Is this HW server, something that anyone can use? Or just UT folks?
If its something that anyone can use, can you post some more info?
________________________
Joel Rauber
Department of Physics - SDSU
Joel.Rauber@sdstate.edu
605-688-4293
| -----Original Message-----
| From: Forum for Physics Educators
| [mailto:PHYS-L@list1.ucc.nau.edu] On Behalf Of Karl Trappe
| Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 1:48 PM
| To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
| Subject: Re: Physics Solutions Manual
|
| Exactly. And that is why UTexas has a HW server with
| thousands of such problems and permission from most
| publishers to add theirs. I know they just added all of the
| 9th ed of Hewitt's Conceptual Physics (yes, 10th is out).
| Serway's College Physics is there. Lots of others are, as
| well. Again, so many HW problems that if they master that
| many they are pretty well on their way in Physics.
|
| The HW Server is used by over 4 million persons world wide.
| Now that I retired from UT, I use it at Austin Community
| College and at a "for profit" school, as well. Many area
| high schools use it.
| Additionally, math, chemistry, and other subjects are available.
|
| The current version has been in use since 1992, and is vastly
| superior to the earlier versions. Patsy McDonald
| (patsymc@physics.utexas.edu) oversees the problems and their
| corrections, and Herb Ward
| (ward@physics.utexas.edu) has been writing the phonebook
| thick code since 1992. Graduate students who cannot be in
| contact with students until their proficiency in English
| improves work their TA hours entering more problems.
|
| The HW Server comes with a discussion board which I encourage
| students (via class participation grades) to use to "peer
| tutor" in solving the problems. Every student gets the same
| problems but with different numerical values (not always true
| for conceptual problems). Each HW set they download online,
| turn in on line, get graded on line, and grades appear in the
| gradebook which they can access for their own grades at any
| time. Consequently, there is no "scholastic dishonesty"
| issue, ie, they are *encouraged* to learn together. Problems
| vary from 7-10 answer multiple choice for conceptual problems
| to 10 answer (possible solution) work problems to problems
| which require entering their solution in scientific notation
| to within 1%.
|
| But, be forewarned: There is nothing that incites the frat
| boys to retaliate faster than circumventing the grade
| advantage they paid dearly to gain via the frat files. They
| hate the system that circumvents Googling their textbook and
| entering the HW problems in one place. It is just too much
| work to have problems from unknown sources. Their
| "evaluation" is that the HW Server is "too tedious".
|
| For those who wonder about your own textbook: Google the
| first several words of any given HW problem. Up pops several
| sources (including several of our listserve members' sites). Karl
|
|
|
| Quoting John Denker <jsd@AV8N.COM>:
|
| >>> This is the new reality. (Assume your students have
| access to the
| >>> teacher's solution manual for the adopted text.)
| >
| > At the college level, this is not much different from the
| old reality.
| > Verrry old.
| >
| > Frat houses keep "homework files" and "exam files".
| >
| > The savvy teacher lives by the principle "utlisé, c'est usé"
| > (utilized once = used up). Alas there are always plenty of
| non-savvy
| > teachers, which gives frat members a treeemendous
| short-term advantage
| > over other students who have to actually work out the homework
| > problems (with the corresponding long- term disadvantage that they
| > don't know how to solve any problem where the answer can't
| be looked
| > up).
| >
| > For homework, the only defense is to re-jigger the problems
| each year.
| > (But be careful; sometimes a seemingly-slight change in
| wording can
| > transform a difficult problem into an easy problem, or vice versa.)
| >
| > For in-class exams, you can re-jigger the problems, and/or
| draw from
| > such a large pool that learning the principles is easier than
| > memorizing the entire pool.
| >
| > If teachers would cooperate, constructing such a pool would be
| > relatively easy. One might imagine that this mailing-list
| could be a
| > vehicle for organizing such cooperation: If a few hundred teachers
| > contributed a few well-designed questions apiece, it would
| be quite a
| > corpus.
| >
|
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