Abstract
This proposal requests funding to help develop a version of P150 Elementary Logic for delivery via the Internet. This philosophy course is widely used to fulfill Humanities general education requirements, and its Internet incarnation may be used in satisfaction of requirements for nine distance education degrees offered by three Indiana universities. The course will be implemented as a web site that offers concise, illustrated tutorials in using logic techniques and that makes extensive use of interactive exercises that give students guided practice in using the techniques. The course also has a writing component that will be implemented using a bulletin board. A listserv email list will be used for on-going discussion and problem-solving. Funding is requested in the amount of $10,670. This will be used (1) to obtain summer funding and one fall 1999 course release enabling the responsible faculty member to write the tutorials and exercises, (2) to compensate a programmer who will write three Java applets for logic exercises in special graphical formats, and (3) to purchase specialized web authoring and course development software. Since this will be the first wholly Internet-based course developed on the Kokomo campus of Indiana University, IHETS support will also help to put in place technical and pedagogical expertise that will encourage further Internet course development on this regional campus.
Proposal
1. Need for this Course and Prospective Audience
P150 Elementary Logic is a philosophy course aimed at those who wish to improve their ability to read, analyze, critique and construct arguments. These skills are valuable to students in all academic disciplines, and the course attracts students from all programs of study.
The proposed Internet version of the course has been approved by the Indiana University School of Continuing Studies for asynchronous degree completion. Students may use it to satisfy the Humanities distribution requirements of five IU distance education programs: the Bachelor and Associate of General Studies, and the Bachelor, Associate and Certificate programs in Labor Studies.
Since this course also has equivalents offered at all colleges and universities in Indiana and credit for it is easily transferred, the course may also be used to satisfy the Humanities distribution requirements of Ball State University's distance education Associate of Arts in General Studies and RN Baccalaureate Completion Track, as well as Vincennes University's distance education programs in General Studies and Social Science. Many of these programs also allow the course to be taken as an elective.
No course equivalent to P150 Elementary Logic is currently offered through the Indiana College Network. A more advanced course, P265, that emphasizes symbolic techniques and is recommended "only for students comfortable with math-like material" is offered via the Internet by Michael Burke at IUPUI. Professor Burke is offering two sections of his course this semester--a good indication that there will be significant and sustained demand for an Internet version of P150, which customarily attracts a larger number of students than P265.
2. Rationale: Course Content and Delivery
Logic is the study of arguments, understood as processes of reasoning in which considerations are offered in support of a conclusion. In this course, students learn how to analyze and critique complex written arguments, and how to use these analytical and critical skills to write essays organized around sophisticated arguments. Thus the course has two main elements, one analytical and the other constructive. The two elements will be taught by means of two different Internet technologies.
Course Content: Analytic Elements
During the first weeks of the semester, students learn how to identify the premises and conclusions of arguments and diagram the logical structure of especially complex or lengthy arguments, debates and counter arguments. Once students are able to reconstruct an argument's logical structure, they are prepared to assess its logical strength or validity. The concepts of logical strength and validity are the core concepts of the course, and students are expected to demonstrate mastery of them by assessing the strength or validity of several different kinds of arguments. They learn how to identify a selection of common fallacies, and they learn two formal techniques for testing the validity of deductive arguments--Venn diagrams for categorical syllogisms and truth tables for propositional arguments. The purpose of these formal techniques is not to teach students full-blown symbolic notation, but rather to give them a precise understanding of the concept of validity.
A traditional classroom-based logic course does not emphasize lectures, reading assignments, or class discussions. It is best first to show students how to use a logic technique, giving several examples, and then to assign sufficient practice in using the technique to ensure that students fully understand its workings and can apply it to new cases. Since this is learning by practice, students benefit from the presence of an instructor who can correct and explain their mistakes as they as they make them--a practice akin to 'spotting' in athletic training. And since each student is liable to make different mistakes, spotting is most effective on a one-on-one or small group basis. A great deal of class time is spent going over exercises in this way.
