1. Physics and webCT u Improving introductory physics at Iowa State – Phys 111, 112, 221 and 222, enrollment 1300/semester u Concentrate on Phys 222 – Online assignments – Discussion board – Lecture notes – misc., mygrades, skill profile,…. Craig Ogilvie, Department of Physics and Astronomy cogilvie@iastate.edu

2. Phys 111, 112, 221 and 222 u Improving courses, ongoing :) –active-learning in lectures, small group discussions –problem-solving emphasis –group project, apply physics-modeling to industrial, engineering system u Use of webCT, online assignments –reduce grading for TAs »frees time to work with students (see above) »Or reduces number of TAs =>costs –improve the feedback to students on their work

3. Online Assignments u Four types of assignments –pre-lecture ‘reading’, simple questions to encourage text-book usage –pre-labs, questions to prepare for lab-tasks –conceptual assignment »once per week –quantitative homework »once per week

4. Mechanics u Multiple-choice questions written in Respondus u Calculated questions, numerical grading engine webCT –if no graphics or equations, write directly in webCT –otherwise Respondus =>upload to webCT =>convert Pre-lecturePre-labConceptQuantitative 390200650620 1) Question sets, students receive different questions 2) Developing mySQL database to store, select questions ready by end of Spring 04

5. Typical Quantitative Question You are designing a circuit that has a very long, essentially infinite, wire which has an upwards current that increases at a rate of di/dt, where di/dt > 0. Also on your circuit, but not connected to the long wire, is a square loop (length of each side is “a” and whose closest edge is a distance d from the wire). The changing current in the long wire will induce an emf in the square loop. This is a common problem in many circuits. What is the induced emf in the square loop, and which direction would the induced current flow? 1)solution requires student to develop ½ page of algebra 2)assesses quantitative skill, ability to combine several ideas

6. Multiple-Choice Answers Available clockwise counter-clockwise clockwise counter-clockwise A C B D E H F G 1)Not possible to guess answer 2)Wrong answers deliberately chosen for common mistakes 3)Partial credit awarded

7. Submission Patterns u More than 90% students submit each assignment u 60% of students submit within two hours of deadline Sample of one assignment (one of the harder ones) Score drops if assignment started in last hour

8. Feedback u Full solution –step-by-step instructions on how to set up the solution u Specific advice if student chose one of the wrong answers –e.g. “It looks like you made a mistake calculating the flux through the square loop. Did you forget that the B-field decreases with 1/distance from wire?”

9. Impact of Timeliness of Feedback u Randomly split students into two groups for 1 week –Induction physics, Faraday’s law –group A received immediate feedback on problem set –group B received feedback after due date of problem set u Any difference in learning the physics of this assignment ? –scores on standard magnetism diagnostic “Gain” = fraction of possible improvement All questions = (18.3  0.8)% = (59.7  1.3)% g=0.51  0.02, n ~280 students,

10. Average Gains vs Timing of Feedback No strong evidence that students who received immediate feedback learned more than students with delayed feedback Immediate feedback Delayed feedback Gain measured for induction questions

11. Discussion Board u More than 1000 messages per semester –Information queries –Gripes ( recommend monitoring strangetalk.net ) –Assignment questions (one topic per assignment) »Student-student replies, TA-student replies,.. »Example of thread next page

12. Student B i didn't have this question but try q=mc delta t and go from there. Hope that helps. Student A The problem I am running into is that there are two unknowns - what fraction of the ice melts and what fraction of the water freezes, while I only have one equation (if I take all the Qs and equate them to 0). how can I solve for the two unknowns? Student C Think of this question as how much water freezes instead of how much ice melts. Student A Thank you so much - it was foolish of me to think that the water could freeze and the ice could melt at the same time. Your suggestion was like a light bulb flashing! Student A My problem is the one that involves 20g of water at 10 degrees C and 300g of Ice at -10 degrees C and trying to find the total change in entropy of the system. I think I need to find the amount of ice that melts and the final temperature. Thanks for any help in advance.

13. Lecture Notes u pdf, ppt made available before lecture –Active-learning conceptual questions not included Lecture attendance still high > 75% 490 students

14. Gradebook u Assignments, pre-labs etc. u Bubble-sheet scores from test-services u TAs hand-enter –Lab-grades, project scores u Tremendous value –Students find our “accounting” errors =>fix them –Track performance u Downside –Not possible to segment by TA u Upside –Uploading of letter grades to registrar :)

15. Next Steps: Skill Profile u Each question => skill weights for several categories –N/A, low, med., high-skill needed to solve problem u Categories –use of multiple concepts, geometry, algebra …. u Calculate a “skill level” for each student in each category Provide students their updated skill profile each week Meta-cognitive: “what type of problems do I get wrong?”

16. Wish/concern list u Rubric data entry –TAs use rubric for lab-grading but enter total score –Better would be a “graphical” interface of rubric »TA “click” on a rubric-grid for each student u Fast data entry »Splits the scores up into each category, u Allows student to monitor improvement u More page tracking –how often non-content pages viewed? e.g. solutions u Need “assignment availability/closing” bug fixed

17. Conclusions u Redesign of physics courses @ ISU –active engagement during lectures –group projects on realistic modeling –use webCT to free TAs from grading »better use of TA time »Cost-savings –on-line assignments »immediate, specific feedback possible u Lectures, discussion board, gradebook –well used u Contact me with any questions, cogilvie@iastate.edu

18. Backup

19. TA Survey

20. Usage (I) u E.g. weekly quantitative problem set, 4-5 questions –Each question ~ ½ page of work –Random sample of 100 students mid-way semester

21. Usage (II) u Random sample of 100 students mid-way semester Time assignment submitted