1 / 66

K-12 Teaching Application Support and Software

K-12 Teaching Application Support and Software. Ongo-08 Client Ames Community Schools Advisors Dr. John W. Lamont Professor Ralph Patterson Wednesday December 6, 2006. Overview (1/2). Overview (2/2). Terminology. ACS - Ames Community Schools

ludwig
Download Presentation

K-12 Teaching Application Support and Software

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. K-12 Teaching Application Support and Software Ongo-08 Client Ames Community Schools Advisors Dr. John W. Lamont Professor Ralph Patterson Wednesday December 6, 2006

  2. Overview (1/2)

  3. Overview (2/2)

  4. Terminology • ACS - Ames Community Schools • API - Application Program Interface • CVS - Concurrent Versioning System • GW - Globey’s World • MTSS - Mathematical Teaching and Support Software • PHP - PHP Hypertext Preprocessor • PSA - Problem Solving Algorithm • SASF - Software and Support Framework • SQL - Structured Query Language • USA - Uncle Sam’s America

  5. Phil Ohnemus Team Leader Tony Brimeyer Communications Coordinator Jennifer Ekstrand MTSS David Goodrich SASF Paul Speck GW/USA Srisarath Patneedi Cameron Travers Jennifer Novak James Marshall Grant Johnson Josh Solyntjes Tony Brimeyer Erin Boggess Todd Steffen Grant Eckels Aaron Menz Jeff Allen

  6. Introductory Materials • History Lesson • Problem Statement • Operating Environment • Intended Users & Uses • Assumptions & Limitations • End Product & Deliverables

  7. History Lesson • MTSS started as a design project • GW and USA began as separate projects • The three projects combined because of their similar goals • The framework team was created to help manage the three projects

  8. Problem Statement (1/3) • General Purpose - design Internet-based teaching software applications emphasizing mathematical problem solving and geography • Provide children in elementary school grades 3-6 the opportunity to exercise their computer skills while learning important lessons • Applications • MTSS – Math Problem-Solving • GW & USA – Geography • Framework – Web Tools

  9. Problem Statement (2/3) • Proposed Approach • Create Web-Based Software • Accessible from the students’ computer • Accessible via the Internet • Populate a Database • Example problems • Homework problems • Quizzes

  10. Problem Statement (3/3) • Proposed Approach Continued • MTSS • Create an algorithm to teach students the problem solving process • Provide quizzes and homework problems • GW and USA • Include facts and comparisons for different geographical locations • Provide educational games • Framework • Support web tools which will aid the students and teachers with scores, quizzes, and lessons • Use PHP, SQL, and HTML for framework

  11. Operating Environment

  12. Intended Users • Elementary students grades 3-6 • Teachers • Parents of students • Elementary school administrators • Course coordinators

  13. Intended Uses • Supplemental tool for students: • Math • US geography • World geography • Quizzing tool • Supplemental homework • Track students’ progress

  14. Assumptions • Modern web browser • Client connected to the Internet • Supplement to classroom instruction • Adequate supervision to help students with computer and application problems • Can be used at home and in the classroom • Not intended to be written to accommodate handicapped children • Framework will have high stability • All team members will have access to the server

  15. Limitations • New team members may not be familiar with PHP or MySQL • The size of the database is limited • Younger students may not have prior experience using computers or know how to type • The total number of users from all participating school districts will be no more than 40,000

  16. End Product & Deliverables • Already Delivered • Prototype of the K-12 Teaching Application • Mathematical practice problems • Reference tool of world and US geographical information • Instruction manual • Future Deliverables • Prototype of K-12 Teaching Application • Ability to walk students through the process of solving a math problem • Interactive games to reinforce knowledge of world and US geography • Developer documentation

  17. Accomplishments and Activities • Previous Accomplishments • Present Accomplishments • Future Required Activities • Approaches Considered • Project Activities

  18. Previous Accomplishments (1/4) • MTSS • Formed in Fall 2001 • Database and prototype designed using ASP • Created problems and a way to add problems to database • Converted ASP code to PHP • Restructured database to fit framework’s design • Started work on problem solving algorithm

  19. Previous Accomplishments (2/4) • GW • Formed in Fall 2002 • Delivered working version of help and country comparison page • Cleaned and formatted world fact database entries • Implemented authentication framework • Modified user management

  20. Previous Accomplishments (3/4) • USA • Formed in Fall 2002 • Designed database schema • Populated database with state information • Implemented reference tool and authentication • Created page to compare information about multiple states • Designed and developed simple games

  21. Previous Accomplishments (4/4) • Framework • Formed in Fall 2003 • Evaluated existing skeleton code and determined it unusable • Developed libraries to allow user authentication and registration • Implemented CVS to include all sub-team code • Created XML templates to implement a similar look and feel throughout the software suite

