Smart Technology for College Math
The new decade begins with an array of improved instructional technologies, among them: Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) and Single-Sign-On (SSO). In this note we discuss them in the context of interactive books with undergraduate mathematics content.
LTI integration in Learning Management Systems with SSO is rapidly evolving. It enhances student engagement. In part, because students find all they need in just “one stop”.
OER Books
Textbooks that are licensed as open educational resources (OER) often make source files available for new contributing authors to reuse, adapt and share versions. Some OER skeptics warn of the rigorous editorial process that copyrighted books endure and OERs lack. Yet, one of the assets of OERs is the powerful community of active contributing authors, much like the dynamic development of the Linux kernel.
The Institutional Partner Program, sponsored by OpenStax, comes to mind as a prime example in fostering OER communities of adopters, while providing cohorts of 9-12 institutions with strategic planning services, and peer-to-peer support.
Interactive Books
Usability and accessibility are two valuable features of adapted OER books. The former means having configurations for compatibility with several devices (e.g., computers, smartphones, tablets). On the other hand, compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is easily attained.
There are three platforms well-suited for undergraduate mathematics content with interactive features: LibreTexts, Ximera, and PreTeXt (formerly MathBook XML). They all take LaTeX source code as input and yield outputs with PDF and HTML formats. Thus, bearing similarities to RMarkdowns and Jupyter Notebooks.
Dynamic content, instead of still images and text, is what makes interactive books stand out. The LibreTexts platform, for example, supports the following features.
Embedded Multimedia: interactive videos with accessibility standards.
Dynamic Figures: embedded graphing tools such as Desmos, GeoGebra or CalcPlot3D to manipulate dynamic figures.
Embedded Code: turning a few lines of code (e.g., Python, R, and Octave) into dynamic illustrations of concepts.
Community Annotation: annotation overlay that allows for class-based collaboration while highlighting the most important content or clarifying questions.
Such interactive features may prove useful in providing students with qualitative feedback, instead of numbers in a scoring scale. In fact, students can be stimulated to ‘compare notes’ while deploying their own portfolios with dynamic figures and embedded code. Generating their own schematics will instill a valuable sense of intellectual ownership.
Smart Homework Systems
Any familiarity with deconstructed food? This approach, where separate ingredients are brought together for presentation, bears resemblance to the current state of online homework platforms. They are evolving independently of specific textbooks and are easily paired up with any adoption.
Online homework systems have added value in providing students with high-quality feedback. They commonly support mathematical questions with algebraic inputs and evaluation of mathematical expressions. They also include dynamic and interactive assessment questions to help students master quantitative skills.
In several smart homework platforms it is straightforward to collect free-answer responses for selected randomized questions, where students had previously received immediate feedback. They may include narrative and some additional exploratory work, in addition to the usual procedural work. Thus, converting some of the originally summative-only into formative and summative assessments.
There are two platforms that have out-of-pocket cost equal to $0: MyOpenMath and WeBWork. However, they do not have technical or customer support.
On the other hand, there are three access code vendors with nominal out-of-pocket costs, ranging from $15 to $30 per license: Edifnity, Lumen OHM, and DigitalEd. These access codes include technical support for LTI integration in Learning Management Systems.
Tools for Team Collaboration
LTI integration is meant to upkeep the “one stop” approach. However, for selected activities tools like Microsoft Teams or Google Drive can be strategic, allowing file storage, share, and synchronization across devices. Microsoft Teams is an efficient platform for chat, video meetings, and application integration.
GitHub is another tool that allows multiple contributors to simultaneously make changes in a project. Recently, data science educators found many educational benefits while implementing GitHub Classroom, such as easily providing coding feedback during assignments and making students more confident in their ability to collaborate.
Cost Comparison
The main motivation in using smart technologies for undergraduate mathematics instruction should be to provide high-quality feedback. Ultimately, improving student learning outcomes.
Yet, another consideration is the effect on out-pocket expenditures for college students. Let’s consider First Year mathematics courses such as College Algebra, Precalculus, or Calculus.
Using estimates from bookstores and Student PIRGs reports (2018, 2016) an average cost per copyrighted book can be set at $130. Moreover, an average cost of OER interactive books with LTI access codes adds up to $30. Reducing an out-of-pocket expense from $130 to $30 means shrinking it by 77%. Another interpretation is that it reduces expenditures for students to nearly 23 cents on the dollar.