An alternative learning experience in transition level mathematics

An alternative learning experience intransition level mathematics

Screen captured lectures, collaborative activities, and more

Dann Mallet

QUT Mathematical Sciences

Mallet (QUT Math Sci) Transition mathematics trial 1 / 32

Outline

Outline

1 Introduction and context

2 Collaborative learning ideas

3 Recording lecture videos

4 SCORM packages

5 Results – engagement


Introduction and context

Outline




4 SCORM packages




Introduction and contextThe unit – MAB105 Preparatory Mathematics

The most elementary maths unit QUT offers

Among the most diverse cohorts (unit does not belong in any course)

“Like” high school mathematics, steep learning curve

Fundamental to vast number of degree programs

Recently lost favour, but being reborn!



Introduction and contextThe unit – MAB105 Content

Properties of the number system

Basic algebra

Functions and equations, graphs

Linear functions – equations and applications

Systems of linear equations

Non-linear functions

quadratic, exponential, logarithmic, trig: properties, applications

Introduction to calculus

rates of change, derivatives, rules of differentiation, optimization,applications



Introduction and contextThe unit – MAB105 Learning outcomes

1 Solve straightforward equations and draw and interpret graphs of oneindependent variable.

2 Understand the concepts involved with functions and functionalnotation and in particular know the properties associated withquadratic, exponential, logarithmic and trigonometric functions andapplications of same.

3 Understand the concepts involved with rates of change, derivatives,maxima, minima and integration.

4 Engage in analytical thinking skills and communicate clearly andconcisely in mathematical language.



Introduction and contextThe unit – MAB105 Assessment

Semester/Year Items & weighting

2008 Participation/Assignments 40%, ES Exam 60%2009 Assignments 20%, MS Exam 20%, ES Exam 60%2010 PST 40%, ES Exam 60%2011 PST 60%, ES Exam 40%2012 PST 60%, ES Exam 40%2013 PST 60%, ES Exam 40%

Fairly “standard” mathematics assessment style: heavy on exam andassignment



Introduction and contextThe unit – MAB105: Enrolments

1/08

2/08

1/09

2/09

1/10

2/10

1/11

2/11

1/12

2/12

1/13

2/13

50

100

150

200

Semester

En

rolm

ents

MAB105 Enrolments 2008-2013



Introduction and contextThe unit – MAB105: Results

K 1 2 3 4 5 6 70

10

20

30

Grade

Per

cen

tage

ofal

lst

ud

ents

MAB105 Grade distribution (all students) 2008-2013



Introduction and contextHow has MAB105 evolved?

Long transition – my involvement: since 2001

First press: handwritten OHTs, textbook, lectures.

Introduced booklet of LATEX ed notes (AC Farr, DG Mallet)

text aligned, inbuilt worksheets, reduced dependence on f2f

Introduced set of LATEX ed lecture slides (fill in the gap style) (ACFarr)

text/notes aligned, reduced dependence on f2f

Introduced workbook-style version of booklet (AC Farr)

further reduced dependence on f2f



Introduction and contextThe next step – motivation

“Tertiary institutions will be challenged not only to meet growing demand by expandingthe number of places offered, but also to adapt programmes and teaching methods to

match the diverse needs of a new generation of students.”1

“Today in education, we are witnessing an unbundling of previous network structures.And a rebuilding of new network lock-in models.”2

“We are living in a constantly changing environment. This situation should forceteachers to constantly re-think their pedagogical philosophy.”3

1OECD, 2013, Education at a glance 2013: OECD indicators. OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2013-en

2G. Siemens, Associate Director, Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Institute, Athabasca University

3I. Czaplinski, 2012, Affordances of ICTs: An environmental study of a French language unit offered at university level. UQ.


http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2013-en


Introduction and contextThe next step – motivation

People are doing new, cool things in delivering learning experiences

QUT built collaborative learning spaces

Students don’t show up “just for lectures/tutorials”

Also, national/international agendas...



Introduction and contextThe next step – a summary

So what has been done? How much effort was it? What happened?

Here’s what students experienced this semester:

No f2f lecturesWeekly workshops of various stylesProblem sheetsExpert exemplarsClean and annotated slidesLectures in video form

Effort = slightly less.

Results:

w.r.t students? wait til after exam. Seminar 2 in Januaryw.r.t. me? greater planning, better “product”, more reflection


Collaborative learning ideas

Outline




4 SCORM packages




Collaborative learning ideasOverview

What can we do here? Well, besides mathematics...

Team buildingCommunicationTechnology

Let’s take a look at some examples from this year...



