WeBWork Satisfaction Survey
1) Which course are you taking?
 MATH 104
N = 260, 26% of enrolled
 MATH 184
N = 129
(869 enrolled)
(435 enrolled)
2) When do you normally start your WeBWork assignment?
104
30.4%
32.3%
25.0%
12.3%
184
27.1%
38.0%
26.4%
8.5%
The day before it is due.
A couple of days before it is due.
Three or four days before it is due.
As soon as or soon after it is posted.
3) On average, what percentage of a typical WebWork assignment do you attempt
regularly? Your answer should include problems you do some work on and for which you
may or may not obtain a correct answer.
104
83.1%
10.0%
3.1%
3.5%
184
80.6%
14.7%
1.6%
3.1%
80% to 100%
60% to 80%
50% to 60%
less than 50%
4) How do you usually work on a WeBWorK assignment?
104
90.8%
6.2%
2.7%
0.4%
184
89.1%
9.3%
0.8%
0.8%
Do most or all of the solving while at a computer.
Print out the problems, solve them, then enter into the system.
Other
Blank
If you selected other, please specify:
typical answer: “solve on paper, enter on pc”
5) Which of the following statements best describes your approach to answering
questions on WeBWork?
104
15.4%
53.5%
184
7.0%
I answer most of the questions correctly at my first or second attempt.
52.7%
I often rework the same problem a few times on my own until I get the correct
answer.
28.1% 33.3%
3.1%
7.0%
I prefer to consult resources (notes, etc.) or ask for help if I can't find the correct
answer right away.
I often give up if I can't find the correct answer after a few attempts.
6) Whom do you ask for help with WeBWork problems? Check all that apply.
104
87.7%
11.9%
2.7%
23.8%
7.3%
5.8%
12.3%
10.8%
184
86.0%
11.6%
3.1%
32.6%
4.7%
12.4%
11.6%
8.5%
Other students in the course or other friends
WeBWork's email system ("Email your instructors" button)
Separate emails to my instructor/TA
TAs at the drop-in Learning Centre
Instructor/TA at office hours
Private tutor
I normally don't ask for help.
Other
If you selected other, please specify
Google, siblings, online discussion boards
7) Do you find the "Email your instructor" option useful?
104
75.8%
20.0%
3.5%
184
82.9%
16.3%
0.8%
Never used it
Helpful sometimes
Essential to my completion of assignments on time
8) On average, how would you rate the mathematical difficulty of WeBWork problems
relative to other problems in the course?
104
1.2%
3.8%
10.8%
42.3%
39.6%
1.9%
184
0.0%
0.8%
10.9%
34.9%
52.7%
0.0%
Much easier
A little easier
About the same
A little harder
Much harder
Not comparable
9) On average, how often was the syntax required to submit an answer to WebWork an
obstacle in completing your assignment?
104
13.5%
22.7%
38.8%
18.1%
6.9%
184
8.5%
24.8%
36.4%
23.3%
5.4%
Never
Only once or twice this term
About once every few assignments
Most of all weeks there is a problem with syntax
Many problems in most of all weeks
10) Please rate the extent to which you agree or disagree with the following statements.
(%)
WeBWork problems are related to problems
on tests and/or class examples.
104
184
Strongly
Agree
8.1
13.2
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
46.2
50.4
20.8
14.7
18.1
17.8
Strongly
Disagree
6.5
3.9
WeBWork problems are good practice for
solving problems on tests.
104
184
15.4
22.5
46.2
42.6
19.6
14.7
10.8
15.5
7.3
4.7
The immediate responses I get from
WeBWork help me learn the course material.
104
184
16.9
25.6
41.2
34.9
23.1
26.4
13.8
9.3
3.8
3.9
I often get frustrated with WeBWork problems
due to their mathematical difficulty.
104
184
31.9
36.4
30
39.5
25.8
13.2
7.3
10.1
3.5
0
I often get frustrated by the particular syntax
required to submit answers to WeBWork.
104
184
27.3
24.0
27.3
38.0
23.8
18.6
17.7
14.0
3.5
4.7
11) In addition to assignments on WebWork, are you also required to submit written
homework in your course?
104
74.2%
11.9%
13.8%
184
100%
0%
0%
yes, weekly
yes, biweekly or less frequently
no
12) If you are required to hand in written assignments, what percentage of this "paper"
homework do you submit on average each time?
