Summary of implementation
concepts:
| Concept |
Definition or
Explanation |
Example or Analogy |
| Instance
of courseware |
Each specific set of organized presentations
of the topics in a course; we expect there to be a large
number of instances of courseware for each defined
course. |
textbook |
| Presentation
of a topic |
Specific organized presentation of a
single topic within an instance of courseware; |
a section in a textbook |
| Multiple presentations
of a topic |
For each topic within a given instance
of courseware, there may be only one or there may be
multiple presentations |
a section in a textbook
and sections in other textbooks or related workbooks |
| Presentation themes |
Multiple presentations
may be themed and named, so that a student can filter
for their preferred theme when selecting among instances
of courseware.
For example, there may be 3 themes
appearing in most or all of the topics in a given
instance of courseware: Level 1, another for Level 2, and Honors.
Level 1 presentations may be very
concrete and focused on practical examples with minimal
use of abstractions. The Level 2 presentations may
be focused on more abstract examples, but only gradually
having their theme resolved into an abstract principle.
The Honors presentation may be a straightforward
theoretical derivation and proof, with examples
introduced only after the abstractions have been made
clear.
There may be special themes for a
specific topic, including historical material, or
perhaps an experimental presentation. |
Tracked courses, each
one dedicated to level 1, level 2 or honors. |
| Help |
Mouseover and hyperlink ability to access additional
explanatory information. |
Context sensitive help from desktop
applications or various web sites. |
| Ranking |
Statistically normalized structured
feedback for each instance of courseware and for each presentation within an instance of
courseware. Rankings are optionally provided by students
for each presentation, encouraged but not required, and
statistically normalized. Students may edit their
ranking if they return to a given presentation.
Provision to detect and inhibit abuse will be part of
the facility. |
Product rankings on
Amazon.com or other e-commerce web sites. |
| Comments |
Free form public feedback directed to
the owner for each presentation within an instance
of courseware, for a presentation theme within an
instance of courseware, or for the whole instance.
Comments may be general to the whole presentation, or to
any element of the presentation, including context
sensitive help. Comments are not visible to users of the
courseware, only owners. |
Comments associated with
rankings on Amazon.com or other e-commerce web sites. |
| Recommendations |
Free form public feedback directed to
other students for each presentation within an instance
of courseware, for a presentation theme within an
instance of courseware, or for the whole instance.
Recommendations are visible to users of the courseware,
with provision for open or moderated commentary. |
Comments associated with
rankings on Amazon.com or other e-commerce web sites. |
| Annotations |
Free form private notes for each presentation within an instance
of courseware, for a presentation theme within an
instance of courseware, or for the whole instance;
annotations may be edited at any time by the creator |
Paper based note taking for a
traditional course |
| Comment database |
The repository of all comments provided by anyone
about any instance of courseware or component thereof |
Database of comments associated with
rankings |
| Recommendation database |
The repository of all recommendations provided by
students about any instance of courseware |
Database of comments associated with
rankings |
| Annotation database |
The repository of all annotations maintained by
anyone about any instance of courseware or component
thereof |
Paper based notebook for a traditional
course |
| Audit Database |
The repository of all logged
interactions between students and any instance of
courseware, used for subsequent research (including
de-bugging) and for decisions about spiraling
re-evaluation of topical material. |
All steps to solving a
problem as shown by students in conventional homework or
on a test. |
As a student logs into the
computer network to work on their progressive topics, they will
be returned to the point where they last left the system.
Although students must choose the instance of courseware they
want to view, at any time they may select an alternative
instance. Indeed, they are expected to try out multiple
instances to discover the one that works best for them, or they
may elect to switch between instances.
Students are expected to
prefer the same presentation theme within each instance, but
they are as free to use the alternative presentation themes as
they are to use alternative instances of courseware. From the
point of view of a student, the differences between an instance
and a presentation are more one of style than of function.
It could be that a given student finds a
particular courseware author to be more congruent with his or
her learning style, and therefore will prefer that author to
alternatives. In this case, the student may well explore
the different presentation themes within a given instance of
courseware.
On the other hand, another student may find
that a particular presentation theme fits best with his or her
learning style. As a result, the student will view several
alternative presentations of a particular topic, each drawn from
different instances of courseware but within the same
presentation theme.
Although not enforced by the software,
certain presentation themes should be branded so that students
can select a known theme without having to read a definition
each time they visit that particular instance of courseware.
Thus, an "honors" or "theoretical" presentation theme for a math
course may be encouraged within the various instances of
courseware for those students who learn best with a
mathematically rigorous approach. Similarly, a "practical"
presentation theme may be encouraged for those students who
learn best when relating mathematical concepts to everyday
utility. At the same time, we want to encourage, or at least not
discourage, the creation of novel presentation themes that may
be more effective for specific learning styles.
A feedback system will be
incorporated into the courseware presentations asking students
to rank their assessment of each presentation used to master
each topic. This ranking will be subject to statistical
normalization to ensure that the entries are not deliberately
skewed, and the resulting rankings provided when a student
queries the alternative instances and alternative presentations
available.
An opportunity for free form
comment and recommendations similar to that pioneered by
Amazon.com will be provided as well, along with the opportunity
to make public annotations and recommendations in context as
feedback to the owner of the instance. Private annotations
will allow students to accumulate notes for their own private
use, and which can be accessed at any time when working on
problems. Students will be encouraged but not required to
create such notes, recognizing that the act of recoding material
into their own words assists the process of laying down
memories.
Discussion of the various elements of
the implementation of the content:
Instance of courseware: each
specific organized presentation of the topics in a course,
analogous to a textbook written for a conventional course.
Just as there may be tens or hundreds (or more) of textbooks
written for a
given subject, there are expected to be large numbers of
instances of courseware for any given course.
Presentation of a topic: a
specific organized presentation of a single topic within an
instance of courseware, analogous to a section in a
textbook.
However, there may be multiple
alternative presentations of a
topic within a given instance. For example, there could be
one presentation of a topic for Level 1 students, another
presentation for Level 2 students, and a third for Honors
students. This concept is the mechanism by which a single instance
of courseware can provide for different specific learning styles.
Conversely, as we will discuss below, each student can
freely move between presentations within a given instance,
and between presentations across multiple instances.
Presentation theme: the theme of
specific alternative presentations of a topic within an
instance. For example, the Level 1 presentations may be very
concrete and focused on practical examples with minimal use
of abstractions. The Level 2 presentations may be
focused on more abstract examples, but only gradually having
their theme resolved into an abstract principle. The Honors
presentation may be a straightforward theoretical derivation
and proof, with examples introduced only after the
abstractions have been made clear.
Certain branded presentation themes would
be encouraged for inclusion in all presentations, though not
required. However, there
could be multiple Honors presentations for a given topic but
only one for another, at the discretion of the owner.
Alternatively, there can be presentation themes for specific
learning disabilities, such as numerical or reading
disabilities. A presentation theme for reading disabled students
might have as much visual presentation as possible, and any
written content presented also simultaneously presented
verbally.
However, so far we have only discussed the
definition of the instructional components and their related processes. A
much more definitive process, separate but related to
instructional courseware development, will be the homework and
evaluation content. As we discuss in more detail below, homework
is the mechanism by which mastery is evaluated and established. Since
demonstration of mastery is required to progress through the
course topics, the definition of mastery must be rigorous and
unambiguous. We want to let a thousand flowers bloom with regard
to instructional content, but at the end of the day we must know
whether the
student has mastered the topic or has not.
Closely related to the definition of
mastery is the precise definition of each topic, and the precise
definition of which topics must be mastered to qualify for
course mastery at the chosen grade level.
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