1 K-12 Teaching Application Support and Software Ongo-08Client Ames Community Schools Advisors Dr. John W. Lamont Professor Ralph Patterson Wednesday December 6, 2006

2 Overview (1/2)

3 Overview (2/2)

4 ACS - Ames Community Schools API - Application Program Interface CVS - Concurrent Versioning System GW - Globey’s World MTSS - Mathematical Teaching and Support Software PHP - PHP Hypertext Preprocessor PSA - Problem Solving Algorithm SASF - Software and Support Framework SQL - Structured Query Language USA - Uncle Sam’s America Terminology

5 Phil Ohnemus Team Leader Tony Brimeyer Communications Coordinator Jennifer Ekstrand MTSS Paul Speck GW/USA David Goodrich SASF James MarshallSrisarath PatneediAaron MenzCameron TraversJeff AllenJosh SolyntjesGrant JohnsonTony BrimeyerGrant EckelsJennifer NovakTodd SteffenErin Boggess

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

7 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 History Lesson

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

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

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

11 Operating Environment

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

13 Supplemental tool for students: Math US geography World geography Quizzing tool Supplemental homework Track students’ progress Intended Uses

14 Modern web browser Client connected to the Internet Supplement to classroom instruction Adequate supervision to help students with computer and application problems Can be used at home and in the classroom Not intended to be written to accommodate handicapped children Framework will have high stability All team members will have access to the server Assumptions

15 New team members may not be familiar with PHP or MySQL The size of the database is limited 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 Limitations

16 Already Delivered Prototype of the K-12 Teaching Application Mathematical practice problems Reference tool of world and US geographical information Instruction manual Future Deliverables Prototype of K-12 Teaching Application Ability to walk students through the process of solving a math problem Interactive games to reinforce knowledge of world and US geography Developer documentation End Product & Deliverables

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

18 MTSS Formed in Fall 2001 Database and prototype designed using ASP Created problems and a way to add problems to database Converted ASP code to PHP Restructured database to fit framework’s design Started work on problem solving algorithm Previous Accomplishments (1/4)

19 GW Formed in Fall 2002 Delivered working version of help and country comparison page Cleaned and formatted world fact database entries Implemented authentication framework Modified user management Previous Accomplishments (2/4)

20 USA Formed in Fall 2002 Designed database schema Populated database with state information Implemented reference tool and authentication Created page to compare information about multiple states Designed and developed simple games Previous Accomplishments (3/4)

21 Framework Formed in Fall 2003 Evaluated existing skeleton code and determined it unusable Developed libraries to allow user authentication and registration Implemented CVS to include all sub-team code Created XML templates to implement a similar look and feel throughout the software suite Previous Accomplishments (4/4)

22 Present Accomplishments MTSS (1/3) MTSS Improved overall quality of software Fixed bugs Cleaned code Documented existing code

23 Present Accomplishments MTSS Present Accomplishments MTSS (2/3) MTSS Problem Solving Algorithm Chose to use existing problem creation tool Designed problem walkthrough presentation Created example walkthrough problems

24 Present Accomplishments MTSS (3/3) MTSS Interface Improvements

25 Present Accomplishments GW/USA (1/4) Converted Flash maps to HTML image maps for consistency and compatibility Significantly reduced page loading times

26 Present Accomplishments GW/USA (2/4) Created an automatic database re-population tool No longer requires manual almanac lookup by students

27 Present Accomplishments GW/USA (3/4) Refined look of USA games Introduced a three- try scheme which allows students to work toward the correct answer

28 Present Accomplishments GW/USA (4/4) Produced a template for integration of mathematics into geographical topics Created sample problems from the template

29 Present Accomplishments Framework Team (1/4) Server Account Maintenance Registered users for each school’s teachers and students Removed previous students from development server, added new students

30 Present Accomplishments Framework Team (2/4) Framework Documentation Documented source code Identified problems in existing code base that can be projects for code familiarization in the future

31 Present Accomplishments Framework Team (3/4) Framework Update Re-implemented user registration page Implemented “Log out” capability Made log in page match existing look and feel

32 Present Accomplishments Framework Team (4/4) Server Maintenance Migrated code to production server in anticipation of release Determined unused code portions and removed them

33 Distribute software to school districts Create uniform grade book and quizzing functionality Add answer conversion functionality for text answers Incorporate garbage collection utility to remove unreferenced data from tables Evaluate security issues and their implications Continue cleanup and optimization of code Perform large-scale testing to guarantee that framework will work in multiple environments under multiple conditions Future Required Activities

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

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

36 Framework ASP.NET and SQL Server Classic ASP and SQL Server Javascript Java and MySQL PHP and MySQL Approaches Considered (3/3)

37 MTSS Multiple question problem solving algorithm 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 Approaches Used

38 Composed a project plan for Ongo08 team Held PHP and SQL training session Conducted a walk-through of code layout and methods to modify applications Performed the necessary steps for software release Project Activities (1/6) Definition

39 Brainstormed new ideas and evaluated old options for problem solving algorithm Located sources for automatic database repopulation tool Evaluated different methods to integrate mathematics and geography Teacher-generated problems Randomly-generated problems Project Activities (2/6) Research

