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[Phys-l] Online Homework Assignments and Grading



I will be teaching introductory thermodynamics and electromagnetism at
local community college after an absence of over 5 years. The last time
I taught the course I assigned end of the chapter homework problems,
collected and graded the students answers, and returned the papers to
the students. Sometimes I would go over an especially troublesome
problem on the board after finding that many students had a problem with
it. Homework counts for about 15% of the student's grade.

In the fall, I am considering using an online homework assignment and
grading program (Mastering Physics by Pearson/Addison Wesley which goes
with the textbook "University Physics by Young and Freedman). I have
not used such a system before, but the instructor in the mechanics
course, which precedes the course I will teach, has used Mastering
Physics for homework and likes it. She feels the students benefit from
the extra tutorials and examples which are available as well as the
hints and extra tries that are allowed by the grading systems. The
instructor benefits from the savings in grading time and the automatic
compilation of grades which the system provides.

I'm wondering what the experience of the list has been with systems like
Mastering Physics in introductory physics courses. This is a calculus
based course intended for engineers and physicists. Do you feel online
homework assignment and grading systems are effective for the students
in addition to saving time for the instructor?

Don Polvani
Northrop Grumman Corp.
Undersea Systems
Annapolis, MD 21404