This process sets up link(s) to WeBWorK from Brightspace. Students must click on the link in order for them to get their information into WeBWorK. You can still add students separately through WeBWorK's class list editor, but their grades will only sync to Brightspace if their account was creted automatically through a link from Brightspace. By creating the link the homework grades will sync once a day to Brigghtspace.
Student accounts will be automatically created in WeBWorK, so it is important that you first clean out the class list in your WeBWorK class if you have students in it from previous semester:
Accounts Manager => Delete => Delete how many? (selected users) => select all users by clicking on the top check box => Take Action
You cannot delete yourself, don't worry.
New student will also get assigned ALL homework sets that have "visible" flag. If you used a WeBWorK class in a prior semester, probably all homework sets are visible with deadlines in the past, and solutions available. Most likely you don’t want all these homework sets assigned to new students like this. To make all (old) homework sets invisible do the following:
Sets Manager => Publish => Choose which sets to be affected: all sets => Choose visibility of the sets to be affected: Hidden => Take Action!
Make sure you make the homework sets visible again one-by-one when you assign them to students:
Sets Manager => Check box next to set to be made visible => Publish => Choose which sets to be affected: selected sets => Choose visibility of the sets to be affected: Visible => Take Action!
Please note that passing back grade to different Brightspace courses from a single WeBWorK course is not possible, What you have to do is ask COLTT to merge your sections into one Brightspace sections. In Brightspace: "Get Help" => "Contact COLTT" => "Create Case" => "Request Service". Make sure to specify which section you want to be the "parent course".
Do this in Brightspace:
You can create WeBWorK links in any module/unit folder of your Brightspace course.
Click on "Add Existing" => "More" => Bottom of page: "WeBWorK Assignment".
The first time this is done there should a window with an error message about "No WeBWorK course was found ..."
Copy the number next to "Context ID".
Do this in your corresponding WeBWorK course in a separate browser tab:
Navigate to "Course Configuration" => "LTI".
Paste the context ID into the "Current" column and then click on "Save Changes".
Go back to Brightspace and repeat the previous process:
In any content area where you wish to insert the links, click on "Add Existing" => "More" => "WeBWorK Assignment".
If the pairing with WeBWorK was successful, the whole list of all visible assignments should come up, where you can select one or more assignments to link to Brightspace. The next step is important. You have to decide if you want all the WeBWorK assignments bundled together into one grade using a single link, or if you want to link each WeBWorK assignment individually to Brightspace.
If you want the sum of all WeBWorK assignment grades as one grade in Brightspace, then check only the top box next to "Assignments (Course Home)" => "Submit Choices". In this case the total of WeBWorK grades will automatically set to transfer with 100 points (percentage) to Brightspace.
If you want to link the WeBWorK assignments individually then select one or more of them from the list. Only assignments made visible in WeBWorK are listed. => "Submit Choices". Click on the assignment(s) => "Edit Activity" => "Add and Manage Grade Items" => "+ Grade Item" => Specify the number of points => "OK" => "Sve and Close".
Go to "Course Admin" => "Grades" => "Manage Grades" => make sure the grades are calculated correctly.
Once a link is set up in Brightspace, you can check that it works and that it points to the correct course. Following the link should automatically take you into your own webwork course without asking for your login info. If it asks for login username and password then the settings are not correct. Only student accounts are created automatically. Instructors must have an existing account already in the WeBWorK course in order to succesfully use the link.
Assigning homework sets to students can be done in two different ways:
Instructor Tools => (if needed sections can be filtered) => Select users and 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 student's name => click "Save")
Click on Instructor Tools. Under "Users" on the left half of the window click on "Display section x" where x is a section number you want to consider.
Click on "Change Display Settings". 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 change for the selected section of students.
If the homework set has NOT been assigned to the students yet then at the bottom click on "Assign selected users to selected sets". Otherwise click "Edit one set for users" at the bottom.
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 to check the boxes next to the changed user values. Without the boxes checked the changes will not go through.
At the bottom of the page click "save changes".
There are several ways to create homework sets.
