Thousands of students in the same class KTH e-learning courses for very large and flexible classes

1. Thousands of students in the same classKTH e-learning coursesfor very large and flexible classes Johan ThorbiörnsonPhD, Director MATH.SEDirector RCN - Resource Centre for Netbased Educationjohanthor@kth.se Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholmhttp://www.math.se info@math.se 1

2. MATH.SE – web based university courses in European collaboration • Partners:Royal Institute of Technology, StockholmImperial College, LondonTechnische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin)Stockholm UniversityUppsala UniversityLinköping UniversityÖrebro UniversityUniversity of GävleMälardalen UniversityJönköping University • MATH.SE is a virtual centre based at KTH Stockholm consisting of 8 Swedish partner universities and from 2008 also Imperial College and TU Berlin.

3. RCN and MATH.SE– backgroundand history Sweden's oldest and largest technical university Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) has more than 25 years of experience in e-learning.Every year 20% of all beginners in Sweden study a national bridge course in mathematics or other subjects before they start university. The same service will now be offered to other countries.

4. A new educational paradigm

5. MATH.SE – a model proved to work nationally in Sweden and now expanding in Europe MATH.SE are taking care of infrastructure, support, formalities, etc. Activities for students to successfully complete the course on the Internet. Call center solution for tutoring – the students can call or email their personal mentor. Students belongs to different universities but study together in one virtual classroom. Universities get administrative tools and can monitor ”their” students. 10 000 students in the same classroom. High quality resource allocation.Large community.

6. From the newspaper: Ten thousand studentsstudy maths on the summer holidays”It gives me such confidence” 6

7. An investigation shows that students who completed the summer course on the Internet (Bridge course) is equally successful in the first year at KTH as students with the highest marks in all courses from school. 7

8. Funding Basic costs + marginal costs Key figures for costs for management (development is not included): 1) the number of students who starts 2) the number of credits produced In Sweden the income from the government is linear. Income Euro Marginal costs Basic investments Number of students

9. The torrent of students when you put a KTH math course on the Internet with continuous admission x-axis = number of days for application form to the course visible on the Internet y-axis = number of active students in math course 9

10. Bridge courses and Foundation coursesFrom School to University: Bridges the gap and gives a flying start at the first part of university math. Since 1997 the department of Mathematics at the Royal Institute of Mathematics has evaluated the discrepancies between freshmen actual knowledge of mathematics and the KTH faculty expectations. The course curriculum in the bridging courses is based on these discrepancies. The same type of bridging courses are now offered in different subjects suchas physics, computer science and chemistry. School A B C D E University Repetition Bridging

11. Information activities Government in Sweden hasdecided that all beginners should be offered a web based introductory course in mathematics.Invitation letter to alluniversity applicants inSweden signed by thelocal university or a generalletter from MATH.SE 11

12. KTH – information activities Posters in schools 12

13. KTH – information activites Web site: http://www.math.se 13

14. KTH – information activites Portals and communitiesfor young people,banners, articles in magazines 14

15. KTH – information activites Information about the course when the students receive their decision of admission in July, telling clearly that it is really important to be well prepared, and that the university expects the students to have gone through all tests in the bridge course. 15

16. KTH – activities with students When we meet we have fun, mathematics we do on the Internet 16

17. KTH – activities with students When we meet we have fun, mathematics we do on the Internet 17

18. MATH.SE offers different courses in mathematical sciences and in other subjects Bridging courses and Foundation courses: Preparatory refresher courses in mathematicsFoundation courses in mathematics (several modules)Fundamental Notions of Mathematics, 7.5 ECTSBridging course in physics 7.5 ECTSBridging course in programming and computer science 3 ECTSBridging course in chemistry Standard courses in mathematicsLinear algebra, Single variable calculus, Multivariable calculus, Differential Equations, etcOther online courses at MATH.SE:Financial mathematics 7.5 ECTSInformation search 3 ECTSRelativity theory 4.5 ECTSModern Physics 9 ECTSLaser Physics 9 ECTSIntroduction to Environmental Engineering 7.5 ECTSCourses in philosophy (such as Argumentation theory)KTH has also online courses outside MATH.SE environment. 18

19. Local Language Adaption Content and System in local languages Local first level support by staff locally stationedLocal activities at different universities, blended learning, using central resources at will2nd level support from MATH.SE

20. Mentor interface for follow up and support of students Different interfaces extract information from the database, such as tools for mentors for following up and monitoring students based on their progress, tools for sending out remainders by email or SMS, calling up students who seem to be late, etc.

21. Services to students • Learners may start at any time and study at their own pace. • By filling in and submitting an electronic enrolment form they can acquire a user name and password to the educational platform within minutes. After that it's just to log on to the course and start working in a large virtual community. • Automatic and peer assessment in large student groups, based on a detailed and level-partitioned examination process. Assessment is integrated with the students learning activities and is utilized as a structure for instructional scaffolding and follow-up. • Instant feed-back on assessments, advanced follow-up by co-teachers. Students can call a personal mentor in a call-center or send e-mail if they need support. Online forums let learners discuss and interact with each other and with their teachers throughout the course. • To students this has proven to be a focused and goal-oriented approach to learning, flexible in both time and place, which helps them become successful in their university studies.

22. The way through the system for the student • Application • Computer account • Log in • Study, tutoring, supervision, feedback, remainders • Examination

23. The student log in through a central database • Will then be linked to the specific learning platform and the net based tools within which activities will be done. • Instead of a solution based on one single LMS we use different modules and specific net based tools, linked together in one framework. • Different technical solutions, for example a Wiki for publishing course material, systems for automatically corrected tests, systems for collaboration and groupwork, etc.