Collaborative learning ideasTeam building

Activity: BOMDAS (you knowit? can you do it?)

Purpose: Team formation,communication, communitybuilding, intro/warm up

Possibilities: competitive,enduring identification

Unexpected: definitions ofterms

MAB105 Workshop 1

Preparation and instructions

Before commencing the activity, make sure you are in groups of no more than 6 people. You mayuse pen and paper, whiteboards, glass boards, COWs, calculators and your heads.

1. Give your group a name – decide carefully, you’ll be using it for the rest of semester.

2. Nominate one person in the group to be note-taker. The note-taker will keep a record ofdiscussions and decisions, as well as the final group response.

3. Nominate one person to be the scribbler. They will do any necessary writing and calculatingon the whiteboard.

4. Nominate another person to be the reporter. The reporter will report back to the class on thegroup’s response to the task.

5. All group members should then read the task below.

6. Then the group should work together to attempt to come up with the best possible groupresponses.

7. Finally, the reporters from each group will report back to the class to see which group hascome up with the best responses.

Background

Let’s say you were given the numbers 5, 6 and 7 and the operations of addition and subtraction. Ifyou must use each number and operation once, and only once, then the largest possible result is

7 + 6 − 5 = 8

and the smallest possible result is5 + 6 − 7 = 4.

The task

Using each of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 once, and only once, and each of the operations ofaddition, subtraction, multiplication, division and exponentiation (raising to a power) once, andonly once, your group is to attempt to make

1. the largest number possible and

2. the smallest number possible.

When reporting back to the class, the reporter needs to the provide two numbers, as well as discusstwo decisions that the group made while attempting to find the numbers.

CRICOS No. 00213J 1



Collaborative learning ideasCommunication

MAB105 Workshop 3


Before commencing the activity, make sure you are in groups of no more than 6 people. You mayuse pen and paper, whiteboards, glass boards, COWs, calculators and your heads.

1. If your table has a group name from the first workshop, reuse it. Otherwise, make up a newgroup name and write your names along with the group name on the piece of paper you aregiven.

2. Using the COW, navigate a web browser to goanimate.com, and have one of the group eitherlogin using an existing account or sign up for a new one.

3. The group can either work together on the problems (for example, split the problems up witheverybody attempting only one), or you might wish to attempt them all yourself.

The task

Attempt each of the following problems either on a whiteboard, on paper or in your notebooks.

1. Factorise the expression 16a5 � 36a3

2. Solve the equation 3(x � 1) = 2x + 4 for x

3. Factorise the expression 2t2 + 20t + 18

4. Factorise the expression 4x2 � 4x + 1

Now, use Go!Animate. Use the “Quick Video Maker” and select a template, setting and characters.In your group, choose one of your attempts at the above problems and use the two characters inyour Go!Animate video to explain what you did to arrive at your answer. If you weren’t able toreach the answer, then use your characters to discuss the difficulties you had. You have a total of 10lines of dialog (parts of a conversation) each of which can be only 180 characters long so you needto be concise but descriptive to get the point across.You might want to pretend your characters are a teacher and a student, or a really smart friendexplaining the answer to another friend. Or whatever you like.You might choose the problem you are most confident about because you can explain it better, orperhaps you choose the one you are least confident about because thinking about it in this differentway might help you understand it better and identify your difficulties.

The point!

This workshop could have just involved solving equations and factorising expressions. But byexplaining and describing your maths in words, you slow down and think about exactly what youare doing. You will also see how your written attempts at problems can appear to somebody – otherpeople don’t necessarily know what’s going on in your head, so it’s important to write your mathsclearly and explain it fully. This is especially important for exams because, in order to give youmarks, the marker needs to know what you mean when you write a response.

CRICOS No. 00213J 1

Activity: communication offactorising/solving

Purpose: Communication,exploring unknown difficulties,fun

Possibilities: showcase, reuse infuture

Unexpected: typing maths:difficult



Collaborative learning ideasCommunication

Students attempt questions,then attempt to explain solnsvia GoAnimate!

i.e. translate their maths intowords

They see how poorly/well theycommunicate theirmathematics by attempting totranslate it

Dann Team temporary

Kier Epic ninja battle


http://goanimate.com/videos/0zC_H-NbEdn8?utm_source=linkshare

http://goanimate.com/videos/0CMUYSeAhCyM?utm_source=linkshare

http://goanimate.com/videos/0_d2DVmC9Dls?utm_source=linkshare

http://goanimate.com/videos/0p6_ZcyqxIJ8?utm_source=linkshare


Collaborative learning ideasTechnology

Activity: Modelling withMoCOWs, BoM website

Purpose: Real data, visualise,interpret, model/apply

Possibilities: Lots

MAB105 Workshop 7


Use the MUCOW computer to obtain river height data, import it into a spreadsheet, then plot thedata. Next, attempt to develop a mathematical model, in the form of a trig function, to describe thedata.

