Quest Learning and Assessment
Quest Learning and Assessment is an online homework service maintained by the University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences. Instructors can compile homework from a large pool (60,000) of Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Physical Sciences and Computer Science problems, and assign this homework to their students, who can create accounts and join specific "classes", each with a unique 5 digit number. The numbers in each question are randomized based on each student's unique ID. After the due date, the answers are automatically posted, including a step-by-step solution.
Grading System
The homework questions operate on a "hit or miss" system. If a student gets an answer right, they are awarded points (usually 10). However, for each wrong answer, or "strike", the system removes roughly 0.7 points from the possible amount that can be earned. The system is even more harsh for multiple choice questions. If there are eight possible answers, the system will remove 2.5 points (1.25 negative, 1.25 possible) for every wrong answer. For example, if a student gets a multiple choice question with 8 possible answers wrong 3 times, but gets the answer the fourth try, the student only gets 2.5 points.
Integration of In-Class Assessments
In Fall 2008, the Quest system added on the ability for professors to link to the iClicker Audience Response System. This allowed for the student to find all their grades in one spot, as this was the only set of grades that was missing from this website earlier. There is a separate application that the professors use created by the Quest department, different from the default program used to poll the system. The student is required to simply go to the Quest website and enter in their iClicker ID, found on the back of the device. After this process is complete, the student is provided with a "Box Number" for each class the student is administered in, which allows the student to recognize if a response submitted during class has registered into the system.