Re: [Phys-l] Electronic Textbooks & MasteringPhysics

["David E. T. Clark" <declark@maine.edu>]

Hi Tim,

I have been using Mastering Physics (MP) for almost two years in an  
introductory calculus-based physics course using Randy Knight's  
textbook. I have had some similar experiences to what Don (Polvani)  
has described.

I want to add a few other observations:
(1)  my students (240 in the fall and 150 in the spring) and I have  
had glitches after Pearson's update of MP, or after a browser is  
updated in  midsemester (eg., Chrome).  The slow response to these  
problems from MP techs has lead to a bit of frustration for both my  
students and my TAs. I still have no idea why different browsers  
suddenly became unusable at MP last fall. (Luckily, one solution was  
to switch to a different browser and keep switching every time it  
happened.)

(2) I have MP set up to allow students to view the solutions after  
the assignment deadline is passed. In two years I have not had more  
than 15 students look at a worked-out solution (there are thirteen  
assignments each semester). I had thought that this was a plus, but  
it has not been for my students. (This may be related to the  
proliferation of online copies of the Instructor's Solutions Manual.)

(3) The statistics for each question before you assign a problem/ 
tutorial are useful and I have found the statistics on how your  
students have done (e.g., time to complete) quite useful.

(4) There are MP problems where students are required to write a  
response. I assigned a couple of these in my first semester with MP  
and discovered that grading these responses was a tortuous problem  
for my TAs. Although rosters of students grades can be set up by each  
TA, no such mechanism exists for grading the written questions. The  
first TA to grade a written response needs to look through the ALL  
written questions  in order to grade those from her/his roster. I  
complained to the tech staff at MP about this and nothing has changed  
(to my knowledge) in 1.5 years. I also no longer assign these types  
of questions.

(5) Problems in which numbers given in a problem are changed  
("revolving numbers" problems) for each student (you need to know/ 
memorize the method of solution, not just an answer) has lead to  
groups of students getting together to complete the problems. They  
help each other out (a big plus!). An interesting side effect is the  
willingness of some students to "sacrifice" a guess at an answer (I  
give them three tries.) to determine whose method of solution is  
likely correct.

Overall, I like MP. It eases the grading workload of my TAs, the  
"revolving numbers" problems require more understanding than getting  
an answer, and the tutorials are great (particularly, some of the  
newer ones like the few from PhET).

The glitches are problematic. We deal with them by having TAs modify  
the grades, or by using two weighting schemes at the end of the  
semester for the written and MP assignments (giving students the  
higher of the two schemes).

The two major complaints I have are: 	(1) tech response to mistakes,  
errors, and problems  (same as Don's comments)
							(2) the inability to assign a different grading policy for  
each problem rather than for each assignment.

I hope you find my comments useful.


On May 10, 2011, at 7:27 PM, Folkerts, Timothy J 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 teach at a community college with a small enrollment in physics  
> (typically 6-12 in both calc-based and non-calc-based).   The  
> "Mastering" package seems like a valuable system, especially for  
> reading quizzes and practice problems.
>
> The electronic text I am less sure about.  The electronic text is  
> considerably cheaper, but they only have access for 2 years, I  
> believe.  Perhaps I am too old-school and prefer holding a book in  
> my hands.  Do students learn better or worse from an electronic  
> version?  Obviously they can only work where they have access to a  
> computer, which could occasionally be a problem.  We do have 8  
> computers around the classroom, so they could at least share copies  
> during class if we need (or I can project it onto a screen).

David Clark
Dept. of Physics & Astronomy
University of Maine
declark@maine.edu