This article will teach you about the Text blocks in our Dynamic Engine.
The Text Blocks
There are 12 kinds of text blocks you can use in the Dynamic Engine. This article focuses on the following 5 core blocks:
Basic
Create Text With
Append Text
Set Letter Case
Random Text
Text Block: Basic
The basic block assigns a text value to a variable of your choosing. For example, this sets the value of the variable named "first name" to the text "John".
Examples of pieces of text are:
"thing #1"
"March 12, 2010"
"" - note this is empty text
Text can contain letters (which may be lower-case or upper-case), numbers, punctuation marks, other symbols, and blank spaces between words. The conventional term for all of these different types of text is "characters".
Text Block: Create Text With
The create text with block lets you mix different blocks to create a combined string of text. For example, this sets the value of the variable named "full name" to the text "John Doe".
Notice how the two basic text blocks that are being combined are "John" and " Doe". You also have the option to add more or less blocks by pressing the "+" or the "-".
Text Block: Append Text
The append text block lets you add values to the end of a variable. For example, this sets the value of the variable named "first name" to "John" and then adds the text "Doe" to the end. The end result is that the variable named "first name" will now show "John Doe".
Text Block: Set Letter Case
The set letter case block lets you format your values. For example, this sets the value of the variable named "full name" to "John Doe".
There are 3 options when you select the dropdown:
UPPER CASE
lower case
Title Case
Text Block: Random Text
The random block lets you save time by selecting from pre-populated datasets. For example, this sets the value of the variable named "first name" to a random female first name, such as "Anna".
Specifying the gender of a first name is important if you plan to write questions with pronouns. Before a new dataset becomes available, the EXAMIND team thinks through all the consequences and grammatical implications (e.g., possession with 's).
Datasets can be select by clicking the dropdown menu next to the word "random". The current datasets available are the following:
City - 89,500+ fake cities
Company - 18,000+ fake companies
Country - 244 real countries
First Name - 3,000+ ethnically diverse names
First Name (Female) - 450+ ethnically diverse female names
First Name (Male) - 400+ ethnically diverse male names
Industry - 148 real industries
Last Name - 450+ ethnically diverse last names
Month - 12 months
Weekday - 7 weekdays
Example Question Using Text Blocks (Beginner)
Consider the following Multiple Choice question in EXAMIND.
The goal with this question is to create independent variables that don't affect the question. These variables enable EXAMIND to identify the source of leaked content (if this question appears online). This works because each student is served a unique permutation of the question.
Here is what the Dynamic Engine would look like:
Here is what a sample question would look like (values highlighted in blue for convenience):
Specifying the gender of a first name is important if you plan to write questions with pronouns. Before a new dataset becomes available, the EXAMIND team thinks through all the consequences and grammatical implications (e.g., possession with 's).
