In this issue:
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May 20, 2008
Vol. 5, Issue 2
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Coming Soon: MathPad and ChemPad!
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New Features
We hope you find the following new features helpful. As always, let us know if you have any ideas on how we can make WebAssign better for you!
GraphPad
Your students can use this tool to graph lines, segments, parabolas and circles. They can include multiple objects on the same graph and can even indicate two-dimensional inequalities by shading part of the graph.
Best of all, students' responses are automatically and instantly graded by WebAssign!
Here are some examples of GraphPad in action:
Lines
Students can graph one or more lines, segments or rays.
Parabola
Students can graph horizontal and vertical parabolas by specifying the vertex and one point on the parabola.
Circles
To graph circles, students specify the center and any one point on the radius.
2-D Inequalities
Students can indicate the answer to a 2-D inequality by drawing bounding objects, which can be solid or dashed, and then shading one or more areas of the graph.
Even complex regions like the one below can be graphed and graded.
Practice Another Version
Instructors and students have asked for the ability to practice a problem without affecting the student's score for the assignment. Instructors can now allow students to practice another randomized version of a question either before or after the due date for the assignment. An added benefit is that, if the faculty selects this option, the students can use this as a practice feature to get ready for exams.
Students now click the new button on assignments next to Submit and Save to Practice Another Version. This is only available for questions that have been randomized.
Excuse an Assignment
We have received many requests for the ability to excuse a student from an assignment and to ignore the total score for that assignment. This is now possible!
To excuse an assignment for a student, go to the Scores page for the assignment you want to excuse.
Click the assignment total for the student who is to be excused (even if the current total is ND or NS) to open the Excuse or Override Assignment window.
Select the new Excuse Assignment radio button. You can record a note to remind yourself why this assignment was excused (The student cannot see the note).
You can also access the Excuse Assignment window from the ScoreView page by clicking the total for the assignment and the name of the student you want to excuse.
Excused assignments still show up in the GradeBook, but are marked as excused on the faculty view and the student view.
Transfer Student Work
You can now transfer a student from one section to another within the same course.
Work is transferable from one section to another, if the assignment is common to both sections, and was initially scheduled to each section within the same calendar month. If the student entered an access code for the class, the code transfers to the new section as well.
To transfer a student and the student's work from one section to another, go to your roster for the section and click the student's name. The Edit Student window opens, where you can make changes to the student's full name, email and other information.
To transfer the student to a new section, click the Transfer Student tab, select the section you want to transfer the student to and click Complete Transfer. You are notified if some work cannot be transferred.
Note: This transfer feature is currently not available if a student has transferred between two separate WebAssign courses. It only works between two sections of the same course. If the courses are not the same, you must drop the student from the old course and add the student manually to the other. In this case, work cannot be copied from one section to another.
Coming Soon
MathPad (July 1)
We are also hard at work on MathPad, a Flash-based "math palette" that students can use to enter symbolic expressions and see the mathematically correct display as they work, rather than entering expressions in calculator notation and clicking Preview. Students who prefer not to use the mouse for entry can enter most answers entirely with the keyboard.
ChemPad (July 1)
ChemPad is an easy-to-use palette that allows students to enter complex chemical formulas, such as subscripts for number of atoms, superscripts for ions, square brackets, mid-dots, and arrows, electron configurations, Greek symbols and lots of keyboard shortcuts.
Students can use ChemPad to enter chemical compounds and see everything in proper notation.
ChemPad lets students enter ions with two clicks. Or if they prefer they can use keyboard shortcuts.
Using ChemPad, students can quickly write electron orbital configurations properly.
Percent-based Penalty for Extensions
Currently, when students receive an extension, a point-based penalty can be applied. Yet, since some assignments are worth many more points than others, this doesn't always work as well as it could, especially for automatic extensions.
Soon, instructors will also be able to either take off a percentage of the total points or take off a percentage for questions a student hasn't answered correctly yet.
This last option ensures that students are not penalized for work they have already completed - their scores can never go down for taking an extension. This will encourage students to spend more time with the material, as they can still improve their scores.
Step-by-Step Tutorial Questions
You can use this new feature to author questions that expand to show more sub-parts, as needed, while the student works. For example, you might add a Help button, which walks students through several simpler questions and text hints helping them solve the original problem.
You can add as many steps, substeps, and hints as needed - and you can have more than one tutorial embedded within a single WebAssign question. Steps can include any normal WebAssign coding, such as multiple answer blanks, randomization, images and links.
If you want to learn more about this new coding feature when it becomes available, sign up to receive our New Feature Announcements!
Assignment Due Reminders
Another common request we receive from students is for a feature to remind them when an assignment deadline is approaching. Students will be able to control whether to receive email announcements and how far in advance of the due-date they will receive reminders.
Forward Faculty Communications to External Email (Fall 2008)
When a student requests an extension, or posts on Ask Your Teacher, you can have WebAssign send an email to the address you specify, so you don't have to check WebAssign for your messages.
Instructors will have full control over their email preferences. This feature will also be available for students.