Course Content: Constructive Elements
Traditional logic courses emphasize these analytical and critical techniques, giving students the impression that logic is only good for "poking holes in people's arguments." This impression is mistaken. Logic is equally a method for constructing arguments. And since arguments are typically expressed in writing, logic is invaluable to anyone who wishes to write well-organized, logically strong arguments. Moreover, it is as much in writing good arguments as in critiquing bad ones that students demonstrate good critical thinking skills.
For this reason, students are required to write an essay when this course is taught on campus. The essay is written in several stages: at each stage students learn to apply a specific analytical or critical technique to structure and strengthen their writing. Students are also required to share stages of their essays with their peers, who scrutinize each other's work using the critical thinking techniques they have learned. This kind of critical feedback gives students an opportunity to defend and strengthen their arguments and also encourages them to turn a critical eye towards their own work. In writing this essay students develop a deeper appreciation of the power of logic, not just for critique but for persuasive writing.
Internet Delivery: Analytic Elements
Each of the two main elements of the course is taught in a different way in the classroom, and each will also be taught using different, appropriate Internet technologies. It is possible to use these technologies in a way that is at least as effective, and in some respects more effective, than classroom teaching.
The course will be delivered via a web site containing seven units, each devoted to a logic technique. Each unit will have three sections. The first will be a Tutorial containing a brief explanation of the purpose and rationale of the technique followed by step-by-step instructions in using the technique and several examples of how the technique is to be applied. The second section is a Workshop where students will do exercises to reinforce their understanding of the technique. Integrated into the Workshop will be three kinds of interactive help, or "virtual spotting." First, there will be Review buttons which students can click to be reminded of relevant parts of the Tutorial. Second, there will be Hint buttons offering clues in applying the technique to a particular exercise. Finally, once a student has submitted an answer to an exercise, they will be told immediately whether their answer is correct or incorrect. If it is correct, a screen message will reinforce why it is correct. If it is incorrect, a message will explain why the answer is incorrect and remind the student of the principle that will lead to the correct answer. In this way, the student should improve their performance from one exercise to the next. The final subsection will be an on-line test, which students will take as part of their course grade.
Internet Delivery: Constructive Elements
Experts frequently remark that people are more prolific writers of email and bulletin board postings than they ever were of letters and memos (or essays!) Moreover, Internet writing has a distinctive character. Whereas it is natural for writing assignments in traditional classroom-based courses to take the form of essays, an Internet-based course should take advantage of the unique character of Internet writing tools.
The web site for this course will house a threaded-style bulletin board, devoted to a single, well-defined topic. Students will be required to post several short pieces to the bulletin board, each employing a specific logic technique. Students will also be required to read and critique what other students have posted and to reply to critiques of their own work. Since all students will be writing on the same topic, it is to be expected that a lively debate, with objections, responses and counter arguments, will develop. The instructor will monitor the discussion (and sometimes contribute to it in disguise) and will grade students' contributions. At the end of the semester each student will post a comprehensive and definitive statement that is constructed from their previous postings. These pieces of writing will be graded.
Anybody who belongs to an active email list or reads an active bulletin board knows that these technologies lend themselves to a statement-objection-reply format. One person posts a message, others respond, quoting the original and critiquing what is said, then the original author responds, quoting parts of his opponents' messages and answering their objections. The Internet lends itself to the kind of argumentative writing that is much harder to achieve in a traditional essay.
In addition to the bulletin board, students will belong to a listserv email list, where they can ask questions, solve problems and engage in discussions of matters not germane to the topic of the bulletin board. The list will be saved as a searchable archive on the web site for student reference.
In sum, Elementary Logic is well suited for delivery via the Internet. It will afford students a learning experience that is functionally equivalent to, and in some respects more effective and exciting than a classroom version of the course. Its use of email and bulletin boards will capitalize upon the way these media naturally encourage argumentative writing, and its implementation of on-line exercises with integrated spotting mechanisms will provide students the kind of individualized attention that is not possible in most classrooms.
