computer enhanced learning rick matthews department of physics and international center for computer...

Computer Enhanced Learning

Rick MatthewsDepartment of Physics

and

International Center for Computer Enhanced Learning

Wake Forest University

[email protected], http://www.wfu.edu/~matthews

Why are we here?

• To learn how we can integrate computers into our coursework.

• What in your course would you like to differently? Do you ever say, “If only I could….”? What are the problems in your course now? What problems do you anticipate?

• Can computers help?

What do faculty worry about?

• My students need to work harder.

• We can’t get discussion started for twenty minutes.

• I don’t have time for discussion.

• I don’t have time for hands-on activities.

What do faculty worry about?

• My students need to work harder.

• We can’t get discussion started for twenty minutes.

• I don’t have time for discussion.

• I don’t have time for hands-on activities.

• The whole class bombed question 3.

• The students just skim the reading.– They haven’t

intellectually engaged the assignment.

• I want the students to interact more outside class.

Principles of effective teaching• Encourage contact between students

and faculty• Develop cooperation among

students• Encourage active learning• Give prompt feedback• Emphasize time on task• Communicate high expectations• Respect diverse talents and ways of

thinking

What can computers do better than professors?

• Not much!– Simulations, statistics,

graphing, data acquisition

• Professors’ time is precious; computer time is not.

• Available all the time!

What can the technology do well enough?

How do computers help?

• Content distribution– Reference materials



– Class notes

Students may stop coming to class.Students may resent the notes!

Students can engage the material, not worry about writing everything down.



– Class notes

– Multimedia



– Class notes

– Multimedia

– Video clips



– Class notes

– Multimedia

– Video clips

– Lectures!

Lectures online

• Streaming Media– Sequenced web pages accompanied by audio– 50 minute lecture becomes 15 minute streaming slide

show.– SMIL– RealPresenter, from RealNetworks

• Easily converts PowerPoint presentation to narrated slide show.• Video quality is not so good on web, but great if you distribute

ppt.• Students can pause, adjust pace.

Online discussions

• “Chat” fairly rare.

• Asynchronous nature of threaded discussions is key.

• Stimulates students to think more carefully about assignments.

• Students challenge each other.

• Students walk in the door arguing!

Online discussions

• “Chat” fairly rare.

• Asynchronous nature of threaded discussions is key.

• Stimulates students to think more carefully about assignments.

• Students challenge each other.

• Students walk in the door arguing!

• Outside experts.

Just in Time Teaching(frequent online quizzes)

• Thanks to Dany Kim-Shapiro

• In today’s classroom, it is desirable to spend as much time as possible using active learning techniques– Thus less time can be spent lecturing on factual

information that can be obtained from reading.

• Need better and more prompt assessment.

Goals

• Encourage students to read ahead

• Enhance communication between the professor and the students

• Discover weak spots in understanding

Methods

• Make assignment on the web for each class.

• Students submit responses and comments.

• Professor reads comments and answers (feedback) and can adjust class preparation just in time for next class.

• Easy grading using excel macro

Examples of Students' Comments Sent via e-mail

• I guess section five was the only difficult problem, section six turned pretty clear cut once again. I guess seeing problems would help jog my memory.

• I'm having trouble following a lot of the book calculations on the vector stuff. Maybe if we look at it in class it will become more tangible, but now it's all foreign to me. I have a question, though (although it may not be important): why does rubbing with silk material have a different effect than rubbing with wool? Does it have something to do with the friction between surfaces and the charge this creates? Thanks!!

• I find great trouble in understanding the material on the electric flux and electric field lines. I have difficulty in conceptualizing the field lines. What exactly are they? What do they help us visualize? I hope I will understand these points better after class tomorrow.

More Examples Comments Sent via e-mail from ‘98

• "I don't know if other people feel the same way, but Problem 30-41 from our homework due next Monday just seems very difficult. I've read my notes on displacement current, read section 30-8 twice, and looked at the example problem in it and I just can't figure it out. Could we maybe do 30-41 in class? …-”

• "I have had difficulty conceptualizing what a "closed surface" is, and the connection between Gauss' Law and such surfaces.”