• Go to the Bureau of Meteorology website, and the page where rain and river data is available:www.bom.gov.au/qld/flood/rain_river.shtml

• Choose a river data set (e.g. Bremer R at Ipswich # ).

• Click on the link to the plot to check whether or not sufficient change occurs in the river heightover time to generate a visible sine curve. Then go back to the previous page.

• Click on the link to the data. This should bring up a rather long table of data values.

• Select the data and copy it. Then paste it into Microsoft Excel. Note that you may need topaste into a text file first and then into excel

• Produce a scatter plot of the data.

The task

1. How high does the river go at its maximum (on average)? How low?

2. How long (time) does it take for the river to pass from its zero height up to the maximumheight, down through zero to the minimum depth and finally back to zero (on average)?

3. Use your answers to the above questions to generate a function of the form

h(t) = a sin(bt)

to model the height of the river. Here h(t) is the height of the river and t represents time.

4. Generate a new column in your excel spreadsheet that gives values of your model h(t) for thetimes already available in your spreadsheet.

5. Plot these on the same scatterplot as the river data.

6. Does your model look similar to the data? What differences do you notice? How might youovercome these differences to create a better model?

CRICOS No. 00213J 1


Recording lecture videos

Outline




4 SCORM packages




Recording lecture videosSpecs

Slides were created

using an Apple MacBook Air (11in) and Apple iMac (27in)running Mac OS X 10.7-8MacTex 2012, BeamerOccasionally Wolfram|Alpha

Lecture videos were recorded

using a Samsung XE700T1A Slate PCrunning Microsoft Windows 7 andPDF Annotator 3 and Camtasia Studio 8

Hardware and software provided by the Mathematical Sciences School



Recording lecture videosRecording process

Recording process

1. Produce slides using LATEX (beamer)

2. Open slides using PDF Annotator, adjust size, prepare tools

3. Open Camtasia Studio, prepare recording window

4. Record!

5. Annotate the slides using stylus and speak (teach!) as usual

Figure : Demo video



Recording lecture videosEditing process

Editing process

1. After recording, open recording package in Camtasia Studio

2. Edit sound, cut video/sound, add video, subtitles, annotations,pointers, graphics, etc

3. Quizzes can be added to the video

4. Save project and produce final product (video file or SCORM package)


SCORM packages

Outline




4 SCORM packages



SCORM packages

SCORM packagesWhat is SCORM?

SCORM = Sharable Content Object Reference Model

A set of standards and specifications for web-based e-learning

Allows “sequencing”: constraining the learner’s path through thematerials

Gatekeeping: completion of materials/score threshold

Blackboard has SCORM compatibility!!!


SCORM packages

SCORM packagesSCORM and MAB105

Take the video lectures recorded with Camtasia Studio

Embed quizzes at important points

Export as SCORM package

Import into Blackboard. For MAB105:

No restriction on number of attemptsScoring of quizzes reported to Grade CentreNo completion/score restrictions


SCORM packages

SCORM packagesImporting into Blackboard

Importing into Blackboard

After producing the SCORM package in Camtasia Studio:

1. Go to relevant Blackboard page (e.g. Learning Resources)

2. Click “Build Content”

3. Choose/click “Content Package (SCORM)”

4. Browse for file to upload

5. Choose the zip file of the SCORM package

6. Choose options

naming, detailed notes/info, track views (YES!)number of attempts, scoring, completion etc


Results – engagement

Outline




4 SCORM packages




Results – engagementBlackboard site access

Jul 15 Aug 1 Sep 1 Oct 1

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Bb site total access counts by day

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Bb site total access counts by week

Assessment due

Usage is heavy in first 9 weeks (actually: looks like chlamydialinfection curve)



Results – engagementBlackboard site access by day of week

Access peaks between upload and f2f time

S M T W T F S0

100

200

Workshops

Upload

Day

Hou

rsBlackboard site access by day



Results – engagementStudent Blackboard site access intensity

1/2 class probably only accessing site to do assessment

0-5 5-10 10-15 15-20 20-25 25-30 30-35 35-40 40-45 45-50 50-55 55-60 60-65 65-700

10

20

30

Hours access over the semester

#of

Stu

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Student Blackboard site access intensity



Results – engagementStill to come

Usage of individual videos (# accesses, time spent)

A look at student results

more...
