Teachers, why online homework?

[Feodalherren]

I realize that there is significantly less grading to do for professors with online homework. The program does everything for you. However, from a student's perspective I absolutely abhor it. It makes me want to go postal when I have to re-do questions because of round of error (sometimes the program doesn't carry as many sig figs as my calculator). Everyone I've spoken to in engineering and science hates online homework. Not only that, in addition to paying hundreds of dollars for the textbooks we as students now have to pay pretty much an extra $ 50 to sign up at random homework websites to get access. This is absolutely despicable.

I thought professors had their TA's do all the grading anyway. So what exactly is the deal with online homework? Some things are better left to be done with pen and paper.

 

[leroyjenkens]

Yeah, I had the same problem with one of my chemistry classes. We had to buy this program for online homework, and the system for putting in answers was a waste of time to learn, and if it wasn't exact, like an accidental 2 spaces between elements instead of 1, it would tell you it's the wrong answer, and you don't know why it's wrong. So you could get wrong answers for something that would have been graded as correct by a human eye. So if the program allows you to change it only once or twice, you have to waste your time finding out why the program thought the answer was wrong, and maybe even end up getting it wrong because you make some other mistake that has nothing to do with chemistry.
So yeah, I agree, it's dumb.

 

[Feodalherren]

Chemistry online homework should be banned in the US constitution. It just doesn't work. At all. Just learning the programs takes hours upon hours and once you've learned it the subject changes and you have to re-learn again. Next semester you take a different professor and it's a different system. It's a NIGHTMARE. This is what I'm paying tuition for?! On top of that just inserting answers takes up hours upon hours of valuable study time. Drawing carbon chains on some online program... Yeah right.

I understand that professors want to do their teaching and don't really care at all about teaching us their subjects but since I'm the reason you have a job you can show me some appreciation.