Thousands of students in the same class KTH e-learning courses for very large and flexible classes

1. Thousands of students in the same classKTH e-learning coursesfor very large and flexible classes Johan ThorbiörnsonPhD, Director MATH.SEDirector RCN - Resource Centre for Netbased Educationjohanthor@kth.se Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholmhttp://www.math.se info@math.se 1

2. MATH.SE – web based university courses in European collaboration • Partners:Royal Institute of Technology, StockholmImperial College, LondonTechnische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin)Stockholm UniversityUppsala UniversityLinköping UniversityÖrebro UniversityUniversity of GävleMälardalen UniversityJönköping University • MATH.SE is a virtual centre based at KTH Stockholm consisting of 10 national partner universities and from 2008 also Imperial College and TU Berlin.

3. RCN and MATH.SE– backgroundand history Sweden's oldest and largest technical university Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) has more than 25 years of experience in e-learning.Every year 20% of all beginners in Sweden study a national bridge course in mathematics or other subjects before they start university. The same service will now be offered to other countries (full service, low risk and cost for partner universities).

4. A new educational paradigm 10 000 students in the same virtual classroom in one single course. Students study in the same classroom but are formally enrolled at different universities. High quality resource allocation. Mass-individualization. Large inter-cultural community.

5. Global learning through our unique model Having been successful in Sweden, MATH.SE is now expanding internationally, in partnership with Imperial College in London, European Mathematical Society, and the Technical University in Berlin. What makes MATH.SE unique is the built-in revenue sharing model along with a high level of Quality of Experience.

6. From the newspaper: Ten thousand studentsstudy maths on the summer holidays”It gives me such confidence” 6

7. MATH.SE – a model proved to work nationally in Sweden and now expanding in Europe MATH.SE are taking care of infrastructure, support, formalities, etc. Activities for students to successfully complete the course on the Internet. Call center solution for tutoring – the students can call or email their personal mentor. Students belongs to different universities but study together in one virtual classroom. Universities get administrative tools and can monitor ”their” students.

8. Bridge courses and Foundation coursesFrom School to University: Bridges the gap and gives a flying start at the first part of university math. Since 1997 the department of Mathematics at the Royal Institute of Mathematics has evaluated the discrepancies between freshmen actual knowledge of mathematics and the KTH faculty expectations. The course curriculum in the bridging courses is based on these discrepancies. The same type of bridging courses are now offered in different subjects suchas physics, computer science and chemistry. School A B C D E University Repetition Bridging

9. TU Berlin and KTH – collaboration in multimedia material in mathematics TU Berlin and their projekt MUMIE (www.mumie.net) will now expand through the collaboration between TU Berlin, KTH and ETH in Zürich. In MUMIE one of the standard courses in Linear algebra is implemented (2500 students on campus each year in Berlin takes this course instead of a classical campus course). The pass rate has doubled! Other courses now follows, such as calculus. MUMIE is a rich multimedia material for experimentation, home work exercises, tests, pre-learning, etc, which activates the students. MUMIE is nominated in the final run of MEDIAPRIX 2008.

10. MATH.SE offers different courses in mathematical sciences and in other subjects Bridging courses and Foundation courses: Preparatory refresher courses in mathematicsFoundation courses in mathematics (several modules)Fundamental Notions of Mathematics, 7.5 ECTSBridging course in physics 7.5 ECTSBridging course in programming and computer science 3 ECTSBridging course in chemistry Standard courses in mathematicsLinear algebra, Single variable calculus, Multivariable calculus, Differential Equations, etcOther online courses at MATH.SE:Financial mathematics 7.5 ECTSInformation search 3 ECTSRelativity theory 4.5 ECTSModern Physics 9 ECTSLaser Physics 9 ECTSIntroduction to Environmental Engineering 7.5 ECTSCourses in philosophy (such as Argumentation theory)Coming during 2008-2009:Communication and project management in virtual environmentsEconomicsReal estate in emerging economiesNew courses are easily produced on request. KTH has also online courses outside MATH.SE environment.Online Lecturing and Lectures on Demand, Online TutoringLectures on demand and online lecturing from lecturers and scientists. 10

11. Local Language Adaption Content and System in local languages Local first level support by staff locally stationed

12. Services to students • Learners may start at any time and study at their own pace. • By filling in and submitting an electronic enrolment form they can acquire a user name and password to the educational platform within minutes. After that it's just to log on to the course and start working in a large virtual community. • Automatic and peer assessment in large student groups, based on a detailed and level-partitioned examination process. Assessment is integrated with the students learning activities and is utilized as a structure for instructional scaffolding and follow-up. • Instant feed-back on assessments, advanced follow-up by co-teachers. Students can call a personal mentor in a call-center or send e-mail if they need support. Online forums let learners discuss and interact with each other and with their teachers throughout the course. • To students this has proven to be a focused and goal-oriented approach to learning, flexible in both time and place, which helps them become successful in their university studies.

13. Effective model for producing new courses on demand Lead time: 1-2 months High quality design with the well proved framework of MATH.SE Tools for mass-individualization

14. Automatic and peer assessment in large student groups based on a detailed and level-partitioned examination process. Assessment is integrated with the students learning activities and is utilized as a structure for instructional scaffolding and follow-up. 14

15. Electronic or printed litterature 15

16. Also, the student can get access to all of school math forrepetition and training skills. 16

17. The material is also used at lessons by teachers at school. 17

18. In discussion fora all participants may communicate. Login from any computer, no installation needed.The student may get support and discuss with class mates (thousands of students!). It is possible to insert different types of media and write formulas 18

19. Questions and answers are accessible 24 hours a day in the discussion forum. The students may also call or email apersonal mentor in a call-center if theyneed tutoring or feedback. Answer Question Hi! Does anybody know how to show that tan v is the same as sin v/cos v? /Anna ………… In a triangle with a right angle you have: sin v= b/ccos v= a/csin v / cos v = b/a …………… 19

20. An investigation shows that students who completed the summer course on the Internet (Bridge course) is equally successful in the first year at KTH as students with the highest marks in all courses from school.Pass rate 75% 20

21. What is an Internet based course? Textbooks Classroom Student INTERNET WWW Virtual classroom Advanced follow up Onlineexamination 21

22. Hierchical and non-hierarchical structures for organizing courses By using a flat non-hierarchical structure and modern social networking tools, we can make it possible for thousands of students together to share their learning processes, independently of were they are living. This is a big difference compared to the traditional way of organizing courses. The first university, Plato's academy, is a model for all the following traditional universities, based on the idea of one teacher and a group of students. This does not scale well since if you have 1000 more students you need 1000 more teachers, and also students in different schools in different cities will not communicate with each other, even if they are struggling exactly the same mathematical problems and learning processes. Person of the year 2006: You! 22

23. RCN – Resource Centre for Netbased Education [Royal Institute of Technology] www.kth.se/rcnRCN organizes MATH.SE

24. Roles of functions and responsibilitiesCost effective solutions for broadening activities at a university department 24

25. MATH.SE– now building the future • Integration of new media and interactivity, such as interactive net video, pod casting, community building and social software, OER, etc • Global course activities

26. MATH.SE Johan ThorbiörnsonPhD, Director MATH.SEDirector RCN - Resource Centre for Netbased Educationjohanthor@kth.se, +46 703 371100 Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholmhttp://www.math.se info@math.se