K-12 Teaching Application Support and Software Ongo-08Client Ames Community Schools Advisors Dr. John W. Lamont Professor Ralph Patterson Tuesday November 08, 2005

Tiffany Schweer Team Leader Jennifer Carlson Communications Coordinator David Wire MTSS Laurie Bidrawn GW/USA Samantha Olson GW/USA Nichole Dugan SASF Aaron Hurd Sara Murphy Michael Fong John Saterfiel Dustin Fee Jennifer Carlson Nathan Evans Nathan Gordon Parikshit Advani Dominic Kuk E. Ryan Adamson

Terminology API ASP ASP.NET CVS FW GW MTSS MySQL PHP PSA SASF SQL USA

Introductory Materials History Lesson Problem Statement Operating Environment Intended Users & Uses Assumptions & Limitations End Product & Deliverables

History Lesson MTSS started as a design project GW and USA began as separate projects The three projects combined because of their similar goals The Framework team was created to help manage the three projects

Problem Statement (1/3) General Purpose - design Internet-based teaching software applications teaching mathematical problem solving and geography Provide children in elementary school grades 3-6 the opportunity to exercise their computer skills while learning about important lessons Applications – MTSS – Math – GW & USA – Geography – Framework – Web Tools

Problem Statement (2/3) Proposed Approach – Create Web-Based Software Accessible from the students’ own computer Accessible via the Internet – Populate a Database Example Problems Homework Problems Practice Quizzes Performance Quizzes

Problem Statement (3/3) Proposed Approach Continued – MTSS Create an algorithm to teach the students the problem solving process Provide quizzing and homework problems – GW and USA Provide educational games Provide facts and comparisons for different geographical locations – Framework Support web tools which will aid the students and teachers with scores, quizzes, and lessons Framework created with PHP, SQL, and HTML

Operating Environment

Intended Users Elementary students grades 3-6 Teachers Elementary school administrators Parents of students

Intended Uses Supplemental tool for students in the areas of: –Math –US Geography –World Geography Quizzing tool Supplemental homework Track students’ progress

Assumptions Internet Explorer Version 6.0 or Netscape Version 7.0 Client connected to the Internet Supplement to classroom instruction Adequate supervision to help students with computer and application problems Not intended to be written to accommodate handicapped children Can be used at home and in the classroom Frame work will have high stability All team members will have access to the server

Limitations New team members may not be familiar with PHP or MySQL The size of the database is limited by MySQL Younger students may not have prior experience using computers or know how to type The total number of users from all participating school districts will be no more than 40,000

End Product & Deliverables Already Delivered – Prototype of the K-12 Teaching Application Math quizzes Reference tool of world and US geographical information Ability to record student scores Future Deliverables – Instruction manual – Prototype of K-12 Teaching Application that includes: Ability to walk students through the process of solving a math problem Interactive games enforcing world and US geography

Accomplishments and Activities Previous Accomplishments Present Accomplishments Future Required Activities Approaches Considered Project Activities

Previous Accomplishments (1/4) MTSS – Formed Fall 2001 – Database and prototype designed using ASP – Created problems and a way to add problems to database – Created feature allowing profiles for login to be used – Converted ASP code to PHP – Database restructured to fit with Framework’s design – Ability to give students quizzes from problems in database added with ability to record time – Started work on Problem solving algorithm

Previous Accomplishments (2/4) GW – Formed Fall 2002 – Functionality and database in place – Working version of help page – Working version of country comparison page – Database entries cleaned and formatted – Made transition from frames to tables – Implementation of authentication framework – Added dynamic region page to hierarchy – Modification of user management

Previous Accomplishments (3/4) USA – Formed Fall 2002 – Created detailed blueprint of application – Designed entries in database – Populated database with state information – Reference tool and authentication implemented – Comparison page created to display information about multiple states – Designed and coded simple games

Previous Accomplishments (4/4) Framework – Formed Fall 2003 – Obtained existing skeleton code and determined it unusable – Developed libraries that allow for user authentication and registration – Redesigned database to accommodate all Ongo08 sub teams – Created framework for quizzes to be taken by students – Created framework to allow teachers to keep track of students progress through a gradebook

Present Accomplishments (1/4) Ongo08 – Created instruction manual – Combined all sub team documentation – Formed a list of application problems to be fixed – Fixed bugs found to prepare application for presentation – Expanded CVS to include all sub team code – Implemented a uniform “look and feel” across applications – PHP training session

Present Accomplishments (2/4) MTSS – PSA Implementation Refined PSA Defined Method for Implementation Planning for Implementation – Programming New Features PSA Functionality Multiple Answers to Questions Capability

Present Accomplishments (3/4) GW/USA – Electronic Database Research USA geographical information source Allow for automatic updates for applications in the future – Interactive Games Defined games for both applications Possible introduction of more topics like spelling and historic landmark knowledge

Present Accomplishments (4/4) Framework – Uniform Navigation Layout All applications feel like a suite Reduces learning curve Uniform color and font scheme across applications Redesign of navigational buttons – Restructure timing functionality for quizzes Separate timers for teachers and students – Server Cleanup Removed unused source code Reorganized working and stable code

Future Required Activities Answer conversion functionality for text answers Garbage collection utility to remove unreferenced data from tables Alternate quiz timing functionality and analysis Distribution for real-world client testing of current feature set Additional security to guarantee that users can not modify quizzes/problems of other users Optimize code so that it uses less resources Large-scale testing to guarantee that framework will work in multiple environments under multiple conditions

Recommendation for Future Work Support for disabled users Implementation of a problem solving algorithm for all applications Further consolidation of team to act more as a single team

Approaches Considered (1/3) MTSS approaches considered – Four step problem solving algorithm Find out Choose strategy Solve it Look back – Multiple generic questions that get students thinking about the different ways to solve problem.

