Automatic creation and correction of mathematical problems

Solving problems is one of the key tasks of the mathematics learning process. It requires teachers to prepare problems,correct them and return feedback to the students. The capability to automate all these steps would be a powerful tool forteachers, especially in courses with a lot of students. In this paper, we propose a method to automatically create and correctmathematical problems. The proposed approach codifies different type of problems in a single template that maintains thedescriptor of the problem, a set of parameters, and a correction code. Once the template has been created, our methodautomatically generates different problems that can be automatically corrected using the correction code. The method hasbeen implemented and integrated in an e-learning platform that provides all the functionalities of learning managementsystems. The purpose of this paper is twofold, first, present the method defined to automatically create and correctmathematical problems and how it has been integrated in our e-learning platform, and, second, evaluate its use in differentcourses of our University. To reach the second objective, we will describe how this approach has been used in the Calculusand Algebra courses of the engineering degree of our university. We will also show the results obtained in the last fivecourses, from 2010 to 2014, considering more than 500 students. From the ANOVA test, considering course by course andalso the five courses together, we confirm that the mean scores of students increases when the number of solved exercisesincreases. From the questionnaires that users filled at the end of the course to evaluate their experience and the benefits ofthe proposed approach, we will see that students feel more motivated to work. In addition, the automation of many teachertasks allows them to better distribute time and carry out a better student follow-up.