** Using WeBWorK **

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I like the new look. I have two questions and a comment.

When I tried a problem from a set which was closed, there was no submit button -- only preview. Am I missing something? How does a student go back and see if they can answer problems after a set is closed?

When I looked at a problem from an open set, there was a submit button and a check answers button. Why have a way for students to check if their answers are right/wrong other than "submit". It seems like this will generate more confusion (students thinking they did a problem when they only checked their answers).

Since there is a link labelled help, I thought maybe things would be explained if I clicked there. It took me to the WeBWorK home page, where the most prominant information was about the informal meeting in Baltimore. More context specific help would have been better.

John

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I'm not able to get to the course from your link above. I am able to reach the main site, but that is all. I tried modifying the link, leaving out the port number, but I got a Not Found (404) error. With the port number, I get a "Could not connect to remote server" error.

Has something happened to the site since John was at it, or is it likely just a problem on my end?

Mark

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The link http://webwork3.math.rochester.edu:11002/webwork/mth143

is working right at the moment. We changed one file on the server a little while ago -- it's possible that you tried to hit it right at the moment it was down for rebooting.

The port number is important -- we're not using the standard port since it running on an experimental server. It is just possible that something is screening out that port number from your end. I don't think it is being screened out at our end since John was able to get to it.

Try the link again and let me know what happens.

-- Mike

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I'm still having issues connecting. It is probably a block on this end. I will try from home later tonight. There should be no blockages from there.

Mark

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Hi Mike,

I prefer the old look. Also the issues that John raised are
due to very poor labelling of the buttons in question.

In the closed sets, the Preview button also tells you if the answers
are right or wrong, but it doesn't record them. You are also told:

You have attempted this problem x times.
You have unlimited attempts remaining.
This problem set is closed. Additional attempts will not be recorded.

This doesn't make any sense.

The Check Answers button in open sets really means Check My Old Answers,
ie. the ones which were previously submitted and are now recorded.
I guess this feature was added to address the Gavin's earlier request.
However the wording is very confusing and misleading.

Zig

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One of the nice features of the new modular WeBWorK is that you can customize the display template independently of the rest of the program. That should allow us to set up a template that is virtually identical to the current version.

We'll take another pass at the button lables and make them less confusing.

Thanks to all for the fast responses.

-- Mike

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I am able to get to the site from home. It's obviously a blocked port for me at school. I have a few comments. I'll start from after I got logged on.

What used to be the Welcome Page: I like it, even though it's spartan by comparison. I like the use of links for the sets and hardcopies. I still have students who just try to double click on a problem set to get it started. This will avoid that annoyance.

Downloading Hardcopy: Each set has a download link, but they all take you to a page that asks you to pick a set to download. When I tried to pick a different set than the one that brought me there, I got an error since "You are not permitted to generate hardcopy for multiple sets." That's slightly annoying. Perhaps that first link should bring you to a page that just says "You have chosen to download Set X, which of these options would you like?" Also it appears you are only supporting pdf, is that the case? I find, at least at DCDS, that the pdf files aren't quite as well rendered as the postscript files, so I prefer ps.

Problem Pages: I really like the sidebar with links to all the problems. I think it would be even better if it would give a current score next to each, as the current version does on the problem_list page.

I agree with Zig that the old look felt nicer, with the exeption of the sidebar. I think everything that is above the first double line (ie 3: Problem 14 You have attempted ...) could go away. I like seeing the problem very prominently, as in the current screen design.

I do like the idea of giving a preview of the answer. Would it be possible to put the preview image right after the answer blank? That would make it easy for students to decide if they have typed their intended answer. All the information is together and viewable. Just a thought. (Only when you are just previewing, and not submitting)

The feedback seemed to work ok, but the nice sidebar disappears. It would nice to keep that, along if possible. It would give a quick way back to work. Right now, I had to click back twice to get back to the problem I was on, then go forward from there.

I'll try to play around some more in the next few days to see if there are other ideas that strike me.

Mark

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Downloading Hardcopy: Each set has a download link, but they all take you to a page that asks you to pick a set to download. When I tried to pick a different set than the one that brought me there, I got an error since "You are not permitted to generate hardcopy for multiple sets." That's slightly annoying. Perhaps that first link should bring you to a page that just says "You have chosen to download Set X, which of these options would you like?"

What's actually happening here is that the process is telling you that the hardcopy that you had asked for is now created and ready for download. If there had been an error in processing you would have gotten an error message on this page. What you saw was the "all set -- now let's download-- message". We can certainly make the message a little clearer -- it's possible that we can figure out how to make this a redirect for the browser (assuming that the hardcopy was created without error) so that you never have to click again.

Downloading multiple copies of the hardcopy is on the wishlist, but may take awhile before it is actually implemented. I think that my own preference would be to allow checking off sets you wanted downloaded on the first page, without having to go to another.

-- Mike

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Lars.

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Here are a few more comments. First, I'll be more specific about things I liked.

I like the sidebar, but agree with Mark that it would be good if it contained the status of each problem. I also like that when you to the page to select a problem, you could still download a set from there.

As far as making the problem more prominant, maybe one could use colored background on all parts of the display except for the problem.

The overall look on the sidebar might be even better if you used image buttons rather than links. Now a days, people are accustomed to seeing that sort of thing and probably associate it (maybe just subconciously) with being a high quality, professional product, even though it is only a superficial change. If you have any interns with a slant toward graphic design, it might be worth having someone work on that.

John

PS: those interval of convergence questions seem they would be more natural if you asked for students to just enter the interval.

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