104
184
75.8% 90.7%
8.1%
5.4%
1.1%
0.8%
1.5%
2.3%
13.5% 0.8%
80% to 100%
60% to 80%
50% to 60%
less than 50%
There is no "paper" homework in my class.
In 104, of the 224 students who said they had to submit hand-in homework, the vast majority (78%)
declared they submitted the same percentage of Webwork assignments and paper assignments. Only
19 of the 49 who declared a different rate of submission for webwork vs hand-in homework had a
higher rate for webwork.
Similarly, in 184 77% of students declared the same rate of submission for WebWork vs hand-in
homework. Of the 30 students who declared a different rate, only 8 declared a higher rate for
webwork.
13) If you were to take a similar course again, which homework program would you
prefer? Assume each suggested option is worth the same percentage of your final course
grade.
104
184
41.9%
48.8%
A combination of WeBWork and short hand-in written assignments that
are returned a week later.
22.7%
22.5%
Only written hand-in assignments, that are returned a week later (possibly
only part of them graded).
21.9%
15.5%
Only WeBWork assignments.
8.8%
9.3%
A combination of WeBWork assignments and short in-class quizzes (in
addition to regular midterm exams).
4.2%
3.1%
No homework assignments, just a list of suggested homework and inclass quizzes (in addition to regular midterm exams).
14) Please add any comments about WeBWork that you feel are not captured by the
questions above.
104
48 (out of 260)
8
12
8
184
33 (out of 129)
8
9
3
13
13
students who entered a comment
students who expressed a clear dislike for WebWork
students who expressed a positive comment
students who expressed frustration due to
technical aspects of WebWork (related to
syntax for entering answers or hint button)
students who complained that WebWork problems
were too challenging
The negative comments in 104 didn’t have a clear common theme. 2 found WeBWork too
challenging, 2 expressed some philosophical opposition to homework in general, 2 found WebWork
unnecessary, 1 complained about the lack of clarity in the WeBWork questions, 1 gave no reasons.
The negative comments in 184 are basically all related to the perception that the WebWork questions
were too challenging and didn’t help to prepare for exams.
Comments:
104
-Doesn't prompt you that you pressed hint if you never mean't to press hint. the position of the hint
is very misleading and sometimes it is pressed instead of submit resulting in a deduction.
-For #13, perhaps a combination of WeBWork, written assignments, *and* quizzes.
-For the most part, the webwork was very useful in helping me learn the material. However, the
syntax required for submitting the answers including the number of figures required (but were not
specified) made completing the webwork rather frustrating.
-Great system for great practice
-half of the questions make no sense. especially when there are spelling and grammar mistakes.
-hard to type in at times
-I don't think the webwork is necessary. At all.
-I feel that some of the webwork problems are a bit too challenging for me to handle. Along with –
having 2 problem sets due every week, while working on other course assignments. As a first
year, I find that a bit tooo much to handle. Either tune down webwork's difficulty, or take out
webwork/hand in problems due every week.
-I feel that Webwork is often too challenging and that when one gets the wrong answer, it should
give more indication of where we went wrong than just telling us it's incorrect.
-I feel the webwork due on Sat was not fair. When there is a midterm or final webwork should
probably be omitted that week. Webwork should have a regular due date (ie every wednesday) or
at least else an email reminder should be sent out if a due date is changed.
-I felt that the Webwork was far too difficult compared to the level of questions on the hand-in
assignments and the exams. As a result, I felt the webwork was useless in preparing me for the
exams because the difficulty of the questions usually meant that I would struggle to complete
them myself and had to ask others/look online for help even though I consider myself to be quite
competent at math. I recommend getting rid of Webwork assignments entirely as they really do
little to help solidify course concepts due to their unfair difficulty
-I found that the questions could be rather vague towards the desired outcome. Part of this comes
from unclear language. Another source of conflict arise from the use of technical terms which are
not always consistently used across lectures, tutorials and assignments.
-I prefer having webwork assignment that are OPTIONAL. It should be our responsibility to learn
math. For those with strong calculus background, webwork do not help them at all. They much
rather use the time spent on webwork on something else.
-I very much enjoyed having webwork assignments to do because they created a safe
environment (unlimited tries) in which I could practice questions at my own pace yet still be able to
get uimmediate feedback and be motivated by a reasonable deadline.
-If there are regular class quiz, make the quiz percent on final little. Do not influence the mark
much.
-If we are paying for the course to learn about math, homework deprives us of the opportunity to
learn in our own ways, I strongly disagree in having homework a requirement in any course, and
should always be suggested. People who go to university want to succeed, so they will surely do
what they think is right.
