Introduction to WeBWorK for students

Class homepage Calendar HW Syllabus WeBWorK guide WeBWorK site

WeBWorK site: http://math.loyola.edu/webwork2/ma301s15/

A shorter guide to WeBWorK (passed out first day)

This document is a modified version of "Introduction to WeBWorK for Students" from the University of Rochester WeBWorK website, which has since been taken down. For more information, check out How do students use WeBWorK?.

What's here

  1. What is WeBWorK?
  2. Can anybody use WeBWorK?
  3. How do I use WeBWorK for my course?
    1. Report bugs (don't use)
    2. Homework Sets
      1. Look at and do the problems in a set via your browser.
        1. Preview Answers
        2. Submit Answers
      2. Get a printout of the problem set.
      3. Email Instructor.
    3. Password/Email
    4. Grades
    5. View equations as: (don't change)
    6. Logout
  4. WeBWorK Advice

  1. What is WeBWorK?

    WeBWorK is a system that allows professors to put the homework problems on the web and allows students to solve these problems over the web. Using WeBWorK, students may try to answer homework problems more than once. After each try, a message appears telling the student whether the answer is correct or not. This allows students to try to find out what they did wrong and hopefully to understand the topic of the question better.

    Each WeBWorK problem set is individualized (each student has a different version of each problem, for example the numerical values in the formulas may be slightly different).

  2. How anybody can try out WeBWorK

    Anyone with an internet connection can try out WeBWorK by following the directions in Part 3 below. Use practice1 as the Username and practice1 again as the Password. To see different problems, you can login as practice2, practice3, or practice4 (number may vary by course) and use the same username for the password. Some courses support guest logins. If you see , click on that and it will automatically log you in as one of the practice users.

  3. How to use WeBWorK for class

    Using WeBWorK is quite simple. Below are the basic steps on how to get started. NOTE: Most pages of WeBWorK also contain directions. Therefore, if you are ever unsure of what you should do, try reading the directions and descriptions on the page at which you are looking.

    Find a computer with access to the internet. Open your browser (Mozilla Firefox, IE, Safari, etc.) and go to the WeBWorK page, address http://math.loyola.edu/webwork2. You will see names of current WeBWorK courses. Find the name of your course and click on it. This will get you to the main page of your course. If you own your own computer, bookmark (or save as a favorite) your course WeBWorK site. This page includes necessary information about logging in.

    Enter your username and password, and click on the 'Continue' button. Usually, your login name is the same as your Loyola e-mail user ID (for example mine is loberbroeckling). Your initial password is your Loyola student ID number.

    If your login is incorrect, you will be told so, and you can return to the login page and try again. If you continue to have problems, contact your professor.

    If your login is correct you will be taken to the default page, the "Homework Sets" page. On the left side of the screen, you will see the following:

    1. Report bugs

      This shouldn't be used. If you have any problems, contact your instructor (through email, phone or in person) directly.

    2. Homework Sets

      This is the default page shown and is the page you will use the most so become familiar with it. At this page, you may do the following:

      1. Look at and do the problems in a set via your browser.

        To do the WeBWork set called Intro, for example, click on the problem set name (e.g., Intro). On each line, where all the sets are listed, after the set name, you can see whether the set is open or closed. If the set is open, that means that when you solve a problem, it will be counted towards your grade. If the set is closed, you can still solve problems, but your results will not be recorded. After the indication of whether the set is open or closed, there is additional information about the due date (if the set is open), or whether the answers are available (if the set is closed). When the answers are available, you have the option of looking at correct answers when viewing a problem.

        Once you choose a problem set, you'll be taken to that problem set page. On that page, you have another option to "Download a hardcopy of this problem set". Then each problem is listed, along with the number of attempts for that problem, the number of attempts remaining, how many points the problem is worth and the percentage of points you have for that problem. You can skip ahead to any particular problem by clicking on the Problem Name or you can choose the first problem and page through.

