Using Online Tools to Enhance Communication in IBL Classes John Carter, PhD. Clark Dollard, PhD. Metropolitan State College of Denver.

Using Online Tools to Enhance Communication in IBL Classes

John Carter, PhD. Clark Dollard, PhD.

Metropolitan State College of Denver

Motivation

• I wanted to:– know more about students’ success with the

proofs before class in order to make better instructional decisions.

– get more students involved in presentations.– keep students accountable for making an honest

effort on every proof before they see it presented.

JITT Student View

JITT Printout: What are you ready to present?

JITT Printout: What do you want to see presented?

What I Took to Class

My Conclusions

• The basic idea of having students communicate their readiness worked well.– More students were regularly involved in

presentations– Test results for this class were very good (but a

small sample)– It was beneficial to not need to present all

theorems.• JITT is not the best tool to use for this

purpose.

Overview of what I tried.

• Used ImathAS to augment my IBL introduction to proofs course.

• Forums to allow students to ‘claim proofs’ and give some information about readiness.

• Forums to post finished (polished) proofs.• Discussion forums – student/student and

student/instructor• Forums for posting pictures of proofs as

presented.

Student view

Ready to present

Finished proofs

Finished proof

Discussion

Pictures

Conclusions

• Allowing students to ‘claim proofs’ saves class time and give insight into student progress.

• An online portal can create a sense of community.

• Students can type mathematics without complaint.

• The future– Dedicated Wiki with editor.– Several tablet PC’s for presentations?