Federico Dogo
STACK is "mistakenly" regarded as an assessment system. Although one of its focuses is indeed student evaluation, there is still much more to be explored and discovered regarding its application in other forms. By leveraging STACK widespread global reach, research can be conducted into the comprehension of STEM subjects in a variety of contexts. Furthermore, STACK itself can be used as a real-world alternative for conducting physics experiments, in order to assist teaching where environmental issues exist. And many more applications can be created in different fields.
Daniel Doz
During the talk, we will explore university students’ willingness to use the STACK assessment system and we will provide insights into the factors shaping their experiences and performance. Drawing on data from two published researches conducted at the University of Trieste, we will explore metacognitive and affective factors related to the use of STACK. Results indicate generally high levels of acceptance and satisfaction with STACK, particularly regarding its usefulness for understanding mathematical concepts and improving problem-solving skills. Two distinct attitudinal profiles emerged, with students holding more positive attitudes also achieving higher examination scores. Interpreted through the Technology Acceptance Model, perceived usefulness and ease of use appear as key drivers of willingness to engage with STACK. Additional findings highlight contextual differences in confidence levels, as well as student concerns related to task repetition and technical issues, attributed mainly to task design rather than the system itself.
Tetsuo Fukui
Practical Application of Moodle+STACK with a Unified Math Input UI in Calculus and Linear Algebra Class. Since 2017, we have been developing a new input method that utilizes an intelligent mathematical expression input UI, distinct from the standard Maxima format used by STACK. This method allows users to enter expressions by having AI predict possible candidates and then selecting the desired one, which is expected to reduce the burden on users. In this study, we uniformly implemented this mathematical expression input interface within a Moodle+STACK environment and evaluated its effectiveness by introducing it into university courses on calculus and linear algebra. As a result, the average score for all STACK quizzes was 9.11 out of 10, a high score. An analysis of the correlation with scores on written-response questions administered in parallel revealed a strong correlation, demonstrating the effectiveness of online testing. However, a SUS-based survey regarding the mathematics e-learning environment yielded a score of 60.2, which cannot be considered sufficiently high, suggesting that further improvements are needed for the online submission of written-response mathematics questions.
Matti Harjula
Custom syntax and STACK. A quick tour of the features and external tools available to override the input syntax, for those cases where Maxima syntax is not enough and one needs to work with specialised notation. This is a technical topic, but it is always good to know what is possible.
George Ionita
This talk presents ETH Zürich’s transition from formative use of STACK to large-scale Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) examinations using Moodle and Safe Exam Browser (SEB). Following the introduction of mandatory student laptops, STACK assessments evolved from practice quizzes and low-stakes bonus tasks to high-stakes digital exams. We focus on the technical, organizational, and logistical structures required to run STACK exams at scale. Key elements include robust Moodle quiz design, standardized workflows, and close collaboration between lecturers, exam organizers, proctors, and central IT services (EduIT). We also highlight STACK-specific technical considerations relevant to digital exams, including randomization design, input validation, and the robustness of Potential Response Trees (PRTs). Common sources of disruption include device heterogeneity, problematic quiz settings, attendance tracking inconsistencies, and insufficient preparation of spare devices. We conclude with practical recommendations for implementing scalable and reliable STACK-based examinations.
Laura Kobel-Keller
STACK exercises for analysis - and not calculus - classes need adaptations due to the differences in assessed skills compared to calculus classes. This, unfortunately is an obstacle for not so experiences STACK question editors or freshman. In order to promote the spread of STACK also in this context we would like to report about an ongoing project in collaboration with S. Borio, D. Evans, S. Harrap, G. Kinnear, and V. Perisic and to promote a special collection of state of the art question.
