Theory for Authoring Tools that Support Teacher Adaptation of Mathlets (TATSTAM) Dissertation Defense Joel Duffin December 12, 2003

Research Purposes Develop TATSTAM – Theory to guide the design of authoring tools that help middle school math teachers reuse and adapt mathlets Develop TADRIOLA – An authoring tool that helps teachers reuse and adapt mathlets

Context of Research National Library of Virtual Manipulatives Barriers identification Standards Components Product line Authoring tool Theory building L-C-M-S model (Sumner & Dawe, 2001) Approaches to Software Reuse

Formative Research Design TATSTAM Barriers Guidelines TADRIOLAData Conclusions Tasks Evaluation Implementation Analysis Revise

Participants (N = 51) 1 st Phase (1-on-1 evals.) 2 “experts” 7 – middle school math teachers (msmts) (UT) 2 nd Phase (group evals.) 4 – msmts (MN) 1 – msmts (MA) 3 – msmts (VA,WV, MT) 14 – msmts (VA) 22 – msmts (TX)

Data Sources Pre-TADRIOLA perspectives Transcripts of reuse and barriers interviews Reuse and barriers questionnaires Goals, tasks, barriers, and guidelines surveys Transcripts of discussions During and post-TADRIOLA perspectives Transcripts of user tests (observation) Transcripts of debriefing interviews Debriefing questionnaires

Triangulation, Consistency, and Reliability Multiple sources of data Multiple teachers Multiple groups from multiple states Strength of support Unprompted support Member checking Evaluation of inter-rater reliability

TADRIOLA Findings Liked mathlets Liked flexibility to adapt materials Continuum of desires to adapt Wanted preview Some wanted user manuals and training Liked multiple indexes Wanted assessment features Would use sharing tool mainly to share with co-workers Thought was easy to use Nearly all were positive

TATSTAM Findings Teacher goals play an important role Teacher use influences reuse and adaptation Teachers want a record of student activities Reuse occurs at multiple levels of granularity Different teachers and search contexts are supported by different indexes

TATSTAM Outcomes Formation of TATSTAM model of reuse (an extension of the L-C-M-S model) –Made teacher goals the context for all activities –Added Use and Assess activities –Added levels of granularity of reuse Revisions to TATSAM –Added goals component –Removed, renamed, changed, and added items –Changed guidelines to focus on features

TATSTAM Model of Reuse Find AdaptAssess UnderstandShare Grain Sizes Course Lesson Activity Mathlet Teacher Goals Monitor Student Performance Motivate Students Meet Individual Needs Manage Time Use Effective Materials Use Cover Important Content

TATSTAM Task Categories Grain Size Activity CourseLessonActivityMathlet Find Understand Adapt Use Assess Share

Revisions to TATSTAM ComponentInitial Items Items Kept Items Renamed Items Added Goals---6 Barriers13821 Tasks9664 Guidelines134417

Discussion Formative research (qualitative) approach –Appropriate for developmental research –Provided a rich data set –Allowed me to identify unanticipated findings Future research –TADRIOLA authoring efficiency –Longer term use of TADRIOLA –Learning resulting from TADRIOLA created lessons –Application of TATSTAM to author tools

Stories Week in the lab with two 9th grade Geometry classes One-on-one interviews and user tests NSF officers with opposing views of adaptation Perspectives of college professors of math teachers Wes Shumar questioning meaning of “lack of time” Coincidental discussion with a middle school math teacher resulting in the study of teacher goals Guidelines survey failure Recoding data across instruments