-It's helpful
-I've found the Webwork an excellent means to practice Mathematics. This may sound strange but
somehow the feeling of getting a correct answer on Webwork is more exciting than getting a
textbook question or written homework question correct. This feeling then seems to drive me on to
the next question. I would recommend addition Webwork questions for practice for the final exam
(but the scores for these shouldn't go towards the course grade).
-make it limited tries
-Many of the answers to WebWorks questions require the use of a calculator WHICH WE DO
NOT HAVE ACCESS TO during exams!
-Many of the higher level problem solving questions were extremely challenging and did not come
up in midterms or directly cover the learning objectives, so they were not useful for studying.
No homework assignments, just a list of suggested homework and in-class quizzes (in addition to
regular midterm exams).
-no more webwork!
-Only reason I selected WebWork b/c can more consistantly get 100% then on hand-in homework
-Only WeBWork assignments.
-Only written hand-in assignments, that are returned a week later (possibly only part of them
graded).
-Some questions on WebWork are useful and help in understanding concepts. But a lot of the
problems were harder than we were expected to know. Almost everything on WebWork required a
calculator while on the exams, we are not allowed one.
-Some WebWork assignments were much harder than the other I wish they send out a reminder
e-mail when its due because we sometime didn't know its due soon because Prof changes the
due date frequently.
-Some weeks web is too hard, some is esay. Difficulty through the weekly is not the same
-Sometimes WeBWork doesn't accept my format of answers, even though my friends have used
the same methods as me and have tried to help me figure out my problems. Some of my friends
have had this issue as well and they would have to restart their computers, but that still didn't work
for me
-Sometimes, some questions have typos and thus, the answer I would enter would be incorrect a
couple of times. As well, some of the questions aren't very clear or ambiguous and thus, hard to
solve. But overall, good tool to use to practice questions as I get an immediate response.
-thank you
-The input is sometimes complicated.
-The input method for WebWorks is very inefficient due to our medium of input (keyboard). It
would be beneficial if webwork had an "Insert Mathematical symbol" for root signs. Also, the
variable required in a lot of the answers is ambiguous. The questions should state, whether the
answer should be a numerical value or a function of a variable, and then state what variable need
to be included.
-the questions are hard and no help with the exam
-The questions arranged are really good and thoroughly test the technique required for the
knowledge. I just hope to get more specific solutions for the questions. I even don't know where to
check the answers.
-The webwork questions were very different from those on the midterms and homework
assignments, but they did still address the right learning goals.
-The webworks are good practice problems, but sometimes the problem asks for an exact answer
which causes the webworks to be more difficult than planned.
-There were some webwork assignments that were so difficult and far from what we were learning
in class that week that I needed to spend hours in the learning centre just to solve some of the
problems and not even be able to complete the entire thing. This took time away from the material
that we were actually learning since I was so busy trying to frantically finish the webwork to the
point where i was so frustrated I didn't really care about HOW i got the answer i just needed to
finish it. I would have prefered to have relevant material to what we were learning in class
because it would help reinforce the ideas and allow for practice. By the time i was done webwork,
I didnt have the time or energy to do the suggested problems and fell behind. All in all webwork
was a nuisance.
-They are really hard, and its really frustrating. I think it is a bit too much to ask for, considering
there's also assignments every week and students don't only have one course. Therefore the load
is really overwhelming
-This was captured, but I would like to point it out again. The syntax made it really difficult to stay
motivated to finish the WebWorK. Calculus is also unmotivating enough for a lot of students (I
know, because I am one of them). So WW just makes it a lot worse. .. And a lot more frustrating.
-Too difficult
-Tough questions sometimes but can be exciting to solve. Not recommended when cannot think
clearly.
-WeBWork assignments are rather tedious, and do not provide insight on one to expect on tests.
Hand-in assignments are much preferred.
-WeBWork is emotionally frustrating where your answer is correct, but it not accepted due to
formatting or, as previously mentioned, syntax. Please discard it or use it for extra practice.
-WebWork is incredibily difficult but in some way, it helped me studying for math.
-Webwork is too time-consuming!!
-Webwork should accept alternate versions of the same answer, ie) "The answer is equivalent to
this" If the answer is the same, why is it incorrect?