This is a quick way to create a new empty homework set and to immediately start adding problems to it from the extensive library of problems. To create "Assignment A" do the following:
Library Browser => next to "Create a New Set in This Course:" type Assignment_A (note that underscores are needed instead of spaces!)
Click "Create a New Set in This Course:"
Make sure there is confirmation of successful process with green background
The name of the new set should appear next to "Add problems to Target Set: "
The next step is to add questions to the newly created set.
Note that your assignment will not be accessible to students until you assign it to them.
To create "Assignment B" do the following:
Hmwk Sets Editor => Create => Name the new set: Assignment_B (note that underscores are needed instead of spaces!)
Create as what type of set: a new empty set
Click => Take Action!
Make sure there is confirmation of successful process with green background
The next step is to add questions to the newly created set.
Note that your assignment will not be accessible to students until you assign it to them.
To copy "Assignment A" to "Assignment B" do the following:
Hmwk Sets Editor => Create => Name the new set: Assignment_B (note that underscores are needed instead of spaces!)
Create as what type of set: a duplicate of the first selected set
Check box next to "Assignment A" (make sure there is no other assignment is selected!),
Click => Take Action!
make sure there is confirmation of successful process with green background
Note that your assignment will not be accessible to students until you assign it to them.
If you or someone else has previously exported a homework set to a set definition file, you can turn that file back into a homework set.
The set definition file (*.def) should be uploaded using the File Manager into the templates directory of the course.
Hmwk Sets Editor => Import => specify how many and which one(s).
You can also shift the opening/closing dates, but they have to be checked later anyway.
Click => Take Action!
make sure there is confirmation of successful process with green background
Unless you choose "Assign this set to which users?: all current users", the assignment will not be accessible to students until you assign it to them.
Directly renaming a homework set is not possible. What the instructor has to do is copy the set to have a new name and then delete the old set. Deleting the old sets deletes all corresponding student records for the old set and it cannot be undone.
To copy "Assignment A" to "Assignment B" do the following:
Hmwk Sets Editor => Create => Name the new set: Assignment_B (note that underscores are needed instead of spaces!)
Create as what type of set: a duplicate of the first selected set
Check box next to "Assignment A" (make sure there is no other assignment is selected!),
Click => Take Action!
make sure there is confirmation of successful process with green background
To delete the old "Assignment A" do the following:
Check box next to "Assignment A" (make sure there is no other assignment is selected!),
Click => Take Action!
make sure there is confirmation of successful process with green background
In order to add problems to a homework set from the extensive Open Problem Library do the following.
From the Library Browser, select a Target Set in which to place problems.
Select Subject: Chapter: Section: according to your needs. It might take a few seconds for webwork to show the different choices in the drop-down menus.
Alternatively, you can also select one of the specific (favorite) university libraries. To switch back from a specific library to the Subject/Chapter/Section you have to click on the "Open Problem Library" button.
Click "View Problems"
From the list of question select some and click on the "Add" button next to them.
Note that you might have to click on "Next page" if htere is a very long list of problems.
Don't forget to view the homework set once problems are added to it.
The Blackboard-WeBWorK bridge only creates student accounts in WeBWorK. For this reason you want to add Learning Assistants (LAs) or Teaching Assistants (TAs) directly to your WeBWorK class. These accounts are referred to as Teaching Assistant (TA) in WeBWorK. The grade of these directly added accounts will not sync to Blackboard.
The first step adds a simple student account that later you have to elevate to TA
Classlist Editor => Add => Add how many students? (change the 1 if needed) => Take Action!
Fill in Last Name, First Name
Leave "Student ID field" empty. This forces the TA to use their official university password.
Login Name: their university email but without the @utrgv.edu
Email Address: Specifying email address for TAs is very useful. TAs get all student emails sent using the "Email Instructor" button. These email contain a link that points directly to the students' question, which makes answering questions much easier.
Other fields are optional. Perhaps you want to add a comment that they are TAs.
At this point you can assign homework sets to them.
Click "Add Students" ad the bottom of the page.
Note that this only adds student accounts to your class list.
Elevating a student account to TA
Classlist Editor => Edit => check the box next to the LA/TA (you can select several) => make sure "Edit Which Users?" shows "selected users" => Take Action!
