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General
What special software, platforms, or other plug-ins does someone need to use Eduspace?
What is the price for students?
If students purchase used textbooks (or purchase the text separately via the internet), how can they get the Eduspace Getting Started Guide for Students with the enrollment passkey?
What are the product's main features?
For how long will my course be active after I register?
How long should my username and password be?
What do I do if my school or institution is not an option on the registration page?
Registration and Enrollment
How do I register for Eduspace?
What if I'm using Eduspace for a multi-semester course?
What about switching sections/instructors?
System Requirements/Technical Questions
Whom should I contact if I need Technical Support?
What are the system requirements for Eduspace?
Can I use Eduspace with AOL?
Can I use Eduspace with Windows 98 or Windows NT?
If I'm using Eduspace and click my browser's Refresh button, I see the My Eduspace page instead of what I was viewing when I clicked Refresh. What happened?
Once logged in, if you go to a non-HMCo site (via Eduspace), i.e., New York Times, can you get back into Eduspace without logging in again?
Completing Course Work in Eduspace
When I'm completing a test or assignment, what's the difference between the Save and Submit buttons?
Why do I only have a Submit button and not a Save button when working on a test or assignment?
When a test/quiz/exercise is set so I can take the assignment multiple times, how are the grades recorded?
When I am taking a timed test, will I receive any warnings that time is running out?
Can I print the tests/quizzes/homework exercises?
Communication Features
In discussion boards, do users get notified of new posts or do they have to go to each board and check?
How can I see all of the chapters and sections of course material?
General
Q: What special software, platforms, or other plug-ins does someone need to use Eduspace?
A: All someone needs to use Eduspace is a web browser and an Internet connection (see system requirements information below for more details). To use the algorithmic exercises, chat or virtual classroom, you need to have the Sun Java Run-time Environment (also see the system requirements). Many browsers have this already installed, but yours doesn't you can obtain it from www.java.com. When using the tutorials included in some of the Math courses, you'll need the Flash player (go to www.macromedia.com/downloads if you don't already have it installed in your browser). No other plug-ins, special programs or platforms are required.
Q: If students purchase used textbooks (or purchase the text separately via the internet), how can they get the Eduspace Getting Started Guide for Students with the enrollment passkey?
A: Students can purchase standalone Eduspace passkeys either at their campus bookstore or by calling Houghton Mifflin Customer Service (not Technical Support) at 877-859-7241. The product ISBN is 0618-52634X. The cost is approximately $25.
Q: What are the product's main features?
A: The three major features of Eduspace are:
- POWERFUL Classroom Management System which allows instructors to manage part or all of their course online.
- INTERACTIVE Communication Tools which allows instructors and students to communicate in real-time.
- CUSTOMIZABLE Text-specific Courses and Content provided by HMCo that the instructor can assign as-is, modify, or add their own content to.
Assignment Features:
- Ability to upload lecture outlines, lessons, presentations, and more
- Ability to assign the following question types: true/false, multiple choice, multiple answer (more than one answer correct), fill-in-the-blank, matching, ordering, and essay
- Link to websites related to the course
- Create tests (quizzes, homework, practice exercises, etc.) from HMCo-provided questions, by creating new questions, or both
- Enhance questions with rejoinders, graphics and other media, links to other websites, and math and science notation
- Set options per test: time limit, amount of feedback student receives, whether students can skip questions, and number of times students may take tests
- Create dynamic tests of randomly selected questions from question pools or other tests
- Scramble the order of questions in a test
- Create assignments that allow students to respond with uploaded files, such as term papers in Microsoft Word format, spreadsheets, graphics, etc.
- Ability for instructor to hide questions within an HM exercise
- Ability for instructor to modify points awarded in HM exercises
- Ability for instructor to control access to hints/check answer in HM exercises
- HM Content Library - ability for instructor to browse all Web Services exercises and activities related to the course and add multiple items at once to the course
- Instructor can create their own exercise by using questions from existing exercises and/or creating their own non-algorithmic questions
- Capture student time spent on select algorithmic exercises ("time on task")
Course Setup Features:
- Easily post course information and policies, such as course syllabus, office hours, grading policies, and staff information.
- Information can be directly entered in Eduspace or uploaded from a file such as Microsoft Word document or a link to another website.
