Information For High School Teachers Using WeBWorK Courses

• HB5 Information at RGV FOCUS
• House Bill 5: Foundation High School Program
• Other HB5 FAQs
• Training Presentation, July 30, 2024.
• Textbook: Beginning and Intermediate Algebra by Tyler Wallace (Big Bend Community College)
• College Prep Math Course Part A syllabus (for the fall semester)
• College Prep Math Course Part B syllabus (for the spring semester)
• Sample School Calendar 2024-2025 Suggested daily list of topics to cover for the College Prep Math courses. Special thanks go to Ms. Maria Guadalupe Flores for creating it and Ms. Veronica Cabello for updating it for 2024-2025.
• Sample MOU.
• HB5 College Prep Course 2024-25 Workshops.

• All College Prep Math course materials are free, assembled by a group of faculty from area high schools, colleges and universities (UTPA+UTB, now UTRGV), maintained and administered by UTRGV.
• The College Prep Math course is not a dual enrolment course. Students cannot receive college credit for it. The course must be recorded on the high school transcript with course code CP111200.
• Overall grade in the course must be 70 or higher.
• The final assessment in part B must comprise at least 30% of the course grade.
• Student work is a required component of the coursework.
• Other than the above requirements, the details of the grading policy are up to the instructor.
• The passing grade of 70 or higher must be shown on the high school transcript with course code CP111200.
• Many times, the initial transcript sent to the university or college before the end of the academic year does not have the final grade yet. Often, high schools close or have limited services during the summer. It is the students' responsibility to obtain the final transcript and send it to university or college.
• The TSI waiver is not automatic! Student must request the TSI waiver from the specific college/university during registration or orientation by refering to the passing grade on the high school transcript with course code CP 111200.
• The waiver for the TSI Assessment requirements is only valid for 2 years and only at participating Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) listed below. This allows students to take entry-level mathematics courses at participating IHE: College Algebra; Elementary Statistics; Contemporary Mathematics; Mathematics for Liberal Arts.

• Region One
  • University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
  • South Texas College
  • Texas State Technical College
  • Texas Southmost College
  • Laredo Community College
  • Texas A&M International University
• Region Two
  • Coastal Bend College
  • Coatal Bend College Kingsville
  • Del Mar College
  • Texas A&M University-Kingsville

1. College Prep High School Mathematics WeBWorK courses: This is related to the required House Bill 5 math courses. It lists the College Prep course A (part 1) and in the spring course B (part 2) will be added.
2. TSI Assessment Prep Workshops (shortened version of College Prep materials to help students prepare for the TSI exam)
3. High School Mathematics WeBWorK courses: These are general Math courses not related to House Bill 5. They might include
   1. Algebra 1 (Template of assignment based on College Prep Math A, also based on Tyler Wallace's book. You are welcome to change the assignments)
   2. Algebra 2 (Template of assignments. You are welcome to change the assignments.)
   3. College Algebra (Template of assignments. You are welcome to change the assignments.)
   4. Precalculus (Template of assignments. You are welcome to change the assignments.)
   5. Calculus (Template of assignments. You are welcome to change the assignments.)
   6. Statistics (Somewhat disorganized template of assignments)

