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April 20, 2007
Vol. 4, Issue 1 |
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New: Question Usage and Difficulty!
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WebAssign Spring 2007 Newsletter
In this issue:
New Features
Question Usage and Difficulty
We have just released a new feature which should help you create better
assignments in WebAssign.
Inside the Question Browser while selecting questions in the Assignment
Editor -- in either "Short" or "Full" View -- you'll now see two icons
next to each question.
The icon on the left graphically indicates how many students have used
that particular question within WebAssign. Each "person" represents an
additional order of magnitude 10 to 100 students, 100 to 1000, etc. The
right icon indicates the question difficulty by showing the percentage
of students who got the question incorrect on the first attempt.
For more information, please read the complete question difficulty and
usage
announcement.
Group Assignments
 You can now set up student groups in one of several different ways and
then schedule an assignment to be a group assignment. With a student
group assignment your students can work together to determine their
answers, and then have any single member of the group log in and submit
those answers for the whole group. Any action -- such as submitting an
assignment, saving work, or requesting an extension -- is counted for
all of the group's members.
For more information, please read the complete group assignments
announcement.
Mapleplot
Using the power of Maple you can now create dynamic plots within your
questions. Login and review the template.mapleplot question, qid 672986,
to get started! There you will see some of the varied types of plots
that Maple has to offer including direction fields and even
three-dimensional plots like the one shown.
Algebraic Question Type
Also new to WebAssign is the incorporation of a new question type that
allows the instructor to create questions where Maple does the grading.
Especially useful for more difficult questions, the Algebraic Type
(still in beta) also increases flexibility for accepting alternate forms
that are not algebraically equivalent (such as those that arise in
problems requiring integration by parts). Check out the Maple.Equation
qid 674030 which shows you how to accept any equivalent form of a linear
equation, and the Maple.Integrals. qid 674031 which demonstrates the
power of using Maple to evaluate students' responses.
WAUG 2007
The 8th Annual WebAssign User's Group Meeting, (WAUG), will take place
June 27-29, 2007 on Centennial Campus at North Carolina State University
in Raleigh. You can attend some or all days.
WAUG is an outstanding opportunity for both new and experienced
WebAssign users to learn how WebAssign works and how to leverage the #1
homework and grading service to engage your students in their own learning.
- Day 1 workshops are "soup to nuts" in-depth, hands-on, training on
all aspects of the system -- from creating courses and rosters to simple
question coding. Please bring a wireless laptop to maximize your
experience for these workshops.
- Day 2 features instructional applications, advanced question
coding workshops, a Gradebook tutorial, and how to get organized with
Folders.
- Day 3 will focus on best practices, recent rollouts, additional
question coding instruction, and the Developer's Roundtable -- your
chance to tell WebAssign designers what you would like to see in the
next version.
Participants will have opportunities to meet and speak with experienced
WebAssign teachers and learn how they use WebAssign daily in their
classrooms.
WebAssign staff will be available throughout the meeting to spend
one-on-one time and answer your questions. Be sure to plan on joining us
for the Wednesday evening reception and Thursday night dinner.
Online registration and housing information are available at
http://webassign.net/info/waug.html.
There is no fee to attend, but seats are limited.
We look forward to seeing you at WAUG in June!
Employment
We are always looking for new talent. If you are interested in any of
the following positions please email cover letter and resume to
jobs@webassign.net.
EDITORIAL CODERS
Make WebAssign Work! Become a textbook question writer/creator.
- Prepare textbook questions for online delivery and grading.
- Work part time or full time (20-40/hr a week).
- Must have completed college level physics and math courses.
- Requires computer and basic HTML skills.
- Good problem solver, self-motivated, detail oriented.
- Must follow style guidelines and work independently.
- Pay: $10 to $14 per hour
Hours are flexible. We are willing to train!
Editor's Corner
Most Frequently Asked Question: Coding errors
We are always trying to improve our editorial process, but sometimes
errors still slip through. We will continue to try to fix these as soon
as they are reported.
What is a coding error?
- Calculational errors or incorrect answers
- Misspelled words
- Incorrect or missing units
- In chemistry: incorrect number of significant figures
- In physics and math: inappropriate tolerance for a numerical answer
(By popular demand, we do not code significant figures in textbook
questions in physics or any other discipline except chemistry.)
- We are generally not permitted to add additional words or phrases
that are not in the textbook, except where necessary to make a
question function correctly and clearly in an online homework
environment.
How do instructors report coding errors to WebAssign?
The best way is to simply send an email to support@webassign.net - this
address puts all emails into a shared tracking system that makes it
easier for us to ensure a prompt reply.
