Keypad Customization

The Skillways assessment engine offers a fully customizable keypad in all Math and Chemistry questions. There are many ways for authors to configure the user facing keypad.

Authors are able to configure the number pad keys, assign inbuilt keypad groups, create new custom groups and select a simplified horizontal keypad.

Customizing the number pad

Authors can create custom number pads by changing the positions of the keys and adding special characters. The custom number pad preview can be found under More Options.

Example of number pad

Figure 1: Custom number pad.

In order to customize the number pad, simply click on a key you want to change and a character map will pop up. The symbols available are only from the number pad itself, numerals, operators, navigation and delete. Select a symbol from the character map as shown in Figure 2. The selected symbol will replace the default number pad key.

Example of character map on a number pad

Figure 2: Selecting symbols for the number pad.

Using the horizontal keypad

When selecting the Enable horizontal keypad option the number pad is presented as two rows of ten buttons.

Example of a Horizontal keypad

Figure 3: The horizontal keypad customization view.

All keys can be configured as per the heading above Customizing the number pad however the keys can be configured with any symbol from the All Symbols group, see the heading Adding custom groups below. This allows the author the full flexibility of every button on the keypad.

Example of a Horizontal keypad

Figure 4: Customizing the horizontal keypad.

The horizontal keypad will reduce in width depending on how many keys are used. For example, if only the first five keys on each row are populated and the remaining made Blank, then the keypad size will reduce accordingly. Only continuous Blank spaces on the right-hand side will affect the keypad size.
NOTE: When at reduced width, keypad shortcut hints may truncate with an ellipsis (…) if hints are enabled.

Adding symbol groups

Under the More Options accordion in each Math and Chemistry question, you will find the Symbols section. Here you can add and delete keypad symbol groups, depending on the kind of symbols required for the Question you are authoring.

To add a new symbol group, click on +Add below the section title, and a new field called Group [x] will appear. From the drop down menu of this field, you can select the symbol group that you need (see Figure 5). You can add as many groups as you require, these display in a dropdown on the end user keypad.

Example of Adding a symbol group to a number pad

Figure 5: Adding a symbol group.

Following is the Basic group, this is the default symbol group for Math Questions, (see Out of the box Symbol groups at the end of this article for examples of all supplied keypad groups):

Example of math symbol number pad

Figure 6: Default math symbol group.

Adding custom groups

If you wish to add a custom symbol group, select Add Custom Group… from the drop-down menu. A new Custom Group 1 will appear. Then fill in the following fields:

Label - This is a symbol group label that will appear on the top right of the keypad. This must be completed or the custom keypad will not appear. The label helps to identify which symbol group it is, if there are multiple groups attached.

Title - The group title that will be visible when the students hover over the Label symbol on the keypad (see Figure 7 and Figure 8).

Example of adding symbol

Figure 7: Adding custom symbol group Label and Title.

Exampleof math keypad

Figure 8: Custom Label and Title in the math keypad.

Each empty cell in the Symbols table represents a cell on the custom keypad. To select which custom symbols are to appear on the keypad, click on Empty and a list of symbols will pop up. Each selected symbol from the list will be displayed in the respective keypad cell. Select symbols for as many cells as you need. You can fill the whole symbols table or leave some cells empty.

Example of custom symbol group