WirisQuizzes for Moodle
On this page, you can find out how to install WirisQuizzes in Moodle and activate WirisQuizzes question types and WIRIS filters. An estimation of the resources consumption by WirisQuizzes is also given.
A detailed guide about deactivation of WirisQuizzes question types and WIRIS filters is also shown. If you want to completely uninstall WirisQuizzes, you can follow the steps below.
Install WirisQuizzes for Moodle
In this section, you will find the requirements and a complete guide about installing WirisQuizzes in Moodle platform.
DOWNLOAD WIRIS QUIZZES FOR MOODLE
Requirements
Moodle 2 or Moodle 3
WIRIS plugin for Moodle version 3.17.20 or higher.
You can know your Plugin version at your
{MOODLE_URL}/filter/wiris/info.php.
Installation
Copy files
Unzip moodle2-wiris-quizzes-x.xx.xx.xxxx.zip and copy the content of the file into the folder local under the root of Moodle.
Install the plugin
Since WirisQuizzes is a Moodle plugin, it will automatically start the installation after the files are copied into the correct folder. If the installation doesn't start, go to the Moodle Home Page or Site administration > Notifications page.
Check all is OK
The best way to check all is OK is just to make a question, save and display it.
Additionally, there is an info page at {MOODLE_URL}/question/type/wq/info.php. Please send a complete description and screenshots of the issue to support if there is an issue.
Additional settings
If the number of concurrent users using WirisQuizzes is higher than 100, we recommend you uncomment and increase the quizzes.maxconnections variable in {MOODLE_URL}/question/type/wq/quizzes/configuration.ini. We recommend you increase its value by 10 for every 100 concurrent users. Please note this value must be lower than Apache MaxRequestWorkers (or MaxClients) divided by 4.
Note: If {MOODLE_URL}/question/type/wq/quizzes/configuration.ini doesn't exist, create it by copying {MOODLE_URL}/question/type/wq/quizzes/configuration.ini.dist.
Activation of WirisQuizzes Question Types
Follow the steps below to activate WirisQuizzes question types.
Log in as admin
Log in as the admin user, and go to "Site administration" to the left of the screen.
Manage question types
Go to Plugins > Question types in the top bar and click "Manage question types".
Math & Science by Wiris
Find WirisQuizzesMathType by Wiris" and notice the eye on the right side. By default, it should be selected, so the questions are enabled. If it is not, just click on it.
Activation of Wiris filters
Follow the steps below to activate Wiris filters.
Log in as admin
Log in as the admin user, and go to "Site administration".
Manage filters
In Plugins > Filters in the sidebar, click "Manage filters".
Enable MathType by Wiris
Find " MathType by Wiris". From the drop-down list near the middle, select "On" and wait for the page to reload.
Activate the filters
Click "Settings" in the same row ( MathType by Wiris). A page with several checkboxes will load. Select the filters you would like to enable, and save changes.
Resources and performance
The resource consumption of WirisQuizzes for Moodle depends on Moodle’s own resource consumption, and it depends powerfully on how WirisQuizzes for Moodle is used.
For example, in a time-based exam, where all students start simultaneously, many initial connections are expected at the beginning. The connections will slow down after some minutes, and there will be a peak by the end of the examination.
Despite the high dependence on the type of usage, the following rule holds:
4 core + 3GB RAM | 360 questions/minute [a] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[a] Calculations done with a questionnaire of 10 WIRIS questions (5 random, 5 non-random). Maximum CPU load: 80%. Average CPU load: 50%. WirisQuizzes and MathType services from our wiris.net servers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Typical scenario
We assume each questionnaire contains 10 questions (5 non-random and 5 random), and the student needs an average of 30 minutes to solve each questionnaire. Students can start the questionnaire whenever they want. We don't expect a peak at any time.
As a result:
To summarize, 4 cores with 3GB RAM can deliver 1080 questionnaires simultaneously, with the given conditions. Now, following the above rule, we can make other estimates:
Concurrent Users | CPU cores | RAM (GB) |
|---|---|---|
540 | 2 | 2 |
1080 | 4 | 3 |
2160 | 8 | 6 |
Update WirisQuizzes for Moodle
Since WirisQuizzes is a Moodle plugin, you can upgrade it by clicking on Check for available updates in Site administration > Plugins > Plugins overview.
We are delighted to announce that we have released the first version of WirisQuizzes 4 for Moodle. This version includes the new Studio interface and the Graphical answer feature.
We won't mark that as the stable release of WirisQuizzes until the summer to prevent customers from inadvertently upgrading in the middle of the quarter. You need to go to Site Administration > Server > Update notifications and set required code maturity to release the candidate.
Thus, you will see the new version as an available update for the WirisQuizzes plugin.
Deactivation of WirisQuizzes Question Types
Follow the steps below to deactivate WirisQuizzes question types.
Log in as admin
Log in as the admin user, and go to "Site administration".
Manage question types
In the sidebar, go to Plugins > Question types, and click "Manage question types".
MathType by WIRIS
Find MathType by WIRIS" and click Settings.
Deactivation of WIRIS filters
Follow the steps below to deactivate WIRIS filters.
Log in as admin
Log in as the admin user, and go to "Site administration".
Manage filters
In Plugins > Filters in the sidebar, click "Manage filters".
Math & Science by WIRIS
Find "Math & Science by WIRIS" and click Settings.
Uncheck all the boxes
Unmark all checkboxes, and click "Save Changes":
Disable Math & Science by WIRIS
Lastly, click "Manage Filters" in the sidebar again, and this time at "Math & Science by WIRIS" go to the drop-down list and choose "Disabled".
Uninstall WirisQuizzes for Moodle
If you choose to uninstall WirisQuizzes for Moodle, we recommend uninstalling it via the Moodle user interface. If you prefer, you can uninstall it manually by following these steps.
Moodle interface uninstall
You can uninstall WirisQuizzes question types like any Moodle question type. All WIRIS question types require/depend on "Math & Science - WIRIS", so you need to uninstall the rest before uninstalling "Math & Science - WIRIS". Remember you can follow these steps if you don't have any questions created of these types:
Log in as admin
Log in as the admin user, and go to "Site administration".
Manage question types
In the sidebar, go to Plugins > Question types, and click "Manage question types".
Uninstall question types
Delete every question type using the "Uninstall" link next to the question type. Remember to need to delete all the questions of each type first, then uninstall the question type.
Remove associated files
Remove the associated files from {MOODLE_URL}/question/type.
Manual uninstall
If you have written any questions of these types, you won't see the "Uninstall" link. However, you can remove the files related to that question type from {MOODLE_URL}/question/type, and any question you had will be moved to the Moodle "Missing type" question type. If you choose this option to uninstall, you must only delete {MOODLE_URL}/question/type/wq if you've deleted the rest of the WIRIS question types. With this option, every WIRIS question you had will stop working.
In order to preserve database coherence, the qtype_wq and qtype_essaywiris_backup tables must be deleted, and the following registers must be deleted from config_plugins table: qtype_essaywiris, qtype_matchwiris, qtype_multianswerwiris, qtype_multichoicewiris, qtype_shortanswerwiris, qtype_truefalsewiris.