WebAssign

WebAssign is an online homework assignment service which was initially developed at North Carolina State University. [cite news |first=Lisa |last=Guernsey |title=Textbooks and Tests That Talk Back |url=http://chronicle.com/free/v45/i23/23a02101.htm |work=The Chronicle of Higher Education |publisher= |date=1999-02-12 |accessdate=2007-06-28 ] The company's website is http://www.webassign.net. Some of the disciplines covered include Mathematics, Chemistry, Statistics, Physics, and Biology.

Overview

There is no cost to the teacher or the students in order to login. After a grace period, however, the student must pay for further access. Once a teacher has set up an account, he or she may set up classes, create and schedule assignments, upload class rosters, and make class announcements. Once the student is logged in, he or she may see the announcements and complete any outstanding assignments.

Mechanics

Assignments consist of a list of questions that can be either free-response or multiple-choice, and each question is given a set number of opportunities to answer a question. Teachers can set questions to notify students whether or not their answer is correct. If the answer is correct, a green checkmark appears. If an answer is incorrect, a red 'x' appears. Mathematical equations containing the appropriate figures are also accepted for numerical answers. WebAssign supports automatic grading of answers when appropriate. [cite news |last=Dutton |first=John C.| date=January/February 2001 |title=WebAssign: A Better Homework Delivery Tool |work=The Technology Source |url= http://technologysource.org/article/webassign/|accessdate=2007-06-28]

WebAssign has some anti-cheating devices. Often, variables in questions will be marked red. This indicates that this variable is not the same for all students. Thus, a set of raw answers cannot be copied directly into WebAssign, but any potential distributor of answers will need to supply a formula into which other people could plug in their own numbers.

Advantages

WebAssign uses a mostly HTML based environment which allows for ease of use and faster load times.

WebAssign provides quick responses through its Customer Support for both faculty and students via phone and e-mail. It is often possible to hear back directly from an editor on content-related issues.

Students do not have to carry their textbook around to do homework. They can also print off the problems to work on them when they do not have access to a computer.

Criticism

WebAssign assignments are often very specific for significant digits and do not indicate to students if they are a digit off, leading many students to incorrectly assume that they have solved the problem incorrectly when in fact they have done the conceptual framework of the problem correctly. There are also various errors in the coding that cause WebAssign to expect nonsensical answers. WebAssign has some trouble when it comes to internal calculations, especially when various units for the same quantity, such as farads and microfarads are involved.

It is also slightly expensive.

This is a disadvantage to do homework assignments from if students do not have internet access.

References

External links

WebAssign home page: [http://www.webassign.net/]