Larry Presslpress@csudh.edu

http://bpastudio.csudh.edu/fac/lpress

Demonstration and assessment of a modular courseware format using a VB.NET programming

course as an example

Presentation outline

• The modular courseware format

• The programming course

• Demonstration

• Assessment of efficacy

• Advantages and disadvantages

• Further work

Modules for these topics • Introduction to programming• Network applications • Introduction to Web development • Image processing • Audio and video processing • TCP/IP networking technology • Wireless networking • VoIP • Connectivity • History • Encoding data

Press, L., "Information Processing at Tomorrow's University," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 37, No. 7, pp 13-17, July, 1994.

Modules consist of

• A focused topic note with terms with optional demonstration programs

• Assignments

• Review questions

Programming course user interface

92 focused modules and 416 index entries

Presentation outline

• The modular courseware format

• The programming course

• Demonstration

• Assessment of efficacy

• Advantages and disadvantages

• Further work

Context: the course

• First course in programming

• Business IS, High School CS, etc.

• Use VB.NET, but could be any language

• Stress terminology and concepts

• Conventional topics

Topic areas

• Programming languages and terminology• The VS.NET development system• User interface creation and widgets• Event handlers -- sequential execution and

assignment statements• Interactive programs • Numeric, string and Boolean data• Continued …

Topic areas, continued

• Expressions• Variables and scope• Type conversion and checking• Algorithms• Functions• Conditional execution if, case and loops• Sequential files• Arrays

Using the modules in class

• Lecture/demonstration using topic note

• One or more assignments with due dates

• Food for thought questions on their own

• Responsible for key terms

Presentation outline

• The modular courseware format

• The programming course

• Demonstration

• Assessment of efficacy

• Advantages and disadvantages

• Further work

Context: six dimensions

•Isolated instructional modules vs. an integrated course

•Self-study vs. instructor mediated

•Face-face vs. distant education

•Joint, open authorship vs. editorial control

•Repurposed textbook vs. interactive/executable material

•Degree of correlation between classroom and courseware

Presentation outline

• The modular courseware format

• The programming course

• Demonstration

• Assessment of efficacy

• Advantages and disadvantages

• Further work

Assessment: four sections 

  Section

Term Day Evening

Textbook 17 24

Modules 18 23

Number of students

Assessment: outcomes

Term Mean StDev.

Textbook 77.6 12.7

Modules 78.9 11.0

Combined 78.2 11.7

Final exam scores

Assessment: mean scores

Day Textbook Modules Best Eve. Textbook Modules Best

Mid 1 44.6 44.1 T Mid 1 44.4 45.7 M

Mid 2 48.6 46.8 T Mid 2 49.5 47.7 T

Home

Work

81.9 80.7 T Home

Work

77.9 82.4 M

Final Exam

77.0 77.8 M Final Exam

78.1 79.6 M

Assessment: standard deviations

Day Textbook Modules Best Eve. Textbook Modules Best

Mid 1 10.4 8.5 M Mid 1 7.3 7.6 T

Mid 2 13.7 10.7 M Mid 2 13.1 11.8 M

Home

Work

14.6 11.6 M Home

Work

14.2 15.7 T

Final Exam

14.9 10 M Final Exam

11.1 12.4 T

Presentation outline

• The modular courseware format

• The programming course

• Demonstration

• Assessment of efficacy

• Advantages and disadvantages

• Further work

Advantages

• Save cost for students

• Executable content

• Easily modified and extended

• Close correlation between classroom and course material

<soapbox>

CalPIRG: Textbook spending 2003-4

GAO: Textbook prices rose 186% between 1986 and 2004.

Textbook cost distribution

Publisher 64.7 %

Bookstore 22.6 %

Author 11.6 %

Freight 1.1 %

Textbook cost per dollar

</soapbox>

Disadvantages

• Lot of grading and bookkeeping

• No integrative exercises

Presentation outline

• The modular courseware format

• The programming course

• Demonstration

• Assessment of efficacy

• Advantages and disadvantages

• Further work

Further work

• Capture live presentations

• Pre-record presentations

• Other languages

• Solutions and answers – wiki/threaded discussion

• Database-driven implementation

Modules for these topics • Introduction to programming• Network applications • Introduction to Web development • Image processing • Audio and video processing • TCP/IP networking technology • Wireless networking • VoIP • Connectivity • History • Encoding data

Press, L., "Information Processing at Tomorrow's University," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 37, No. 7, pp 13-17, July, 1994.