Oksana Labanova
Implementation of STACK-based automated assessment in non-mathematical disciplines: analysis of institutional support model. This paper presents the experience of developing and implementing a system for creating STACK-based tests for non-mathematical disciplines at TTK University of Applied Sciences. To address this, the university established a centralized support group of mathematics lecturers who provide methodological and technical assistance. An organisational model was developed to manage the full workflow, from teachers’ requests and didactic design to technical implementation in Moodle. This model expanded the use of STACK in non-mathematical subjects and supported automation of assignments for independent practical work.
George Lawi
From Adoption to Institutionalisation of Digital Assessment System (STACK). Since participating in the first STACK workshop in 2019, MMUST has gradually integrated STACK into several undergraduate mathematics courses. This process involved overcoming technical challenges, supporting lecturers, and responding to student feedback. This presentation highlights the challenges experienced and the mitigation measures applied in the journey from adoption to Institutionalisation of STACK electronic assessment at MMUST. In this presentation we will discuss the current initiatives to establish The Africa STACK Centre at MMUST. The centre is intended as a hub to support institutional implementation, facilitate cross-institutional collaboration, and contribute to a shared repository of STACK materials for African universities. In this talk, we will also reflect on learner-level factors influencing engagement, key barriers encountered, and practical strategies currently being applied to ensure the long-term sustainability of STACK at MMUST, which can be applied in other contexts across Africa that is institutionalising electronic assessment systems.
Danilo Lewański
How to best employ STACK and build useful educational material, depending on the education system? Which challenges can best STACK help overcome, depending on the context? It turns out that some of STACK's added value can unexpectedly shine in contexts it was not initially designed for. We learn an example of this phenomenon from IDEMS and from the African STACK Community.
Another example of this is in the Italian context. The Italian higher STEM education system replaced continuous assessment with continuous examination: at least six retakes are compulsory as per students rights, for each individual course, every year, mostly both written and oral. There is no limitation to the amount of years students can keep trying the same exam, and pass grades can be refused. In this context scalable and automated continuous assessment — enabled by STACK — offers an affordable and efficient solution that restores continuity in learning, while remaining compatible with existing institutional constraints.
Stefano Luzzatto
STACK as a selection tool. For two years STACK was used as a preliminary online evaluation tool for shortlisting candidates for the International Mathematics Master (IMM) in Pakistan and Algeria. I will discuss our experience with this.
Raphael Müller
DZdA Project – Germany-wide STACK support with on-demand question authoring. The German STACK project "German Center for Digital STACK Tasks (DZdA)" (2025-2029) starts with a combined effort to provide support for and foster the use of STACK for lecturers at German universities. We present its Task Center which is a team designated to individually design tasks with lecturers from German universities. We demonstrate the authoring philosophy and workflow for our on-demand question authoring by an exemplary cooperation for an economics lecture. Specifically, we highlight the developmental stages from a homework sheet task to an interactive multi-part STACK question using JSXGraph.
Yasuyuki Nakamura
Visualizing and Analyzing STACK Response Data: An Overview and Open Tools. Over the past several years, we have been visualizing and analyzing response data from STACK. By examining incorrect answers categorized through the Potential Response Tree, we aim to better understand how learners progress toward correct answers — including the incorrect and partially correct responses they produce along the way. We believe this approach offers valuable insight into the learning process. In this presentation, we provide an overview of our research findings and share the analysis programs we have developed.
Georg Osang
PreTeXt https://pretextbook.org/ is a system for authoring textbooks and lecture notes that can be deployed in different formats, some of which allow for interactivity. Authoring is done once in an XML format, and the book can be compiled into various different formats such as LaTeX/PDF for print, EPUB for e-readers or a web version. The web version can feature interactive content such as JSXGraph animations or WeBWorK questions. If such interactive content is included, PreTeXt compiles static versions of these for the print versions. With support from PreTeXt developers, I have been working on integrating STACK questions into PreTeXt. I will give a brief overview of PreTeXt's basic ideas and features. I will present the current state of the STACK integration and possible future directions, as well as practical considerations for STACK question management within a PreTeXt textbook.
