Student Mastering questions and setup with Carmen

[Zellmer, Robert]

I've received a couple of questions about Mastering and how it's set up with
Carmen and grading.

Syncing MC:

I do not sync MC and Carmen throughout the semester.  That means you
won't see the due dates in Carmen or your scores in Carmen as the
semester progresses.  You will be able to see your MC scores in Mastering.
There are often problems which arise when MC and Carmen are set up to
sync throughout the semester.  Some of the other lectures who set it up to
sync have been experiencing problems.  I'm trying to avoid those problems
and the questions which arise.  The scores will be synced at the end of the
semester.

Certainly, syncing it with Carmen would show the due dates in Carmen.
However, one thing we all need to learn is how to schedule our lives when
things are not all in one nice place for us.  That's not the real reason why
I've done it this way.  Again, it's because of problems which sometimes arise,
plus, it makes the Carmen gradebook huge and almost unmanageable.

How about due dates?

After having said this, for our class it's not that difficult to remember the
due dates in Mastering.  It's pretty much every Friday and Saturday.
When it wouldn't be (maybe near the end of the semester or the week
before fall break) I'll let you know.  They also generally will be opened
a week ahead of the due dates.  So, you will have access to them essentially
for a week before the FINAL due date.  I'm not forcing you to do homework
on Fri and Sat, although you should be doing work every day on every
course.  The due dates are the absolute last days you can get them done.

During the semester you should check Mastering, Carmen and e-mail pretty
much daily for due dates, announcements, helpful e-mails, etc.
You can see your scores in Mastering.


How is the MC graded?



You lose 2% for a hint and 3% for a wrong answer.  The Tutorial sets

have hints and feedback.  Some of the Homework Review sets problems

have hints and feedback but not most of them.  This latter set has problems

similar to the EOC exercises (EOCE) and some multiple-choice questions

from MC test bank.  Asking for a hint here or there or getting a question

wrong now and then won't result in you losing many points.  If you do it

often it could start to add up.



If it's a multiple-choice question you get no credit if you guess enough times

to have only 1 answer left to guess.  In other words, if there are 5 answer

choices and you guess 4 times you get no credit.  For fill-in-the blank

questions you have 6 attempts before you get no credit.



I have MC set up this way to prevent blind guessing.  Guessing and

getting the correct answer doesn't do you much, if any, good in learning

the material.



There's no late credit or do-overs later in the semester.  You generally

have several days, usually a week, to get them done.  It's pretty easy for

you to keep track of due dates.  Again, they're generally every Friday and

Saturday.  When they won't be I'll let everyone know.


Generally, the average in Mastering is around 75%.  Part of that is due
to the fact when someone signs up and then drops the course and
doesn't do any work, they're still counted in that average.  If someone
doesn't do one it is a zero and is included in the average.  Do as much
of it you can on your own w/o asking for hints or getting help.  If you do
it after doing some end-of-chapter exercises (EOCE) the MC will be a lot
easier.  Remember, not getting EOCEs correct doesn't cost you any
points toward your final grade.  You should be doing them during the
week right after lecture (after reading the material in the book).



You really need to try to do these on your own.  The more help you get

the less you learn the material.  You didn't learn how to ride a bicycle

simply by watching someone else do it.  You had to try for yourself and

probably more than once.



I hope this answered some of your questions.



Dr. Zellmer
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