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

["Prevett, Larry" <Prevettl@cochise.cc.az.us>]

|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?grad
e=8.

I guess most vendors are expecting people to teach
courses for credit that apply towards degrees, etc.
Though that is happening, with various degrees of
success in math/sci, I think online materials are 
good for support materials for regular classes, and for
special topics you don't have time to cover in class.

At the high-school level there are a number of things
that could be implemented for classes using online course
software. For instance, the E-Labs at the above site
are good. If you wanted to tie some multiple-choice or
fill-in-the-blank type questions to those activities
that would be automatically scored, then you could
access the link from within some 'course environment'
software. The E-labs would pop up in one window and the
the questions would be in another window. I tried it
with WIMS and it works ok.

In other words, with good online course software,
you should be able to 'embed' interesting applications
you design yourself or find on the web (use policies
might apply) inside an environment that augments the
activity somehow or makes it more appropriate for
what you want to do. You might want a message board,
quizzes, other links and resources, tools, etc.

L. Prevett
Mathematics Instructor
Cochise College, Sierra Vista, AZ, US
prevettl@cochise.cc.az.us