Juma Zevick Otieno
Since beginning my PhD, I have been focusing on evaluating the integration of STACK e-assessment in university mathematics courses across in two courses at University of Trieste (Italy), 1 at Maseno University, and 4 at MMUST (Kenya). In this talk I will discuss various analysis where we link the impact of digital assessment integraiton (in this case STACK) on student performance, engagement, teaching practices, and institutional policy across diverse educational contexts. The key variables I will focus on here will be Moodle analytics, grade data, and feedback from students and lecturers besides implementation strategies, the study identifies both barriers and enabling factors for sustainable implementation of technology in STEM Education.
Michael Oyengo
STACK has been in usage at Maseno since 2019 and has been expanded to other African Universities spearheaded by a community of African STACK users. Since the initial adoption, there has been significant challenges, key among them infrastructure as cultural barriers. There have been remarkable successes as well such as development of open question banks and sharable courses. In this presentation, we will outline the African STACK journey since early adoption to looking at future initiatives. We will also discuss recent developments of Open Digital PreTeXt textbooks with integrated STACK exercises.
Michele Pancera
STACK authoring is powerful but often time-consuming and technically demanding. This talk presents a work-in-progress AI-based agent designed to support the authoring process, assisting with tasks such as question drafting, randomization strategies, and debugging of Maxima code. Rather than automating authoring, the agent is conceived as a collaborative tool to help authors iterate more efficiently while retaining full control over content quality. The talk will include a live demonstration of the current prototype, followed by a discussion of the underlying ideas, design choices, and future directions. The aim is to explore how AI can meaningfully augment STACK authoring while preserving rigor.
Vesna Perisic
STACK is the e-Assessment system used at all levels of the maths degree at the University of Southampton. The proposed talk explores the use of the system from the side of staff as well as from the side of students including collaboration with the School of Education. In the first year of study, STACK is used with different objectives across all modules: from calculus driving test in the ‘Core Skills’ module to formative and summative assessment in Statistics. Second year students are learning Partial Different Equations supported by STACK. Here, enabling partial marking in the class tests is highly valued by the students. Most recent addition to the third year provision is within Structure and Dynamics of Networks module. The module lecturer is using GenAI tools to create and code STACK questions. Our, students and staff, experiences are used in the pedagogical research by the researchers in the School of Education and their findings are informing our e-Assessment practice.
Mojca Premuš
Supporting Student Learning with STACK: Experiences from Undergraduate Mathematics in Slovenia. In Slovenia, higher education is largely free. Additionally, students enjoy many benefits. Consequently, many students enrol in studies to takeadvantage of these benefits rather than to study seriously. This attitudeamong a large proportion of students is reflected in our faculty’s very poor pass rate from the first to the second year. Mathematical courses have a significant impact on this pass rate. Therefore, at the Department of Mathematics and Physics, we are testing various methods to encourage students to study and to offer them online help with their individual learning situations in the form of online study materials and quizzes, with increasing use of STACK. We are currently working on converting the database questions to STACK questions wherever it makes more sense. At the same time, we are improving the existing STACK questions and their feedback by analysing students’ answers. We also face a lot of problems and challenges related to the use of Slovene language in Moodle quizzes. We will look into some of the solutions we have implemented.
Wigand Rathmann
JSXGraph (https://jsxgraph.org) is a powerful JavaScript library for creating interactive mathematical visualisations in web browsers. It enables users to create and manipulate mathematical constructions, making it an ideal tool for exploring mathematical concepts and ideas. STACK provides a dedicated plug-in to embed JSXGraph constructions into STACK questions and offers bindings so that questions can be answered by manipulating the JSXGraph construction. In this workshop, we introduce the embedding of JSXGraph in STACK, explain how JSXGraph and STACK can be bound together, and present selected advanced techniques. This workshop is aimed at participants who want to enhance their STACK questions with interactive JSXGraph visualisations. Beginners who would like to gain an overview of the possibilities are very welcome.
