Web-based homework in general education mathematics.

In the last two years I have become interested in the potential to carry this ``second-self'' notion over to computer-graded skill practice in mathematics. As a result of collaborating with Angelo Segalla at Cal State Long Beach on an evaluation project about the use of WeBWorK (a web-based homework program) in college algebra, I implemented a bit of web-based homework in the Math 120 classes, Mathematics and Liberal Arts, in Fall 2004. Though analysis and comparison of student skill-building is still underway, it does appear that the online homework assignments have been helpful for quite a few students. In particular, the completion and success rates with skill practice in online homework assignments is higher when fewer problems (4 or 5) are given frequently (2 to 3 times per week) than when a set of ten or 12 is given weekly. Certainly, in the work Angelo Segalla and I did on the use of WeBWorK, we found that students scored no lower on common exams in WeBWorK classes than in paper-and-pencil homework classes. In fact, there were no significant differences across ethnic, socio-economic status, or cultural lines [Hauk & Segalla, 2005; Hauk, Powers, Safer, & Segalla, 2005].

As course-coordinator for Math 120, I have supported the use of web-based homework in all sections of Math 120. In Fall 2005, the skill-building web homework is either required or supplemental in seven of the eight sections of the course. Certainly, my undergraduate students like the brief web-based homework assignments. Student comments on my Fall 2005 midterm evaluations indicated they liked the practice and feedback of the online work. They also noted that the web-based homework items were easier than the homework from the book or the activities we did in class. Several students commented that much of the web homework was made up of memorization tasks and procedures-without-connections tasks (see §1.3.3 for more on the use of these terms by students).