• " would you be willing to do some sample electrical force problems in class. i am having problems with the homework. more than i feel i should…”

Acknowledgements

• Just in time teaching was developed by Evelyn Patterson and Gregor Novak, http://www.usafa.af.mil/dfp/physics/webphysics/

• The cgi-bin stuff was implemented by Ching-Wan Yip

Peer Instruction• Great way to encourage

intellectual engagement in large classes.

• Developed by Eric Mazur– http://galileo.harvard.edu

– Easy, remarkably effective

• Web interface can log responses. (C.W. Yip, Y-L Wong.)

• Good application for WindowsCE devices.

Structured online discussions

• A variation on online quizzes.

• Tries to capture “Peer Instruction” experience.

• Challenges every answer.

Structured online discussionsSuppose a ship is in a lock of the Panama Canal, and carries a cargo of steel girders. If the girders are thrown overboard, the water level in the canal will:

A. Fall.B. Rise.C. Stay the same.


Suppose a ship is in a lock of the Panama Canal, and carries a cargo of steel girders. If the girders are thrown overboard, the

water level in the canal will:

A. fall.When you take the girders out of the ship, the ship will rise and the water will fall. However, when you drop the girders in the water, the water will rise again by the same amount.

The water level stays the same.


Suppose a ship is in a lock of the Panama Canal, and carries a cargo of steel girders. If the girders are thrown overboard, the

water level in the canal will:

C. Stay the same.What is special about steel? It’s dense! What would happen if, instead of the steel, there was a tiny little massive BB pellet with the same mass? What happens when you take it out of the ship? Ship pops up, water falls. What happens when you drop it back in the water? Not much.

The water level falls.

Java, Shockwave• Power of a full programming language• Great possibilities for platform-independent

simulations, demonstrations• See http://WebPhysics.davidson.edu/Applets/Applets.html,

http://www.wfu.edu/~ylwong/redox/

• Caution: we do not all need to do it all.– Davidson, http://WebPhysics.davidson.edu/Applets/Applets.html

– Georgia Tech, http://www.physics.gatech.edu/academics/tutorial/phys2121/Java Applets/ntnujava/Lens/lens_e.html

– etc.

PowerPoint presentations

Advantages over traditional lectureImagesSound

"Death by PowerPoint"PowerPoint on the Web

Automatic conversion Can use SMIL for narrated slide showsRealPresenter is easy, but slide quality is poor

Student use!

Discipline-specific applications

• Simulations

• Professional tools

• Other

Why do students not work harder? Why do they turn in inadequate work?

Simulations

• CircuitMaker

• Zemax (and applets)

• ActivPhysics

• ActivChemistry

• NMR spectral analysis, etc.– Yue-Ling Wong and Angela King

Simulations

• CircuitMaker

• Zemax

• ActivPhysics

• ActivChemistry

Professional tools

Spreadsheets and data analysis

Maple, Matlab, Mathematica Scientific graphing and

analysis: Axum, Origin, SigmaPlot, etc.

Quantum modeling software: Hyperchem, Spartan, etc.

Data acquisition and experiment control: Science Workshop, Labview, BioPac

Statistics software

Music

• Cakewalk

• Band in a Box

Principles of effective teaching• Encourage contact between students

and faculty• Develop cooperation among

students• Encourage active learning• Give prompt feedback• Emphasize time on task• Communicate high expectations• Respect diverse talents and ways of

thinking

Lessons learned

• Techies start -- explosion happens when non-techies successfully adopt.

• Faculty ownership.

• Standardization important.

• Adopt culture of support -- encourage “play.”

• Sharing successes

• Ancillary benefits -- pedagogy.

• SUPPORT!

Discussion

Rick MatthewsDepartment of PhysicsWake Forest University

http://www.wfu.edu/[email protected]

Brainstorming slide

• Content delivery– Reference materials, sources

(data books), Lectures

• Interaction outside class. Threaded discussions, etc.

• Prompt feedback--simulations.

• Multimedia• Powerpoint• Experts, Seeger

• Labs -- data acquisition.

• Techies start -- explosion happens when non-techies successfully adopt.

• Sharing successes

• Faculty ownership

• Adopt culture of support -- encourage “play.”

• Ancillary benefits -- pedagogy.

computer enhanced learning rick matthews department of physics and international center for computer...

Documents

ways of thinking slide

precious computer time

online discussions chat

active learning techniques

video quality

minute streaming

handson activities

minute lecture