  22. Present Accomplishments MTSS (1/3) • MTSS • Improved overall quality of software • Fixed bugs • Cleaned code • Documented existing code

  23. Present AccomplishmentsMTSS (2/3) • MTSS Problem Solving Algorithm • Chose to use existing problem creation tool • Designed problem walkthrough presentation • Created example walkthrough problems

  24. Present AccomplishmentsMTSS (3/3) • MTSS Interface Improvements

  25. Present AccomplishmentsGW/USA (1/4) • Converted Flash maps to HTML image maps for consistency and compatibility • Significantly reduced page loading times

  26. Present AccomplishmentsGW/USA (2/4) • Created an automatic database re-population tool • No longer requires manual almanac lookup by students

  27. Present AccomplishmentsGW/USA (3/4) • Refined look of USA games • Introduced a three-try scheme which allows students to work toward the correct answer

  28. Present AccomplishmentsGW/USA (4/4) • Produced a template for integration of mathematics into geographical topics • Created sample problems from the template

  29. Present Accomplishments Framework Team (1/4) Server Account Maintenance • Registered users for each school’s teachers and students • Removed previous students from development server, added new students

  30. Present Accomplishments Framework Team (2/4) Framework Documentation • Documented source code • Identified problems in existing code base that can be projects for code familiarization in the future

  31. Present Accomplishments Framework Team (3/4) Framework Update • Re-implemented user registration page • Implemented “Log out” capability • Made log in page match existing look and feel

  32. Present Accomplishments Framework Team (4/4) Server Maintenance • Migrated code to production server in anticipation of release • Determined unused code portions and removed them

  33. Future Required Activities • Distribute software to school districts • Create uniform grade book and quizzing functionality • Add answer conversion functionality for text answers • Incorporate garbage collection utility to remove unreferenced data from tables • Evaluate security issues and their implications • Continue cleanup and optimization of code • Perform large-scale testing to guarantee that framework will work in multiple environments under multiple conditions

  34. Approaches Considered (1/3) • MTSS approaches considered • Four step problem solving algorithm • Find out • Choose strategy • Solve it • Look back • Multiple question problem solving algorithm that get students thinking about the different ways to solve problem.

  35. Approaches Considered (2/3) • GW/USA • Research Tool • Database of geography information can be used as electronic source for reports • Interactive Application • Interactive games will add interest for intended audience • Strengthen learning of geography concepts

  36. Approaches Considered (3/3) • Framework • ASP.NET and SQL Server • Classic ASP and SQL Server • Javascript • Java and MySQL • PHP and MySQL

  37. Approaches Used • MTSS • Multiple question problem solving algorithm • GW/USA • Interactive game implementation • Geography applications will have games added to them in order to keep students’ interest • Look into further subjects that can be incorporated • Framework • PHP and MySQL • PHP is growing quickly and will be around for a long time • PHP is similar to C/C++ so many of the team members should be able to pick it up quickly

  38. Project Activities (1/6)Definition • Composed a project plan for Ongo08 team • Held PHP and SQL training session • Conducted a walk-through of code layout and methods to modify applications • Performed the necessary steps for software release

  39. Project Activities (2/6) Research • Brainstormed new ideas and evaluated old options for problem solving algorithm • Located sources for automatic database repopulation tool • http://www.50states.com • http://www.fedstats.gov • Evaluated different methods to integrate mathematics and geography • Teacher-generated problems • Randomly-generated problems

  40. Project Activities (3/6) Design • Created uniform methods for grade book and quizzing • Designed efficient database organization to store problems for the integration of mathematics and geography • Developed improved graphics for each application

  41. Project Activities (4/6) Implementation • MTSS – Problem Solving Algorithm improvement • MTSS – Re-defined problem search page • GW/USA - Automatic database repopulation tool • GW/USA – Added ability to create mathematical geography questions • SASF - Re-implemented user registration page • SASF – Migrated log in page to match existing template

  42. Project Activities (5/6) Testing & Results • Prepared software for release to client • Currently have software ready for release • Awaiting teacher involvement • Tested software • Added to list of application bugs to be fixed • Tested applications for usability

  43. Project Activities (6/6) Other Activities • Cleaned server code • Added more documentation on framework use • Developed documentation for adding other applications to the suite

  44. Resources & Schedule • Personnel Effort • Financial Requirements • Schedule

  45. Personnel Effort (1/4)

  46. Personnel Effort (2/4)

  47. Personnel Effort (3/4)

  48. Past Effort (4/4) Total: 12,918

  49. Financial Requirements (1/6)

  50. Financial Requirements (2/6)

More Related