WeBWorK Procedures for Administrators

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If you have any ideas about how our operation can be smoothed and improved, let me know!

The course resides on webwork1. The course webpage illustrates the conventions used for all our ww courses:

webwork1.math.utah.edu/webwork2/math1250fall2007-2

lakeside.math.utah.edu/webwork2/math1250fall2007-2

The class directory requires a list of students,

math1250fall2007-2.lst

math1250fall2007-2.lst

It is recommend that you add a fictitious student Math Person with login name c-math and password 10101 that can be used for testing purposes.

To add the students by hand, they should give you their Last Name, First Hame, Student ID. Email Addresses are by default their UMail addresses. To find out the appropriate login name of a student such as, say, Beatrix Anne Monroe, give a command such as finger c-meba , finger c-meba1 , finger c-meba2 , etc. Go to the Classlist Editor page, Add and enter the appropriate information.

After adding students, send a message to them through the Email page. Keep a message file,

default.msg

Set 1-Review

• Go to the Hmwk Sets Editor page and Creat a new set named: 1-Review as a new empty sete. Then you can either Edit the selected set or press the Pencil Sign next to it. Then enter the related data.
• The openDate is the date and time that the set becomes available and the students can start answering questions. The dueDate is the time after which the students can no longer get credit for their answers. The answerDate is the time after which the students can see the answers to the problem, and the solutions if provided.
• The Visible column needs to be checked in order for students to access the set. Go back to the Hmwk Sets Editor page and Edit Assigned Users. A set needs to be assigned for students to work on.
• Go to the Library Browser page. Add problems to Target set: 1-Review. You can Browse problems from the outside library, or our own library, or even the local course. Mark the selected problems for adding and then Update Set.
• Go to the Hmwk Sets Editor page and Import the definition file. This way is especially useful if you want to recycle an old definition file.
• Go to the Hmwk Sets Editor page and Edit the selected set. It is a more advanced option for you to choose or write your own problems. You can select your own Screen/Hardcopy Headers.
• The default point count for each problem is 1. You can have a different point count.

Library_1@

• The Message File

  An extremely useful WeBWorK feature is its ability to send mail with individual information to the students. An example is in the previous section that discuss notification of the students about their ww account.

  Go to the Email page and select

  default.msg

  as the Message file.

  You message can contain individual information. For example, $FN will be replaced with the student's first name, $LOGIN with the student's login name, and $SID with the student's student ID number (which serves as the initial password).

• The Merge File

  Your message can also contain information about the student's scores and current standing in the class. To use this feature, a "merge" file needs to be created. The merge file contains one line for each student, with columns that are separated by commas. That is, it is a comma delimited text file. You can obtain it from the Scoring Tools page. It will be called,

  math1250fall2007-2_totals.csv

  In your message you can refer to the n-th column of the student's record as $COL[n], where of course n is a specific number. If n is negative the entries are counted backwards. Thus $COL[3] refers to the third column and $COL[-2] refers to the next to last column in the merge file.

• Preview Messages

  You can send email to subsets of students in a particular class. You can preview the email. This function is very useful in conjunction with a merge file.

• Excluding people from mailings

  You can also delete an individual email address by using the Classlist Editor. This will cause that person not to receive any messages in the future, but will keep the individual's account intact.

You can see the precise WeBWorK problem as it is seen by the student. This includes the particular numerical values of problem parameters that may be different for each student. You can also see the student's most recent answer, and all past answers.

To see this information, go to Students Progress page. Click on the student's name and then select the relevant problem as if you were doing the problem set yourself. However if you Check Answers as the student, what you enter is not recorded. You can Stop Acting and resume your role as an instructor.

• Individual students. Go to the Hmwk Sets Editor page and select the problem. Then you will find Set Detail. Edit individual versions. For the relevant problem, enter 1 for Status.
• The whole class. Go to the Hmwk Sets Editor page and select the problem. Then you will find Set Detail. Mark Correct your selection.

Passwords are encrypted, and we cannot look them up. However, if a students forgets a ww password we can reset it to anything we want, usually the student's ID number. Go the Classlist Editor page and Give new password.

Note that anybody with professor's privileges can look up your ID and initial password, and use it unless you change it. This is not usually a problem, but you want to be aware of it.

Students can change their email address themselves to anything they like at any time after logging into WeBWorK.

Assignments can be modified for the whole class by going to the Homework Sets page and select the particular problem. Edit this problem and change the codes as necessary. If the file is protected, Make a local editable copy. If not, Save or Create a copy.

Please notify me of any major modifications for the maintenance purpose.