When I was a student in college (very recently), my college had implemented a program called WebWork to give immediate feedback on homework problems. Other systems like MyMathLab exist as well.
Distinguishing features of such a system tend to include:
- Online
- Provides immediate feedback on whether or not an answer is right or wrong
- Is able to create a similar problem with different numbers for different students (preventing copying answers)
- Can provide multiple attempts to try the same problem or variants of the same problem
- Can create clear cut deadlines for assignments
- Does not generally give a lot of "process" feedback so much as "answer" feedback.
- Can require a number, drop down, multiple choice answer (large variety)
- Hopefully customizable (WebWork is, don't know about MyMathLab). (e.g. in Webwork you can use flash applets and have students draw a graph on the screen)
I am contemplating trying to implement WebWork at my high school once we go one-to-one with devices. However, I want to foresee any possible pitfalls AND have research to back up my proposal.
Are you currently aware of any educational research supporting systems such as this in the math learning environment? Do you have experience with using these systems as an educator? If so, how well do you see a system such as this working in a high school environment, where it is also difficult to provide timely feedback to students? What pitfalls have you found with this approach, and what benefits?