WeBWorK, a Web-based Interactive Homework System

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Mathematical Sciences (21) This project is expanding the state of development of WeBWorK, a freely distributed web-based interactive homework system. WeBWorK provides students with immediate feedback about the validity of their answers, enabling them to correct mistakes while still thinking about the problem. Students receive individualized versions of problems, so instructors can encourage students to work together, knowing that each student must develop an answer to his or her own version of the problem. WeBWorK supports questions typically found in mathematics and other scientific textbooks as well as more advanced interactive questions, thus surpassing other on-line homework systems whose flexibility in checking answers to questions is more limited. These attributes speak to the project's intellectual merit. In addition, a large user community of over one hundred universities, colleges, and secondary schools, attests to the broader impacts that WeBWorK is exerting on the teaching and learning of mathematics. The primary components of this expansion effort are: i) the provision of detailed, organized documentation accessible at many levels and for faculty with varied backgrounds; ii) the development of simpler and more robust installation procedures for the software; iii) an upgrade of hosting facilities so that more professors can gain experience with WeBWorK without first having to have it installed at their home institutions; iv) the creation of a more intuitive faculty user interface based on feedback from assessment surveys; v) the incorporation of Flash and java applets in WeBWorK problems; and vi) the integration of WeBWorK into course management systems. Finally, extensive assessment surveys of both student and instructor users are being undertaken to ensure that the program interface does not intrude on the learning and teaching processes.