Approaches Considered (2/3) GW/USA – Research Tool vs. Interactive Application Database of geography information can be used as electronic source for reports Interactive games will add interest for intended audience Strengthen learning of geography concepts

Approaches Considered ASP.NET and SQL Server Classic ASP and SQL Server Javascript Java and MySQL PHP and MySQL

Approach Used MTSS – Problem Solving Algorithm (which one you chose) GW/USA – Interactive game implementation Geography applications will have games added to them in order to keep students’ interest Look into further subjects that can be incorporated Framework – PHP and MySQL PHP is growing quickly and will be around for a long time PHP is similar to C/C++ so many of the team members should be able to pick it up quickly

Project Definition Activities MTSS Problem Solving Algorithm Researched how to teach children how to learn

Research Activities Problem Solving Algorithm – Determined the best way to implement the algorithm Electronic Database – Searching for source for US geography information and update capabilities like GW

Design Activities Similar look and feel –Making all applications look the same –Similar navigation –Similar icons

Uniform Look and Feel Insert screenshots of previous vs. new homepages to the applications?

Implementation Activities Making CVS available to all teams Each sub team using style sheets for similar look and feel

Testing & Results Went through and created a list application problems to be fixed Working on checking off items in this list

Other Activities Cleaning up server More documentation on server use

Resources & Schedule Personal Effort Financial Requirements Schedule

Personnel Effort (1/3)

Personnel Effort (2/3)

Personnel Effort (3/3)

Financial Requirements (1/4) Team# / Name ItemW/O Labor With Labor Ongo08a MTSS Labor at $10.50 per hour Tiffany Schweer $1, David Wire $1, Sara Murphy $ John Saterfiel $ Michael Fong $ Aaron Hurd $ Subtotal$0.00$5,313.00

Financial Requirements (2/4) Team# / Name ItemW/O Labor With Labor Ongo08b/c GW & USA Labor at $10.50 per hour Samantha Olson $ Laurie Bidrawn $ Maria Oivas $0.00 Nate Evans $ Jennifer Carlson $ Dustin Fee $ Subtotal$0.00$4,200.00

Financial Requirements (3/4) Team# / Name ItemW/O Labor With Labor Ongo08d SASF Labor at $10.50 per hour Nichole Burgett $ Nate Gordon $ Parikshit Advani $ Ryan Adamson $ Chun-Pang Kuk $ Subtotal$0.00$4, Total$0.00$13,608.00

Financial Requirements (4/4) ItemW/O LaborWith Labor Ongo08a Labor $5, Ongo08b&c Labor $4, Ongo08d Labor $4, Miscellaneous Binding$5.00 Copying$10.00 Total$15.00$13,623.00

Schedule

Closing Materials Project Evaluation Future Work Lessons Learned Risks & Risk Management Closing Summary Questions?

Project Evaluation (1/3) MilestonesCurrent StatusSemester Goal Project DefinitionMet (100%) Software Training CourseMet (100%) Framework and Training Course Met (100%) Writing ManualNot Met (75%)Met (100%) Reviewing ManualNot Met (50%)Met (100%) Test PlanningAttempted (50%)Met (100%) Actual TestingAttempted (25%)Met (50%) Testing Results EvaluationNot Attempted

Project Evaluation (2/3) MilestonesCurrent StatusSemester Goal End User DocumentationMet (100%) Maintenance Support Documentation Not Attempted Semester PlanMet (100%) Weekly ReportingMet (70%)Met (100%) Presentation to Senior Design Class Met (100%) Industrial Review PanelNot AttemptedMet (100%) Refine Problem Solving Algorithm Not Met (50%)Met (100%) PSA FunctionalityNot Attempted

Project Evaluation (3/3) MilestonesCurrent StatusSemester Goal Define Methods for Implementation of PSA Not Met (40%)Met (100%) Multiple Answers to Questions Capability Not Attempted Implementation of GamesNot Met (50%)Attempted (60%) Database PopulationNot Met (25%)Attempted (50%) Review Existing CodeNot AttemptedAttempted (60%) Clean Up DatabaseNot Met (50%)Met (100%) Review Files & FoldersNot Met (75%)Met (100%) Create Style Sheets & IconsNot Met (50%)Met (100%)

Future Work Answer conversion functionality for text answers Garbage collection utility to remove unreferenced data from tables Alternate quiz timing functionality and analysis Distribution for real-world client testing of current feature set Additional security to guarantee that users can not modify quizzes/problems of other users Optimize code so that it uses less resources Large-scale testing to guarantee that framework will work in multiple environments under multiple conditions

Lessons Learned (1/2) Technical – PHP standards – MySQL standards – How to use CVS – Problem solving methods and ways to make children learn effectively

Lessons Learned (2/2) Non-Technical – Importance of good planning – Importance of good documentation – Importance of good communication – How to write instructions to people who are not familiar with a software tool – Negotiate and compromise between groups

Risk & Risk Management Loss of team member Loss of data via the server crashing Loss of contact with client Testing methods fail

Closing Summary The K-12 Teaching and Support Software is and application that is intended to supplement children’s learning in the classroom. It is intended to help the children in the areas of mathematical problem solving and world and US geography.

Questions?