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.  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 spring 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.  Those are the absolute last days you can get them done.

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


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 exercise 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.



I have MC set up this way to prevent just 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 on.  You generally have several

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

track of due dates.  They're pretty much 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 the MC will be a lot easier.
Remember, not getting EOC exercises correct doesn't cost you any
points toward your final grade.



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

the less you actually learn the material.  You didn't really 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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