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J.R.D. Kuhn and A.G. Montgomery, Mathematics and Physics Section,
Purdue University North Central,
Westville, IN 46391-4197

Abstract

The primary goal of this project will be to allow students to complete course requirements and interact with the subject matter and instructor at times convenient to them rather than in a regular classroom setting. More specifically, this project will provide interactive material for a statistics course, using hypertext links, java applets and interactive animation on demand, by way of the internet and CD-ROM. Although the course to be developed in this manner is a basic statistics course at Purdue University North Central, it is felt the procedures developed in this project can be easily extended to other courses at other Universities. A grant of $11,960 is requested for specialized computer software and time to allow two faculty members at Purdue University North Central to develop this project during the summer of 1998 for implementation in the fall 1998 academic term.

Needs To Be Addressed and Learners To Be Served

The internet is presently used by Kuhn and Montgomery as a readily accessible electronic bulletin board to store not only class notes, homeworks and test solutions but also to post updated test scores throughout the academic term for their courses at Purdue University North Central (PU/NC). Although this passive use of the internet has proven to be successful, this grant will be used by Kuhn and Montgomery to improve the internet presentation of course material by making it more interactive through the use of hyperlinks, java applets and Shockwave animation. In particular, it is hoped this project will allow students at PU/NC to complete requirements of the course without needing regularly scheduled time commitments which could conflict with the students other responsibilities.

This type of asynchronous learning is particularly relevant to the students at PU/NC as they are commuters who would benefit from the flexibility offered by a course given over the internet. We anticipate serving students who live and work in the general geographical area of PU/NC but who, because of work schedules, cannot find the time to physically attend weekly classes or office hours. It is possible, though, that any student who has access to the internet (or even just a CD-ROM) could participate in this course.

Rationale For Choice of Course

We chose statistics as the subject for this project for two main reasons. Statistics involves the exploration and manipulation of data and java applets can facilitate this. Statistic courses presently make heavy use of technology and many students in such courses are expected to learn how to use sophisticated graphing calculators such as the TI-83 and specialized statistical software such as Minitab, Mystat and SAS. A transition to the internet is a logical next step.

Of the four different introductory statistics courses taught at PU/NC, the particular course, Elementary Statistical Methods, was chosen for a few reasons. The type of student taking this course is expected to have a fairly good, although not sophisticated, knowledge of the use of computers. In particular, Kuhn requires the use of the TI-83 calculators in this course. Elementary Statistical Methods is a popular course, given each term on a regular basis, at PU/NC and, furthermore, is the typical introductory statistics course taught at other universities in the United States. Elementary Statistical Methods is the most familar to Kuhn, who has been teaching this course for the past 13 years.

Technology Used

We plan to connect, via web pages written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), the 'passive' parts of the Elementary Statistical Methods course, presently on the internet, with the proposed 'active' parts of the course. In particular, a student will be directed, at appropriate points in the lecture notes, to either java applets, interactive animation, TI-83 labs or some evaluation procedure, such as a quiz or homework. Hyperlinks will also be provided to direct the students back from the applets, animation or labs to corresponding points in the lecture notes. We intend to use Macromedia's Dreamweaver to write the HTML pages. This tool was chosen because of its tight integration with BareBone's BBEdit which is software that has a commanding lead in HTML editing (see WebWeek October 20, 1997).

Java applets will be used to provide interactive content in a number of ways. Java applets will be used to generate data which can be used in conjunction with the student's TI-83. The applet can also supply the correct results of these explorations, allowing the student to confirm their own work without the need to contact the instructor. It should be emphasized that we do not propose to use java to rewrite sophisticated statistical routines, such as appear in the statistical packages SAS or SPSS. Java applets will also be used to provide interactive homeworks and quizzes that can be performed on the internet by the student. We intend to use Metrowerk's Codewarrior to write and compile the Java applets. This tool was chosen because of Montgomery's familiarity with the product.

Shockwave animation will be used to provide interactive demonstrations. These animations are responsive to user input, allowing the students to back-up in a presentation or change some of the focus of a presentation to those parts which they found were left unclear by the text and lecture notes. We intend to use Macromedia's Director 6 to produce the Shockwave animations. This tool was chosen because of its commanding lead in animation creation (see WebWeek, October 20, 1997).

A Usenet newsgroup will be created which will allow the student to interact with each other and Kuhn while they are away from campus. Students will be able to post questions which would then be answered by other students or the instructor. The newsgroup can also be used as a forum in which the students from diverse geographical locations can contact one another in a more informal setting than that found in the classroom.