• Manually typing in every information
  • Accounts Manager => Add => Add how many users?
  • Login Name: your choice (required, should be unique)
  • Password: (far right column, required)
  • No other fields are required, but probably you want to fill out First Name and Last Name, and if you want to send email to students from WeBWorK, then Email Address. Section information can be also usefull to separate students by periods.
  • Student information has to be entered one-by-one
  • At the same time homework sets can be assigned
• Using Excel sheet (it is great if you already have the class list electronically)
  • Dowlonad the class_list_new.xlsx file and fill in the columns with student information
  • Column I (Login Name, should be unique) and column L (Password) must be filled in, the other columns are optional.
  • Column J must be empty
  • Most likely you want to fill out columns B and C (Last Name, First name).
  • Column A (Student ID) is not required. Before version 2.19 it was used for password, but it is not used anymore.
  • Column F (Section) is a convenient way to separate students from different periods. Any combination of number and text can be used.
  • If the first row with the column description starts with the hashtag # character then you can leave the first row there, otherwise delete it before uploading it to WeBWorK.
  • Save it as CSV file (comma separated values, or comma delimited). Be careful! Other options like CSV UTF-8 Under Mac OS might not work.
  • Upload the csv file to your class using File Manager in WeBWorK. It should go to the templates directory, which is the default when you navigate to the File Manager.
  • Rename the file to have extension .lst
  • Import the students from the file using the Accounts Manager.
• Transfer class list from Part A to Part B
  • In Part A
    • Accounts Manager => Export => Export which users? All/Selected => Filename: (specify) => Export
    • File Manager => select the file name specified earlier => Download
    • Important!! Note that this process saves encrypted passwords of students in column J. If you want to reset their password then you have to clear column J and set clear text passwords in column L
  • In Part B
    • File Manager => Choose File => find class list file downloaded earlier => Upload
    • If the file does not have .lst extension for some reason then rename it to have .lst extension
    • Accounts Manager => Import => Import users from what file? (Select uploaded file) => (important!!!) Replace which users?: no users => Add which new users?: any users => Import

• Navigate to the Sets Manager. Click on the little pencil shape next to a problem set to edit:
  • Open Date
  • Close Date
  • Answer Date (after Answer date Students see the correct asnwers)
  • When finished click on Save Edit
• If you want to edit all set dates at the same time then click on the top check box to select all sets and then from the top menu choose Edit and then click on the blue button Edit.
• More extensive changes can be made through the following way: In the Sets Manager click on the number in the Problems column to possibly edit
  • Weight of each problem (default is 1 point)
  • Max attempts (default is unlimited)
  • This is the place where a timed Test can be changed to a traditional assignment called Homework, and vice versa.
  • For timed tests there are several other parameters can be set, including the length of the test.
  • When finished, click on Save Changes.
• Assigning homework sets to students can be done in two different ways:
  • Instructor Tools => (if needed sections can be filtered) => Select Users and Select sets => User-Set Actions => Assign selected users to selected sets
  • Sets Manager => in the column “Assigned Users” next to the specific assignment click on the number pair => Assign to All Current Users
  • If only selected students need the assignment then check the assigned box next to those students name and click Save.

• View student progress by set: select a set.
• View student progress by student: select a student.
• Scoring Tools: Create and download csv file with student scores that excel can read. Further information at the following link.

• Click on Instructor Tools. Under Users on the left half of the window in the Filter(s): part select the section you wish to work with.
• Click on Refresh List. After this you will see only students with the specified section.
• Select all students displayed: click on first student, then scroll to the last student and while pressing the shift key click on the last student.
• Under Sets on the right half of the screen click on the set that you want to assign or change for the selected section/period of students.
• If the homework set has been already assigned to the students and all you want to do is change the assignment dates then skip the next step.
• If the homework set has NOT been assigned to the students yet then at the bottom click on User-Set Actions and then click Assign selected users to selected sets. A green message should say All assignments were made successfully.
• Use the browser's back button to go back to the Instructor Tools page. It should still show the same selected students and the selected homework set.
• Choose again Set-User Actions and then click on Edit one set$apos;s details for some or all users
• The new page that appers should show the list of all the students you selected, and a message under them should say that Any changes made below will be reflected in the set for ONLY the student(s) listed above.
• Change the Opens, Closes, etc. user values as desired. Make sure you check the check boxes next to the changed user values. Without the check boxes the changes will not go through.
• At the bottom of the page click Save Changes.

