Re: [seul-edu] [Fwd: Alternative to Web CT?]

[Dave Prentice <dprentice@uno.edu>]

You didn't say the age range for which you are designing math courses. Since
you are at a college, I assume that's what they are for. However, if you
plan to do anything for lower grades like high school and junior high, some
good examples of effective (at least, with my 9th graders) computer-based
activities can be found at
http://www.harcourtschool.com/elab_subscription/menu_grade_select.html?grade
=8.

Dave Prentice
prentice@instruction.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Prevett, Larry <Prevettl@cochise.cc.az.us>
To: 'seul-edu@seul.org' <seul-edu@seul.org>
Date: Sunday, November 18, 2001 9:26 AM
Subject: Re: [seul-edu] [Fwd: Alternative to Web CT?]


>I have some experience using WIMS materials as
>*supplements* to math classes, but not online
>courses. So I've tried to think carefully about
>what would be useful to me as a math teacher to go from
>supplementary materials to a full-blown online course.
>
>There are 3 main components I am thinking of:
>
>1. Developing the course materials.
>
>I would need to interface larger document structures
>with WIMS. Since I would have to construct the course
>materials in the context of all my other teaching
>responsibilities, I would not be able to find a large
>period of time to work on the course. The development
>process would go something like this: I would finish
>a lecture, then go to the computer and type some new
>content while the ideas are fresh. I would use latex,
>latex2html, php and local (or remote?) databases
>(postgres or mysql) to construct core content.
>
>2. Taking advantage of a large number of modular
>resources while I am developing the course that
>work well in a Unix environment.
>
>The more modular the better - that is the Unix way.
>I would rather invest in a methodology that allowed
>me to take advantage of all the great Unix tools
>already available, rather than in a monolithic,
>proprietary format.
>
>I would pull in interactive exercises and pop-up
>tools from WIMS as needed. I would test and edit the
>materials as time allowed. If I had multimedia files,
>I would install those locally (or somehow separate
>from the server hosting the course) and access them
>using links in the web pages. Over the period of a
>semester I would have the core content for my course
>constructed.
>
>3. Installing the course materials in a
>'course environment' on a server.
>
>That would provide automatic scoring of exercises and
>manually entered grades, message boards,
>conferencing/collaboration tools, maybe a 'whiteboard'
>type application if I had access to a fast connection.
>
>L. Prevett
>Mathematics Instructor
>Cochise College, Sierra Vista, AZ, US
>prevettl@cochise.cc.az.us
>