Student Self-Enrollment (Fall 2008)
We're working on making it much easier to roster your course.
The biggest change will be that you can allow your students to self-enroll, eliminating most of the hassle associated with rosters. When you create your course and choose the self-enrollment option, you will receive a Course Key for each section. You simply let students in that section know the Course Key, and they can enter the rest of their student information.
For instructors who do not want to allow self-enrollment, we are also upgrading the rostering process to let you upload a file in almost any format, rather than having to rework the roster file extensively in Excel before uploading. You can also provide less information initially (even just student names) and WebAssign will help you generate user names and passwords.
This feature is not available if your institution uses a rostering system that has been integrated with WebAssign.
Employment
Interested in working for WebAssign, or know someone who might be? We're hiring!
Please email your cover letter and resume to jobs@webassign.net.
WebAssign is currently seeking full-time/part-time chemistry, math, and statistics coders.
For more information about these positions go to employment page on our website.
FAQ
What is the default tolerance for numerical questions?
To answer this question, you must determine whether the question is checking for significant figures.
Numerical questions that check for significant figures (sigfigs), by default, display an icon indicating that the answer will be judged based on the proper number of significant figures. The icon also links to a page with the rules WebAssign uses for significant figures. These rules are found in many introductory chemistry and physics textbooks.
The default tolerance for questions with sigfigs is ±1 (the last significant place). To display a specified number of significant figures and compare the student's response with this number, the following code in the answer box is used <eqn $SIGFIGS=n; number> where n is the number of significant figures and number is the numerical answer to the question.
If an answer is 4.2 to 2 sigfigs, 4.1, 4.2, or 4.3 would be accepted as correct answers. The tolerance automatically adjusts to correspond to the correct number of significant figures. If a student's response agrees with the correct answer, but contains either too few or too many significant figures, the question is marked incorrect, and the following hint is displayed: "Check the number of significant figures."
For numerical questions that are not checking for sigfigs, the default tolerance is less than 2% (as opposed to less than or equal to 2%). To avoid frustrating students, we have long told them that the tolerance is 1%; that way there is a slight "cushion" in the grading.
New Textbooks for 2008
Astronomy
Freedman and Kaufmann, Universe 8e
Seeds, Foundations of Astronomy 10e
Chemistry
Brown, LeMay and Bursten, Chemistry: The Central Science 11e
Burdge, Chemistry 1e
Carey, Organic Chemistry 7e
Chang, Chemistry 9e
Chang, General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts 5e
Corwin, Introductory Chemistry: Concepts and Critical Thinking 5e
Denniston, Topping and Caret, General, Organic, and Biochemistry 1e
Goldberg, Fundamentals of Chemistry 5e (Testbank)
Kotz, Treichel and Townsend, Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity 7e
Kelter, Mosher, and Scott, Chemistry: The Practical Science 1e
Laird, University Chemistry 1e
McMurry and Fay, Chemistry 5e
Silberberg, Chemistry: Molecular Nature of Matter & Change 5e
Smith, Organic Chemistry 2e
Timberlake, Basic Chemistry 2e
Timberlake, Chemistry: An Introduction to General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry 10e
Tro, Introductory Chemistry 3e
Waldron, The Chemistry of Everything 1e
Zumdahl, Zumdahl, Ebbing, Gammon, ChemWorks 1e
Physics
Halliday, Resnick, and Walker, Fundamentals of Physics 8e
Giambattista Richardson, and Richardson, Physics 1e
Giordano, College Physics: Reasoning and Relationships 1e
Knight, Jones, and Field, College Physics: A Strategic Approach 1e
Loyd, Virtual Physics Labs 1e
Ohanian and Markert, Physics for Engineers and Scientists 3e
Seeds, Horizons - Exploring the Universe 10e
Tipler and Mosca, Physics for Scientists and Engineers 6e
Wolfson, Essential University Physics 1e
Young and Freedman, University Physics 12e
Math
Aufmann, Algebra for College Students 2e
Aufmann, Barker, and Lockwood, Algebra: Introductory and Intermediate 4e
Aufmann, College Trigonometry 6e
Aufmann, Algebra: Beginning and Intermediate 2e
Bello, Topics in Contemporary Mathematics 9e
Crauder, Functions and Change: A Modeling Approach to College Algebra and Trigonometry 1e
Dugopolski, College Algebra and Trigonometry 4e
Dugopolski, Intermediate Algebra 5e
Hughes-Hallett, Gleason, and McCallum, Calculus: Single and Multivariable 4e
Hungerford, Contemporary Precalculus - A Graphing Approach 5e
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 5e
Larson, Algebra and Trigonometry 7e
Larson, Elementary Algebra: Student Support Edition 4e
Larson, Essential Calculus: Early Transcendental Functions 1e
Larson, Elementary Algebra: Student Support Edition 4e
Larson, Elementary and Intermediate Algebra, A Combined Course, Student Support Edition 4e
Larson, Essential Calculus: Early Transcendental Functions 1e
Larson, College Algebra: A Graphing Approach 5e