        On the individual problem page, you have 2 buttons at the top, "Prob. List" which takes you back to the page listing all of the problems and status for that set, and "Next" which will take you to the next problem. You will see the text of the problem with boxes for your answers. Enter your answers and you then choose one of the following 2 options:

        1. Preview Answers

          This is most convenient for really long answers and/or complicated answers with a lot of parentheses, fractions, etc. This will take your typing and display it formatted. This allows you to see if you have things input correctly before submitting it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

        2. Submit Answers

          Once you choose "Submit Answers", a table will appear with a row for each answer that displays the text you entered, the answer preview (how the computer interprets your text) and whether the answer is correct or not. If the entire problem is correct, you will see a green line below the table with text such as "All of the above answers are correct." If at least on of the problems is incorrect, you'll Once you choose a problem and click on the 'Get Problem' button, you'll see a pink line below the table with text such as "At least one of the above answers is incorrect." Below this colored line, you'll see the problem again in which you may attempt it again or click "Next" to go onto the next problem. BE CAREFUL, some problems aren't as explicit as to which answer is incorrect.

        If you want to check the status of your problems (e.g. to double check that your answers have been recorded), use the "Prob. List" button at the top of the page to see the problem list page.

      2. Get a printout of the problem set.

        To print out Intro, for example, choose Intro and click on "Download Hardcopy for Selected Set". This will take you to the Hardcopy Generator Page. Choose the appropriate options by reading the information on the page. Make sure that Intro, for example, is still chosen and click on "Generate Hardcopy". If you have Adobe Reader available on this machine, the PDF file should open up and this will allow you to save and/or print the PDF version of the problem set.

      3. Email Instructor.

        Self explanatory. This button is available on most pages.

    3. Password/email.

      This is to change your password and/or email. Your initial password is your Loyola student ID number WITHOUT LEADING ZEROS. I advise you to change it to something only you would know and can remember.

    4. Grades.

      To look at a summary of your WeBWorK homework scores, click "Grades". You'll see a table with a row for each problem set. The "Score" and "Out of" columns are self-explanatory. Ignore the "Ind" column. In the "Problems" column, you'll see two lines of entries for each problem. The top line indicates the percentage of possible points you've gotten for that problem ("C" for correct means 100%). The line below indicates the number of attempts on that problem.

    5. View equations as:

      This options in this box shouldn't need to be changed from "Images". The "Show saved answers?" can be either yes or no.

    6. Logout

      When you are finished, be sure to LOG OUT using the "Logout" button at the top right corner of the page. You may need to scroll up/over in order to see it.

  4. WeBWorK Advice
    • If you have problems with WeBWorK, contact your instructor through email, phone or in person right away.
    • If you are logged on to WeBWorK for longer than a certain amount of minutes (10? 30?) without any activity, you will be asked to log in again. This is a security measure. You can resume your work after you logged back in. All your results from the last log in will be saved.
    • Read and do the Intro problem set. This not only explains the system but also teaches you how to type your answers.
    • Download and print the generated PDF hardcopies of the problem sets. This allows you to leave the computer, do the problems on paper as you would with regular homework and then return to the computer to submit your answers. NOTE: many of the images will not print big enough on the PDF copy so for those problems, you will have to be near a computer to see the larger versions of the images.
    • Keep your work in a notebook or some other organized way. Thus when you have difficulties with a problem, you can ask about it in class or office hours and you can see your work. Too many times I've had students stop by my office saying they can't do problem #x and have no work for us to look at to see what the issue is.
    • Don't guess. Some problems have a limited number of attempts to reduce guessing, but also you'll need to understand the concepts behind these problems for exams and subsequent material.
    • If I go through a problem in class because of a question, don't just go through and try and change the numbers in my work to fix yours. That is not the point. You need to be able to do and understand the problem, no matter what numbers you've been given so do the problem step by step for your own problem.
    • Use Preview Answers. Students have come to me frustrated because WeBWorK keeps saying the answer is wrong and they can't find the mistake. Many times, when we use the Preview Answers, we see that while their work is correct, they typed in the answer wrong - parens in the wrong place, or what should be in the numerator is in the denominator of the fraction, etc.
    • Keep track of the time and date due! Too many students have lost points because the didn't do this. On the bottom-left corner of the page (you may have to scroll to see it) is the date/time of the WeBWorK system. If you are entering answers close to the due date and time, pay attention to this and MAKE SURE YOU SUBMIT YOUR ANSWERS.
    • Form a study group. Learning math is best as a social activity. Working together on homework is allowed, as long as everyone contributes. I've also found that the best way to learn material is to try and explain it to someone else (SHAMELESS PLUG: become a tutor!). And hopefully that someone else can then explain another problem to you.

Instructor: Dr. Lisa Oberbroeckling
Office: 312 Knott Hall
Phone: 410-617-2516
Email: loberbro "at" loyola "dot" edu