Gradebook features: - View grades for an entire course or a specific student
- View detailed student work for an assignment
- Automatic grading of all tests taken by students with results automatically stored in gradebook
- Modify test grades, enter grades work, including work not completed in Eduspace
- Give feedback to students when grading, additionally entering comments and file attachments
- Control which grades are published to students
- Get statistics per student or for an entire class on assignments
- Weighting options for calculating end of term grades
- Sorting and filtering options, including custom-defined categories
- Import from and export to spreadsheet applications and text files
- Students can view grades and the full content of all assignments they've completed in Eduspace, a portfolio of their work
- Gradebook only contains columns for work done by students (algorithmic Math courses and Zumdahl Chemistry courses only)
Communication and Collaboration Features:
- Announcements: Instructors can post class announcements online for easy viewing by students.
- Calendars and Task Lists: Instructor can add events to a class calendar to make students aware of rescheduled classes, etc. Students and instructors also have their own calendars and task list for personal items.
- Email: Instructors and students can easily email specific students, groups of students or all students within a course.
- Discussion Boards: Instructors can use discussion boards to allow online discussion by students on a variety of topics, such as peer review of papers, reactions to a reading, or follow-ups to in-class discussions. Instructors can get statistics on the number of posting each student has made.
- Chat: The chat feature allows instructors to chat in real-time with one or more students, for example, conducting office hours online. Chats can be recorded and archived for later instructor or student review.
- Virtual Classroom: The Virtual Classroom allows the instructor to combine chat, group web browsing, group browsing of course material and a whiteboard (includes mathematical symbol palette) to conduct real-time presentations, reviews, question and answers sessions, etc., with students. Instructors can split students in Virtual Classroom sessions into break-out discussions for smaller group work and record and archive a session for later instructor or student review.
Online Registration:
- Allows instructors to create courses and students to register electronically without waiting for assistance from customer support
- Links to current news stories and HMCo web resources for specific course areas.
- Direct link from courses in Eduspace to online tutoring by SMARTHINKING.
- Time-limited instructor course enrollment for sampling/piloting Eduspace courses (full and demo courses).
- Self-enrollment for TAs and additional instructors in existing courses.
- Ability for instructors to enroll and get a copy of another instructor's customized course rather than the standard HM course (ex., for use in different sections of the same course).
Q: For how long will my course be active after I register?
A: The instructor determines the length of the course, so students' accounts stay active for as long as the instructor decides.
Q: How long should my username and password be?
A: Instructor/student usernames and passwords should be no longer than fifteen characters. If a username or password of more than fifteen characters is entered during the registration process, Eduspace will truncate the entry.
Q: What do I do if my school or institution is not an option on the registration page?
A: Instructors can select a choice of "Other/Not Listed" for the state, city, and/or institution if they cannot find their information on the lists. (Note: If instructors choose "Other/Not Listed" from the state list, then they can only choose "Other/Not Listed" for city and institution (only thing in those lists), and if instructors choose "Other/Not Listed" from the city list, then they can only choose that for institution.
Registration and Enrollment
Q: How do I register for Eduspace?
A: See page 7 of the Eduspace Getting Started Guide for Students. Students login using their Eduspace booklets that each should have received shrink-wrapped with their new textbooks. (The same procedure should be followed by students who purchased their Eduspace booklets separately.) NOTE: Students should not throw out the Getting Started Guide for Students, as the back inside cover contains a unique passkey required for registration. Students must also have a course code from their instructors, or they will be unable to register. After students review the system requirements on page 5 of the Getting Started Guide and note the technical support phone # on page 6, they are ready to begin the registration process
Q: What if I'm using Eduspace for a multi-semester course?
A: If a user is currently enrolled as a student in a course, (s)he can enroll in another course based on the same title without a passkey. This benefits students who are taking multi-semester courses with different instructors, who change instructors for a course during drop/add period, or who fail a course and re-take it the next semester.
For example:
Jane Doe enrolls in the first semester of Introductory and Intermediate Algebra with Professor X and is prompted to enter a passkey, which she does using the one she got in her Eduspace Getting Started Guide for Students (0-618-526315; 0-618-52634X, stand-alone). For the second semester of this course, she changes to Professor Y. When she goes to enroll in his course, because the course is based on the same title as one in which she is already enrolled, she is not prompted to enter a passkey. (Note that this works for multi-semester courses, drop-add if the student switches to another professor's section of a course, and (most of the time) if the student fails a course and needs to retake it.
Jane Doe is enrolled in an Eduspace course for Introductory and Intermediate Algebra. She needs to enroll in an Eduspace for Boyes, Economics 6/e. When she goes to enroll in that Eduspace course, she will be prompted to enter a student passkey.
Q: What about switching sections/instructors?
