Presenter Profiles & Presentation Abstracts

Transcription

1 Presenter s & Presentation s 2015 Maple T.A. User Summit Keynote Address: From 5 to 50 to Free Prof. Steven Furino, Associate Dean Undergraduate, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo Steven Furino is the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo. He is a winner of the university s Distinguished Teaching Award. He is also the director of the Faculty s online efforts and has been heavily involved in online courses since Different learning styles. Individualized support in large classes. The need for better student preparation before university and remedial support while at university. The desire for enrichment material. Study opportunities while offcampus. Outreach. All of these were prominent factors in 2010 when the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo began a large, informal experiment in online education in mathematics. The result of some of that work is now available at This marks the beginning of the release of free and publicly available courseware which embeds narrated exposition, self-assessment with immediate and automated evaluation, experiments with STEM objects, exercises and enrichment opportunities. Over the next two years, courseware in linear algebra, probability and statistics, computer science and optimization will be available. Maple T.A. underlies both the deployment and the self-assessment opportunities. The presentation will describe the successes and the lessons learned. It will also preview the Möbius Project, a new technology developed in collaboration with Maplesoft that, we hope, makes authoring and sharing STEM courseware dramatically easier. Deploying Maple T.A. in Third Party Applications: A Look Inside Thinkwell Carl Tyson, CEO, and Pavol Chalupka, CTO, Thinkwell Carl Tyson is Thinkwell s Chief Executive Officer. He joined the company in 1999 and has enjoyed more than thirty years in college publishing. Prior to Thinkwell, Carl was the President of the college divisions at McGraw-Hill and Harcourt Brace. He is the author of eight books and more than twenty articles on the history of the American West. Carl received a Ph.D in Western American History from Oklahoma State University. Pavol Chalupka is VP of Technology at Thinkwell. Palo designed and built the platform, course management, and back-end systems at Thinkwell. His background in educational software began more than a decade ago at the Princeton Review where he helped build one of the first adaptive testing environments online. How important is content presentation? Do we lose students with every extra click of a mouse they must make in

2 order to access their course materials? At Thinkwell, we believe presentation is an essential part of facilitating great learning experiences. By combining multiple learning tools and learning materials, we have created a single, integrated learning environment for each of our online courses. Thinkwell uses Maple T.A. for online assessment and tightly integrates it with the rest of our learning solutions. In seeking to present materials in a more consistent and user-friendly way, we ve employed Maple T.A. s standard API to integrate question content and assignment data directly within our product. Thinkwell is a publishing company from Austin, specializing in providing full-featured courseware and learning services to schools and universities across the globe. University of Turin: Using Maple T.A. and Moodle for a Richer Learning Experience Prof. Marina Marchisio, Professor of Geometry & Dr. Alice Barana, Research Grant-Holder, University of Turin Marina Marchisio is professor of Geometry at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Turin. She also does research in e-learning, particularly the role of integrated platforms in learning scientific subjects. From 2014 she is the coordinator of the E-learning Commission of the University of Turin. From 2012 she is responsible for Italian Ministry of Education, Research and University s project Problem Posing and Solving, whose principal aim is innovation in the learning of mathematics in high school. Alice Barana graduated in Mathematics from the University of Turin in April She holds a grant, funded by the Goria Foundation, for the research project: The role of integrated e-learning platforms in training and learning processes for the achievement of mathematical and digital competences. In particular, she is interested in automatic assessment. She holds several training courses for teachers to introduce the use of Maple T.A. as an evaluation tool in their classes. Maple T.A. as an assessment tool can become even more effective if inserted in a learning management system. Enriching and completing a learning journey was the objective of the University of Turin, Department of Mathematics and Department of Computer Science, when Maple T.A. was made available in all the Moodle courses through Maplesoft s Moodle-Maple T.A. integration. It provides the automatic association of a Maple T.A. class to each Moodle course, and the enrolment of all Moodle users to Maple T.A., which helps them maintain their roles. Maple T.A. assignments can be inserted in Moodle courses as normal activities. The integration of Moodle with Maple T.A. is adopted in all the platforms implemented by the University of Turin, including those made available to the projects managed by the Department of Mathematics, and covering all stages of education from primary school to teacher s training. It is also adopted in the Italian Ministry of Education s Problem Posing and Solving project, which involves all maths high school teachers. Scenarios for Adaptive Testing Ir. Meta.A. Keijzer-de Ruijter, Consultant for IT in Education, TU Delft University Meta Keijzer-de Ruijter graduated from the faculty of chemical engineering at TU Delft in After working in the chemical industry for several years she studied corporate education at FCE. In 2004 she returned to TU Delft as the head of the computer training department. Soon after, she developed the digital testing system at the university, overseeing software selection, establishment of a support organization, teacher training and computer exam rooms. Now she focuses on the use of advanced features in Maple T.A., and the development of in-house expertise in these advanced features.

