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5 Easy Tech Tips
Over the years, we've heard many tips and useful techniques from our customers about how they use features to customize their courses to maximize their effectiveness. Here are five quick and easy things you can do in 5 minutes or less
- Quickly change the percentage students need to achieve on an objective to achieve mastery (and get the graduation cap in the Study Plan) by going to the Study Plan Manager, Mastery Options.
- Reorder and re-title the buttons on the left-hand navigation in the Manage Course Menu in the Control Panel.
- Add tips to specific questions for students to read when they come to that question on an assignment. When you are viewing the question to assign it from the HW/Test Manager, click on “Add Instructor Tip” to add your note.
- Create more variety of questions for students on tests and quizzes by selecting a number of questions from which one question will be selected, using the Pooling Options feature on step #2 of the Test and Quiz Manager.
- Allow for partial credit for unsimplified answers by clicking on the “View Question Details” button in Step #2 of the Homework and Test Manager.
 Share your favorite tips with other instructors on our discussion board at the Instructor Exchange
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Helpful Hints
If you want to foster a sense of community in your class, whether it’s offered online, in a classroom, or in a lab, have students use the Discussion Board to introduce themselves. Under Control Panel – Course Tools, go to the Discussion Board. Set up a forum entitled: Introduce Yourself. Then, during the first week of class, have students click on Communication – Discussion Board and write a little about themselves. They can even upload a picture, if you want them to! It’s a great way for the class to start out feeling connected. |
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New Offerings
Every summer we release some great new features, and this summer will be no exception. A complete list of features will be available at http://www.mymathlab.com/news-events in May.
Here’s a sneak preview of three particularly popular ones:
Personalized Assignment for Mastery
To help students achieve mastery, instructors can have the program generate a personalized homework assignment based on a student’s performance on a test or quiz. This personalized assignment automatically includes questions covering objectives the student missed on the test or quiz, and instructors have the option to add other questions as well. Students are awarded credit in the personalized assignment for objectives they mastered on the test or quiz.
Automated Late Due Date Grading
For homework assignments submitted after the due date, instructors can apply a penalty by deducting points or percentages from the final score or per day from the final score. They can also specify a final submission date, beyond which assignments can no longer be submitted. Assignments submitted late with a penalty will be clearly marked in the Gradebook.
Enhancements to Media Assignments
Media assignments can include multiple media resources as well as publisher-provided and custom questions. Instructors can associate specific questions with specific media and require students to access the media before answering any question. In addition, instructors can link to external media as part of a media assignment.
Do you have a great idea for future functionality? Share with us at the Instructor Exchange.
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In the Change Dates & Assign Status window, there is now the ability to adjust Start and Due dates by an increment.
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Teaching Tip: Creating an Informational Course Homepage
by Tony Ayers, Collin College
Teaching a Hybrid online/classroom course requires the ability to communicate as much course information as possible to students via electronic format. Not only is MyMathLab a useful tool for this process, but it also allows for the navigation bar to be simplified so that it’s easier for students to find their coursework. Since the student homepage is the gateway to the course, it must contain vital course information without overloading the page with too much information. My student homepage is designed with the idea of presenting as much course information in a one-stop, electronic format using a streamlined navigation bar.
How to streamline/customize the navigation bar:
- To turn off buttons, go to the left navigation bar, click the Control Panel button and then go to the Manage Course Menu. Click Modify on the button you do not want displayed on the homepage (e.g., Announcements). Uncheck the box next to Available for Student/Participant users, and click Submit. Repeat this process for each button you do not want displayed on the homepage.
- To create a new button, go to the left navigation bar and click the Control Panel button. Then go to the Manage Course Menu and click the Add Content Area button at the top to create your button. Name this button by selecting from the list in the drop down box, or by choosing one of your own and typing it below the list. Check the box next to Available for Student/Participant users and click Submit.
- To add your newly created button as your student homepage, in the course dashboard, click Details next to the course, then Course Settings, then Course Entry Point. Next to Entry Point select the name of your new button from the drop down box, select the name of your new button as your new entry point, and click Submit. Click OK twice, until you are returned to the Control Panel. Click on the Courses link at the top. Find your course in the dashboard, and click. You will still see the previous homepage. Refresh your browser at the top of the screen and your new homepage will be displayed.
Adding Content to your Homepage:
- From the left navigation bar, click the Control Panel button and go to Content Area. Then click the link you chose for the student homepage (e.g.. Information, etc.).
- At the top click, Add Item. Next to Name, you will see a drop down box. Choose the name of your document from this box, or you can create a name below the drop down box.
You can choose a variety of ways to add information to this page. First, to add an attachment, scroll down to the content section and click Browse. Find the document you want to use, click Open in the windows screen and your link will appear in the browse box. Second, scroll down to the options section and make sure Yes is checked next to Make the content available. Click Submit, and you will see a content added receipt. Click OK, and you will be returned to the section that you are updating.
To add other information other than attachments, you will follow the same process. However, instead of clicking Browse under the content area, you can type or paste information in the Text box. If you are pasting an HTML link, make sure to click the Plain Text or HTML for proper formatting. Click Review to view the information. If you are satisfied with the formatting and content, then click Submit. If not, make the necessary changes, then click Submit.
At any given time, you can always modify or update this page.
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Teaching Tip: Self-Graded Assignments
by Nolan Mitchell, Chemeketa Community College
I've always felt that if I do not grade an assignment then most students will not do it. With MyMathLab, it is easy to grade homework but it is still difficult to award points for off-line assignments. Students also find it hard to know when an off-line assignment is due, since they don't show up in the MyMathLab Calendar.
To get around this, I create custom MyMathLab Homework assignments where students assess their own participation. I also arrange their work so that Quizzes/Exams are due on Monday, Homework is due throughout the week, and self-graded assignments show up on Saturdays, making it easier for students to see due dates at-a-glance.
For example, to assess their participation on weekly Discussions students are asked four yes/no questions that were written using the MathXL Exercise Builder:
- Did you post before the due date?
- Did your comments relate to the topic?
- Did you reply to at least one other person?
- Did you use proper grammar and web etiquette?
Now students know what is expected and I can focus my energy on improving the quality of the discussions rather than grading each one by hand.
So far the results have been positive. The number of posts has increased by about 35%, the quality of the interaction has gone up, and I'm having more fun!
Similar custom Homework assignments could be made for reading the book before class, in-class participation, or visits to the math center.
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This is a regular column in the newsletter where selected questions from educators are answered by Training Consultant Irene Doo.
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I need to track when my students last logged in to the program or submitted assignments so that I can identify those students who are behind schedule. I know I can go to the gradebook and view individual student results to see when they last submitted an assignment. However, I have 70 students in my class and this takes a long time. Is there an easier way?
- Gloria |
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Hi Gloria,
You are in luck! We have a search tool that will quickly identify the students who have not submitted an assignment for a specified number of days. To access this search tool, go to the Gradebook. Select Search/Email by Criteria from the More Gradebook Tools dropdown list.
Select the Work activity criterion, and then select one of the options.
Hope this helps and makes your job easier!
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Have a question? Please submit your question.
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