WeBWorK Consultant Training Session Arnold Pizer, University of Rochester John Travis, Mississippi...

WeBWorK Consultant Training Session

Arnold Pizer, University of RochesterJohn Travis, Mississippi College

MathFestMadison, WI

August 1, 2012

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Schedule 9:00-9:15 Local Wi-Fi network set up & introductions 9:15-9:30 WeBWorK consultant job description 9:30-10:00 Resources for WeBWorK consultants10:00-10:20 Locations for WeBWorK Demo Workshops10:20-10:30 Break10:30-11:30 How to put on a WeBWorK Demo

Workshop11:30-12:00 WeBWorK evaluation & discussion12:00-1:30 Catered lunch & discussion 1:30-3:15 Other ways to serve as a consultant 3:15-4:15 Evaluation, Comments, Discussion 4:15-4:30 Evaluation Survey 4:30-4:35 Stipend and Expense Forms

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Local Wi-Fi network set up• Network (SSID): testwww

• Security (Network Key): WeBWorK2WeBWorK2

• URL: http://192.168.1.100/

• You should see: It Works!

PLEASE DO NOT JUMP INTO THE COURSES YET!

NOTE THAT THIS IS A PURELY LOCAL NETWORK. THERE IS NO INTERNET CONNECTIVITY.

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Introductions 1

Presenters and consultants

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Introductions 2

The project

WeBWorK: Improving Student Success in Mathematics

A 5-year NSF grant CCLI-Type 3 (Comprehensive) No. 0920341

Administered by MAA

Arnold Pizer (Principal Investigator)Michael Gage (Co-Principal Investigator)

Michael Pearson (Co-Principal Investigator)Vicki Roth (Co-Principal Investigator)

John Wyatt (Co-Principal Investigator)

http://webwork.maa.org/awards.html 5

Introductions 3

The project goals

To provide a stable, high-profile home for WeBWorK at MAA, including hosting of courses at MAA

To expand the number of WeBWorK users through a series of sessions designed to train faculty consultants

To support faculty consultants as they conduct workshops to introduce WeBWorK to other instructors Other goals include improving support, updating the system, continuing evaluation efforts

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Introductions 4

This session’s goals

Goal of "WeBWorK Demo Workshops" is to demonstrate the benefits WeBWorK provides to students and instructors and to make it as easy as possible for an instructor to start using WeBWorK.

Goal of this "Consultant Training Workshop" is to give you ideas, resources, and samples that you mold into your own workshops. Also to show other ways to contribute to WeBWorK and to create an environment in which we can all share ideas and resources with each other.

We will learn as much from you as you do from us.

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WeBWorK consultants’ job descriptionYour role

Consultants are ambassadors for WeBWorK

Each pair of consultants should lead two WeBWorK Demo Workshops within the next two years or make an equivalent contribution to the project

Help form and foster both a community of WeBWorK consultants and a larger community of WeBWorK users. Consultants should form the nucleus of a user community among attendees at their own WeBWorK Demo Workshops

Share ideas and experiences among all consultants through Web conferences, activities at MathFest and JMM, wiki, forums, etc.

Participate in improving the system itself and in our evaluation efforts

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Resources for WeBWorK Consultants 1

• Materials on live DVDs and FlashDrive, including Sample WeBWorK Demo (Sample_WeBWorK_Demo.ppt)

• WeBWorK wiki, esp. author and instructor sections

• Special area in wiki: "Developers/For WeBWork Consultants”

• Special wiki forum: "WeBWorK Consultants”

• WeBWorK site at http://webwork.maa.org

• Wi-fi router(s)

• Other Consultants and WeBWorK leadership team

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Resources for WeBWorK Consultants 2

To cover expenses, $200 is available for each of your two WeBWorK demo workshops ($200 per workshop, not per consultant). If you decide to do more than two sessions, check with us to see if funds to cover expenses are available.

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Scenarios & locations for WeBWorK Demo Workshops 1

Possible scenarios for a two-hour session, participants actively using WeBWorK

A. In computer lab setting with workstations and internet connectivity. Use remote server.

B. Wi-fi available. Presenters and participants use laptops. Use remote server.

C. No wi-fi. Set up local network. Presenters use laptop with WeBWorK installed.

D. No wi-fi, no installed software. Set up local network. Presenters boot off USB flash drive.

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Possible scenarios for a one-hour session with presenters demonstrating WeBWorK

A. Internet connectivity available. Presenters use laptop and remote server.

B. No Internet connectivity. Presenters use laptop with WeBWorK installed.

C. No Internet connectivity, no installed software. Presenters boot off USB flash drive.

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• All scenarios assume a computer projector and screen.

