Short guide to WeBWorK
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).
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. Also, there are more detailed explanations found on the class website.
Find a computer with access to the internet. Open your browser
(Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Chrome, IE, etc.) and go to your class webwork page (link found on Moodle and on the syllabus).
- Your
login name and password is the same as your Loyola credentials (for example
my login name would be loberbroeckling).
Enter your username and password, and click on the 'Continue' button.
You should see a list of homework sets for you to complete. You can start the sets in any order, and complete the problems in any order.
Once you've hit the "submit" button on a problem, the score is recorded. If you try the problem multiple times within the number of attempts allowed, the highest score you got on that problem before the due date/time will be the one recorded.
After you've completed ("submitted") all of the problems, there's nothing for you to do; the homework scores will be recorded at the due date/time.
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.
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. Or they can't find their work in their notebook, and time is wasted paging through their papers/notebook trying to find the problem.
- 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 match
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.