24. Student Lounge After logging in, the student comes to their personal page. • Links to • Course literature • Examination parts and tests • Course forum • Personal tutor • Study guidance, etc • Administrative tools Personal study plan

25. Course material in a wiki solution • Teachers can develop material in working teams • Version management • Mathematical signs and other special signs can be displayed directly in the web browser (LaTeX)‏ • In discussion forums the students easily can write mathematics by clicking on buttons for special signs or more advanced by using LaTeX.

26. Net based examination – framework for courses • The examination process is partitioned into levels and performed continuously during the course: • Basic facts - basic tests after each section • Problem solving - final tests after each section • Analysis and synthesis, ability to discuss and evalute – wiki for individual assignment and group assignment • Final evaluation and feedback of cohesive knowledge, feedback and grading – written or oral exam The student will be coached by tutors online, who follows and tracks the work by the students with the net based examination, continuously during the course.

27. What happens under the “shell”?

28. MATH.SE supports the complete process 1. The student's application and continued studies - Marketing - Formal course information on the web - The student's application, flexible application process during the year - Basic data for decision on admission - Admission and establishing personal records in national database - Course registration, criterias for activity - Net based tests, examinations in classrooms - Reporting results in national database, system for book-keeping - Tracking, follow-up, coaching, reminders to students - Information to students 2. The technique and logging in 3. Development projects and collaboration with institutions

29. Administrative system

30. Administrative system Interfaces for tutors, teachers and administrators

31. How do we do the examination?

32. How do we do the examination? - I have teached Fido how to whistle. - I can not hear him whistling. - I said that I have teached him how to whistle, not that he have learnt how to whistle.

33. Automatic and peer assessment in large student groups based on a detailed and level-partitioned examination process. Assessment is integrated with the students learning activities and is utilized as a structure for instructional scaffolding and follow-up. 33

34. Processes are similar to a ”boiling stew pan” full of activities, independently of the diameter of the pan since the students are learning from each other. The teachers’ roles will be to design, spice up, stimulate and coach the activities. Higher generation e-learning course • Scalability • Flexibility • High quality resource allocation • Based on detailed learning outcomes in a combination of interactive learning objects, peer learning, peer assessment, and detailed design of activities through the platform • Student torrent - analogous to Bittorrent techniques (larger ”downloads” generates larger bandwidth)‏ 34

35. Electronic or printed literature 35

36. Also, the student can get access to all of school math forrepetition and training skills. 36

37. The material is also used at lessons by teachers at school. 37

38. In discussion fora all participants may communicate. Login from any computer, no installation needed.The student may get support and discuss with class mates (thousands of students!). It is possible to insert different types of media and write formulas 38

39. Questions and answers are accessible 24 hours a day in the discussion forum. The students may also call or email apersonal mentor in a call-center if theyneed tutoring or feedback. Answer Question Hi! Does anybody know how to show that tan v is the same as sin v/cos v? /Anna ………… In a triangle with a right angle you have: sin v= b/ccos v= a/csin v / cos v = b/a …………… 39

40. What is an Internet based course? Textbooks Classroom Student INTERNET WWW Virtual classroom Advanced follow up Onlineexamination 40

41. Hierchical and non-hierarchical structures for organizing courses By using a flat non-hierarchical structure and modern social networking tools, we can make it possible for thousands of students together to share their learning processes, independently of were they are living. This is a big difference compared to the traditional way of organizing courses. Person of the year 2006: You!The Person of the Year 2006 in Times Magazin was "You" (meaning that "you" control the Information Age). The organizational structure within MATH.SE and its built-in revenue sharing model along with a high level of Quality of Experience makes a big step towards approaching the new global market in education and the need for mass-individualization. The first university, Plato's academy, has been a model for all the following traditional universities, based on the idea of one teacher per group of students. This does not scale well since if you have 1000 times more students you need 1000 times more teachers. Another serious drawback in a traditional setup is that students in different schools in different cities will not communicate with each other, even if they are struggling exactly the same mathematical problems and learning processes. 41

42. RCN – Resource Centre for Netbased Education [Royal Institute of Technology] www.kth.se/rcnRCN organizes MATH.SE

43. What makes this a good model? • Scalability • Localization • Aggregation of information and judgements • Coordination of activities • Large community • Effective resource allocation • Bit-torrent effect and peer to peer learning – many people working with the same problems gives faster feedback and more people to ”download” from, which means higher “bandwidth” • Clear and unified information to students from several joint universities, approaching the needs from the students and the expectations from universities • Flexible netbased examination integrated with the learning process • Interactivity, visualizations, personal tutoring • Can make political statements about the importance of mathematics, levels of knowledge and expectations.

44. Can we make this even better together? • Collaboration between MATH.SE and Imperial College starts February 2009, students in England will use the same system and material as in Sweden • Collaboration with TU Berlin • Model has been proved to work in Sweden, natural to expand the activities to other countries • Joint work and development across borders makes experiences available to an even wiser network of partners (”the wisdom of crowds”)Can we wait?

45. MATH.SE– now building the future • Integration of new media and interactivity, such as interactive net video, pod casting, community building and social software, Open educational resources (OER), semantic web, etc • Global course activities

46. Global learning through our unique model Having been successful in Sweden, the model and system for MATH.SE is now expanding internationally, in partnership with Imperial College in London, European Mathematical Society, and the Technical University in Berlin. What makes MATH.SE unique is the built-in revenue sharing model, effective resource allocation along with a high level of Quality of Experience.

47. MATH.SE Johan ThorbiörnsonPhD, Director MATH.SEDirector RCN - Resource Centre for Netbased Educationjohanthor@kth.se, +46 703 371100 Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholmhttp://www.math.se info@math.se