While some of this interactivity could come through scripting the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) in a language such as Perl, a CGI-based approach, however, would require the student to have access to the internet and would place an undue burden on the server at PU/NC. By choosing to present the interactive element though the use of HTML, Java and Shockwave, we gain the advantage of platform independence and server independence. This allows much of the course content (in particular, the web pages, Java applets and Shockwave animations) to be available on a CD-ROM. In this way, a student will only need to be connected to the internet for turning in homework, taking quizzes, checking their marks, or conversing with the instructor. This would allow this course to be taken off campus provided the student has access to a computer with either internet access or a CD-ROM and provisions are made for taking the final exam.

Finally, the applications needed to view the produced content are all free: Netscape and Microsoft freely distribute their Java-enabled browsers for educational uses, Macromedia freely distributes its browser plug-in for viewing Shockwave animations and Adobe freely distributes its browser plug-in which can be used to view and print the class notes. As a result, students will be able to access all of this content at no cost to them.

Instructional Design Plan

The amount of material and pacing of the proposed statistics course will be designed as though a student were taking the traditional 16 weeks of instruction at PU/NC. It is recommended that a student take the course at the specified pace, although they would be free to proceed at a faster pace.

In addition to the 16 weeks of lecture notes and TI-83 labs presently on the internet, it is anticipated there will be a number of java-based labs, 15 java-based homeworks and quizzes which serve to better illustrate or evaluate the lecture notes or TI-83 labs. The components of the proposed internet and statistics course will be tied together by hyperlink connections. The text by Johnson, Elementary Statistics , Duxbury, 1996, and the TI-83 calculator will also be required for this course (as for the traditionally taught course).

There will be 8 biweekly homeworks presented by a java applet. Students may submit their solutions to these homeworks by filling out forms given on the internet. If submitted over the internet, these homeworks are automatically marked and returned to the student. Solutions to all homeworks will appear on the internet shortly after the due date of the homework. Information regarding how the student is performing relative to the rest of the class will also be made available on the internet.

There will be 7 biweekly quizzes administered by java applets. These quizzes will be much like the homeworks, in that students will be able to access preparatory quiz questions at any time during the term. They may take the quizzes on the internet in the same manner as the homework, but there will be a time limit enforced by the applet.

Other relevant points include:

The deadlines for quizzes and homeworks serve to make sure the student is keeping pace with the course material. They also provide the opportunity for students to proceed at quicker than the required pace.

The only time a student will be required to be on campus for this courses will be for the final exam to be held at PU/NC during the final exam period (although even this requirement may be waived if a suitable proctor can be found).

All course materials, including the CD-ROMs, will be available at the PU/NC campus bookstore. Registration for this course will be made possible by using the internet facilities presently available at PU/NC.

Students will be given the instructor's office telephone number and email address. Weekly office hours will be set up for any student who wishes to drop by campus to visit with the instructor. A class newsgroup will be set up to allow students to post and respond to questions from other students and the instructor.

The design of this course, in general, presupposes that a student is, for the most part, self-guided. Aside from the proctored final exam, the student can easily find ways of cheating on quizzes and homeworks. The final exam, by necessity, will weigh heavily in the final assignment of a grade given to a student taking this course.

Interactive Content

The centerpiece of this proposed statistics course is the java applets and the interactive animation. The applets can provide a variety of data and will run the statistical methods in parallel with the student so that the student may check his or her work. Examples of the statistical methods which may be explored are:

Course Evaluation Plan and Peer Review

We plan to evaluate the proposed statistics and internet course in three ways.

First, we will carry out a study which compares the current method of teaching this course to the proposed method of teaching this course. The comparison will focus on the final exam scores achieved by both groups of students.

Second, questionnaires will be sent to the students taking the internet course asking for their opinions. These opinions will be compared to the opinions submitted by the traditionally taught students.

Third, one or more of the faculty in the Mathematics and Physics department at PU/NC who are familiar with the course as it is currently taught (such as Professors Schwingendorf and Lauer who have both had extensive experience with using computers in the classroom) will be asked to evaluate the proposed approach to teaching this statistics course.

 

Project Schedule

Most work on this project will take place during May, June and July of 1998. Implementation of a pilot version of this course will occur in the fall of 1998 at PU/NC. The tentative project schedule is:

Now until April 1998:

Fall 1998:

January 1999:

Spring1999:

Development Personnel

Two faculty members from the Mathematics and Physics department at PU/NC will be involved in this project: Jonathan Kuhn, the lead faculty, and Aaron Montgomery.

Jonathan Kuhn (Assistant Professor of Statistics, PhD Statistics, University of Toronto, 1994) will provide the main expertise in statistics and also will provide secondary support producing the site content.

Aaron Montgomery (Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics, PhD Mathematics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1996) will provide the main expertise in java programming.



Last updated: June 21, 2006