3. Institutional Commitment and Capacity
Elementary Logic has been offered at Indiana University Kokomo at an average rate of three sections per semester. There is every reason to think that demand will remain at a sufficiently high level for two or more sections to be offered per year on the Internet.
The Chair of Humanities is very supportive of this plan. He has authorized an upgrade of the project director's computer with the specific purpose of enabling him to create this course. IUK employs an instructional design expert on a part-time basis, and she has the expertise necessary to create the three Java applets described below. (An IPSE grant will be used to increase the number of hours she works, so that she will have time to create these applets.) In addition, the IU School of Continuing Studies has approved limited support, which the instructor will use to obtain a course release for the spring of 1999 to design the course and to build its initial elements.
While the necessary Internet resources are in place at IUK, the School of Continuing Studies and the IUK administration are supportive of this project in part because it is the first of its kind on this regional campus and will help to put into place specialized infrastructure and expertise that will encourage the development of additional Internet-based courses.
4. Instructional Design Plan
This course is divided into two complementary parts. Students will work on both simultaneously.
Part I Analytic and Critical Skills
|
1. Arguments |
·learn the parts of arguments and the concepts of soundness and strength |
|
2. Fallacies |
·reinforce mastery of the concept of strength and ability to identify premises and conclusions, become aware of fallacies |
|
3. Diagraming Arguments |
·appreciate the structural features of arguments (dependent and independent premises, intermediate conclusions, counter arguments and debates) using tree diagrams |
|
4. Categorical Propositions |
·display the meaning of categorical propositions using Venn diagrams; learn immediate inferences and equivalences |
|
5. Categorical Syllogism |
·use Venn diagrams to develop an understanding of deductive validit |
|
6. Propositional Arguments |
·learn several valid propositional argument forms; translate into symbols |
|
7. Truth Tables |
·use truth tables to test for validity; solidify understanding of deductive validity |
Part II Constructive Skills
Debate Room: a bulletin board where students post
written assignments
Logic List: an archived listserv email list for class discussion
The seven units of Part I will contain a Tutorial explaining and illustrating the concepts and techniques needed to complete the unit, a Workshop in which the concepts and techniques are learned, and a Test where student learning will be assessed.
The bulk of the design work will go into the Workshops. The instructor will create exercises and test them in a logic class on campus. The aim of the testing will be primarily to discover the kinds of mistakes students make so that well-targeted help systems can be built into the Workshops.
The Workshops for Units 1, 2, 6 and 7 will contain exercises that the instructor will write in html enhanced with Java Script using Dreamweaver and QuizPlease, a specialized software package designed for the purpose. However, unit 3 requires a way for students to create tree diagrams and units 4 and 5 require a way for students to fill in Venn diagrams, and neither can be done in html. A course development specialist with programming expertise will write Java applets to provide the needed functionality.
5. Course Development Timeline
|
Fall 1998 |
·course is redesigned to as to ease transfer to the Internet |
|
Spring 1999 |
·instructor has a course release funded by IUK |
|
Summer 1999 |
·instructor has summer salary for this project funded by IUK
and IPSE |
|
Fall 1999 |
·instructor has a course release funded by IPSE |
|
Spring 2000 |
·launch of the full version of the course |
6. Course Evaluation Plan
A course delivered by means of a new technology must be at least as effective at achieving its principal objectives as traditional classroom-based courses. However, no evaluation technique should be used that focuses on traditional classroom techniques. This means the student survey instrument used by the IUK Humanities Department is of questionable value. This evaluation plan is tailored to assess the success of this Internet course.
During the fall of 1999 students taking a traditional section of P150 on campus will be asked to use the Tutorials and Workshops developed to date, in addition to doing some traditional textbook exercises. They will be surveyed to discover (1) how easy it is to use the Tutorials and Workshops, (2) whether, in comparison to the textbook and lectures, the Tutorial explanations are clear and helpful, and (3) whether there were enough exercises and whether the spotting functions were relevant. These data will be used to fine tune completed units and to guide the creation of new units.
