Online Problem Solving Using COPS
Amin Jazaeri, PhD.COS Math & Science Accelerator/School of
Physics, Astronomy and Computational SciencesSpring 2013
What is COPS?
• COPS stands for:
Collaborative Online Problem Solving
• It is a tool to assist the instructor to track and view the dynamics of online collaborative group problem solving.
• It is also an aide to students to monitor individual group members activity.
Background on developing this tool
• Teaching undergraduate calculus based physics in LOGIC format. LO-GIC stands for:
Lectures Online Group-work In Class.
• It is a “Hybrid” course that concentrates on problem solving as an in class activity.
• Most students complain about their problem solving skills, even though they understand the concepts.
• They don't know how to setup the problems and/or use appropriate concepts that are applicable to the problem(s) at hand.
LOGIC Model (LO Part)• Started as a secondary project to a “distance” course.
• Each week students watch pre-recorded lecture videos available to them through Blackboard.
• The videos correspond to each section of a chapter (5-9 sections per chapter) and were of various lengths, from 4 to 26 minutes.
• Students watched the videos and then took a “Conceptual Quiz” at the end (Before the GIC Part.
• The conceptual quizzes were made available through the publisher’s homework management system.
LOGIC Model (GIC Part)• The face-to-face part of the course consisted of 1 hour
recitation and 3 hours of “lecture” time.
• The recitation part was used to review the lecture material and cover the previous week’s quiz and homework.
• During the “lecture” part, students worked in groups (3-5 students per group) solving problems.
• At the end of each problem, the instructor solved the problem on the board.
• At the end of the session students took an in-class quiz to test them on their problem solving skills.
Additional Activities
• Online homework through publisher’s homework management system.
• Students posted questions on Blackboard under “Discussion Board” regarding homework and lecture videos.
• Solutions to homework and quizzes were posted weekly.
• In-class Exams
• In-class Final
Comparison of LO-GIC to the Face-to-Face Model
• Exam 1: 20% Improvement
• Exam 2: 10% Improvement
• Final Exam: 5% Improvement
• Failure rate: 35% !!!!!
• Good students performed better and poor students’ performance didn’t change.
• Student Evaluations: 4-5 in all categories
Physics 160 Online Course• Was Modeled after the LOGIC format.
• The in-class portion of the course was performed once a week synchronously.
• To ensure student engagement, pop-up quizzes were given.
• To assist students collaborating with each other for problem solving, Collaborative Online Problem Solving (COPS) was developed.
• The in-class problem solving quizzes were transitioned to on-line timed quizzes.
Comparison of LO-GIC to the Face-to-Face Model
• Exam 1: 8% Improvement
• Exam 2: 5% Improvement
• Final Exam: no Improvement
• Failure rate: 24% (6/25) compared to (8/25) in 2010
• Evaluations: Only 3 students evaluated the course (2 of them loved it, and one hated it)