visit: https://webstore.maplesoft.com/taconference/MapleTA_Summit_CFP.pdf

For more details, preliminary agenda, and to register, please visit our website: https://webstore.maplesoft.com/taconference/

Jonny
Maplesoft Product Manager, Maple T.A.

Math powers the world. From tracking the spread of an epidemic to designing a new rocket engine, mathematical equations allow us to understand a challenge and formulate an approach to solving it. Everywhere around us, math is ubiquitous; an equation determines how your thermostat controls your home furnace; a mathematical algorithm is used to encode the signal from your cell phone. More than ever, we rely on mathematics to make our lives better. And continually, our mathematical techniques get more refined as we solve more and more complex problems.

We are happy to announce the first results of a partnership between Maplesoft and the University of Waterloo to provide effective, engaging online education for technical courses.

Combining rich course materials developed by the University with Maple T.A. and Maplesoft technology for developing, managing, and displaying dynamic content, the Secondary School Courseware project supports high school students and teachers from around the world in their Precalculus and Calculus courses. The site includes interactive investigations, videos, and self-assessment questions that provide immediate feedback.

Feel free to take a look. The site is free, and no login is required.  

For more information about the project, see Online Mathematical Courseware.

eithne

Maplesoft regularly hosts live webinars on a variety of topics. Below you will find details on an upcoming webinars we think may be of interest to the MaplePrimes community.  For the complete list of upcoming webinars, visit our website.

Creating Questions in Maple T.A. – Part #2

This presentation is part of a series of webinars on creating questions in Maple T.A., Maplesoft’s testing and assessment system designed especially for courses involving mathematics. This webinar, which expands on the material offered in Part 1, focuses on using the Question Designer to create many standard types of questions. It will also introduce more advanced question types, such as sketch, free body diagrams, and mathematical formula.

The third and final webinar will wrap up the series with a demonstration of math apps and Maple-graded questions.

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

Clickable Calculus Series – Part #1: Differential Calculus 

In this webinar, Dr. Lopez will apply the techniques of “Clickable Calculus” to standard calculations in Differential Calculus. 

Clickable Calculus™, the idea of powerful mathematics delivered using very visual, interactive point-and-click methods, offers educators a new generation of teaching and learning techniques. Clickable Calculus introduces a better way of engaging students so that they fully understand the materials they are being taught. It responds to the most common complaint of faculty who integrate software into the classroom – time is spent teaching the tool, not the concepts.

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

Maplesoft regularly hosts live webinars on a variety of topics. Below you will find details on an upcoming webinars we think may be of interest to the MaplePrimes community.  For the complete list of upcoming webinars, visit our website.

Creating Questions in Maple T.A. – Part #2

This presentation is part of a series of webinars on creating questions in Maple T.A., Maplesoft’s testing and assessment system designed especially for courses involving mathematics. This webinar, which expands on the material offered in Part 1, focuses on using the Question Designer to create many standard types of questions. It will also introduce more advanced question types, such as sketch, free body diagrams, and mathematical formula.

The third and final webinar will wrap up the series with a demonstration of math apps and Maple-graded questions.

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

Clickable Calculus Series – Part #1: Differential Calculus 

In this webinar, Dr. Lopez will apply the techniques of “Clickable Calculus” to standard calculations in Differential Calculus. 

Clickable Calculus™, the idea of powerful mathematics delivered using very visual, interactive point-and-click methods, offers educators a new generation of teaching and learning techniques. Clickable Calculus introduces a better way of engaging students so that they fully understand the materials they are being taught. It responds to the most common complaint of faculty who integrate software into the classroom – time is spent teaching the tool, not the concepts.

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

I am very happy to announce the addition of 36 new videos to the Maple T.A. Tutorial section on the Maplesoft website. These videos demonstrate how to create questions using each of the different question types in Maple T.A. You’ll find videos for multiple choice, true and false, maple-graded, mathematical formula, and much more, including the new graph sketching and free-body diagram questions introduced in Maple T.A. 10.

Jonny
Maplesoft Product Manager, Maple T.A.

A new release of the Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite  is now available.

The latest release takes advantage of the streamlined interface, accessibility from tablets, and other new features of Maple T.A. 10. It also includes new testing content to determine if your students understand the concepts needed for success in their algebra and precalculus courses; new parallel versions of the calculus concepts readiness test; and improved searching and browsing of testing content.

To learn more, visit What’s New in Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite 10.

eithne

Updates are now available for both Maple 18 and MapleSim 6.4. 

Maple 18.02 contains improvements to many areas, including:

• Rendering of 2-D plots
• Help pages and examples
• Interactive components
• MATLAB 2014a support
• Math engine: Laplace transforms, complex floats, simplify
• Matrix import
• Context menus
• Typesetting
• Memory management
• OpenMaple API
• Physics (details in comments)

To get this update, you can use Tools>Check for Updates from within Maple, or visit Maple 18.02 Downloads. (But depending on when you read this, Check for Updates may not have kicked in yet. If it doesn't find anything, wait until tomorrow morning and try again.)

For those users who haven't upgraded to MapleSim 7 yet, MapleSim 6.4.01 includes:

• Efficiency improvements to the simulation engine, taking advantage of enhancements in Maple 18.02
• Improvements to C code generation for model export
• Improved handling of indexed variables when generating Modelica code

In MapleSim, use  Help>Check for Updates or visit MapleSim 6.4.02 Update. Note that MapleSim 6.4.02 is compatible with Maple 18.02.  Upgrade your Maple 18 installation to Maple 18.02 before installing this MapleSim update.

eithne

Updates are now available for both Maple 18 and MapleSim 6.4. 