• We will be using USB flash drive option.

• All of these scenarios are similar. The hands-on demo is preferable as participants get to play with WeBWorK themselves instead of watching presenters show it via a live demo.

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Possible locations:

• MAA Sectional Meetings• AMS Sectional Meetings• AMATYC and AMATYC Affiliate Conferences• NCTM Conferences• Departmental presentations• Teaching center presentations• Presentations in educational technology groups• Other ideas?

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The benefits to students & instructors can best be demonstrated by logging

onto the systemNotes to consultants:

The hands-on demo is the heart of a "WeBWorK Demo Workshop.”

Have participants connect to http://192.168.1.100/webwork2(but ask them not to jump into the courses immediately).

This set-up will allow each pair of participants to play with an individual course.

The presenters can use maa100 (which will include profa and profb with changed passwords and maybe additional prof's and students).

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More about logging onto the systemNotes to consultants:

There are 30 other courses: maa101, maa 102, … , maa130 . The 30 courses should be more than enough to handle any workshop.

Each course has 2 professors (logins profa and profb) and two regular students, John Doe (jdoe) and Jane Smith (jsmith). The passwords are the same as logins.

Pairs can play with a single course and help each other out. On the downside, one person may monopolize things. Maybe suggest that people pair up and leave it up to them if they want to share a workstation/laptop and/or course.

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Still more about logging onto the system

Notes to consultants:

Have 3x5 cards ready with the URLs and logins. Hand them to all participants so that everyone logs into the correct course and as the correct prof or student.

For example:

URL: http://192.168.1.100/webwork2/maa105

Student login: jsmithPassword: jsmith

Prof login: profbPassword: profb

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One last thing about logging onto the system

Notes to consultants:

Note that if two different people are using the same login, the new login automatically logs out the current login. After this goes around a few times, both people realize something is wrong. Practice logins do not work that way.

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Tips for using Sample WeBWorK Demo power point presentation

•Covering all the material is probably too much

•You want Demo Workshop participants to come away with a feeling of what WeBWorK can do and how it works

•Also they should have an idea of how to proceed if they want to try WeBWorK

•Giving them time to play by themselves e.g., with the Library Browser is probably time very well spent

•You might spend a good part of the workshop just circulating among attendees as they try out various aspects of WeBWorK

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How to put on a WeBWorK Demo Workshop 1

First, consider your participants’

Technical backgrounds

• Faculty who are somewhat techno-phobic

• Faculty who are experienced users of software and systems typically used in educational settings

• Faculty who are experienced programmers in general

• Faculty who are experienced in installing systems

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Consider the range of initial interest in WeBWorK:

• Faculty who are skeptical about online homework but are willing to listen

• Faculty mildly interested in online homework & WeBWorK

• Faculty very interested in online homework in general

• Faculty very interested in trying out WeBWorK in particular

• Faculty who have already dabbled with WeBWorK

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A good session will demonstrate:

1. The key features of WeBWorK

2. The reasons others like WeBWorK

3. The benefits to students

4. The benefits to instructors

5. The use of WeBWorK “right out of the box”

6. The ways to find ongoing support

7. The ways to customize WeBWorK problems, if they wish

8. The ways to be part of the WeBWorK community

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1. The key features of WeBWorK:

• Start with an overview of features

• Don’t bury everyone in details at the start

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2. Why others like WeBWorK:

• Show a list of users, including faculty like your participants

• Display a couple of testimonials

• Refer briefly to assessment results

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How to put on a WeBWorK Demo Workshop 63. The benefits to students:

This should be addressed, since the mostcritical question in the session is--

Will WeBWorK help my students?

If faculty don't think the system will benefittheir students, they are not going to beinterested in anything else.

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4. The benefits to instructors:

Needs to be addressed so faculty can see how their investment of time and energy can pay off.

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5. The use of WeBWorK “right out of the box”

A few instructors might be interested immediately in the potential to make contributions to the system itself.

Most will not! They just want to know--

- How to get started- How to use the problem libraries- How the hosting program works etc….

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6. The ways to find ongoing support:

A few instructors might wish to independently develop a WeBWorK course.