Larson, Precalculus, A Concise Course 1e
Larson, Precalculus with Limits 1e
Larson, Trigonometry 7e
LaTorre, Kenelly, Reed, Carpenter, Harris, and Biggers, Calculus Concepts 4e
Stewart, Calculus 6e
Stewart, Calculus (Metric) 6e
Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals (Metric) 6e
Stewart. Calculus: Early Transcendentals 6e
Stewart, Redlin, and Watson. College Algebra 5e
Stewart, Essential Calculus 1e
Stewart, Essential Calculus: Early Trascendentals 1e
Stewart Redlin, and Watson, Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus 5e
Stewart, Redlin, and Watson, Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus (Paperback) P5e
Sullivan, PreCalculus 8e
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: A Brief Approach 8e
Tan, Applied Calculus for the Managerial, Life, and Social Sciences 7e
Tan, Menz, and Ashlock Applied Calculus for the Managerial, Life and Social Sciences, Canadian Version 1e
Tan, Finite Mathematics for the Managerial, Life, and Social Sciences 8e
Tan, Applied Math for Managerial, Life, and Social Sciences 4e
Tussy and Gustafson, Intermediate Algebra (Hardcover) 4e
Tussy and Gustafson, Elementary Algebra 4e
Wilson, Brief Applied Calculus 1e
Statistics
Agresti and Franklin, Statistics: The Art and Science of Learning from Data 1e
Devore, Probability and Statistics for Engineering and the Sciences 7e
Gravetter, Essentials of Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences 6e
Groebner, Shannon, Fry, and Smith, A Course in Business Statistics 4e
Johnson and Kuby, Elementary Statistics 10e
Johnson and Kuby, Elementary Statistics, Just the Essentials 10e
Mendenhall, Beaver, and Beaver, Introduction to Probability and Statistics 13e
Moore, The Basic Practice of Statistics 4e
Moore, McCabe, Duckworth, and Sclove, The Practice of Business Statistics 1e
Moore and McCabe, Introduction to the Practice of Statistics 5e
Peck, Olsen, and Devore, Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis 3e
Peck and Devore, Statistics: The Exploration and Analysis of Data 6e
Triola, Elementary Statistics Using Excel 3e
Utts and Heckard, Mind on Statistics 3e
Yates, Moore, and Starnes, The Practice of Statistics 2e
Regional Account Management
WebAssign is growing. In an effort to provide you with the best service, we have set up a regional account management sales and support team. Here is the team and how the regions are defined:
Northeast Region
Anne Squire, Direct of Customer Support, 919-829-8181 ext. 110, adsquire@webassign.net
ME, NH, VT, NY, MA, RI, CT, DE, NJ, PA (International)
Southeast Region
Dan Linville, Account Manager, 919-829-8181 ext. 117, dan@webassign.net
FL, GA, AL, MS, LA, TN, SC, NC, VA, MD, WVA, KY
Midwest Region
Renee Jeffers, Account Manager, 919-829-8181 ext. 131, rjeffers@webassign.net
OH, IN, IL, MI, WI, IA
Great Plains Region
Alisha Guthrie, Account Manager, 919-829-8181 ext. 127, aguthrie@webassign.net
MT, ND, SD, NE, ID, WY, NV, CO, UT, KS, OK, AZ, NM, TX
West Coast Region
Chris Hall, Director of Business Development, 559-244-0641, hall@webassign.net
CA, OR, WA, AK, HI
Note: There may be a few exceptions, and you will be notified if your institution has an Account Manager different than those defined above.
If you cannot get in touch your Account Manager quickly, contact anyone on this list to assist you. We hope to provide you with the best possible service and support we can, as we get to know your institution and your specific needs.
Feature of the Month
Do you allow extensions?
Are you tired of providing or even approving extensions to assignments?
Try the automatic extension feature. Allow students to request and receive a preset extension, say 24 or 48 hours. You can deduct points for each request, and soon you can deduct a percentage. Under the Communications pull-down, click Enable Extensions, then go to Settings. You control how much time a student has to request an extension, how long the extension will be valid and how many points will be deducted. Set this as class policy on the first day of class, post it in your course Announcements, and you won't have to deal with extension requests.
New Members of the WebAssign Team
WebAssign welcomes math coder Hildon Smith, who has recently joined our team.
We are also happy to have Beth Keena on board, our new full time technical writer.
WAUG
Since 2000, WebAssign has hosted an annual WebAssign User's Group meeting in North Carolina. WAUG has provided users with opportunities to meet and network with one another, to participate in workshops, and to get in-depth information about WebAssign features. Users have also learned about the latest developments and future possibilities, and told developers about their needs. This year, instead of hosting WAUG, we are working on lots of new features and tools to be ready for the Fall term.
Look for these new features to be released during the summer. As always, we welcome your suggestions for improvements. We plan to continue hosting WAUG in the future, so that you can collaborate with other WebAssign users.
Feedback
What do you think of WebAssign? We want to know your thoughts about what works for you, including how long you have been a WebAssign user and how it has improved your classroom learning. Your feedback may be featured in an upcoming newsletter or on our website. We can be reached at info@webassign.net.
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