WeBWorK, a Web-based Interactive Homework System

这个项目扩展了WeBWorK的发展状态，WeBWorK是一个自由分布的基于web的交互式作业系统。WeBWorK为学生提供了关于答案有效性的即时反馈，使他们能够在思考问题的同时纠正错误。学生们会收到个别版本的问题，因此教师可以鼓励学生一起工作，知道每个学生必须为他或她自己版本的问题找到答案。WeBWorK支持数学和其他科学教科书中常见的问题以及更高级的互动问题，从而超越了其他在线家庭作业系统，这些系统在检查问题答案方面的灵活性更有限。这些属性说明了项目的智力价值。此外，由一百多所大学、学院和中学组成的大型用户社区证明了WeBWorK正在对数学教学产生更广泛的影响。这一扩展工作的主要组成部分是：i)提供详细的、有组织的文件，可以在许多层次上访问，并为不同背景的教师提供；Ii)为软件开发更简单和更稳健的安装程序；iii)升级主机设施，让更多教授无须先在自己的院校安装WeBWorK，便可获得使用经验；Iv)根据评估调查的反馈，创造更直观的教员用户界面；v)在WeBWorK问题中加入Flash和java小程序；vi)将WeBWorK集成到课程管理系统中。最后，正在对学生和教师用户进行广泛的评估调查，以确保程序界面不会干扰学习和教学过程。

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.