3 Maple T.A. offers opportunities for creating adaptive scenarios in testing that can be used for both formative and summative testing. In a formative setting, a student can be taken through the process of solving a problem step by step. Whilst in a summative setting the student gets the chance to show what parts of the problem he masters, if it turns out that he is not successful in solving the problem completely in the first attempt. In addition, the use of Maple T.A. in a game about Dynamics will be discussed. This involves the use of adaptive assignments. Maple T.A. + Maple + Seamless Integration of Technology and Traditional Teaching in Calculus. And Mobification Too! Prof. Jack Weiner, Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph Jack Weiner is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph, in Guelph, Ontario (Canada). He has over 40 years of experience teaching mathematics from elementary to postsecondary. He has won many teaching awards, including the University of Guelph s Professorial Teaching Award and the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Association s Teaching Award. In Maclean s Magazine annual Canadawide university survey, he was listed as a Popular Prof eight years out of nine. Jack is the author of the Mathematics Survival Kit (MSK), which is now in its third edition. Currently, he is preparing the third edition of the Maplesoft s interactive e-book version of the MSK. Jack, a professor at the University of Guelph, spent several years integrating Maple and Maple T.A. into classes ranging in size from 12 to 600. He endeavored to combine the best of technology with the best of traditional teaching. In this talk, he will give examples from Maple T.A. and Maple, together with proven teaching strategies and some novel new ones that energized his classroom. And he will introduce the next step-- Mobification of this package. Keynote Address: Mathematical Association of America Using Research to Shape Placement Tests and Curriculum Prof. Marilyn P. Carlson, Professor, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University and Dr. Caren Diefenderfer, Ph.D., Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, Chair, Hollins University Marilyn P. Carlson is currently a professor in the School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences at Arizona State University. She has published over 50 research articles about student learning and teaching of key ideas in precalculus and beginning calculus. She has developed professional development, student curriculum, and assessment instruments that leverage this knowledge. Her current research focus is on mathematical knowledge and meanings as they relate to teacher instructional goals and teaching practices. Marilyn has received funding from the National Science Foundation for her research and outreach work with teachers. Her current NSF grant, Project Pathways, is working in over 20 secondary schools, community colleges, and universities to support improvements in curriculum and student learning in algebra I, algebra II, precalculus and calculus. She was the Coordinator of the MAA Special Interest Group for Research in Mathematics Education, and co-edited the MAA Volume, Making the Connection: Research to Practice in Mathematics Education. She received an NSF CAREER award to study student learning in calculus. In 2007 she received the MAA Selden Award for Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education and in 2012 she received the outstanding doctoral mentor award at Arizona State University. Caren Diefenderfer has been a member of the Mathematics Department at Hollins University in Roanoke, VA for over 30 years. She worked for the College Board and ETS as the Chief Reader of AP Calculus from and during

4 that time was a member of the Calculus Test Development Committee. She was instrumental in establishing Hollins Quantitative Reasoning program and has been a consultant to many institutions as they think about introducing quantitative reasoning/literacy on their campuses. Caren has been active with the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and is currently the governor of the MD-DC-VA section. She was the chair of the MAA s Special Interest Group on Quantitative Literacy (SIGMAA QL) and also the chair of SIGMAA on the Teaching of Advanced High School mathematics (TAHSM). In addition, she was the President of the National Numeracy Network (NNN) from Her publications focus on topics in test development, the calculus curriculum, and quantitative reasoning. She has received numerous Hollins awards for service and for scholarship. She recently received the 2015 John M. Smith Teaching Award from the MD-DC-Virginia section of the MAA. There is a broad body of research reporting key understandings and foundational reasoning abilities (e.g., Carlson & Rasmussen, 2008) students need to understand and be successful in calculus. Some projects (e.g., Project Pathways at Arizona State University) have leveraged these findings to inform the development of curriculum (e.g., Pathways Precalculus) and mathematics assessment tools such as the Precalculus Concept Assessment (PCA) (Carlson, Oehrtman and Engelke, 2005), Calculus Concept Readiness (CCR) (Carlson, Madison and West, in press) and the Algebra, Precalculus Concept Readiness (APCR) (Madison, Carlson, Oehrtman & Tallman, accepted) exams. In this session we will present a broad taxonomy of key understandings and reasoning abilities that guided the development of these exams, and are needed for learning calculus. We will illustrate how this taxonomy of key ideas and reasoning abilities informed the initial development and adaptation of research based placement tests and curriculum. Comparison data that reveals qualitative differences in student learning in precalculus will be shared along with data that reveals how assessment results can be used to shape and adapt curriculum. You like the idea, but then what? T.A. Content Authoring and Implementation at University of Waterloo Tonya Noël, Online Learning Consultant and Extending Learning Math Rep, University of Waterloo Tonya Noël is an Online Learning Consultant (OLC) with the University of Waterloo s Centre for Extended Learning and has been helping design fully online courses and programs since As an OLC, she provides project management and instructional design expertise to various fully online projects most of which have been math related in the recent past. Tonya is talking on behalf of several of her colleagues and would like to thank Paul Kates, Sean Scott, Tim Zhou, Rachael Verbruggen, Stephen Tosh, and Mark Stewart for their assistance in putting this presentation together. Between September 2007 and August 2014, more than 100,000 University of Waterloo students completed an assignment inside of Maple T.A. This number continues to grow exponentially as we work with Maplesoft to improve our fully online and blended courses, develop high school outreach resources, move some of our online math courses to an open space, and create a content authoring tool specifically targeted to those in a STEM-related discipline. This presentation will summarize how we transform ideas into tangible learning objects and discuss some of the implementation challenges we ve encountered and overcome (or encountered and are still trying to overcome) over the years. Using Maple T.A. to Improve Student Success and Course Alignment G. Michael Guy, Department of Mathematics & Computer Science, Queensborough Community College G. Michael Guy is a professor of mathematics at a CUNY community college. In his role in the CUNY Central Office