In the rightmost column change "Permission Level" to "ta" => click "Take Action!"
WeBWorK uses PGML (PG Markup Language) for its problems. See Introduction to PGML for a short introduction. This page also contains links to further references. You can start writing your own question by adding a blank template problem to a problem set.
Hmwk Sets Editor => Click the number in the column "Edit Problems" next ot the homework set you want to add yor own question.
Check the box at the bottom of the page next to "Add 1 blank problem template(s) to end of homework set"
Click on "Save Changes"
Click the pencil button next to the newly created question that has source file with name blankProblem.pg
Note that you cannot save edited problem files with the name blankProblem.pg, so the next steps should be:
Click on "NewVersion"
Make sure the "Replace current problem" is checked.
Leave unchecked the box "Open in new window".
Specify a new name in the box next to "Save file to: [TMPL]" => "Take Action"
Edit the "Setup" part and the part between BEGIN_PGML and END_PGML
To see how the question renders use the "Update" button with "Open in new window" checked.
You can embed any web page, including Desmos pages or youtube video pages into WeBWorK questions using "iframes". Note that these instructions do not cover the embedding of Desmos scripts. You have to know whether you want to insert the web page into a WeBWorK questions written in the "old" PG language (contains the line BEGIN_TEXT), or the newer PGML (PG Markup Language) (contains the line BEGIN_PGML).
PG Language
Insert above the BEGIN_TEXT line the following code:
$link_to_my_page=MODES(TeX=>"Interactive graph should be viewed online",
HTML=>"<iframe src='https://www.desmos.com/calculator/5hedmvhiru'
width='1000px' height='500px' style='border: 1px solid #ccc' frameborder=0> </iframe>");
After BEGIN_TEXT, in the main text insert the code
$link_to_my_page
PGML
Insert above the BEGIN_PGML line the following code:
$link_to_my_page=MODES(TeX=>"Interactive graph should be viewed online",
HTML=>"<iframe src='https://www.desmos.com/calculator/5hedmvhiru'
width='1000px' height='500px' style='border: 1px solid #ccc' frameborder=0> </iframe>");
After BEGIN_PGML, in the main text insert the code
[$link_to_my_page]*
The text after "TeX=>" gets printed on the PDF hardcopy.
the "https:" part is obciously the address of the web page we are embedding.
The last line controls the size and the appearance of the web page. Search for "iframe" for more information.
For youtube videos make sure to use the link you get by chosing the "embed" share option in youtube.
Independently from WeBWorK grades, the achievements feature rewards students for doing various tasks in WeBWorK. Receiving achievements like "On One Hand" (10 Points: Finish a homework set with less than 5 incorrect submissions.) and "Back For More" (10 Points: Retry a problem after an 8 hour break.) will make working in the homework system more fun. In addition to achievements students will also level up from Level 1-Initiate to Level 10-Professor. Achievements have to be assigned to students similarly to homework sets. To assign the available achievements to students
Click on the "Achievements Editor" 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 achievements from "default_achievements.axp" and assigning the acievements to "all current users".
Click on the "Take Action!" button.
If you add more students to the class you have to do the following to assign the achievements to them:
Click on the "Assign" menu item in the top row.
Under the top row menu use the two drop down menus to select "all achievments" and "preserve existing data"
Click on the "Take Action!" button.
By selecting "preserve existing data" you ensure that existing students do not loose their achievements. More information can be found about the achievements feature in WeBWorK at the page https://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Achievements.
Using the RLB with WeBWorK is possible, but it has several limitations.
Students have to go though Blackboard's option of using RLB.
The Blackboard link to the WeBWorK test does not work with homework set level connection, so the whole WeBWorK course has to be linked instead of individual assignments.
Since course level link enables students to log into WeBWorK directly, you might want to create a proctored test that requires procotor username and password, and then you have to provide this information to students at some point (probably in the Blackboard test link).
Even with a proctor username and password, students can share this information with each other and solve the test by directly logging into WeBWorK without going through Blackboard's LBR test. It is suggested that you check for students the WeBWorK log file and the Blackboard RLB information to see that the time spent in WeBWorK matches the time spent in the Blackboard test with the RLB.
