Last week I made a post about using quizzes in MyLab. Today I will expand on that topic to include personalized homework.

In MyLab you can use the results of a quiz to load a personalized homework assignment. These are powerful tools, as they help students to determine which topics will require further study and then generates a homework assignment focused on those topics.

Creating Personalized Homework

I begin by making the quiz first. In my current algebra classes I select 5 problems that I think are the most important types. Next I create the homework assignment, and this is the point where you can tie the quiz and homework assignment together. On the screen where you name the new homework assignment, you can click on the box that will associate this homework assignment with the results of the quiz you have created. WARNING: MyLab will suggest using the same problems that are in the quiz, but I do not do that. Instead I create my own assignment with 15 problems: three problems for each objective in the quiz.

Check out this YouTube video I made about creating personalized homework: https://youtu.be/J4hdpHYdVWM

How It Works

The first quiz attempt loads the homework assignment. For each objective mastered on the quiz, the student receives “insta-credit” for the related homework problems. The only problems that remain are associated with quiz responses that were incorrect. So, students are able to invest their time with the topics where they need to improve. One thing to watch out for – if your quiz contains two or more problems with the same objective, the student must get both (all) of those problems correct on the quiz or they will all remain on the homework assignment.

I do allow my students to retake the quiz, but only the first attempt loads the personalized homework.

How I Use It

I started by using this approach for students to prepare for chapter exams and the final exam. For example, the final review quiz had 34 problems and the personalized homework had 136 problems (34 types x 4 problems). I felt those quizzes were too long, so I broke them down into one chapter quizzes. This approach worked well.

In all of my algebra classes, each section has a 5 problem “Reflect” quiz that feed the personalized homework assignment. I feel that they give students a great chance to self-assess and then self-remediate.

I highly recommend this hidden gem in MyLab. If you have a question, please leave a comment. If you’d like to see what mine look like, just let me know and I can get you a course ID to copy.

Each Monday I will blog about using MyLab in a math class. If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to cover just let me know. – George