5 of Institutional Research and Assessment, he is the University Mathematics Assessment Specialist charged with overseeing the CUNY Elementary Algebra Final Exam. This final exam is administered CUNY-wide to more than 20,000 students each year via Maple T.A. His interests include developmental mathematics pedagogy, policy, and college & career readiness in K-12. He earned his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Georgia. Each semester more than 15,000 students take remedial Elementary Algebra CUNY-wide. Unfortunately, fewer than 45% of these students pass the course. As a result, there is significant interest in improving these outcomes. This talk will highlight a small, but growing pilot aimed at improving the learning opportunities for these students. Maple T.A. is a fundamental component of this pilot that also features a new Open Educational Resource textbook, My Math GPS: Elementary Algebra Guided Problem Solving, and carefully aligned assessments. Based on preliminary analyses, the odds of passing the course in this pilot are three times the odds as other students. This talk will highlight a use of Maple T.A. applicable to any instructor who wishes to help their students turn assessments into enriching learning opportunities. Jonathan Cornick and Karan Puri are collaborators on this project. European SMART Project Adopts Maple T.A. Prof. Alberto Conte, President of Academy of Sciences and Prof. Marina Marchisio, Professor of Geometry, University of Turin Alberto Conte has taught Higher Geometry at University of Turin for 50 years. He has published more than 150 research papers in Algebraic Geometry, Computational Algebra and History of Mathematics. He is Emeritus Professor and the President of Academy of Sciences at the University of Turin. Marina Marchisio is professor of Geometry at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Turin. She also does research in e-learning, particularly the role of integrated platforms in learning scientific subjects. From 2014 she is the coordinator of the E-learning Commission of the University of Turin. From 2012 she is responsible for Italian Ministry of Education, Research and University s project Problem Posing and Solving, whose principal aim is innovation in the learning of mathematics in high school. The European SMART (Science and Mathematics Advanced Research for Good Teaching) Project is run by the Italian Ministry of Education in cooperation with other international partners from Sweden (Chalmers University), the Netherlands (TU Delft), Germany (Saint Thomas School), Hungary (Radnoti School) and Italy (Carlo Anti, University of Turin, University of Rome3, Academy of Sciences, Confindustria). It is aimed at developing initiatives to promote innovation, exchange of experiences and know-how between different types of organizations in more fields of education and training. The principal objectives include improving professional competences, and supporting innovation in the teachers system of training. It also aims to provide tools and methodologies to facilitate the acquisition of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) skills. SMART adopted Maple T.A. and Maple already being used by some of the partners. One of the intellectual outputs of the Project is the construction of two open online courses for Mathematics and Science teachers, containing different modules based on the adoption of innovative technologies like Maple and Maple T.A. These courses help teachers to acquire mathematical and scientific competences, and are aimed at teaching that supports the students learning with constant formative assessment.