Interactive Learning of Optimization: How Students Solve Problems Graphically. Authors: Meike Akveld (ETHZ), Florian Lindemann (TUM), Wigand Rathmann (FAU). At STACK 2025, we demonstrated how JSXGraph’s 3D visualizations help students grasp partial derivatives, directional derivatives, and gradients— all key to optimization. This talk extends the work to constrained and unconstrained problems, introducing:
- Interactive Lagrange multiplier methods and feasible-set visualization for constrained optimization.
- Drag-based exploration of contour plots to identify gradient properties without explicitly displaying it.
- Algorithmic infoboxes explaining optimization principles intuitively.
We’ll share implementation insights and pedagogical outcomes, showcasing how modern tools bridge theory and hands-on learning.
Christopher Sangwin
Writing complete mathematical arguments in STACK. In this talk I'll outline practical next steps for allowing students to write complete mathematical arguments in STACK. We look at what is practical in 2026, and what features we plan for the next release to support this. Looking further ahead, this talk outlines the steps needed to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to support automatic grading. Either, this is direct AI grading or using AI to help write response tree (PRT) algorithms.
David Stern
This talk will touch on how and why STACK is adding value across context from low to high resource environments. It will tied together many of the recent innovations related to STACK and set out a vision for collaborative scaling across contexts. This will be presented in the context of an education system being disrupted by AI and will include identifying opportunities to leverage AI agents to build robust future looking formative assessment systems with STACK as the core. It will challenge us as the STACK community to think how we as a collective can collaborate to outcompete commercial actors.
Patrik Stilgenbauer
Generating STACK Exercises with a Python/R Converter in Quarto. In this talk, we introduce a converter (developed with Quarto) that enables the definition of STACK variables directly in Python or R. Using this approach, data and randomized exercise parameters are generated in these languages and subsequently exported into Maxima code for seamless integration into randomized STACK questions. This allows instructors to work in familiar programming environments and to leverage external libraries (e.g., from statistics or numerical analysis) without requiring extensive Maxima programming. In addition, the approach improves compatibility with AI-assisted workflows, as modern AI tools typically provide better support for Python and R than for Maxima.
Kentaro Yoshitomi
STACK supports a wide range of input formats, and its ability to handle mathematical expressions and matrices makes it highly effective for offering diverse mathematical problems to students. However, this flexibility can also impose a significant input burden. In contrast, multiple-choice questions are easy to answer, but their effective design for learning and assessment requires substantial teaching experience, making well-developed items valuable educational resources. A method of constructing quizzes using randomized multiple-choice questions focused on conceptual understanding, with low computational load, is expected to become increasingly important in the age of AI. Even in multiple-choice settings, providing appropriate feedback is as essential as in other types of questions. The author proposed a method for delivering feedback in STACK multiple-choice questions in 2021 and presented it at ATCM 2022. In this work, the approach has been extended to support multiple languages and has been developed into a reusable template.
Motognon Wastalas d'Assise Dogbalou
This presentation explores how adaptive assessment in university mathematics can be improved by integrating didactic mathematics, pedagogical e-learning design, and artificial intelligence. It highlights current limitations of digital tools, particularly their inability to capture student misconceptions, provide meaningful feedback, and support diverse learning needs. The first part discusses how effective assessment requires transforming mathematical knowledge into active, authentic, and scaffolded learning experiences. The second part presents a PhD project using Design-Based Research and co-design methods. This work led to three AI-enhanced STACK tools: a misconception mining system, a diagnostic tool based on Newman’s Error Analysis, and an adaptive learning environment. These tools aim to deliver personalized feedback and recommendations. Evaluation results show faster feedback, better instructor understanding of student thinking, and higher student engagement. Overall, the presentation demonstrates how aligning didactics, pedagogy, and AI can enable more meaningful and scalable mathematics assessment.