What's New in MasteringDecember 2011
In our winter release, we are making it even easier for instructors to manage their courses and
assignments.
Here’s what you can look forward to with the winter release:
New Assignment Page
In an effort to enhance usability for instructors, a new default view of an assignment for instructors is
being introduced. This will replace the "student view" that they see by default today. The new view will
be more instructor-focused by providing the links and navigation elements that are needed most.
This new assignment view will open in-frame rather than in a modal window. The student view will still
be available to instructors via a prominent link on the new assignment page.
Copy an Assignment
Instructors will now have the ability to copy an assignment from within their course. This will allow
instructors the flexibility to copy and reassign an assignment or copy and then edit an assignment to
create a new and different assignment. This option is located in the dropdown menu next to the
assignment title.
Quick Access to the Scores Page
Access to the scores page for a particular student will now be available from the Roster page. This
access will allow instructors to quickly move from one page to the next by simply clicking on the
student’s name.
Section Instructors
A course assistant or TA will no longer be labeled as “assistant” in Mastering. This role will now be
labeled “section instructor”. All of the current functionality of this role will remain under this new label.
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Lecture Capture
This feature allows instructors to upload video and audio files from their hard drives, in addition to the
current document uploads, to share with their students. Instructors will also be able to record video
from their computer’s integrated webcam directly into Mastering.
To showcase this feature, the Course Documents pod on the course homepage has been updated and
renamed Course Materials for both instructors and students.
The student home page also contains an improved pod for Course Materials.
The instructor will be able to easily manage, upload, and record audio/video files from the
Manage/Record Lecture Video link. The available files space for both audio and video uploads and
recordings is based on time and not file size. The total time available is 10 hours. This page also allows
instructors to make media available to students via a checkbox. Students have a View Lectures link on
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their Course Home page that allows them to view the media that the instructor has made available.
Students can download media to their local computer or launch a media file directly to view the
content.
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Pooled Assignments
The Assignment Creation page has a new setting called Pool Assignment, available under Organize
Content. Pooling allows instructors to select a larger collection of content items and then assign a
smaller subset of these items to each of their students. This feature allows only one pool of content to
be created in the assignment and is only available within the context of an assignment.
Instructors access this option by first selecting a body of content, such as all of the End-of-Chapter
items from a particular chapter, in Step 2 of assignment creation and then checking the “Pool
Assignment” box on the Organize Content page.
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Once the “Pool Assignment” option is checked, the instructor can select the number of items from the
pool that are to be included in each student’s assignment. The points per item can also be designated.
This selection dropdown only appears after the “Pool Assignment” box has been checked. Once the
number of items has been specified, the totals at the bottom of the page are adjusted to reflect a
pooled assignment, showing ranges for both the time and difficulty.
Once the assignment creation is complete, the preview of the assignment shows all items in the pool
and indicates with a message that students will only see the predetermined number of items.
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Messaging in Pooled or Randomized Assignments
Smart binding of the instructor added messages in assignments will allow these messages or
instructions to display as intended even when assignments are pooled or randomized. Instructors can
now be sure that their students are receiving all the correct messaging at the correct time and place in
their assignments.
New Learning Outcomes Export Option
When viewing the Learning Outcomes Summary there is now a new export option: Student Item
Details. This new export allows instructors to export every student's percent complete and
percent average score for all items that were associated with each learning outcome. This export gives
instructors an easy way to view and report student-by-student learning outcome results.
New “Equation” Answer Type
This is a new answer type allows equations to be entered to answer questions. Up until now students
were only able to enter expressions, but with this answer type students can enter expressions with the
equals (=) sign. Mastering has always relied on numeric algorithms for computation of expressions but
this new answer type utilizes Sage, an open source symbolic engine, for evaluating computations.
Starting in January content using this tool will be available in Engineering as well as be available for our
authors (and instructors using the Advanced Editor) to create content in any discipline.
MasteringChemistry Drawing Tool
Improvements have been made to the molecular drawing tool that is available in our chemistry
courses. Initially this feature will only be available to those participating in the organic chemistry class
testing using Wade 8e occurring this spring. This feature consists of updates to the current tool by
integrating MarvinSketch and MarvinView, both well-tested and proven tools. This feature offers 3D
molecule views and is easier to use for both instructors and students.
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Mastering New Design
Coming this release, many pages in Mastering New Design will now appear in-frame rather than as popouts from the interface. Displaying instructor and student pages in-frame will make for a more unified
experience of this integrated product. Though new adoptions of this product will not be available until
fall of 2012, courses will be available to support sales starting in the spring of 2012.
The new in-frame display of some pages, such as the Item Library and the Gradebook in Mastering New
Design helps instructors experience a more cohesive product and more easily view some of the best
features of Mastering.
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