6 Maplesoft s Education Vision Jim Cooper, President and CEO, Maplesoft Maplesoft Presentations Jim Cooper has successfully built Maplesoft into the world s premier advanced mathematics, modeling and simulation software provider. He is responsible for the company s financial performance, and oversees all aspects of the company s operations, including strategic business planning, product direction as well as sales and marketing. Jim brings over 20 years of experience in corporate management of advanced technology business ventures to his role as President and CEO. Maplesoft is changing the way educators meet today s challenges of adopting new technologies in the classroom. From online assessments to entire course delivery methods, Maplesoft has the tools that educators need to succeed with these challenging changes. Jim s presentation will lay out Maplesoft s vision for developing technology and tools that empower educators and allow students to explore rich online math-based visualizations and applications. Maple T.A.: Today and the Future Jonny Zivku, Product Manager, Maple T.A. Jonny Zivku earned his BMath in Combinatorics & Optimization and Pure Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. He has been with Maplesoft since 2009 and is currently the Product Manager of Maple T.A. His previous roles included working with the Technical Support team, the Quality Assurance team, and the Project Management team. This presentation will focus on new features present in the latest release of Maple T.A. and it s corresponding service packs, and will provide a sneak peek into what to expect in the next major release of Maple T.A. Theme 1: Connecting Maple T.A. to Other Applications - Topic Introduction Jonny Zivku, Product Manager, Maple T.A. Jonny Zivku earned his BMath in Combinatorics & Optimization and Pure Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. He has been with Maplesoft since 2009 and is currently the Product Manager of Maple T.A. His previous roles included working with the Technical Support team, the Quality Assurance team, and the Project Management team. This presentation will explore how the use of Maple T.A. can be enriched by integrating it into an existing course management system using a pre-built connector, our API, or the soon to be released LTI connector.

7 Theme 2: Adaptive Questions & Testing - Topic Introduction Carl Hickman, Senior Developer, Maplesoft Carl Hickman holds a Ph.D. degree in Mathematics from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. He has taught at the university level and has been with Maplesoft since He is currently a senior developer on the Maple T.A. team. This talk will explore Maple T.A. s capabilities in creating and delivering questions and assignments that can adapt and tailor themselves to the student s ability level. Theme 3: Online STEM Education - Topic Introduction Aron Pasieka, Product Manager, Möbius Aron Pasieka holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Guelph in Guelph, Canada. He is experienced in teaching and developing curricula at the university level. A grant to produce and evaluate mathematics-based online course content led to an internship with Maplesoft, followed by a Content Developer position. Currently, Aron is the Product Manager for Möbius. Online educational resources are becoming a necessity, but building and maintaining student engagement is a significant challenge for both instructors and institutions. The specialized requirements of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, make producing and delivering effective online courses an even larger struggle. In this presentation, we will introduce Maplesoft s new platform for online courseware development and delivery that will help instructors and institutions face these challenges. Theme 4: Placement Testing - Topic Introduction Louise Krmpotic, Director, Business Development and Content Authoring, Maplesoft Louise Krmpotic earned her Bachelor of Mathematics and Masters of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, Canada. She also holds a Bachelor of Education from Althouse College, the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. At Maplesoft, Louise has been responsible for several key initiatives, from product development to training and content development. She currently oversees key relationships with higher-education publishers and is responsible for finding and developing new business opportunities. What is placement testing? What is the Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite? How does it work and how are people using it? What can it do beyond placing students in the right courses? Placement tests are designed to determine which course a student should take. The Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite combines two very important features: content developed and tested by the MAA in educational institutions, and a flexible, customizable delivery platform. In addition to discussing placement testing specifically, this session will cover some additional uses of the Placement Test Suite.

8 Theme 5: Creating Content For Your Courses - Topic Introduction Louise Krmpotic, Director, Business Development and Content Authoring, Maplesoft Louise Krmpotic earned her Bachelor of Mathematics and Masters of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo, Canada. She also holds a Bachelor of Education from Althouse College, the Faculty of Education at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. At Maplesoft, Louise has been responsible for several key initiatives, from product development to training and content development. She currently oversees key relationships with higher-education publishers and is responsible for finding and developing new business opportunities. Maple T.A. is textbook-agnostic so you aren t limited to the content you can use. Question content created by Maplesoft and other users is available on the Maple T.A. Cloud, or you have the ability to create your own. This talk will focus on the content that currently exists and how you can use it, as well as how to create many more examples and exercises. Theme 6: Shaping Curriculum - Topic Introduction Paul DeMarco, Product Director, Maplesoft Paul DeMarco holds a B.Math degree in Computer Science/Electrical Engineering Electives, from the University of Waterloo. As Director of Development at Maplesoft, Paul is involved in the technical direction of Maple and Maple T.A., with special focus on kernel development, grid and web technologies, and internal infrastructure. As a software developer at Maplesoft since 1996, Paul has been involved in all aspects of development, in particular matrix and polynomial data-structures, algorithms, and connectivity with other products and languages. This presentation takes a brief look at how technology is affecting what is being taught, and how it is taught in the classroom. Online course offerings and assessment tools have opened up new possibilities to improve student outcomes, and prepare students for careers. A Cybernet Group Company Maplesoft, a division of Waterloo Maple Inc., Maplesoft is a trademark of Waterloo Maple Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.