WebAssign

To login to WebAssign go to webassign.net/ncsu/. WebAssign becomes alive for you when the semester begins. On that date you will be able to login to WebAssign if you have been registered for the class for more than 24 hours. And the first homework assignments will appear within WebAssign at 8 AM on the first day of class. If you add the class late, WebAssign will automatically add you to the WebAssign roster during its nightly update. Do feel free to contact Dr. Page if you add the class late and encounter a delay in getting access to WebAssign.

WebAssign has been used in MA 114
since 1999.  This photo is from 2005.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You will need to purchase a WebAssign license for this class. This can be purchased online via the WebAssign web site. When you access WebAssign for this class, you will be informed how you can purchase the license online with a credit card. The license is not enforced during the first week or so of class, so you don't have to have your license in order to get started. This is your only expense once you are in the class since no textbook is used.

WebAssign is used for all your work, including tests and final exam. There are approximately 60 WebAssignments during the semester which constitute your homework for the class. Doing these assignments on time is essential to your success in the course. You can submit each assignment as many times as you like (up to 50). Your last submission determines your grade on the assignment.

MA 114 students taking a test with WebAssign in 2006
You should submit every question as you complete it or else use the "Submit All New Answers" link at the bottom of the assignment. If you do several questions (without submitting them) and then submit one of the questions, the answers to the others disappear. So in effect you lose your work on the other questions (other than the one you submitted).

Using the "Submit All New Answers" link counts as a submission only for answers that you have modified. So there is no reason not to use this link. Even if you've answered only one question, clicking the "Submit all questions for grading" link counts as a submission only for that one question. So in that sense it's safer to use "Submit all questions for grading". It's functionally the same as "submit this question only" if one question is all you've answered since your last submission, and it submits ALL your work if you've modified the answers for more than one question.

Extensions


In this class, assignments appear long in advance of the due date. This gives you the opportunity to play whatever mind game you like with yourself. If you like "soft" due dates, create "soft" due dates for yourself by advancing all the due dates by 3 days. For an assignment that's due on Oct. 25, pretend it's due on Oct. 22. Then give yourself a free 3 day extension if something unexpected comes up.

The due dates posted in the schedule are "hard" due dates. They mean what they say, last minute surprises notwithstanding. So if you prefer "soft" due dates, play the above mental trick to create them yourself.

You also have wide choice over when you do your assignments. Since assignments are available for a week or more generally, this means you can do all your work on the weekends if have a full time job during the week. Or alternatively, you can do no work at all on the weekends if you prefer. The choice is yours. The only way you lose control is if you procrastinate until the last day, at which time you have run out of choices. To prevent procrastination, we have a standing rule that neither the teacher nor the teaching assistant will provide help with homework on the day that the homework is due or after the assignment is due.

If an assignment is less than two weeks past due, you can request an "automatic" extension which allows you 48 additional hours to work on the assignment (starting when you file the request). (An automatic extension is an extension that WebAssign will grant you automatically without requiring anyone's permission.) During this extension period you obtain 3/4 of the original point value for all additional work. So you don't lose any points by requesting an extension, you just obtain less than full credit for the late work. With each assignment you can obtain a maximum two of these 48-hour extensions. (Extensions end 48 hours after you request them or two weeks after the due date, which ever comes first. So to receive the full 48 hours you need to request the extension within 12 days of the due date.)

To get an automatic extension on a past-due assignment, click the Past Assignments link on your home page in WebAssign. Then click the "Extension Request" link for the assignment for which you need an extension. Once you do this you'll be provided with some more information and a button to click to confirm that you are requesting the extension. You can obtain a maximum of two extensions in this way on each assignment.

NOTE: Homework extensions are closed when final exams begin. In other words, you are not allowed to improve your homework grade after final exams begin.

Getting Help with WebAssignments


Do not use e-mail to request help with homework. Instead, use the WebAssign feature "Ask Your Teacher" found at the bottom of each WebAssignment. Jennifer will respond to you. If you send e-mail requesting help with homework, Jennifer may refer you back to the "Ask Your Teacher" link.

You are also welcome to chat with other students in the class about the homework. There's a forum set up for class discussion. You can find the forum under the Communications Tab in WebAssign.

On homework assignments, WebAssign allows you virtually unlimited submissions (maximum = 50). In other words, you can submit the assignment over and over so as to correct any mistakes you may have made.

On tests and the final exam you will be permitted a maximum of 3 submissions for each question.

See the grades page for information about how WebAssign figures into the calculation of your final grade.

Tools


Students sometimes ask about optional tools to use to help with graphing in Part 2 of the course. Use of special graphing tools is optional. If you have a graphing calculator that you depend on, you are welcome to use it with your WebAssignment homework as well as during tests at the DE Proctoring Center.

Here are a few websites that some students find useful.
Important: These websites are not required, recommended, or supported. They are simply available for "use at your own risk" by students who think they might be useful.