Using Selectricity

I'm entering a unit on elections in my Math for Liberal Arts class. There are a lot of slick tools out there to run online polls like PollDaddy. I was having trouble finding any tool that allowed user's to fully order their preferences... until Selectricity. It's a really great tool, particularly if you are studying elections. Check out this poll, it allows you to see current results, and the current winner under a number of common election systems: Borda, Condorcet, etc. Anyone can create an election without registering. For more extensive security measures, register for a full account. All free!

pic by Enrico Fuente

A Free Education?

Ran into two more great education links on the delicious hotlist. First, TeachMate is a site similar to WizIQ, a place for teachers and learners to find each other online. The difference is that WizIQ is a little more professionaly oriented. Students seek tutor/teachers and vice versa. TeachMate is cool though because everyone is both a teacher and learner. You start at the site by listing the things you can teach and the things you want to learn. The site then sets you up with a complement. Unlike WizIQ, there are no resources to conduct the teaching/learning session. This has to be negotiated by the pair.

I also found a great orientation to the world of online lectures in the Boston Globe. It discusses the difference between TED, Bigthink, Fora.tv, and Edge. Now, I want the website that creates more time, so I can put it all in my head.

Math Courseware Part 3-ModuMath

Continuing Steve Krevisky's reviews of CMS's...

ModuMath

Instruction:
• Offers Basic Math (Prealgebra), Algebra I and Algebra II
• Has 51 video lessons and study guide
• Test for grade, or drill and practice
• Test is not adaptive
• Has diagnostic for students
• Can keep student records
• Will store last test with questions
• Interactive – student can get feedback right away
• Will reinforce by presenting 2nd similar question
• Will prompt student to see if they want to review
• Will prompt student to get help if 4 similar questions are wrong
• Each test is 12 questions
• Graphics: Uses color, but not animation
• Background sometimes consists of paintings (one was by Georges Seurat)

Technical:
• 4 DVDs, or 51 CDs
• Can order study guide
• Has to be installed on hard drive or network – 30 gigabytes
• Not web-based for home use – not for distance learning

Cost: $1300.00 one time charge for each set for 2 – 5 sets. The number of students who can access ModuMath concurrently is equal to the number of licenses purchased.
Study guide extra
Free technical support for 12 months
Free upgrades

Strengths:
• Easy for student to use
• Interactive
• Student gets immediate feedback
• Easy for instructor to customize

Weaknesses
• Dark background so it is difficult to read
• Examples on the videos are difficult to read
• Cost is high
• No animation and graphics could be better.
• Must purchase Basic Math (Prealgebra) and Algebra I and II separately.

This looks cool!

This looks like a very promising platform for education. Anyone tried WizIQ out? I'd love a review or any commments.

More from Steve Krevisky...

Here is his review of the Aleks system.

Aleks Software

Instruction:
• Stand alone product – can be linked to text
• Has learning tutorial
• Practice with explanations
• Shows pie chart of mastery, and will deliver to student

Technical:
• Web-based online instruction
• Stand alone or can link to test

Cost: $40 per student (before markup)
MathZone, an online homework system with diagnostics, is free to the student only if associated with text. MathZone is not free to the instructor.

Strengths:
• Has diagnostic test of 20-30 questions
• Can be customized by instructor
• Instructor can generate quizzes
• Many texts can be associated with this product

Weaknesses
• Lacks overview
• Has video only if associated with text
• Graphics just ok.
• Not as user-friendly as some other software
• Doesn’t have online grade book. The grade book is available to the
instructor if linked to MathZone.

Math Courseware Part 1--Hawkes Homework System

The math department, like most departments here at Tunxis, is eager to find ways that technology can help better serve our students. Our two main ventures are the use of MyMathLab in developmental courses and the pilot of two hybrid courses beginning Sping 09. We are not moving at blazing speed, but we want to make sure that we're not falling in the trap of tech for tech's sake. The following will begin a series evaluating different course management systems. It was put together by Steve Krevisky and Cora Preibis over at Middlesex Community College. Nice work guys!

Hawkes Homework System

Instruction:
• Has video lesson with audio. Lesson is mostly text
• Different levels of difficulty can be chosen by student to practice
• During practice, the student can ask for hint or step-by-step explanation
• Has mastery test after completing practice
• There are no hints during mastery, but student gets immediate feedback on question
• Textbook included, and can be used as a stand-alone product
• Interactive
• Drag and drop feature
• Has online grade book
• Has online test generator; tests can be downloaded

Technical:
• CD based – can be installed on home computer or network
• Lifetime license – need access code
• Has online grade book

Cost: Prealgebra – courseware and textbook $72 each.
Introductory and Intermediate Algebra $67 each
Combination Introductory and Intermediate Algebra $85 each

Strengths:
• Interactive and self-paced, but instructor can set due dates
• The student can have unlimited practice. He/she can choose to have a hint or see the problem worked step-by-step
• Instructor can create a diagnostics test online, and then download
• Can upload supplementary materials, such as course syllabus
• Has online grade book and progress report for student
• Focus is on mastery. The level of mastery can be changed by instructor
• There is a test generator available that can be exported into Word

Weaknesses
• Partly web-based and partly CD based. This may be a plus for some students without computers, but would probably create some difficulties for an online course
• The student must go online to submit grade for mastery test, while all of work is done offline
• The videos are mostly text, graphics are minimal
• Perhaps mathematics not rigorous enough (did not use parentheses with multiplication of a negative number)

LOOK FOR MORE SOON...