Creating tasksheets

This tutorial demonstrates how to create paper-based task sheets featuring isomorphic questions. Paper-based assessments promote spatial reasoning and reduce digital distractions, enabling deeper engagement with the material. Writing, sketching, crossing out, and circling on paper support messy thinking and help students explore ideas more freely. For problem-solving, the physical layout of paper can enhance memory and understanding by making relationships between concepts more visible. Paper also makes effort visible: when students see their peers writing, they are often motivated to engage more actively themselves.

The steps below guide you through setup and creation of paper-based tasksheets. While there are several steps, most involve one-off preparation (such as installation and sample downloads).

One-off preparation

Installing the .NET SDK

  1. Download and install the .NET SDK from Microsoft: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet/10.0. We will use version 8 (LTS: long-term support). Choose the installer for your operating system (Windows, MacOS, or Linux).
  2. Open a console window: Then type: dotnet --version. If the installation succeeded, you will see a version number such as 8.0.404.

Installing the Dividni framework

  1. Download the latest Dividni framework.
  2. Unzip the contents into a convenient location:
  3. (Windows only) Add the Dividni folder to your PATH:
  4. Verify the installation: open a console and run dotnet ~/Dividni/TestGen.dll -version (MacOS/Linux) or dotnet C:\Dividni\TestGen.dll -version (Windows). On Windows, you may instead run TestGen.exe -version once PATH is set. A successful installation prints something like TestGen version 26.01.12.

Creating your sample tasksheet

Download the sample project files contained in Arithmetic-Exercise.zip, unzip them into a convenient folder, and build the project using the command dotnet build in this folder from a terminal or PowerShell window. On Windows, you may also open the solution file QHelperArithmeticTask.sln in Visual Studio and build it there.

Navigate to the Build Output Directory

Open a terminal (macOS / Linux) or PowerShell (Windows), then change into the build output directory.

Windows (PowerShell)

cd bin\Debug\net8.0

macOS / Linux

cd bin/Debug/net8.0

If you are using a release build, replace Debug with Release.

Generate the Tasksheets (Without Answers)

Run the following command to generate 20 paper-based tasksheets:

Windows

TestGen.exe -paperCount 20 -library QHelperArithmeticTask.dll Arithmetic.Task.html

macOS / Linux

dotnet TestGen.dll -paperCount 20 -library QHelperArithmeticTask.dll Arithmetic.Task.html

Generate Tasksheets with Answers (Proof Mode)

To generate tasksheets with answers included, use the -proof option. This makes any code within the cws_code_a class visible.

Windows

TestGen.exe -paperCount 20 -library QHelperArithmeticTask.dll -proof Arithmetic.Task.html

macOS / Linux

dotnet TestGen.dll -paperCount 20 -library QHelperArithmeticTask.dll -proof Arithmetic.Task.html

Optional: Convert HTML to PDF

If required, convert the generated HTML tasksheets to PDF using ChromiumHtmlToPdf or another HTML-to-PDF conversion tool.