A: See answer above; the same enrollment options apply for switching sections.
System Requirements/Technical Questions
Q: Whom should I contact if I need Technical Support?
A: 24-hour technical support is available for Eduspace by calling 1-800-732-3223.
Q: What are the system requirements for Eduspace?
A: Please see the Technical Support page.
Q: Can I use Eduspace with AOL?
A: Although Houghton Mifflin has not certified the use of Eduspace with the AOL browser and therefore cannot say that we officially support it, Houghton Mifflin is aware of users who are successfully using Eduspace in that environment. Note that when using any browser with Eduspace, cookies must be enabled.
Q: Can I use Eduspace with Windows 98 or Windows NT?
A: Although Houghton Mifflin has not certified the use of Eduspace on Windows 98 or Windows NT and therefore cannot say that we officially support those platforms, Houghton Mifflin is aware of users who are successfully using Eduspace in those environments. Note that when using any browser with Eduspace, cookies must be enabled.
Q: If I'm using Eduspace and click my browser's Refresh button, I see the My Eduspace page instead of what I was viewing when I clicked Refresh. What happened?
A: Eduspace using frames in order to be able to continuously display the tabs, help and logout options at the top of the screen. When you click the browser's Refresh button, the browser refreshes all of the frames which causes you to view what you view when you first log into Eduspace - the My Eduspace page. To refresh only the portion of the screen that has the content your currently viewing, right-click in blank space near the content you are viewing and choose Refresh form the pop-up menu that appears.
Q: Once logged in, if you go to a non-HMCo site (via Eduspace), i.e., New York Times, can you get back into Eduspace without logging in again?
A: Yes, as long as you don't close your browser or restart your computer. Additionally, linked sites usually open in a new browser window, so the student just has to switch back to the Eduspace browser window or close the linked site browser window to see the Eduspace browser window.
Completing Course Work in Eduspace
Q: When I'm completing a test or assignment, what's the difference between the Save and Submit buttons?
A: If you are finished completing your work and want to submit it for grading and so your instructor can view it, click Submit. Depending on how your instructor has set up the assignment, you may be able to take the assignment again or this may be the only submission you are able to make. If you are not yet finished but want to save the work you have done on the assignment, click the Save button. Eduspace will save your work but not attempt to grade it or make it visible to your instructor. You can then continue working on the assignment or go to another part of Eduspace, another website, or even close your browser and shut down your computer. To continue working on the assignment at a later time, in Eduspace, browse to the folder in the Course Materials area that contains the assignment and click the assignment name to complete it. The information you previously entered will appear.
Q: Why do I only have a Submit button and not a Save button when working on a test or assignment?
A: Your instructor has chosen to apply a time limit to the test. If a test is time-limited, you must complete it in the time allotted and are not allowed to save your work in progress and finish it at a later time. When you have finished taking the test, click the Submit button to stored your work and submit it for grading and viewing by your instructor.
Q: When a test/quiz/exercise is set so I can take the assignment multiple times, how are the grades recorded?
A: If a student is able to take an assignment multiple times, the last score is the one that's recorded in the gradebook. So, if a student takes an assignment on Monday, that score is recorded in the gradebook and is visible to both student and instructor. If the student takes it again on Wednesday, Wednesday's score replaces Monday's score in the gradebook. The instructor can easily change the setting of a particular item to restrict students to taking the assignment only a single time.
Q: When I am taking a timed test, will I receive any warnings that time is running out?
A: Yes, Eduspace will display the elapsed time while the student is taking the test and notify students when one minute remains. If a student exceeds the allotted time period on a timed assessment, he/she can still submit the assessment. The instructor will see an indicator in the Gradebook that the student exceeded the time period.
Q: Can I print the tests/quizzes/homework exercises?
A: Yes, students can print assessments by using the File/Print option in their web browser. (Note: Instructors have the ability to limit this feature by selecting the "prohibit backtracking" option.
Communication Features
Q: In discussion boards, do users get notified of new posts or do they have to go to each board and check?
A: When a user (instructor or student) posts a message to a discussion board, they are not informed by email if someone posts a reply. To check for replies, the user must manually check the discussion board. Instructors do have the ability to quickly view how many times particular students have posted on one or more discussion boards (useful if they count participation in virtual group discussion or virtual class participation towards the student's grade).
Q: How can I see all of the chapters and sections of course material?
A: Yes, both instructors and students can do this by clicking on the Course Map and choosing the Open All option. When the list of content is displayed, you can also scroll down to find the material you want to open and click the item to open it.
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