A Free Online Mathematics Assessment and Course Management System

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A Free Online Mathematics Assessment and Course
Management System
IMathAS
David Lippman Melonie
Rasmussen Lead Developer
Muse 1 Fan Pierce College Lakewood,
Washington
2009 AMATYC Conference
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What is IMathAS / WAMAP?

• IMathAS Internet Math Assessment System
• Web-based math assessment engine
• Learning management system
• Algorithmically generated questions
• Computer grading of numerical and math expression
  questions
• Accurate math and graph display
• Open-source software
• WAMAP Washington Math Assessment Placement
• Thousands of existing questions from arithmetic
  through calculus
• 20 pre-built courses
• Free IMathAS web hosting for Washington schools

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A Brief History

• Started exploring placement alternatives
• Got frustrated with publisher systems
• Built something for myself, invited some others
  to start playing with it
• Got some state-level support to make a hosted
  site available for free
• Got some grant money for some content development
  and system support time
• An online community of users developed
• WAMAP.org serves 3500 students/ quarter

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A Brief History

• 30,000 from Washington State eLearning Council
  for content development
• 80,000 from the Transition Math Project (Gates
  foundation funded) for content development and
  user training and support
• Mostly a labor of love

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Benefits

• Immediate feedback
• Unlimited practice
• Automated grading
• Encourage collaboration without cheating
• Facilitate communication
• Online grade tracking

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Instructor PerceptionSurvey Results
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A Student Survey(fully online class using WAMAP)
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Hows it Different?

• The Advantages
• Truly free no cost for students with used books
  
• Not tied to a publisher questions are
  categorized by topic, not book section
• Community created content
• Community support
• Flexibility of a learning management system
• The Disadvantages
• We leave the teaching to humans - No tutorials,
  videos, etc.
• Pre-built courses are not yet developed for all
  texts

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How It Can Be Used

• Drill and practice
• Homework
• Take-home, in-class tests/quizzes
• Extended projects, group assignments
• Active Learning activities
• Encourage communication
• Track student progress
• Share info with students
• Fully online courses
• Diagnostics / Mass assessment

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Want to try it out?

• Log in to www.wamap.org
• To try it out as a student, log on with
• Username Password demo
• To get an tester instructor account, click the
  Classroom tab, click on the New Instructor
  Account Request and send in your info. Your
  account will be set up in a few days or less.
• Read the Getting Started guide to get familiar
  with the system, or watch some videos in the
  training course.

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Want to use it (long term)?

• We dont currently have capacity to host everyone
  at wamap.org (at least not yet). Sorry.
• Visit www.imathas.com to learn how to download
  the software. It requires a web host with PHP
  and MySQL.
• For a single school, it can run fine on a cheap
  5/month hosting plan.