Most would not! They want to know that support willbe available consistently

- From the wiki - From WeBWorK community directly - Hosting from the MAA - From you

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7. The ways to customize WeBWorK, if they wish:

• WeBWorK is agnostic, pedagogically-speaking- It only delivers & grades homework- Can fit into a lecture-type course, a workshop like course, and many other formats- Works well on different types of campuses• Problems can be edited

• Problems can be authored

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8. The ways to be part of the WeBWorK community

• Forum entries• Wiki entries• Participation in

conference events• Additions to

the problem library• Additions to the system

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Technical set up for your session:• Setting up a local network is easy; use any wi-fi router. We have a configured wi-fi router that we are using today that we can loan out.

• Booting off of a USB flash drive. We have configured USB flash drives available and you can make your own.

• These drives are “persistent,” i.e. any change you make to the OS, WeBWorK or anything is saved and will be present the next time you boot off the USB flash drive, so you can easily customize your presentation. You can also boot in “non-persistent” mode.

• USB flash drives vary greatly in read/write speeds. We are using Kingston DatTraveler 400’s. The SanDisk Extreme Contour drive also has good specs. Any USB 3 drive gives much greater speed.

• See webwork.maa.org / Developers / For WeBWorK Consultants

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More about the technical set up for your session:You can install the .iso image on a laptop and run off that.

Mac users (Intel based). You can not use the distributed USB flash drives. We are not sure if you can easily boot from a USB flash drive or not. See e.g. http://superuser.com/questions/27794/how-to-boot-a-linux-live-usb-on-a-mac

Remote servers. If you have WeBWorK installed on a home server (most of you will have this), you can use that if wi-fi is available.

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Now let’s switch to talking about evaluation and open things up for general discussion.

After lunch we will talk about other ways to make contributions to the WeBWorK project and community .

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Evaluation Questions

Our evaluation work is designed to address two questions:

Do dissemination activities result in the successful implementation of WeBWorK?

Does WeBWorK promote student learning in mathematics?

Our work to date focuses on the 1st question 34

Data CollectionData CollectionSurveys of Consultants’ workshops

• Workshop evaluation• Follow up workshop evaluation

Survey of all users up to fall 2011

Interviews with users who reported they were no long using WeBWorK

Workshop SatisfactionWorkshop Satisfaction88 responses from 11 sessionsFindings•Highly satisfied w/ all aspects of demos•Primarily interested in adopting WW for individual course•Most confident in using faculty/student interface & MAA hosting•Least confident: authoring/editing problemsFU – Workshop Preliminary ResultsFU – Workshop Preliminary Results

N= 49; 9 responses to date (8 using; 1 not)Responses reflect use consistent with trial period•Using it in very basic way•NPL search rated OK; authoring & editing rated very low•Use at individual class level only•Implementation support rated highly; long-term tech support questionable (rating own campus capabilities?)•Non user – too time consuming to learn

Evaluation – Data Collection

Popular Courses• Differential Calculus • Integral Calculus• Multivariable Calculus• Linear Algebra

Impact of Use (top box score*)• Improved homework completion

(84%)• Improved time spent on homework

(75%)• Improved homework grades (71%)• Improved student learning (69%)• Improved engagement with course

content (68%)

Users Most Confident• Most: Administrative

functions• Least: problem library

Satisfaction (top box score)• Up time (80%)• Tech support response time

(49%)• Tech support where WW installed

(48%)• Ease of contacting WW (58%)• Wiki (36%)

ResponsesN = 883166 respondents20% response rate

Evaluation – Results from User Study

* Top box score = top 2 scores on 5 point Likert scale, e.g., very good & excellent

Evaluation

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• Primary reason for use: low or no cost • Don’t know how it compares to other similar products• Don’t participate in online or face 2 face community

activities• Biggest complaint: • problem library difficult to use (both searching for

and authoring of problems)• uneven quality of problems – reports of wrong

answers

User Behaviors & OpinionsUser Behaviors & Opinions

• Non-use not based on dissatisfaction with WeBWorK• Retired• Moved to new campus that doesn’t use it• Teaching different course – usually higher level,

special topic

Why People Stop Using Why People Stop Using

More Evaluation Studies

• Studies regarding WebWorK and other online homework systems

• AMS Homework Software Survey, Notices of the AMS, Vol. 57, No. 6 (June/July 2010), p.753. • http://www.ams.org/profession/leaders/webassess.htm

• Other Studies can be found at the wiki• http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/course/view.php?id=5

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Evaluation Discussion

Your questions so far?

