Just-In-Time

Introduction

Just-In-Time type sets are a new category of assignment, similar to gateway/quizzes or the traditional homework set. The key feature of Just-In-Time type sets is that they are adaptive. This is accomplished via a tree structure, where every problem may have an ordered collection of "child" problems that are opened up when a student is having trouble. Initially the student will be shown a collection of questions, as usual. However, each problem in the set can (but does not have to) have a collection of associated child problems. If a student runs out of attempts or passes a certain threshold of incorrect attempts then the child problems will be presented to the student. The student will then complete those problems, which will often contain review and practice for the concept presented in the parent problem. The students grades on the child problems can count towards the parent problem, but they don’t have to. The child problems can have their own child problems, if additional review is needed on a particular subtopic. After completing the child problems the student can proceed to the next top level problem from the original collection. If they are unable to complete the child problems then there is an option for the instructor to be notified. An example of this is described below. This new structure is extremely powerful, but designing effective just-in-time sets requires more effort from an instructor than is required for a traditional homework set. From a technical point of view WeBWorK treats these homework sets much the same as it treats any homework set when it comes to assigning to students, importing, exporting, ect... Details on how to set up and manage Just-In-Time type sets are also described here, as are the technical specifications of these sets.

Example

An example of a Just-In-Time homework set with two top level problems is shown below:

• Problem 1: This problem tests to see if students can give the exponential representation of a complex number. Child problems will be opened after a student runs out of attempts.
  Max Attempts: 3
  Att. to Open Children: max attempts
  Counts for Parent Grade: n/a
  
• Problem 1.1: This problem contains a review of Complex Numbers delivered via embedded video.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 1.2: This problem walks students through converting a complex number to exponential form using the scaffolding problem type.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 1.3: This problem is a practice problem asking students to convert a complex number to an exponential one.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 1.4: This problem reevaluates if a student can convert a complex number to exponential form. It is very similar to Problem 1. If students get this problem right it will replace the grade for Problem 1.
  Max Attempts: 3
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: yes
  
• Problem 2: This problem tests if students can do a basic Fourier Series.
  Max Attempts: 5
  Att. to Open Children: max attempts
  Counts for Parent Grade: n/a
  
• Problem 2.1: This problem first tests if a if a student can do integration by parts. It has unlimited attempts but child problems will be opened after 4 attempts.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: 4
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 2.1.1: This contains a text review of integration by parts.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 2.1.2: Integration by parts walkthrough problem. This has a bunch of subparts to help students with the integral.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 2.1.3: Final integration by parts practice problem.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 2.2: Review of Fourier Series and Fourier Coefficients. This has an embedded slideshow with audio.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 2.3: Practice computing Fourier Coefficients.
  Max Attempts: unlimited
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: no
  
• Problem 2.4: Re-evaluate if a student can compute a basic Fourier series. This is the first of two problems. It counts 50% for score of Problem 2.
  Max Attempts: 5
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: yes
  
• Problem 2.5: Re-evaluate if a student can compute a basic Fourier series. This is the second of two problems. It counts 50% for score of Problem 2.
  Max Attempts: 5
  Att. to Open Children: n/a
  Counts for Parent Grade: yes
  

A student working through this set would, at first, only be greeted with Problems 1 and 2. If the **Restrict Problem Progression** flag is set then they will need to start with problem one, otherwise they could try either problem. If a student completes problems 1 and 2 with the given number of attempts then they will be done. They won't even be shown the child problems. If a student runs out of attempts in Problem 1 then they will be shown the child problems 1.1 through 1.3. These problems start with a review of the concept, then a practice problem. Neither of these problems have restricted attempts, but they also don't count toward a replacement for the parent problem grade. However if the student finishes Problem 1.3 in the given number of attempts then that grade will replace the grade of Problem 1 in their homework. In particular from the point of view of scoring this Just-In-Time type set will only have two problems.

Moving on, if the student fails to finish the second problem then they will be presented problems 2.1 through 2.5. If they get problem 2.1 wrong enough times then they will be shown problems 2.1.1 through 2.1.3. These problems all review the concept of problem 2.1 (integration by parts), which is important for completing Problem 2. However none of them counts towards the grade of Problem 2 and if a student completes Problem 2.1 successfully then they are never shown. Problems 2.2 and 2.3 contain review and practice for the topic of Problem 2. In this case the two problems which count towards the grade for Problem 2 are Problems 2.4 and 2.5, each of which as a weight of 50%.