[LQ43]

I have to help a professor set up online homework, and was wondering what the general opinion is

What are your experiences when your professor uses online resources and assigns homework that must be submitted online (either with WebCT or other online system) ?

Frustration.... because of the chemistry or because of the online system itself?

Satisfaction ....because you get feedback right away and learn from your mistakes

Somewhere in between?

Would rather do everything on paper, hand in and get it back 1 week later....?


thanks for any replies

[macman104]

In general I don't have any issue with online homework.  There are sometimes when I do get frustrated by it.  One thing that has always proved particularly frustrating is if the question has sig figs and it is looking for a certain answer, then sometimes finding that exact right combination of rounding and sig figs is annoying.

In general though, I do find them nice.  The instant feedback, especially if it is coupled with either explanations of the correct answer, or pointers to where to locate the answer are very nice.  The homework provided by webAssign is pretty good, although I've only seen it used for Freshman chem.

[LQ43]

Thanks Borek!!

[LQ43]

In general I don't have any issue with online homework.  There are sometimes when I do get frustrated by it.  One thing that has always proved particularly frustrating is if the question has sig figs and it is looking for a certain answer, then sometimes finding that exact right combination of rounding and sig figs is annoying.

In general though, I do find them nice.  The instant feedback, especially if it is coupled with either explanations of the correct answer, or pointers to where to locate the answer are very nice.  The homework provided by webAssign is pretty good, although I've only seen it used for Freshman chem.

Thanks macman104, I was hesitant about helping because some students get frustrated with the online systems and then it distracts them from the chemistry.

I know I can resent learning a new program and would get stressed if the system isn't accepting my answers because of not putting a leading 0 in front of the decimal or my sig figs were off.

thanks for any more replies

[tabularasa]

The system is frustrating because it's very picky about sig figs and scientific notation. My prof also makes the questions hard on purpose, so if you can't figure out one part of the question, then you're screwed. We have a problem set due every Saturday at 8am.

[Polleke]

To be honest I think it can be very stupid sometimes.

Especially when its a scientific task.
It takes ages to adjust the symbols , to put all the formulas correct in a word document or any other document.

Everytime I had to do such online thing I spent more time in figuring out how to make a certain symbol then by making the task itself.


But it does depend on what kind of homework it is.
If you have to enter a lot of chemical reactions then I would say no!
If it is something more theoreticly then yeah why not.

[Yggdrasil]

From a philosophical point of view, I don't think chemistry problem sets should be submitted online.  Often the submissions end up being answers to multiple choice questions.  However, chemistry problems often involve calculation and this work cannot be submitted in an online format.  Thus, the online homeworks tend to place too much of an emphasis on the answer and no emphasis on the work leading up to the answer, whereas the actual work and calculations are the important part of the problem.  Paper problem sets also offer TAs the opportunity to correct mistakes in a students' logic (e.g. showing which steps are wrong in a calculation) and offer feedback whereas multiple choice online quizzes exclude this option (of course, this presumes the TAs are motivated enough to grade the homeworks carefully).

The one somewhat effective use I've seen, however, is a system called Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) where students answer a prompt in essay format (for example, explaining how to analyze a spectrum or explaining how to perform an experiment).  The system then allows students to anonymously grade each other, following questions and guidelines created by the instructor.  Sometimes this leads to some interesting game theory (you are penalized if your evaluation of an essay deviates significantly from the average evaluation of that essay), but I like the system because it gives students experience in critically evaluating the work of others as well as allowing students to obtain feedback on their own work.

[LQ43]

From a philosophical point of view, I don't think chemistry problem sets should be submitted online.  Often the submissions end up being answers to multiple choice questions.  However, chemistry problems often involve calculation and this work cannot be submitted in an online format.  Thus, the online homeworks tend to place too much of an emphasis on the answer and no emphasis on the work leading up to the answer, whereas the actual work and calculations are the important part of the problem. 



The one somewhat effective use I've seen, however, is a system called Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) where students answer a prompt in essay format

but I like the system because it gives students experience in critically evaluating the work of others as well as allowing students to obtain feedback on their own work.

I agree with the overemphasis on the final answer with online systems and I will be looking into Calibrated Peer Review -thanks Yggdrasil!

[mass]

I think this would be a good idea. I am now at uni and like myself many are struggling with the webct system. It sometimes crashes, sometimes hard to find material. It's also very difficult to find a lecturer or professor to actually have a 1:1 basis. For me, I recently failed my organic chemistry exam due to this. Like myself as I said, many are performing poorly so I think this would be a great idea.

[nj_bartel]

A combination would be ideal.  The online homework can be very helpful in figuring out how a problem works when the hint option is available to you to use (at the cost of a point deduction of course).  However, when the hint option isn't present, and you don't know where to start solving a problem, or you think you know what you're doing then you hit submit and all you receive is 'try again,' it can be very frustrating.  One solution to the significant digits problem is to always enter either 5 decimal places worth of significant digits or 5 significant digits total if there are less than 5 decimal places.

[weiguxp]

as we're moving to a more digital age, we should start adjusting ourselves to technology.

from my experiance, webCT works well and is the closest thing I've encountered to online homework.

personally, as the next generation gets used to using it the internet at a young age, it basically the same (if not better) as paper homework

[jessica87]

In my opinion it is good at times as you get instant feedback on your workout but still the sig fig and scientific notations in system is just labourous and an headache.

[lildarkangel13]

I would rather hand in a paper and get it back a week later. I feel like the professor actually takes the time to check my mistakes and leave some constructive criticisms. My professors also tells me what the right answer would have been and what i did wrong. When the hw is online, i get distracted very easily in facebook or listening to music and i end up doing a crappier job since im not focused

[Vidya]

Hi
Online homework is the best way to practice questions and get the feedback right there.It really helps in learning process .It gives an oppuritinity to straight concepts in brain.Many times I have seen that students get the concepts in wrong manner or entirely opposite way ,but when they do questions on it they realize that what they were thinking was not correct.

[CopperSmurf]

I love the idea of online homework. There's no need to wait for the professor to give back the results (which is a big pain when the class is huge). I get very fast feedback, plus it reduces the amount of work of paper for me to carry. I agree that there are problems like the sig fig of the final answer and the system crashing, but that's relatively minor.