Maple 18.02 contains improvements to many areas, including:

• Rendering of 2-D plots
• Help pages and examples
• Interactive components
• MATLAB 2014a support
• Math engine: Laplace transforms, complex floats, simplify
• Matrix import
• Context menus
• Typesetting
• Memory management
• OpenMaple API
• Physics (details in comments)

To get this update, you can use Tools>Check for Updates from within Maple, or visit Maple 18.02 Downloads. (But depending on when you read this, Check for Updates may not have kicked in yet. If it doesn't find anything, wait until tomorrow morning and try again.)

For those users who haven't upgraded to MapleSim 7 yet, MapleSim 6.4.01 includes:

• Efficiency improvements to the simulation engine, taking advantage of enhancements in Maple 18.02
• Improvements to C code generation for model export
• Improved handling of indexed variables when generating Modelica code

In MapleSim, use  Help>Check for Updates or visit MapleSim 6.4.02 Update. Note that MapleSim 6.4.02 is compatible with Maple 18.02.  Upgrade your Maple 18 installation to Maple 18.02 before installing this MapleSim update.

eithne

With the 2014 Maple T.A. User Summit completed and conference goers have returned to their home cities, it’s time to recap what happened on day 2. We started things off in the morning with an energized presentation by Prof. Jack Weiner of the University of Guelph. Jack pointed out that the University of Guelph has revolutionized their teaching and online homework solutions by using Maple and Maple T.A. He also gave an example of one of this famous Friday Specials – an example of math being used in the real world and discussed other teaching suggestions from his 40+ years of experience in the field.

MapleNet 18 is now available.  MapleNet 18 provides increased mobile support and eliminates the need for a Java plug-in when interacting with Maple documents in a web browser. See What’s New in MapleNet 18 for more information.

eithne

Reporting from Amsterdam, it's a pleasure to report on day one of the 2014 Maple T.A. User Summit. Being our first Maple T.A. User Summit, we wanted to ensure attendees were not only given the opportunity to sit-in on key note presentations from various university or college professors, high school teachers and Maplesoft staff, but to also engage in active discussions with each other on how they have implemented Maple T.A. at their institution.

We started things off by hearing an encouraging talk by Maplesoft’s president and CEO Jim Cooper. Jim started things off with a question to get everyone thinking; “How will someone born today be educated in the 2030s?” From there, we heard about Maplesoft’s vision on education, learning, and questions we have to ask ourselves today to be prepared for the future.

Up next was Louise Krmpotic, Director of Business Development. Louise discussed content and Maple T.A. This included an overview of our content team operations, what content is currently available today, and how users can engage themselves in the Maple T.A. community and get involved in sharing their own content with other users.

We then heard our first keynote presentation by Professor Steve Furino and Rachael Vanbruggen of the University of Waterloo.  We were provided with a brief history of the University of Waterloo and mathematics as well as their ever expanding initiative in brining math courses into an online environment both at the university level and high school level. We then heard in detail of how Maplesoft technologies have been implemented in various math courses and the successes and challenges of creating their own content.

I (Jonny Zivku, Product Manager of Maple T.A.) then delivered a presentation on all the new features in Maple T.A. 10. I won’t get into detail about the new features in this post, but if you’d like to read more about it, check out my previous post from a few weeks ago.

Meta Keijzer-de Ruijter of TU Delft University then took the floor and delivered our second keynote presentation. She discussed the history of Delft as well as the new initiative, the Delft Extension School. She then went on to discuss Delft’s experiences with implementing Maple T.A. at their campus and maintaining it since 2007 as well as how they’ve managed to maintain their academic integrity while using online tools. We also had the opportunity of seeing several examples of some of their excellent questions they’ve created which included adaptive, math apps, algorithms, maple-graded and more.

After a delicious lunch break, Paul DeMarco from Maplesoft, Director of Maple and Maple T.A. Development, talked about the future of testing and assessment. Paul went over various topics and how we envision them changing which included partial marks, skills assessment, learning, feedback, and content.

Jonathan Kress from the University of New South Wales was up next and discussed their experiences with implementing Maple T.A. into their mathematics and statistics courses at a first year, second year, and higher level of learning. He then discussed the various scenarios for how Maple T.A. is deployed which included both formative and summative testing. Moving on, we then were briefed on Maple T.A. use from a student's perspective and an overview of various pieces of content.

We then moved on to an engaging panel discussion which featured Grahame Smart, math and e-learning consultant, Professor Marina Marchisio of the University of Turin and Dr. Alice Barana also from the University of Turin. Grahame first started things off by discussing how he doubled the pass rates in his prevoius high school using investigative and interactive learning with Maple T.A. Marina and Dr. Barana then gave us a brief overview of Maple T.A. at the University of Turin and their exciting PP&S project. The panel then answered various questions from the audience

William Rybolt of Babson College then closed off the presentations with a discussion about how his school has been a long time user of EDU, Maple T.A.’s predecessor.  Going from ungraded web pages, web forms, and Excel, we heard about Babson’s attempts at converting paper-based assignments into an online format until 2003 when they decided to adopt EDU.

To end the day, we enjoyed a nice cruise on the canals of Amsterdam while enjoying a delicious three course meal. Not a bad way to end the day!

Jonny
Maplesoft Product Manager, Maple T.A.