40 Created uniform methods for grade book and quizzing Designed efficient database organization to store problems for the integration of mathematics and geography Developed improved graphics for each application Project Activities (3/6) Design

41 MTSS – Problem Solving Algorithm improvement MTSS – Re-defined problem search page GW/USA - Automatic database repopulation tool GW/USA – Added ability to create mathematical geography questions SASF - Re-implemented user registration page SASF – Migrated log in page to match existing template Project Activities (4/6) Implementation

42 Prepared software for release to client Currently have software ready for release Awaiting teacher involvement Tested software Added to list of application bugs to be fixed Tested applications for usability Project Activities (5/6) Testing & Results

43 Cleaned server code Added more documentation on framework use Developed documentation for adding other applications to the suite Project Activities (6/6) Other Activities

44 Personnel Effort Financial Requirements Schedule Resources & Schedule

45 Personnel Effort (1/4)

46 Personnel Effort (2/4)

47 Personnel Effort (3/4)

48 Past Effort (4/4) SemesterHours Spring Fall Spring ,546 Fall ,312 Spring ,508 Fall ,402 Spring ,515 Fall ,296 Spring ,202 Fall ,556 Total: 12,918

49 Financial Requirements (1/6) TeamItem With Labor Ongo 8a MTSS Labor at $10.50 Jennifer Ekstrand James Marshall Aaron Menz Srisarath Patneedi Cameron Travers $1, $ $ $ Total:$4,935.00

50 Financial Requirements (2/6) TeamItem With Labor Ongo 8b/c GW/USA Labor at $10.50 Jeff Allen Erin Boggess Jennifer Novak Phil Ohnemus Paul Speck Todd Steffen $ $ $1, $1, $1, $1, Total:$6,121.50

51 Financial Requirements (3/6) TeamItem With Labor Ongo 8d Framework Labor at $10.50 Tony Brimeyer Grant Eckels David Goodrich Grant Johnson Josh Solyntjes $1, $1, $1, $1, $ Total:$5,281.50

52 Financial Requirements (4/6) TeamItem W/O Labor Ongo 8 Materials Parts and Materials Binding Copying Poster $5.00 $10.00 $30.00 Total:$45.00

53 Financial Requirements (5/6) TeamItem W/O Labor With Labor Ongo 8 TeamTotals Ongo 8a$4, Ongo 8b/c$6, Ongo 8d$5, Materials$45.00 Total$45.00$16,383.00

54 Financial Requirements (6/6) TeamItem W/O Labor With Labor Total Costs Spring 2002$60$10,195 Fall 2002$60$6,405 Spring 2003$65$16,233 Fall 2003$65$10,776 Spring 2004$75$15,834 Fall 2004$75$14,721 Spring 2005$75$15,907 Fall 2005$30$13,608 Spring 2006$60$12,678 Fall 2006$45$16,383 Total$610$133,305

55 Schedule

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

57 Project Evaluation (1/4) MilestonesRelativeImportanceEvaluationScoreResultantScore Problem Definition5%90%4.5 Research10%90%9 Technology Selection5%100%5 End-Product Design5%75%3.75 Prototype Implementation15%90%13.5 End-Product Testing20%50%10 End-Product Documentation10%80%8 Project Reviews10%85%8.5 Project Reporting10%95%9.5 End-Product Demonstration10%95%9.5 Total100%81.25 Passing Score 80 points

58 Milestones Current Status Semester Goal Project DefinitionOngoing Software Training CourseMet (100%)Training Held (100%) Framework and Training CourseMet (100%)Training Held (100%) Compose ManualCompleted (100%) Find and Remove Unnecessary Code Ongoing Document (Comment) Code In- Line Ongoing Project Evaluation (2/4)

59 Project Evaluation (3/4) Milestones Current Status Semester Goal Fix Identified BugsIn Progress (90%)Completed (100%) Find TeachersCompleted (100%) Support SoftwareNot Started (0%)Supported (100%) Fix User Submitted BugsNot Started (0%)Fixed (80%) Survey UsersNot Started (0%)Surveyed (100%) End Product DocumentationDocumented (100%) Semester PlanCompleted (100%) Status ReportCompleted (100%)

60 Project Evaluation (4/4) Milestones Current Status Semester Goal Weekly ReportingCompleted (100%) Presentation to Senior Design ClassCompleted (100%) Industrial Review PanelIn Progress (90%)Completed (100%) Improve Problem Solving AlgorithmIn Progress (50%)In Progress (80%) Database RepopulationCompleted (100%)

61 Support disabled users Implement quizzing and grade book functionality for application suite Create additional games for the software applications Add new applications for other educational subject areas Recommendation for Future Work

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

63 Non-Technical Importance of planning Significance of documentation How to write instructions to people who are not familiar with a software tool Value of communication How to negotiate and compromise between group members Lessons Learned (2/2)

64 Loss of team member Obtain logbook of member and divide extra workload among team members Loss of data via the server crashing Back up server data on multiple servers Loss of contact with client Faculty advisers archive contact information for current and past clients Risk & Risk Management

65 The K-12 Teaching and Support Software is an 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. Closing Summary

66 Questions?