Seminars on Academic Computing Wolfgang Bauer, Physics&Astronomy Michigan State University

1. Seminars on Academic Computing Wolfgang Bauer, Physics&Astronomy Michigan State University Virtual University Courses and Course Management Systems- the faculty perspective -- the administrator perspective -

2. MSU Physics/Astronomy Service Courses • Annual enrollments • PHY183/4: 1400 (3/3 lecture sections) • PHY231/2: 1600 (4/3 lecture sections) • LBS164/267: 400 (1/1 lecture sections) • ISP205: 1400 (6 lecture sections) • ISP209: 300 (2 lecture sections) • ISP215: 100 (2 lecture sections) • CBI 300 • Total 5500 • Can one use the Internet to teach some of these students physics and astronomy?

3. Project(s) History • 1992: Presidential Faculty Fellow Award (k$500) • 1993: NSF-ILI grant (k$45+45) to improve lab/lecture sequence in LBS (Bauer, Benenson, Westfall) • 1995: MultiMedia Physics CD • 1997: lectureOnline (Kortemeyer) • 1997: Virtual University courses PHY231c, PHY232c • 1998: cliXX Physik CD (Germany) • 1998: HHMI grant (M$1.8, McGroarty) • 1999: Advanced Placement Physics • 2000: MSU-deal with Apex Learning • 2000: NSF-ITR grant (M$2.1) for lon-CAPA (Kortemeyer, Bauer, Kashy2, Speier) • 2001/2: 5 more grants in connection with lon-CAPA • 2002: (in the interest of full disclosure) signed contract to write conventional paper-based introductory physics textbook

4. Virtual University Physics Courses • Lots of html pages, lots of pictures and diagrams • Video clips (~100) of lecture demonstration • Different sizes to accommodate band width access variability • Interactive applets (~60) to explore parameter spaces • Several hundred individualized homework problems requiring numerical answers • Immediate feedback • Customized help for most common errors • Prevents simply copying between students • Large bank of multiple choice exams • Reflection and Reinvention: This was a heck of a lot of work • Gaining Wisdom: What can be done to make this process less work, while providing even higher quality?

5. Enrollments • Fall 97: 32 • Spring 00: 293 • Since Fall 00: Capped enrollment at 200 • More than 15% of all MSU VU students.

6. Do they learn better? • Comparison study in Fall 1998: Taught lecture based PHY231 and compared to PHY231c • Same homework assignments, same exams, same grading system • Virtual university students scored slightly higher on all three exams and on FCI baseline test, and obtained slightly higher final grades (2.93 vs. 2.87) on average • One explanation: putting materials on www forces the students to engage in more active learning • Another: VU students are self-selected group • Needed: Controlled study

7. mc3: multimedia collaborative content creation • Not-so-desirable model (1): Every person has to create a complete course from scratch • Not-so-desirable model (2): Buy complete course off the shelf from a commercial publisher • More efficient: • Fully modularized system • Semi-independent information units (a derivation, a homework problem, a video clip, an example, a graphic, an applet, ...) • Common navigation interface • Central pool (or synchronized servers) to store virtual resources • Drag-and-drop convenience of course assembly

8. Construction of New Courses • Database of individual resources • Drag-and-drop object assembly • Resource meta-data: • Author, date, topic • Subject categories, keywords • Reviewer feedback (colleagues&students) • Usage statistics • (Price !!!) • May lead to an object economy with multiple feedback loops • Principles of self-organization: • Evolution-like selection rules • Sum is bigger than its parts NSF-ITR Grant: Investigation of a Model for Online Resource Creation and Sharing in Educational Settings PI:Kortemeyer Co-PIs:W.B., Kashy2, Speier

9. Student Perspective • One size does not fit all • Many different kinds of learners and learning styles • Lectures do not deal with this adequately • Neither do video tapes • Definite need to individualize on-line offerings • BIG advantage of internet, with its branching points (hyperlinks, scripts, interactive exercises, …)

10. Multiple Representations of Knowledge Yadda, yadda, yadda... • Student can select from pull-down menu: • System remembers preferences and customizes learning experiences foreach student => Genetic algorithms In our daily language the word "momentum" is used to indicate that an object or a person is in motion, and that it will take a certain force to change this motion. A football team, for example, which is on a winning streak is said to have 'momentum going'.

11. When do Students Work? • One day … • Homework due at midnight • 770 students in class

12. How much does it cost? (we are definitely talking administrator perspective now!) • Initial cost of course creation can be very high • Acquisition of course management system turns into a costly proposition • Real costs in faculty and staff training • Continuous costs in technology and content support • Hidden costs in making yourself dependent on course management system provider • Not just the ever-increasing license fees • Also, the need to adhere to a rigid architecture designed by an external entity • On-line education is not cheaper to offer • => It needs to be better

13. Support • Students work at all hours • Support needs to be available at all hours • Content support (teaching assistants) • Technical support • Expensive! • MSU Physics/Astronomy: provide open learning lab, staffed with TAs from noon to midnight • Pooling of TAs for all introductory courses • Unavoidable? • Experiment in VU class chat room: peer instruction, only limited hour of faculty presence

14. Educational Object Economy

15. Educational Object Economy