• Unassign/reassign a set from/to all students:
  • In the Sets Manager click on the number pair in the column called Edit Assigned Users in the row of the set.
  • At the bottom of the page check Allow unassign and then click Unassign from All users
  • A green message should apper both at the bottom and at the top of the page: Problems for all students have been unassigned.
  • If needed, you can immediately reassign all questions to students by clicking on Assign to All Current Users.
  • You might want to also edit the opening/closing dates. See section Editing and assigning homework sets above.
• Unassign/reassign a set from/to selected students:
  • In the Sets Manager click on the number pair in the column called Assigned Users in the row of the set.
  • Uncheck the box in the first column Assigned next to the name of the selected student(s)
  • Click Save at the bottom of the page.
  • A green message should apper both at the bottom and at the top of the page: Problems for selected students have been reassigned
  • If needed, you can immediately reassign the questions to the selected students by checking the box in the first column Assigned next to their name and clicking on Save at the bottom of the page.
  • You might want to also edit the opening/closing dates for selected students by clicking on Edit data for ... in the the rightmost column.

• Test Time Limit: 50 minutes
• Cap Test Time at Set Close Date? No, students can work until they use up their 50 minutes.
• Number of Graded Submissions per Test: infinity. Students can keep submitting the test and improve their grades.
• Time Interval for New Test Versions: infinity.
• Number of Tests per Time Interval: 1. (Students cannot get a new version on their own. If new version is needed instructor mus unassign and reassign the Chapter assessment to the student, which will destroy the records of the first version.)
• Show Scores on Finished Assignments? Yes
• Show Problems on Finished Tests: Yes

• In addition to chapter assessments the final exam is also a timed Test.
• if you delete questions from a Test (chapter assessments or final exam) do not forget to chek the box Force problems to be numbered consecutively from one. Tests do not work if the question numbers are not consecutive.

• Course Configuration => Optional Modules => Enable Course Achievements: => make sure in the Current collumn it is set to True => Save Changes

• Click on the Achievements Manager link in the main menu on the left-hand-side
• Click on the Import menu item in the top row.
• Under the top row menu use the two drop down menus to select: Import from where default_achievements.axp and assigning the acievements to all current users.
• Click on the Import button.

• Click on the Assign menu item in the top row.
• Under the top row menu use the two drop down menus to select all course achievments and for "Choose what to do with existing data:" select preserve.
• Click on the Assign! button.

Emailing Students
If you specified student email addresses in the class list you can send them emails through the Email menu. You can select to send email to either all students in course or to selected students. Make sure to fill out the following entries:

• From: (must contain one valid email address)
• Reply-To: (must contain one valid email address)
• Subject:
• Email Body:

Exporting and Importing Assignments
High School WeBWorK courses are not saved at the end of the academic year. In July they are all deleted, and new ones are created as requested. This is due to the high volume of the high school courses and the frequent changes in the list of high school teachers. However, instructors can save and reuse the assignments they created. This is not recommended for the HB5 College Prep Mathematics courses, since these courses were created to serve a specific purpose by the Region One Higher Educational Institutions. If you want to save your own assignments and transfer them the another course these are the steps you have to follow:

• Export assignment(s): Sets Manager => Export => Prepare which sets for export? (select the option you want) => Export => Save Export
• Downloading the set definition files: File Manager => Make sure you are in the default templates directory => select the set definition file that starts with set, contains the set name, and ends with exteinsion .def. Ignore the .def.bak files. => Click Download. This will download the set definition to your computer that you can save for future use. Note that you can only download one file at a time. If you need several files you have to repeat this process, or create an archive file by selecting several files and clicking on the Make Archive button. Make sure to move the downloaded files to a safe place on your computer, and make sure that you will remember to where they are.
• Uploading to another course the saved set definition files: File Manager => Make sure you are in the default templates directory => Choose File (select the previously saved set definition file on your computer)=> Upload
• Import the assignments: Sets Manager => Import => Import how many sets? => Import from where?: => Shift dates so that the earliest is: (the assignment opening and closing dates can be changed here or later). => Assign this set to which users?: (the assignment can be assigned to all students later) => Take Action!

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