New Textbooks for Fall 2007
The following titles are under active development for summer and fall
2007 classes. You can review which questions are being coded on our
website.
Chemistry
- Atkins and de Paula, Physical Chemistry, 8e
- Atkins and Jones, Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight, 4e
- Carey, Organic Chemistry, 7e
- Chang, Chemistry, 9e
- Chang, General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts, 5e
- Goldberg, Fundamentals of Chemistry, 5e (Testbank)
- Kelter, Mosher, and Scott, Chemistry: The Practical Science, 1e
- Silberberg, Principles of General Chemistry, 1e
- Smith, Organic Chemistry, 2e
- Zumdahl, Introductory Chemistry: A Foundation, 6e
Physics
- Halliday, Resnick, and Walker, Fundamentals of Physics, 8e
- Ohanian and Markert, Physics for Engineers and Scientists, 3e
- Serway and Jewett, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 7e
- Tipler and Mosca, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 6e
Math
- COMAP, Inc. For All Practical Purposes, 7e
- Faires and DeFranza, Precalculus, 4e
- Gustafson and Frisk, College Algebra, 9e
- Gustafson and Frisk, Beginning Algebra, 8e
- Gustafson and Frisk, Intermediate Algebra, 8e
- Gustafson and Frisk, Beginning and Intermediate Algebra: An Integrated Approach, 5e
- Hass, Weir, and Thomas, University Calculus, 1e
- Hass, Weir, and Thomas, University Calculus: Alternative Edition, 1e
- Kaufmann and Schwitters, Algebra for College Students, 8e
- Kaufmann and Schwitters, Intermediate Algebra, 8e
- Kaufmann and Schwitters, Elementary Algebra, 8e
- Kaufmann and Schwitters, Elementary and Intermediate Algebra, 4e
- McKeague, Basic College Mathematics, 2e
- McKeague, Beginning Algebra: A TextWorkbook, 7e
- McKeague, Intermediate Algebra, 8e
- Rogawski, Calculus, 1e
- Rogawski, Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 1e
- Smith, The Nature of Mathematics, 11e
- Stewart, Calculus, 6e
- Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals, 6e
- Stewart, Essential Calculus, 1e
- Stewart, Redlin, and Watson, Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus, 5e
- Swokowski and Cole, Precalculus: Functions and Graphs, 11e
- Swokowski and Cole, Algebra and Trigonometry with Analytic Geometry, 12e
- Tan, Applied Calculus for the Managerial, Life, and Social Sciences, 7e
- Tan, Finite Mathematics for the Managerial, Life, and Social Sciences, 8e
- Tan, Applied Math for Managerial, Life, and Social Sciences, 4e
- Thomas, Weir, Hass, and Giordano, Calculus, 11e
- Thomas, Weir, Hass, and Giordano, Calculus Early Transcendentals, 11e
- Tussy and Gustafson, Intermediate Algebra (Hardcover), 3e
- Tussy and Gustafson, Intermediate Algebra (Paperback), 3e
- Tussy and Gustafson, Elementary and Intermediate Algebra, 3e
- Tussy and Gustafson, Introductory Algebra, 3e
- Tussy and Gustafson, Prealgebra, 3e
- Tussy and Gustafson, Basic Mathematics for College Students, 3e
- Tussy and Gustafson, Elementary Algebra, 3e
- Tussy and Gustafson, Developmental Mathematics for College Students, 2e
- Van Dyke, Rogers, and Adams, Fundamentals of Mathematics, 9e
- Waner and Costenoble, Finite Mathematics, 4e
- Waner and Costenoble, Applied Calculus, 4e
- Waner and Costenoble, Finite Mathematics and Applied Calculus, 4e
Statistics
- Devore, Probability and Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences, 7e
- Johnson and Kuby, Elementary Statistics, 10e
- Moore Basic Practice of Statistics, 4e
- Moore and McCabe Introduction to the Practice of Statistics, 5e
- Moore, McCabe, Duckworth, Sclove Practice of Business Statistics, 1e
- Peck, Olsen, Devore, Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis, 3e
- Utts and Heckard, Mind on Statistics, 3e
New Members of the Editorial Team
WebAssign welcomes new members to our team! We continue to grow to
support your needs with more textbooks and new features.
- Larry Bloomfield: Chemistry Editor
- Zachary VanKirk: Physics Editor
- Regina Fanning: Editorial Assistant
- Annie McQuaid: Quality Assurance Coordinator
- Jenny Su: Chemistry Coder
- Michael Nehring: Math Coder
- Kimberly Sergent: Statistics coder
Did You Know?
You can upload "paper grades" into your WebAssign GradeBook. This
feature allows you to average traditional quizzes, tests and labs into
one overall grade for each student.
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