Carol Schwab
Associate Professor
Math & Computer Science Department

Project Updates and Links

• Fall 2004 Update
• Spring 2005 Update
• Project Link

Abstract and Task List/Time Table

Proposed Courses for Project

1. COSC 1570 Math for Computer Science (3 credits ) Topics covered include: number systems, computer arithmetic, binary, octal, hexadecimal, floating point operations, sets, and Boolean algebra.
   
   This is a required course for all Computer Science majors. It must, therefore, be taught on all campuses that offer a major in Computer Science, including those in Europe and Thiland. It also caries the General Education coding for MTH and CRI.
   
2. MATH 1620 Calculus II (5 credits) Continues the study of calculus: the transcendental functions, techniques of integration, applications of the integral, polar coordinates, parametric equations, sequences, and series. Prerequisite: MATH 1610. Only offered in a 16-week format.
   
   This is a required course for all Mathematics majors.

Issues to Address

1. COSC 1570 is a rather unique course to Webster because it teaches the specific mathematics that we feel would most benefit our Computer Science majors. Most Computer Science programs require several general mathematics courses. Because of this uniqueness we have been unable to find a text from a major publisher that matched our needs. Currently students are using a text I developed specifically for the course. There have been difficulties getting copies of the text to international sites. It would be beneficial to the program if the text could be delivered through some online delivery system.
   
   This is a computer science course that shows how mathematical concepts are implement in various areas of computer science (data storage, programming logic, circuit design, etc.) Adjunct teachers generally have a strong mathematics background or are currently working in the field of computer science. It is sometimes difficult for them to teach the course with the appropriate balance of both fields. Some supplemental materials are available to the teachers of the course (worksheets, overheads, and sample quizzes, ) but with the support of the grant it would be possible to build animations and computer activities that would reinforce some important algorithms and concepts and help teachers keep the proper emphasis.
   
2. Along with integration, sequences, and series, Calculus II includes the study of conic sections. polar coordinates parametric functions. Last year the University purchased a license for DPGraph (http://www.dpgraph.com.) The license is a lifetime blanket site license for all students and faculty members. DPGraph is a powerful graphing software program, but it has a limited interface. Unfortunately the program is not intuitive. This year I used the software to demonstrate a few concepts, but the grant would allow me to develop more demonstrations and a tutorial/activity that would teach the interface and encourage students to create and modify graphs independently. If students become users of the program they would be able to explore additional concepts in this and other classes.

Proposed Intervention

1. Research should be done to determine what would be the best method to deliver the text for COSC 1570 to students online. Materials should be offered in such a way that students could quickly access the descriptions, examples, practice problems and answers for each section of each chapter. Consideration must be given to the possible consequences of moving from paper to electronic form.
   
   Several animation and computer activities should be developed to illustrate some of the more difficult topics of the course. These could be used as part of a classroom demonstration, or as interactive practice activities. They would be made available to all teachers of the course.
   
2. Additional graphing demonstrations should be developed for Calculus II. One of the unique features of the DPGraph program is that you can link a variable of a function to the scroll bar and see how the graph changes as the value of the linked variable changes when the scroll bar is moved. I have used this to demonstrate conic sections, but with support my demonstrations could be refined and additional demonstrations could be developed for parametric and other functions.
   
   A tutorial should be developed that will allow interested student to learn how to use DPGraph on their own. The license permits all students to download the program to their personal computer systems and use it indefinitely. In addition, this program supports three dimensional graphs and knowing how to generate such graphs would be particularly useful to students planning on taking Calculus III.

Assessment of Intervention

1. The changes for the distribution of the COSC 1570 text should be ready by Fall 2005 The directors of sites that offer the course in the fall could be surveyed to see if the changes had minimized problems with obtaining the texts. The technology will make it possible to tell if the activities were accessed. I expect to teach COSC 1570 in the Fall 2005 semester and will be able to observe my students’ reactions to the activities.
   
2. I consistently teach Calculus II each Spring Semester. The new demonstrations and tutorial should be implemented in Spring, 2005. I will be able to observe my students’ reactions to the demonstrations and survey to see if any of them have experimented with the software.

Benefits

Benefits to students include a savings on the cost of the Math for Computer Science text, exposure to demonstrations and activities to help them better understand content, and for calculus students access to a powerful graphing software program they can use in multiple classes.

Benefits to the department include addressing the problem of distributing the text for Math for Computer Science and offering additional support for teachers of that course.

Benefits to the school include added consistency for a required course that is taught at multiple sites each semester.

Task List/Time Table