Using the RLB with a WeBWorK Test
Set up a proctor account in your WeBWorK class: See "Adding Learning Assistants to WeBWorK". Alternatively, you can also specify a "secret" proctoruser name and password, (the password can be omitted), and elevate the account to "grade_proctor".
Edit the WeBWorK test and change the "Assignment type" to "proctored gateway/quiz" => "Save Changes".
The proctored gateway/quiz has a lot of option that you have to carefully consider and change.
In Blackboard create a test
Assesments => Test => Create a New Test => fill out information => Submit
Add a a question to the test. You can add a "file response" type question if you want them to upload their scanned work.
Create Question => File Response => fill in details => Question Text: Link to WebWorK Test: https://webwork.utrgv.edu/webwork2/name_of_your_course/proctored_quiz_mode/name_of_your_test
Change name_of_your_course and name_of_your_test accordingly
It is best not show the link, but to insert the link to show the text "Link to WeBWorK Test"
You also have to provide students here with the proctor username and proctor password so that they can complete the test on their own in WeBWorK.
The question should also contain instructions for the students to close WeBWorK and to come back to the Blackboard Test after they finished the test. You might want to insert in the question an honor statement to which the students have to answer yes once they come back from WeBWorK.
After adding the question to the test click OK at the bottom right corner.
You should get back to the "Create Test" page where you can now choose the newly created test in the menu "Add an Existing Test" => Submit => fill in additional details.
Enable Respondus for the test:
In the left-hand-side menu of Blackboard under Course Management => Course Tools => Respondus LcokDown Browser
Choose the test => Settings
Require Respondus LockDown Browser for this exam => Advanced Settings => Allow access to specific external web domains => Enter https://webwork.utrgv.edu
Require Respondus Monitor for this exam
Save + Close
Things to watch out for:
Since this Blackboard-RLB-WeBWorK combination requires linking the WeBWorK course to Blackboard through a single course level link, student can also log in to WeBWorK directly avoiding Blackboard. Even with proctor password they could start the test through RLB, but then abandon it and continue it through directly loggin in to WeBWorK without RLB. You can check student activity in WeBWorK by going through File Manager => up one directory from templates => logs directory => login.log => View. The file login.log can be very large, and you might have to search it for specific usernames.
To avoid students looking at old assignments in WeBWorK you can adit the assignments and make them not visible.
Make sure the questions are numbered consecutively from one. Gateway/quizzes do not work if a number is skipped.
If you edit the gateway/quiz after it was assigned to students you have to unassign it and then reassign it again so that changes go through to students.
You might want to do some exam previewes for students to make sure things work.
A way to try out yourself the exam is by creating an instructor account with a secret login name and password in the WeBWorK course, then loggin in with that delet your university account in your WeBWorK course, and then using the student preview in Blackboard let WeBWorK create a new student account for you.
While the default answer entry is still through keyboard (2^6, 3/4, sqrt(5), infinity, etc), you can turn on a feature to help with typing answers.
In your WeWBorK course follow the links to Course Configuration => Problem Display/Answer Checking=> Assist with the student answer entry process.
Choose between
MathQuill
MathView
WIRIS
Click "Save Changes"
You can experiment which one you like better.
You can enable Reduced Scoring by following the links:
Course Configuration (left-hand side menu)
Optional Modules (top menu)
Enable Reduced Scoring: change to True
Value of work done in Reduced Scoring Period: specify desired percentage
If you enabled Reduced Scoring then you will also have to enable it for individual assignments and set their Reduced Scoring Dates by editing the set data:
Hmwk Sets Editor (left-hand side menu)
Check the box on the left of the homework set(s)
Click: Edit (top menu)
Click: Take Action!
Check box(es) in the column: Enable Reduced Scoring
Change dates in the column: Reduced Scoring Date
Click: Take Action!
Instructor can check login history of users:
File Manager (left-hand side menu)
The default directory shown is the "templates" directory in a drop-down menu. Navigate up to the main course directory, then double click on the logs directory.
double click on the login.log file.e
Browse through the file or search for student login name.