The Robert Gordon University Moodle basic maths diagnostic quiz is a development of a paper-based test first transferred online using QuestionMark Perception in 2003 by Patel and Little [1] that uses mainly CALMAT [2] and Diagnosys [3] questions selected by teaching staff copied to the University’s new moodle VLE in 2008. The quiz addresses concerns regarding mathematical preparedness of new students expressed by the Engineering Council [4] STEM [5] and more recently QAA Scotland through Whittaker [6] who states that the "...level of maths skills is often uneven...and requires a diagnostic approach towards targeting additional support."
In 2004 selected quiz question statistics were presented to the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths transition to university) team during their visit to the university that year were incorporated as an appendix in the STEM final report. [5] These give an indication that there are some questions that new students are particularly averse to or unable to answer correctly. There is also a group of the same questions that have been found to be problematic every year. Quiz rationalisation has focused on removal of questions that are too easy or too difficult or that are not correlated with overall outcomes but some questions have been retained precisely because they do attract wrong answers due to misconceptions.