During the spring of 2000, the course will be offered for the first time on the Internet. At the end of each Workshop, students will be invited to complete a brief on-line survey in which they are asked to evaluate and comment upon the usefulness of the Tutorial and Workshop and to anticipate their test performance. A more general survey will be administered on-line at the end of semester asking students to appraise the design of the web site, the conduct of the bulletin board, the difficulty and appropriateness of the course material, tests and assignments, and students' email contact with the instructor. At the same time, student test and essay scores will be compared to test scores of students in a classroom version of the course taught by the same instructor and also to students' reports of their anticipated test performance. These evaluation methods will be used for all further offerings of the course and will be used to adjust the content of all parts of the course.
The course will be deemed successful if (1) student test and essay scores are comparable to those of students taught by the same instructor on campus and (2) surveys show students find that the web site is easy to use, the Tutorial explanations are clear and help them to complete the exercises, and the exercises help them become comfortable with the logic techniques they are learning.
7. Peer Review and Acceptance Plan
The project director/instructor is committed to peer review as a valuable form of course evaluation. He also recognizes that the success of a course like this depends on its acceptance by colleagues at other IU campuses and other Indiana universities. In addition, since the course is wholly Internet-based and can be taught by any qualified philosopher, he is committed to allowing sections of it to be taught by other philosophy instructors, and to allowing portions of it to be adapted to their needs.
This course will invite peer review and acceptance in five ways. First, colleagues who teach logic at IUK and other institutions in Indiana will be invited to visit and comment on the course, especially during its pilot offering in the fall of 1999 and its maiden launch in the spring of 2000. The feedback of philosophers with an expertise in logic teaching will be especially helpful to the instructor as he refines the Tutorial and Workshop sections of the course. Professor Robert Strikwerda at IUK will serve as one peer reviewer. The instructor will also enlist at least four other reviewers from Indiana, including at least one from a large research campus, one from an urban campus and one from a private college.
Second, the instructor plans to write a paper describing the aims and design of the course and reporting any data concerning its effectiveness. After at least three sections of the course have been taught, this paper will be submitted to the American Philosophical Association's Newsletter on Philosophy and Computing. Anybody who wishes the visit the course at this time will be given a password and invited to comment.
Third, parts of the course will be made freely available to any instructor in Indiana who wishes to use them as components of a classroom-based course. In particular, although there is some logic tutorial software available to instructors, no logic software currently available allows students to create diagrams of arguments or Venn diagrams. The Java applets created for this course will fill this gap. In order to publicize the course and encourage acceptance of it, instructors will be given royalty-free use of the three Java applets until the summer of 2001.
Fourth, after the course has been taught by the project director for several semesters, a study will be made of demand for the course. If there is evidence of sufficient demand, interested colleagues will be invited to teach the course on their home campuses. Finally, all results is student evaluation and peer evaluation will be made available in a supplement to the course's web site. Sharing of information is essential if those interested in the course are to evaluate it fairly.
8. Key Development Personnel
Instructor: Dominic M. McIver Lopes, Associate Professor
of Philosophy (see appendix)
Java Developer: Julie Tracy, Instructional Technology Trainer/Web Administration,
with three years of experience in Java programming, Java Script and
instructional technology
APPENDIX
Instructor's Expertise
Dominic Lopes is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Indiana University Kokomo. He has taught Elementary Logic on a regular basis since 1992, and has sometimes taught P250 Symbolic Logic. His innovations in logic teaching include designing a workbook to teach students how to do proofs in propositional and predicate logic and the introduction of a significant writing component into Elementary Logic.
Lopes also has extensive experience with Internet technologies. He moderates a listserv discussion list with more than five hundred subscribers from around the world, and has used majordomo and listserv email lists as discussion forums for his introductory philosophy courses. In addition, he has maintained a web site for a scholarly society since 1995 (at <www.indiana.edu/~asanl>). The site has about one thousand visitors per month, contains more than a hundred documents and has such features as a search engine, a bulletin board, a secure server, and several interactive forms. The site is well designed and has received several web awards. Lopes's familiarity with these technologies will prove invaluable as he creates a web-based version of Elementary Logic.
