What’s New in MasteringDecember 2012

In our December release, we are making it easier for instructors to create and copy assignments. Additionally, improvements to essay grading, gradebook data, and other new features enhance instructors’ experience with Mastering.

Here’s what you can look forward to with the December release:

Improvements for Item Library and Assignments Page

Indicator for New Content

Instructors will now be able to see which items in the item library have been recently added, so that they can evaluate them for possible inclusion in their courses. A new content indicator is displayed for one year.

Item Score Diagnostic Displays on the Assignment Overview

The Item Score Diagnostic is now also displayed on the Assignment Overview page. This means that instructors can quickly see those items on an assignment that students struggled with the most.

Copying Assignments to Multiple Courses

For instructors who create assignments for more than one course with the same content during a semester, there is now aquick and easy way to create an assignment once and then add it to the other courses.

From the Assignment Overview:

From assignment menu:

The system lists the course(s) into which the assignment can be copied.

Features

  • Provides assignment date information at the top of the screen to help instructors know if they should be copying the assignment at this time.
  • Titles and dates are automatically entered, but can be edited.
  • Error messaging avoids potential mistakes.

  • Confirmation messaging indicates that the assignments have been added to the other courses.

Adaptive Learning

Adaptive Study Modules, powered by amplifire™

New Adaptive Study Modules help students acquire, retain, and recall information faster and more effectively than ever before. Based on brain science research, Adaptive Study Modulescustomize the learning experience for each student to maximize study time and ensure long-term retention of the material.

Each study module first assesses the student's knowledge of a concept and his or her level of confidence in that knowledge. As the student progresses through the modules, the application adjusts what the student sees according to strengths and weaknesses until all content is mastered. Completed modules are available for review or rework.

Adaptive Study Modulesare currently available for three Masteringtitles, starting in January, 2013:

  • Marieb/Hoehn, Human Anatomy and Physiology, 9e
  • Martini/Nath, Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology, 9e
  • Tortora/Funk/Case, Microbiology: An Introduction, 11e.

Students click on the Adaptive Student Modules link to open the learning modules for your course:

Student view of the Adaptive Study Moduleshome page:

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Sample question:

A link to the Adaptive Study Modulesreporting module is provided at the Mastering Gradebook:

File Upload Improvements

Accessibility

Low-vision users can use a screen reader to launch and navigate through the File Upload Service modal window. The user sets focus in the window and navigates to the different sections. This change does not impact the experience of users not using a screen reader.

Course Copy Support

Uploaded files and videos will now copy to the new course when instructors copy the course containing them, streamlining course creation when using the course copy feature.

Essays

Improved Navigation

Assignments with essays are indicated on the Assignments view and when choosing content for a new assignment.

Essay assignments are now displayed in the top row of the Gradebook, making it easy to jump tothe Essays for Assignment landing page and the Essays for Course landing page.

Easy way back from the Essay Grading page to the Essays for Assignment page:

Grading and Regrading Essays

From the Essays for Assignment and the Essays for Course landing pages, instructors can link to essays for the course or for the assignment.

Both graded and ungraded essays are available:

Essays can now be regraded:

Gradebook Improvements

When an instructor creates an assignment with availability and due dates, the assignment will be shown in the gradebook along with the total number of points before students enroll in the course.

This enables instructors to build their course and align the total points for their Mastering assignments with their syllabus.

New Mastering Disciplines

MasteringOceanography (

MasteringNutrition (

New Mastering Titles

The following table lists new titles that will go live or be in class test during the winter timeframe.

MasteringA&P / Stanfield, Principles of Human Physiology, 5e
Marieb, Anatomy & Physiology, 5e
Marieb, Human Anatomy, 7e (Class test)
Marieb, Human Anatomy & Physiology Laboratory Manual 10e Main, 11e Cat, 11e Pig (Class test)
MasteringAstronomy / Bennett, The Cosmic Perspective, 7e
MasteringBiology / Bauman, Microbiology with Diseases by Taxonomy, 4e (Class test)
Johnson, Human Biology: Concepts and Current Issues, 7e
Goodenough, Biology of Humans: Concepts, Applications, and Issues, 5e
Audesirk, Biology: Life on Earth with Physiology, 10e
Audesirk, Biology: Life on Earth, 10e
Freeman, Biological Science, 5e
Urry, Campbell Biology in Focus, 1e
Simon, Biology: The Core, 1e (Class test)
MasteringChemistry / Bruice, Organic Chemistry 7e (Class test)
Cooksy, Quantum Chemistry and Spectroscopy 1e (Class test)
Corwin, Introductory Chemistry: Concepts and Critical Thinking 7e
Frost/Deal, General, Organic, Biological Chemistry: An Integrated Approach
McMurry/Fay, General Chemistry: Atoms First 2e
Suchocki, Conceptual Chemistry 5e
Timberlake, Basic Chemistry 4e
Tro, Chemistry: A Molecular Approach 3e
MasteringEngineering / Douglas, Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering: A Guided Inquiry, 1e
Hibbeler, Mechanics of Materials, 9e (Class test)
Hambley, Electrical Engineering: Principles and Applications, 6e (Class test)
Hibbeler, Statics in SI Units, 13e (international) (Class test)
Hibbeler, Dynamics in SI Units, 13e (international) (Class test)
MasteringEnvironmentalScience / Wright/Boorse Environmental Science: Toward a Sustainable Future, 12e (Class test)
MasteringGeography / Marston, World Regions in Global Context 5e (Class test)
Hess / McKnight 's Physical Geography: A Cultural Landscape, 11e (Class test)
Rubenstein, The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography, 11e (Class test)
Rowntree, Globalization and Diversity, 4e (Class test)
MasteringNutrition / Blake, Nutrition: From Science to You, 2e (Class test)
Thompson, Nutrition: A Functional Approach, Canadian 3rd edition (Class test)
Thompson, The Science of Nutrition, 3e (Class test)
MasteringOceanography / Trujillo, Essentials of Oceanography, 11e (Class test)

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Mastering December 2012 Release