Re: [Phys-l] Electronic Textbooks & MasteringPhysics

[Bill Nettles <bnettles@uu.edu>]

----Original Message-----
> From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-
> bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of Donald Polvani
> Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 8:13 AM
> To: 'Forum for Physics Educators'
> Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Electronic Textbooks & MasteringPhysics
>
> Tim Folkerts wrote:
>
> "I have the possibility to switch to electronic textbooks and more
> online
> assignments (Specifically the "Mastering" package from Pearson).  I was
> wondering what experience others have had with these."
>
> I have used the Mastering Physics system for student homework (and
> self-tutoring) at a community college for a calculus based general
> physics
> course.  I have not used the electronic textbook option.  I thought the
> homework system was useful and certainly saved me grading time.  The
> students were not as positive about the system as I was.  Some of them
> really disliked it.  Most seemed neutral to negative. I think most of
> the
> problems students ran into involved:

[Bill Nettles] I have used Mastering Physics as a homework and motivational tool for my students for 4 years. My experience has been with freshman & sophomore level engineering and physics students with an occasional computer science and math major thrown in, at a mid-sized private university. One of my colleagues uses it in another section which is mostly chemistry and biology majors.  Both of us have gotten very little negative feedback on it, and some students love the instant feedback.  I have had some different experiences than Don Polvani.
 
> 1) Their lack of understanding on how to use the system (there is an
> introductory lesson on how to use the software, but this seemed not to
> be
> enough for some of the students, especially the older ones).  I would
> get
> student emails asking for help on a particular problem which usually
> involved their not understanding the software.


[Bill Nettles] If the student has any experience with a mouse-based computer and a word processor, the introductory lesson is enough. If a student has little computer background, or is expecting a complete "this is exactly what you need to do," they will have trouble. (IMHO, if they are looking for a cookbook instruction, they don't need to be in cal-based physics.) 

> 2) The lack of flexibility in whether a student's solution is correct
> or
> not.  There is a numerical tolerance put on solutions, but students
> with
> answers just outside the tolerance would complain.  For symbolic
> answers, if
> the student doesn't use the exact symbol, or arrangement of symbols,
> that
> Mastering Physics wants, they are marked wrong.

[Bill Nettles] I have had almost zero trouble in this area. I have played around with the arrangement of symbols and routinely find that the system accepts correct answers. It DOES expect the symbol to be correctly entered, but the instructions list the symbols correctly, so this is a student sloppiness problem, not a system problem.  It helps force the students to READ INSTRUCTIONS and pay attention to the details.

A few years ago, the vector drawing tolerances were too tight, but they have fixed that, and the system isn't extremely rigid on sig. figs., although the instructions do often specify how many to use in numerical answers.  If the students get answers outside the tolerances either they made a serendipitous (sp?) error that got them close to the right answer, or they rounded an intermediate calculation too much.

> 3) Not all problems have worked solutions provided after the student
> answers
> the question.  As an instructor, I had access to all worked solutions
> (including the symbolic ones), but students didn't have the same
> access.  I
> suggested to Mastering Physics that they provide such access to
> students
> (2010), and they said they would consider so doing in the next version
> of
> the software.
> 4) Some of the problems had incorrect solutions.  Students found 3 of
> these
> erroneous solutions during the semester, which I reported to Mastering
> Physics (which has a very user unfriendly error reporting system).

[Bill Nettles] Yes, I have found several wrong answers, and a few badly worded problems, but I disagree that the error reporting system is "very user unfriendly."  There is a link for reporting problems which brings up a text box.  Type the description of the problem and hit send.  The particular problem # is automatically attached, and the instructor gets an email saying that Pearson has received the report and will get back to you. So far I'm 10 out of 10 in getting the problems addressed and changed, usually within a week.
>

> In general, I think the homework system should be useful for motivated
> students (especially with the self-tutoring features) and is certainly
> time-saving for the instructor.

[Bill Nettles] I agree. Any system of learning requires motivated students, and when those students get instant feedback it  is a big help.