AMS Survey of Web-based Assessment and Testing in Mathematics Departments

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Mathematical Sciences (21) This project is studying the growing use of Web-based Assessment and Testing Software (WATS) in mathematics departments at leading universities. In recent years, several mathematics departments and programs have taken these computer-based homework systems out of the experimental category, and they are using them with thousands of students. There is solid education research backing up the instinctive belief of mathematicians that one learns mathematics by doing it, i.e., by solving a large number of different sorts of problems, usually as homework. Computer-based homework systems have the potential to make a major impact on student learning for a comparatively modest investment. One of the strongest cases for computer-based homework is at the many universities that lack the resources to grade homework in large freshman courses and resort to short weekly quizzes based on suggested homework assignments. In cases where hand-grading of homework is not possible, the instant feedback and individualized assignments (e.g., different numbers in each student's version of a problem) of a WATS have obvious value in terms of improved learning and reduced copying, respectively. Increasingly, other university and college mathematics departments are going to be expected to consider the use of WATS. The American Mathematical Society is collecting, analyzing and disseminating information about WATS for undergraduate mathematics courses, with special attention to freshman-level courses. This 18-month effort will result in an AMS on-line publication that will be designed to help mathematics departments make more informed choices about whether to use computer-based homework systems. If a department's decision is positive, the study will help that department decide which system to use. If a department's decision is negative, the study will give that department a well-articulated reason for the rejection of computer-based homework. To these ends, the survey will collect information about how computer-based homework affects student learning. This survey will lead to a report that distills the experiences of mathematics departments using computer-based homework systems and gives their intellectual and practical merits, as well as drawbacks, for student learning.