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Lunch12:00 - 1:30 Lunch here in the Bluegrass Room

1:30 - 4:30 Second half of our session

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Other ways to contribute to WeBWorK 1

Participant - Code Camp

WeBWorK::Rochester 2012 - June 6-9 - planning document

WeBWorK::Winona 2012 - August 5-8 - planning document

• Please be certain to make the leadership team aware if you have a particular area of interest.

• It would be a good idea to make friends with Google Docs/Drive and to make certain you can easily access shared documents.

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Organizer - Users Conference

WeBWorK::Clinton 2012 - June 20-22 - Planning Document

• The constraints are very flexible but a users conference will likely focus on local/regional participants who have some experience with WeBWorK/online homework but want to do more.

• Likely a good idea to allow the schedule to be very flexible and to encourage an active sharing of ideas among participants.

• Experts might be available to participate remotely using Skype/etc.

• WeBWorK may be able to contribute toward working lunches/snacks.

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Contributor - WiKi

• http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/

• For information that should be more or less “permanent”

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Contributor - Planet WeBWorK

• http://webwork.maa.org/planet/

• For information that is newsy and more temporary

• Google has a blogger! http://www.blogger.com/

• Contact Mike Gage to have your WeBWorK blog added to planet.

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Contributor - Forums

• http://webwork.maa.org/moodle/mod/forum/index.php?id=3

• Main Forum• Problem and Problem Library• Installation• Consultants

• A good starting point as a consultant is to read the recent posts and to consider responding as appropriate. Your wiki login also works on the forums.

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Builder - Model Courses

• http://WeBWorK.maa.org/wiki/Category:Model_Courses

• To provide new users an easier entry point by creating a “suggested problem set” for a course.

• To attempt to effect better teaching and learning.

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Teacher - YouTube channel• http://www.youtube.com/user/WeBWorKChannel

• How-to Videos related to• Using WeBWorK • Installing WeBWorK• Teaching with WeBWorK• Explaining specific mathematical topics – for inclusion in

problem sets for explaining how to work the particular type of problems.

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Help at the Exhibit Hall Booth• Sign up! - planning document

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Czars• Volunteer to oversee the development of particular areas

of WeBWorK – planning document

• Technical – Coding, Tagging, Bugs, Software, Code Camps• Problem Content – Model Courses, OPL, Metadata, Papers• Outreach and Marketing – Wiki, Videos, Consultants,

Exhibits• Professional – Grants, Mini courses, Panels and Sessions

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Support WeBWorK evaluation by evaluating your workshop

• Contact Flora McMartin: [email protected]

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TIME FOR A SHORT BREAK …

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Intended ResultsIntended Results

Become central community site w/ resources for learning about &

using WW

OutputsOutputs

Central website established to

facilitate hosting

WW TtT sessions held; Trainers run Outreach sessions

OutcomesOutcomes

WW recognized as service of

MAA

Community of users grows

10 – 15% or US colleges & Unv.

use WW

ActivitiesActivities

MAA hosts WW courses

Upgrade completeness &

consistency of theDocumentation: MAA wiki for all WW resources

Train the Trainer program

Planned WorkPlanned Work

Establish a formal support position at

MAA

Impact Impact

WW becomes ubiquitous tool

in US higher education

STEM teaching & learning improves

WW evolves as online

teaching & learning needs

evolve

GoalsGoals

Provide a stable, high-profile home for WW at the MAA

Expand the number of faculty

who use the system through a

series of WW Outreach

Workshops

Improve support of WW users

Update WW system code,

including instructor interface.

Code Camp w/ OS community

Individual OS community

members update code

OS community supports WW

Capacity of OS community

grows

PNL, UI, etc. improved &

updated

Evaluation Logic Model

Evaluation Plan

Our evaluation work is designed to address two questions:

Do dissemination activities result in the successful implementation of WeBWorK?

Does WeBWorK promote student learning in mathematics?

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Evaluation & Consultants

How you can help today:

Give us your honest feedback on today’s workshop

If you know of studies involving WeBWorK (both formal & informal) give us the citation

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Evaluation & Consultants

• Include and plan for the workshop evaluation in your sessions

• Contact Flora ([email protected]) to get online or paper survey instruments

• Encourage participants to complete the follow up survey to the workshop

• Complete the annual follow-up survey we will send you in a few months

• Encourage attendees to support and implement studies of WW’s impact on learning on their own

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Time for Questions, Comments, Ideas and General

Discussion

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Stipend and Expense Forms

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