Maple TA and Geometry : An experience

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Maple TA and Geometry An experience

• WebALT Open Seminar, April 6, 2006
• Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Iver Bailly-Salins and Grégoire Aubry

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Introduction

• Iver Bailly-Salins
• PhD student (Peter Buser)
• Teaching assistant at the Chair of Geometry, EPFL
• Grégoire Aubry
• PhD student (Peter Buser)
• Teaching assistant at the Chair of Geometry, EPFL

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Goal of this talk

• To provide a feedback on a very concrete
  experience
• Creating a small online exercise bank related
  to a course.
• Technical aspects
• Teaching / course contribution aspects

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Outline

• Framework
• Some facts on our experience with Maple TA
• A Geometric Maple TA Question
• Authoring Process
• Maple TA as interface between instructor and
  student
• Conclusion

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Framework

• First experience during winter semester, Thomas
  Gauglhofer used Maple TA in K.-D. Semmler's
  calculus class
• Geometry course, 1st-year undergraduate students
• One-semester course 14 weeks x (2-hour
  lecture 1-hour example class)
• 80 students
• Example sheet (paper version) detailed solution
  sheet (provided a week after)

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Framework

• Maple TA exercices as complementary study
  material (translation and "randomization" of
  existing exercices rather than designing new
  exercices)
• Motivation
• Immediate grading and feedback to student and
  teacher
• Large database of a kind of exercise

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Framework

• Life scheme of a Maple TA example sheet

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Some facts on our expericence with Maple TA

• 2 part-time teaching assistants
• Contact period with Maple TA
• 2 weeks before summer semester
• 4 weeks during summer semester
• First two Maple TA example sheets with 4-5
  exercises each
• Time per Maple TA exercise 1 day !
• From the third example sheets, "only" 2 exercises
  per sheet

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A Geometric Maple TA Question

• Paper version
• Typical geometric exercise
• Reflection
• Contruction

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A Geometric Maple TA Question

• Maple TA vision
• Interactive drawing plotting tools
• Random elements in exercise generation
• Adequate feedback and correction by mapleTA
• Intermediate result checks
• Adaptable comments

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A Geometric Maple TA Question

• Maple TA Reality

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A Geometric Maple TA Question

• To build up this question, we need knowledge in
• Maple TA
• Source syntax
• Algorithmic syntax (similar but different from
  Maple syntax)
• MathML
• Maple
• HTML
• LaTeX
• In order
• To be efficient (time)
• To be able to overcome Maple TA bugs

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A Question Authoring Process

• Parts of a Maple TA question
• Algorithm
• Question text
• Grading process
• Assignement design

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A Question Authoring Process
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A Question Authoring Process
Local Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
Repeat !!
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A Question Authoring Process
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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A Question Authoring Process
Internet Access
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Maple TA instructor-student interface
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Maple TA instructor-student interface

• Improvements possible
• Adding simple means of communication
• Decreasing Instructor work load
• Media increases knowledge gap
• Adds technical knowledge gap (maple/software) to
  mathematical knowledge gap

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Conclusion

• More work than expected
• Complexity of creation process
• Correction grading work load hardly diminished
• Poorer results than expected
• Limitations of the tool
• Some questions on the effectiveness of the
  result
• Opaque instructor-student communication
• Mitigated student motivation
• Whos fault ?
• Ours
• The tool
• The media

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Contact

• Iver Bailly-Salinsiver.bailly-salins_at_epfl.ch
• Grégoire Aubrygregoire.aubry_at_epfl.ch