184
-As the Webwork problems were often extremely difficult, they made me feel discouraged
about Math. After spending 5+ hours on webwork each week and only getting to attempt about
75% of the questions, I did not feel motivated to go try to work through other problems from the
textbook. However when I realized that the Webwork questions are very dissimilar from those
which we are expected to solve for tests I ended up spending less time on Webwork and more
time doing suggested problems, giving me a low mark on my Webwork.
-course was very well laid out; i expect to obtain an A in the course.
-Detailed solutions to webwork would be helpful even after its completion, to help review for the
final exam.
-Even though it is pretty hard, it is such a good practice.
-Felt it was pretty useless, didn't facilitate learning.
-For future students, please make webwork questions more relevant to the midterms and
finals. To many students, webwork is a waste of time due to the unncessary difficulty that does
not prepare us for midterms or finals , only making us stressed to complete these irrelevant
assignments. Even professors admit that these questions are of difficulty such that it would not
be on a midterm or final. Throughout this couse, webwork has NOT helped me prepare for any
exams, quizzes, or assignments. It only took my own time away from studying better for the
midterms. On average, many students needed three hours to complete a week of webwork.
-For the most part the questions were fine, but I found that a few of them were almost
unsolveable without extensive background knowledge in an unrelated concept.
-Have fewer questions but questions that would be similar to the final or midterm.
-I feel like the webwork didn't always correspond to what we learnt in class. Some examples
were helpful, but many of them seemed at a much harder level than our textbook or class
notes, so it was extremely difficult and frustrating for me to solve them
-I feel like there are quite a few questions on each weeks webwork which are too hard to be
relevant to the course. Some of the questions take a LONG time to solve as well, and
considering I am averaging about 95% in this course, I shouldn't be having to take 4 hours to
do the webworks, which is about the average time it takes for me to do.
-I hate webwork
-I quite liked WeBWork in general =)
-I really like the web work assignment method. I would suggest that the professor should give
us some tips for solving some of the potentially harder webwork questions. Also, the hint button
can be clicked accidentally very easily, I would suggest that the "are you sure" window should
pop up whenever the hint button is. This way, the chance of accidentally clicked hint button can
be reduced. I would not suggest any more quizzes during lecture since there are already in
class quizzes during the workshops.
-I strongely suggest not incorporating the webwork into the homework program but the written
hand-in assanments only.
-I think if we are assigned WeBWork there is no need for hand-in assignments, vice versus. I
feel the in-class quizzes are very beneficial though.
-I think the Hand-ins are worth a little too much due to the TA marking. Sometimes there could
be little mistakes but the TA just mark the whole thing wrong all the time.
-If webwork was to be used again, i think that it should be due on fridays rather than
wednesdays because i often found that we had not learned all the required material to
complete the problems by wednesday.
-It is a really great system to learn and check my knowledge about the course.
-IT SUCKS. not related to the course material and way harder than anything we are expected
to know at this point.
-limit the amount of tries given
-make webworks due on wednesday at midnight not 8 am!!
-Many webworks questions are really challenging and students were not given a similar
question previously in class. The required input answer to the question is often misleading.
-No
-Overall I think WebWork was useful in preparing me for tests, but I found that I was spending
a longer time on it than I had hoped. This was due to the many questions asked, with some of
them being repetitive (but with different numbers). I was also very frustrated by the fact that
sometimes, answers were specific to significant figures, when not specified.
-Some questions contained extremely long answers that took forever to type out and made it
difficult to check for errors: found these types of questions were better left for written
assignments, not online assignments with all the brackets required. The "show hint" button
kept revealing itself after multiple attempts at the problem, which I felt was unfair because I
knew for a fact I had not clicked on it.
-The WeBWork hints are not very helpful. WeBWork should give a more detailed explanation to
why the entered work was wrong, as opposed to just stating that the input was wrong.
-The WeBWork questions are sometimes helpful but some are really hard.
-There may be a few questions that always could show up on an exam, but don't, and are not
totally necessary because the majority of the students in the class cannot work them out
without help. These are the questions that make everybody hate Webwork.
-Way too difficult and time consuming for it's worth.
-Webwork is a good addition to this math course.
-Webwork questions should be easier. They tend to be extremely hard, and therefore dont help
the learning process that much.
-Webwork was definitely an asset as opposed to an annoying homework assignment.
-Webwork, for someone who is struggling in the class, took an excessive amount of time to do
if you wanted to get everything right. I don't really think it was useful to be spending 4 or 5
hours on one assignment alone. Which is about how long they would usually take.