Here at COD, we have a wide variety of tools that are integrated into Blackboard to make them easier and more seamless to use in courses. However, while we have a lot of tools available, many faculty and staff might not know what they are, how to use them, or how to set them up. We’re aiming to change that!
In this post, we’ll be sharing information about WebAssign. WebAssign is an online homework application originally developed by North Carolina State University that is now integrated with Cengage.
Let’s learn more about what Web Assign can do and how you can use it in your courses.
What Is WebAssign?
WebAssign is a subsidiary of Cengage Learning. It’s an online tool for creating and assignment homework and assessments to students. After instructors send out an assignment, students enter their answers online, and WebAssign automatically grades the assignment and gives students instant feedback on their performance.
You can also use WebAssign to deliver secure online assessments and can draw on a large repository of pre-coded questions related to math and science.
Why Use WebAssign?
Whether or not WebAssign will be a useful tool for you will depend on what you’re teaching and the resources you’re using to teach it. WebAssign is predominantly used for math and science learning, so for those teaching in the humanities or the arts, it’s likely to be less useful. Because WebAssign is integrated with Cengage textbooks, you will also need to be using one of these in your courses already or looking to adopt them for WebAssign to make sense for you.
WebAssign offers these as benefits for use:
- Create, post, and review assignments 24/7
- Choose from a wide variety of question types
- All question types can be randomized
- Customizable assignments
- Sophisticated gradebook
- Secure testing environment
Essentially, if you’re already using Cengage products and you’re teaching in STEM, WebAssign can help you easily integrate assignments with existing publisher content. If not, WebAssign likely won’t be of much interest to you.
How to Get Started with WebAssign
Getting started with WebAssign will take some setup. Also, keep in mind that the fees associated with WebAssign are passed on to your students, so be mindful of that and ensure that students aren’t paying for unnecessary materials–just the textbooks and publisher content you plan to use through WebAssign itself.
WebAssign has put together a series of videos that will help you get started:
- How to Integrate Your WebAssign Course with Blackboard
- Best Practices for Using WebAssign
- WebAssign Smart Start Checklist
You can also find support for WebAssign on these pages:
If you need support or help with WebAssign, your best support option is on the WebAssign website itself (using customer support or the support documentation) or by contacting the WebAssign representative for the College. We can help with certain issues, but as this is an outside publisher-based tool that we don’t have access to, we can’t always assist you as we would with other kinds of classroom tech tools.