WebAssign
LMS software offering instant feedback, dedicated customer support, and a wide variety of pre-created content
- Category Vertical Industry Software
WebAssign is a learning management and web solution. It helps tutors to schedule courses, give assignments and track their student's performance. The technology, founded two decades ago by professors in the North Carolina State University physics department, has been the most preferred technology for STEM education. Over 1.5 million students in more than three thousand five hundred educational institutions utilize WebAssign each year. In 1977 after its establishment, 1997, it has delivered over five million questions to students. These questions are offered in the form of tests, practice problems, and homework.
The WebAssign has been praised for helping instructors create self-sufficient and confident students by providing the essential tools. It also helps them plan the courses following the different needs of their learners. On the other hand, learners also have easy access to quality content that is affordable and flexible. It is also convenient for instructors to assign homework to learners and auto-grade the assignment after submitting them. It also gives reliable feedback to students who miss the questions.
The technology, embraced in most secondary and higher education institutions, provides a wide variety of textbooks and is enhanced with original content carefully selected from the collaborating schools, open education resource community, and the learning experts. Its easy accessibility has made it widely used technology by faculties to enhance their teaching and learning practice. Many have described it as a versatile product that gives the instructor the chance to choose which questions they want. On the other hand, students can also practice questions with minimal supervision and access questions to integrate the different concepts. Additionally, WebAssign also has independent question banks plus other resources that can be used along with other textbooks. One can also get access to various free teaching materials developed by higher education systems and education experts. Its textbook collection contains more than 900 books that either publisher or discipline can borrow.
However, some instructors have complained that their students are facing difficulties when entering answers. They have stated that the technology lacks clarity of the needed formats and that it is difficult and time-consuming to enter math formulas in the boxes compared to other systems. Additionally, the system fails to provide logical reasons for wrong answers, and its menus and buttons are located in the wrong places.
Other instructors also disliked the system for crashing more often. They cited many working parts to web assign, and some don't work well with Mac OS. They also complained that it was not user-friendly software and can be tedious for students. Additionally, they criticized it for its cumbersome interface and randomly generating different problems for different learners to avoid cheating.
Pros
- It is a great way to communicate remotely, connect with colleagues and have fun at the same time.
- It helps tutors create self-sufficient and confident students by providing the essential tools needed.
- It also has customizable security features that help keep your data safe.
- WebAssign has independent question banks plus other resources that can be used along with other textbooks.
Cons
- Lack of notification, making it hard to keep up with the platform while managing your use with different messaging tools.
- The technology is also ineffective if there is no internet connectivity.
- Company
- Cengage Learning
- HQ Location
- Boston, MA