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Re: [Phys-l] Electronic Textbooks & MasteringPhysics



My experiences have been more like those of Bill Nettles. The browser problem came about when Microsoft put out Internet Explorer 9. It was not compatible with a lot of software - not only Mastering Physics. The simple solution was to just uninstall IE9. The previous version of IE is automatically reactivated when you do. The students had no further problems with Mastering physics.

I am considering something called "Smart Physics". The texts are two 1/2 in thick soft bound books - one for each semester. The students read most of the material through online tutorials that are accessed before the material is covered in class. The tutorials have graded quizzes to make sure the pre-reading is done. The instructor can then use the class to do lectures, cover examples, or whatever. After class, there are online homeworks similar to Mastering Physics. The cost is low (I think it is $40 for the text and $40 for the online access). Two of us in my department are going to try it out. Knight was a disaster for us - although the Mastering Physics was successful and liked by the students.

Bob at PC


-----Original Message-----
From: phys-l-bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu [mailto:phys-l-
bounces@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu] On Behalf Of David E. T. Clark
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 12:12 PM
To: Forum for Physics Educators
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Electronic Textbooks & MasteringPhysics

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



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