Summer 2010 New Feature Release
Dear Instructor,
Typically, we release our new features in August, but this year we've rolled it out earlier to give you an advance opportunity to take advantage of all the new features as you prepare for summer and fall sessions.
Introducing Our Live Webinar Training Series
This summer, WebAssign is launching a new live online training series. Covering diverse topics, including WebAssign 101 for the Basics; WebAssign 101 for Course Coordinators; Using the Improved Assignment Editor; and even a series of sessions on Question Coding, our webinar series is available at convenient times and open to all adopters. Check out our schedule to see what sessions work for you. We're looking forward to "seeing" you there!
Improved Assignment Editor
The Assignment Editor is by far the most frequently accessed feature of WebAssign. Now, thanks to your feedback, suggestions, and requests, plus countless hours in development and testing, several new improvements designed to save you time while building assignments will be rolled out this summer! The improved Assignment Editor, scheduled for release in June 2010, includes some of our most requested functional enhancements:
Save Time with Assignment TemplatesPreviously, you could only define one default administration setting for your assignments and apply those settings to all assignments you create. With the improved assignment editor, you can use Assignment Templates to predefine as many different defaults as you will need (or select from a collection of WebAssign default settings to save even more time). Define an Assignment Template for homework and define an Assignment Template for quizzes, and reuse them time and again.
Easily and automatically add bonus points or deduct penalties based on specific conditions. We've created a new user interface for the most common conditional points scenarios such as giving partial credit for incorrect responses, awarding extra credit when students submit assignments early, and penalizing multiple submissions. Now you only have to set a few parameters to make conditional points work for you.
Easily control exactly how every question behaves with our new question expansion functionality. Override numerical tolerance and significant figure rules, define when students can view learning tools and hints, or even add your own feedback — all without leaving the question list.
While these are some of the major improvements, the improved Assignment Editor will be a complete redesign of the current version, featuring a more intuitive interface designed to save you time and allow even stronger controls over how your assignments will behave. And, while we recommend you take advantage of these new features now, you can also choose to continue using the current version of the assignment editor until you have more time to explore the improvements.
Redesigned Save and Submit Options
The Save and Submit options on assignments have been redesigned to clearly indicate to students which questions have saved answers that have not yet been submitted for grading. In the new design, students will only have the Save and Submit buttons available when they click on a question to answer it, making it obvious that they must select one of these options before moving on. If they save their work, the question will be highlighted with a yellow border, reminding students that they haven't yet submitted their answer for grading. In the example screenshot here, Question 1 shows an answer that has been submitted, Question 2 shows an answer that has been saved but not yet submitted and Question 3 shows a question currently being answered by a student (note the Save and Submit options are available only on this active question).
physPad Simplifies Answer Entry
Our new physPad provides students with a simple and intuitive way to enter physics notation for instant assessment. Expect to see physPad this fall, as we roll out this new functionality to our physics textbook question collections.
Print Assignments Easily and Cleanly
Previously, students wanting to print an assignment to work offline had to use the print functionality from their browser. Now, we've added a new print button to every assignment, enabling students to print a neatly formatted version of the assignment from most any printer.
As always, if you have any ideas or suggestions to enhance the WebAssign experience for you or your students, let us know! We wish you much success in the upcoming academic term!
The WebAssign Team