Math Department Instructor Resources

Resources for faculty teaching math courses

How to join the Mathematics Department Internal Communication (“the MIC”) site

Hi everyone,

Here you will find instructions for joining the Mathematics Department Internal Communication site. Note that there are two different sites, one for adjunct faculty and one for full-time faculty (instructions for both are below). These sites are private and intended for Math Department Faculty and Staff only. You will need access to your City Tech email to complete these steps.

Step 1. Create an account on the OpenLab.

If you have a City Tech email, you can claim your account by visiting https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/ and clicking “Sign Up” (located in the orange box near the top of the screen). For more detailed instructions, check out the help page Signing Up On the OpenLab.

Step 2. Accept the invitation to join the “Math Faculty” or “Math Adjunct Faculty” (Math Dept Internal Communications) site.

You should have received an email with subject line:
[City Tech OpenLab] You have an invitation to the group: “Math Faculty”
or
[City Tech OpenLab] You have an invitation to the group: “Math Adjunct Faculty”.
Click the link in the email to join the site.

If you did not receive an invitation, please let the department (mathematics@citytech.cuny.edu) know and we will re-send it.

Congratulations and welcome! You are now be a member of the Mathematics Department Internal Communication site / Mathematics Department Adjunct Internal Communication site.

WeBWorK at City Tech (Fall 2021)

This semester WeBWorK will be hosted in-house at City Tech (“traditional WeBWorK”) rather than by an external provider as in Spring 2021 (Rederly).

WeBWorK Faculty Resources

WeBWorK has been at City Tech since 2011, and the faculty-oriented WeBWorK Working Group has many resources including step-by-step tutorials and video walkthroughs for common tasks, whether you are just getting started or already an expert user.

Some of the resources you will find:

Visit City Tech’s WeBWorK Working Group site

Rederly questions and feature requests Spring 2021

We are collecting questions for the Rederly team and providing answers here – this page will be updated over time.

Question: How can I assign only some of the problems in a problem set?

Answer: There are several ways to do this, depending on your needs:

Option 1: Delete the problems you don’t want (note: the remaining problems will be renumbered).

Option 2: Mark the problems as “Optional” and set the point value to 0. The problems will still appear to students, but they will be italicized and will not count count (if you set a positive point value for an optional problem, the points will be counted as extra credit). You can set problems to Optional and adjust their point value in the “Problem Settings” area (see this tutorial on creating problem sets).

Feature Requests: These are things our faculty would like to be able to do on the Rederly system.

  1. Ability to see all the problems in an assignment rendered on a single screen. NOTE: You can view problems one at a time in the Problem Preview Pane or within the Problem Browser.
  2. Fake student account (or “student view” option), so we can see what the site looks like from the student perspective.
    Rederly 1/28: We are adding in a student view for all profs in our next release (likely next week)
  3. When browsing the OPL, it would be great to be able to select multiple problems and add them to a homework set all at once.
    Rederly 1/28: We have some ideas for this in future releases.
  4. Ability to make past homework sets temporarily invisible, e.g. hide access to past homework sets during exams. NOTE: Currently past homework sets are available throughout the remainder of the semester.
    Rederly 1/28: We have a preliminary idea on how to hide / unhide for this purpose and will incorporate in the next couple releases.
  5. Allow the “Show me another” option even before students have completed a problem successfully (e.g. after one or more incorrect attempts).  NOTE: Show me another is currently enabled after a student successfully completes a problem.
    Rederly 1/28: This will likely be further in the future as we want to eventually add a lot of configurability around show me another that will take a lot of time.

Getting started on the OpenLab with Model Courses (Workshop 1/26/21)

Getting started on the OpenLab with Model Courses
Tuesday, January 26th, 1:45pm-2:30pm
For faculty who want to use the OpenLab as their primary teaching platform, Model Courses provide an easy way to get started.  Designed and customized for select courses with built-in resources for distance learning.

For step-by-step instructions on cloning and customizing a model course for use in your section, take a look at the online module “Math Model Courses.”

Zoom Video of Workshop (the password for this zoom video has been distributed separately by the Math Dept):

Agenda/Outline

  • Getting Started on the OpenLab
    • OpenLab usage (have you used the OL before?)
    • Resource: Teaching with the OpenLab
    • This is not the “how-to”, it’s about what it is and how to use it (there is a module for step-by-step)
  • Drop-in live help from the OpenLab Community Team Open Hours (scheduled throughout the semester)
    • Open Hours this week:
      • 1/29 (Friday), 10:00am-11:00am
      • 1/31 (Sunday), 4:00pm-5:00pm

Sample student announcement for Rederly

Dear math faculty,

If you are using WeBWorK on Rederly this semester, you will need to get your students up and running on the platform. Instructions (for you) for setting up your course and finding the “enrollment link” can be found here . The sample announcement below is intended for you to provide to your students (you could send it by email, or post it on Blackboard or OpenLab) – feel free to modify it in any way you wish.

Sample student announcement

Subject: Getting started with WeBWorK on Rederly

Dear students,

This class uses the online homework system WeBWorK, hosted at Rederly.  In order to complete your homework, you will need to create an account on Rederly and then join this particular course.  Instructions are below.

1. Create an account on Rederly

NOTE: You will need access to your City Tech email (ending in “@mail.citytech.cuny.edu”) in order to register for Rederly. If you do not have a citytech email, please notify your instructor.

To get started, create an account at app.rederly.com using your citytech email. Select “Register” and enter your name, citytech email and a password of your choice.  The system will generate a confirmation email – complete your registration by clicking the link in the email.

2.  Join this course

Once you have an account, you can join this course by clicking this “enrollment link”:

[INSTRUCTOR: PASTE YOUR ENROLLMENT LINK FROM REDERLY HERE] 

Help and Support

For more help on using WeBWorK on Rederly, feel free to take a look at their tutorials and FAQ pages.

That’s it!  Don’t hesitate to reach out to your instructor if you have any questions.

January 2021 Workshops

We are planning a number of workshops next week to update you on the instructional tools and resources.  See workshop day/time and description below.  Please use the Google survey link to indicate if you will attend the workshop.  Zoom meeting invitations will be sent out on the day of the workshop.

Mathematics Faculty Development Workshops, January 2021

Introduction to WeBWorK on Rederly
Monday, January 25th, 11am-12pm
This workshop will introduce faculty to City Tech’s new WeBWorK provider, rederly.com.  Topics will include: claiming your account, creating your course, managing enrollment, assigning homework, and more.
More information: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mathinstructorresources/2021/01/18/getting-started-with-webwork-on-rederly/

Using Math Department OERs  in your class (Course Hubs and Video Resources)
Tuesday, January 26th, 1pm-1:45pm

This workshop will introduce faculty to a variety of resources, including Course Hubs and Video Resource Guides,  developed by the department to help support your teaching.  These resources are freely available and custom built to align with City Tech’s curriculum.
More information: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mathinstructorresources/2020/08/08/math-dept-course-hubs/

Getting started on the OpenLab with Model Courses. 
Tuesday, January 26th, 1:45pm-2:30pm
For faculty who want to use the OpenLab as their primary teaching platform, Model Courses provide an easy way to get started.  Designed and customized for select courses with built-in resources for distance learning.More information: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/mathinstructorresources/2020/08/08/module-getting-started-on-the-openlab-with-math-model-courses/

Working session
Tuesday, January 26th,, 2:30pm-3:00pm,
Stick around after our workshops today for individual help, discussion, and support.  Set up your Rederly account, get answers to your OpenLab questions, or start planning course activities!

« Older posts