an integrated approach to local/distant mathematics instruction
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An Integrated Approach to Local/Distant Mathematics
Instruction
Brief Background:
Program started with several NSF projects– Needed for distance learning, dissemination
Investigated whether systematic DL in mathematics can work at UK– economics must make sense– infrastructure requirements– human resources requirements– faculty interest required
Underlying Realities:•With our current level of experience the initial presentations of a mathematics Distance Learning course require about four times the resources per student ascomparable on-campus courses,
•UK currently funds DL instruction on a per studentbasis of 63% of tuition,
Tuition for 3 hr course:
UK (i.s) UK (o.s) U. of Phoenix*
GRD $450 $900 $1380
UGRD $300 $1320 $1095
* 5 week “online” course, 20 hrs/wk with 2-3 hrs of connect-time (brief upload/download sessions)
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Allocation of UK DL Tuition
Central Admin 30% DL Prgms
17.5% Instruction
52.5%
Instructional Funds per Student (in-state) for 3 hr DL course at UK
Undergraduate: $157.50– $2362.50 for 15 student course
– (15 is a large DL math course) Graduate: $231.72
– $3475.80 for 15 student course
Conclusion:
DL feasible only at supplemental rates (i.e only as an auxiliary activity to the on-campus instructional program),
No funding for senior faculty program development,
Our approach determined by:
Severe economic constraint,
Several years of experiment
Initial DL Courses:
Shower curtain
Ancient borrowed“elmo”
Last second hardware fix
Undergraduateassistant
Instructor
phone
Live session:
Home camcorder “control room”
In Our Early DL Experiments we
Observed:
We were basically talking to VCR’s. People need DL because the time they have to invest in education is available at random
Students tended to cluster together in small groups to work on course material
The communications technology the distant students were using was virtually identical to that being used as instructional technology on campus
Basic Assumptions for DL: Traditional format provides the optimal
instructional experience, Primary objective in distant instruction is to
provide the same experience to remote students as that afforded on-campus,
Distant and local students will have essentially the same electronic communication and computation environments,
Individual distant students will participate on schedules tailored to their individual needs
General Strategy:
Model DL as a metaphor for the well-understood lecture recitation format
Use the identity of DL and local instructional technology to integrate programs so that development and faculty costs are shared,
Use supplemental income from DL to support graduate students who provide the additional teaching services to distant students.
Any course has two primary features which must have DL analogs
Entertainment– lecture, web page, text, etc.– scales (essentially) indefinitely– DL can provide very large scale factor
Service– student consultation, evaluation– certification– does not scale– DL requires fractional scale factor ( ½)
( twice the cost per student)
Try the easy part first:
See if we can make the lectures work
Local/Distant Lectures Faculty prepare lectures in advance and they
are recorded in ITV studio– lectures take huge amount of time to prepare– must be done with prepared slides– blackboard not systematically feasible– lectures have very high information density– less need for repetition when they can be replayed– Doesn’t work well to record in-class lectures if they
involve technical details (expository lectures work well)
Numerous Formats Possible Compressed video Direct broadcast tv tape CD/DVD netcast
– cheapest– most flexible– fewest dissemination problems– smallest bandwidth– least developed
In addition to Faculty, DL lectures require substantial:
Staff Resources– production and post-production– most can be done by advanced students– must work closely with faculty
Technical Infrastructure– production and distribution
Resources to build on: Large, strong faculty with ability to recruit,
serve, and effectively employ graduate teaching assistants,
Excellent campus-wide communications infrastructure,
Excellent administrative support from College and V.P for Information Systems
Math Sciences organization with Extensive experience in distance learning and computer communications
Math Sciences DL Staff Infrastructure (Fall 1998):
P ro d u c tion(S tu de n t S ta ff)
D e ve lop m e nt(S tu de n t S ta ff)
S o ftw are an d C o m m un icatio ns(p rofessio na l m an ag er)
P ro d u c tion(S tu de n t S ta ff)
F a c ilit ie sS tu de n t S ta ff
F acilities and Pro du ction(p rofessio na l m an ag er)
Faculty Director
Student post-production staff and senior staff mentor/supervisor
Liu, chemistry graduate student
Dan, senior staff andcommunications graduate student
Kathryn, math graduate student
Senior Hardware Specialist (Mike)
Math Sciences DL Communications Infrastructure
LibraryCampus High Speed Network
Classroom Building
Faculty, staff offices
World
Internet
Math SciencesInstructional Labs , ITV Classroom
New very high speed R&D network
The basic Model
Lectures for a regularly scheduled class are moved to a DL classroom/studio
Lectures recorded electronically,
Instructional visuals (slides, sketches, computer screen images captured dynamically)
Current Studio (built ca. 1985)
Not needed for Algebra Talk
Lectures are edited at the desktop by faculty, staff, graduate student team
Supplemental audio and video clips, links previous classes added, class web page edited, etc.
High speed Math Sciences Network and DL Studio make this possible
Computer/DL Staff Desktop
Graduate TA Desktop
Math SciencesVideo Server
Faculty Desktop
Digital DL Studio
Campus Network
Students in Labs and LibrariesHave Access to Edited Lectures and Integrated Software on DemandVideo Server
LABS
Library
Internet
student
studentstudent
student
student
Open lab facilities in library
40+ stations inthis facility
Earphones
Library is “distant” enough to simulate
“D” in DLDorm ComplexLibraryView from faculty,
staff office building
Studio, developmentlabs, and most mathclassrooms
Development Program Home Page: www.ms.uky.edu/classes
Calculus CourseExperiment
Information
Overview of the current experiment
Ma123 - 3 semester hour, general studies calculus course
Experiment involves 3 of 30 fall 1998 sections - initially about 75 students– students did not volunteer
Experimental Intro Calculus Course
Syllabus
Text:HTML and colorPostscript
Course VideoPage
Individual Lectures
Lecture Segments
Course VideoPage (cont.)
