Truly Interactive Textbooks for Computer Science Education - PowerPoint Presentation

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Truly Interactive Textbooks for Computer Science Education

Clifford A. Shaffer1, Tomas L. Naps2, and Eric Fouh11Department of Computer ScienceVirginia Tech2Department of Computer ScienceUniversity of Wisconsin, OshkoshSlide2

What is an Active-eBook?“Hypertextbook” means different things to different people

We mean a close integration of three aspects:Static text and graphicsDynamic content: animated slideshows, interactive activities and visualizations, simulations, etc.Assessment activities: questions, proficiency exercises, programming exercises, etc., with immediate feedback on progressIf it does not have lots of these three things working together, then we do not consider it to be an active-eBook.Slide3

Why Active-eBooks?Improve expositionTake advantage of the computer to depict dynamic actionIncrease engagementTake advantage of the computer to support interactive learning with feedbackSlide4

Data Structures and AlgorithmsIn particular, Data Structures and Algorithms topics are good candidates for active-eBook treatmentStudents have trouble “getting” this material because it is inherently dynamic, but often portrayed with static methods.Slide5

What’s new?In one sense, nothingPeople have wanted this for decades, and often in much the same termsThey haven’t made it yetThis is a good

thing ……because it gives us some advantagesPast experienceTechnology: right place at right timeA plan for getting the necessary resourcesSlide6

Won’t this Fail for the Same Reason that AVs Fail?AVs have been something of a disappointmentAVs are easily available these daysInstructors and students “like” them

But instructors do not use them so muchImpedimentsLack of knowledge about good AVsHard to get them integrated into classesSlide7

Active-eBooks vs. AVsConclusion: It is easier to put a full unit into your course than to “fit in” a new form of pedagogyThe problems of AVs can be overcome by:A well-known set of resources

Complete resources, ready to plug into a courseEither complete topics or whole coursesMechanisms to pick an choose what you want, and to make modifications if necessarySlide8

From Marc Brown’s DissertationMuch of the success of the BALSA system at Brown is due to the tight integration of its development with the development of a textbook and curriculum for a particular course. BALSA was more than a resource for that course – the course was rendered in software in the BALSA system.Slide9

Prior Work (1)Content efforts:Ginder et al (2002): Theory of computationRodger: JFLAP software supplements standard textbook

Crescenzi, et al (2007): courseware, tied to a textbookJHAVE, TRAKLA2, Animal all include tutorials for various topicsVirginia Tech Hashing Tutorial (2007-2009)Titterton, et al (2010): Lab-centric courseware for CS1Alharbi et al. (2010): Operating Systems interactivities and questionsKim and Jung (2010): Korea eTextbooksSlide10

Prior Work (2)Definition and InfrastructureRoss (2008): Perl/Dreamweaver: a few chaptersKaravirta (2009):

XaalRoessling and Vellaramkalayil (2009): AVs and MoodleRoessling, et al. (2006): ITiCSE Working Group on VisCoSHSlide11

TechnologyA potential objection to our project is the fact that prior efforts haven’t succeeded due to technical obstaclesOne advantage now is that technology has advanced in significant waysUbiquitous access to computing: laptops, mobile devices, Internet, classrooms

HTML5Slide12

Project VisionCreate an active-eBooktext/graphics

dynamic/interactive expositionassessment with feedbackComplete materials for Data Structures and Algorithms coursesCreative Commons: Pick and ChooseBroad contribution from AV communitySlide13

Levels of InteractionText and Graphics“Animated slideshow”for dynamic expositionInteractive proficiency exercises

TRAKLA inspiredInteractive simulations/explorationsFrom probing equations to running performance simulationsAssessment questionsKeep student engaged and on trackSlide14

Creating the Active-eBookWe imagine a multistate processGet an initial body of text/graphics up (this is easy since we have a textbook)

Build the StoryboardConvert the Storyboard to the actual active-eBookSlide15

The StoryboardThe storyboard carefully details every point where an AV or other interactive/dynamic piece is needed, along with every assessment activityIt begins by augmenting the basic text with text specificationsOver time, augment these specifications with existing AVs, mockups, whatever works

Gradually replace the mockups with real implementationsThe Storyboard is a management tool, recruiting tool, and progress guideSlide16

Implementation Considerations for Dynamic and Interactive ContentAnimated slideshows could be implemented using many standard packagesPowerPoint, Beamer, OO Impress, KeyNote

None are portableConversion to PDF doesn’t really work for animationFlash and Java need pluginsWhich leaves out iPad, mobilesHTML5/JavaScript appears to solve all of our technical problemsSlide17

Implementation Considerations for Creative CommonsConnexions (http://cnx.org)LeMill

(http://lemill.net)Both are large creative commons for educational resources with infrastructure for authoring and reuse of materialWe have plenty of text!Slide18

Assessment ActivitiesQuestionsMultiple choice, short answer, etcCould be occasional, could be at end of sectionTRAKLA-style proficiency exercises

VILLE-style questionsWrite a functionTrace a programHow to assess correctness?Slide19

Implementation Considerations for AssessmentThis is going to be hard!What we need:Storing, selecting, retrieving, and delivering questionsProcessing student answers

Storing, organizing by class, and retrieving student assessment resultsMaking decisions about progressSlide20

Management ConsiderationsWill need a lot of contributorsWill need review mechanisms for contributed materialWill need a process for handling derived/modified worksSlide21

AV Development LibraryA nice technical issue ;)A set of functions to help developers build AVsIts existence will help consistency in look-and-feel