Review forTest 2
Chapter 12Lecture (multiple segments)
Solutions toExam 2
Access toWeb pages with orwithoutvideo
Video lecturesynchronizedwith web pages
HTML Index
“Lecture Diagram”
Web Page
“Click and Clack”Model with twolecturers
Narrated explanationof text example
Students particularly likebrief, annotated, “step by step” clips
“Interaction” withLecture (“Click and Clack” model)
There are frequentbreaks where studentswork are asked to workon a problem beforecontinuing
Break Problem
Interaction: is essential component of “web outline with video” format
Student initiatesbrief topicalvideo from withinweb page
Page is based onbook organization
Textbook Concerns:
Intellectual Property– What portion of a text can be posted to web?– Homework problems? (solutions?)– Does “fair use” extend to cases when non students
have access? Wanted web version of text for easy reference Wanted to tie lectures closely to text by using
text organization for lectures. Wanted to be able to adapt course in light of
experience
Resolution: Adapted a “GNU License” text prepared by
Neal Koblitz of University of Washington Original source in AMSTeX Moved to LaTeX in Calculus and ATE
projects - LaTeX source on dissemination “CHISEL” CD’s from those projects.
Moved LaTeX source to Maple Worksheet format then exported various version:
All figures in text were converted to Maple Graphics
Multiple versions of text then generated from Maple source
Idea developed by Carl Eberhart
Uses PERL file manipulation scripts to organize multiple worksheets into books
Generate indices “colorize” graphics methods shared in
workshop format
Multiple Documents Derived from Single Source Document
HTML (full color and graphics from web) On-line formatted text (Color Postscript to
be viewed directly or downloaded from web) “Live Text” (complete text in form of computer
algebra text - text calculations and graphics can be calculated directly by student or teacher).
“Lecture Slide” version for in-class and video “Hard copy” inexpensive student text and
workbooks (In principle) changes in source produce changes in
other materials making adaptation easy.
HTML Version of Text
Viewed with any web browser (e.g. Netscape)
Hyper-text Index
Full color
PostscriptVersion of Text
Traditional Book Formatwith full index, graphics
From exported LaTeX
Also online
Inexpensive Student TextPocket book size,Retained byStudent
Cost about $10
Elaborate graphicsin electronic versions
Local versioneach course ifdesired.
Produced from Postscript version
“Live (interactive) Worksheet Text
Computer Calculations done and graphics created directly from text
Video/Slide VersionText directly edited to produce lecture slides and web pages for videos
Experience to Date in MA123 Major problem is student compliance
– Large number (50%) do not view lectures– attendance not enforced directly– these students dropped out very quickly
Students who do comply do very well– high grades, student morale,
Recitation format is enjoyable for faculty– time for remedial work– animated classes– recitations themselves don’t require that much work
Production : (Faculty Perspective) Video lectures take a very large amount of time
to prepare and deliver– figure 5 hours per class hour (initial production)
Job can be shared - no need for one person to do them all
Relatively simple to supplement lectures– review sheets– test solutions– makes it simple to “personalize” recitation sections
Consensus:
Lectures will work lecture load can be shared among multiple
instructors lectures can be improved incrementally some component of the course is needed to
reinforce compliance
Next Steps: Remote services
Spring 1999 with small number of Ma123 students
“Distant Office Hours” Will use conferencing software such as MS
Netmeeting to talk to students in the study rooms in the library.
Open path to distant recitation sections using same technology in fall 1999.
DL Students view lectures electronically
Tape, CD, DVD, TV, Netcast, etc.
Formal appearance same as for on campus students viewing in labs or library
Typically in small groups
Exchanging Mathematics Using Maple or TeX Source Documents
Student computer
text file
text file
Teacher Computer
Real Time Application Sharing
Student computer Teacher computer
InternetInternet
Small group discussion and office hours are
handled primarily via electronic conferencing
Internet
Spring 1999 Experiment
Small group study rooms in library used to model distant student environment
Conference directly with faculty office
Small study rooms serve as metaphors for “home” environment
18 Rooms with computer, table and chairs, and marking surface
Signs say “Reserved for MA123”
Connected to faculty, TA, staff offices by high speed network
Now
Soon
Conferencing Capability
“Course Packaging” Write lectures, web pages, communications
software to CD (DVD) Experience in doing so developed with CHISEL
project Prepare Ma 123 distribution in summer 1999 for
use on campus in Fall 1999 Intellectual Property Issues:
– faculty/UK ownership– control
CHISEL CD System:Standard communications environment and materials distribution
CHISEL System
CD format, Contains all material distribution form and
in source, Contains all formatting software and viewers
which can be freely distributed (system does install),
establishes common communications environment among all users.
DVD System under development:
Contains complete (updated) CHISEL environment
complete materials in source with formatting software
Complete set of lectures (20 hours) coordinated with web pages
Cross-indexed among courses– permits packaging of prerequisite materials– permits production of programs rather than
simple courses
Concurrent development in `99:
Second Iteration of Ma 123
– development philosophy: improve by iteration
– no “final version” dissemination program:
– tools, production methodology
– ma375 (Communicating Mathematics)
– ma503 (Summer workshop series) Other courses:
– PDE (sp. 1999)
– Ma162 (sp. 1999)
3 Week Summer Workshop Programfor teachers
Building text materials
Ma 375/503
Dissemination of techniques, methodology,
Develop graduate and undergraduate staff and teaching assistants
Math 375:
Communicating Mathematics
Department of MathematicsUniversity of Kentucky
Tools for electronically sharing mathematical ideas
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