1. Larry Press lpress@csudh.edu http://bpastudio.csudh.edu/fac/lpress Demonstration and assessment of a modular courseware format using a VB.NET programming course as an example

2. Presentation outline The modular courseware format The programming course Demonstration Assessment of efficacy Advantages and disadvantages Further work

3. Modules for these topics Introduction to programming Network applications Introduction to Web development Image processing Audio and video processing TCP/IP networking technology Wireless networking VoIP Connectivity History Encoding data Press, L., "Information Processing at Tomorrow's University," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 37, No. 7, pp 13-17, July, 1994.

4. Modules consist of A focused topic note with terms with optional demonstration programs Assignments Review questions

5. Programming course user interface 92 focused modules and 416 index entries

6. Presentation outline The modular courseware format The programming course Demonstration Assessment of efficacy Advantages and disadvantages Further work

7. Context: the course First course in programming Business IS, High School CS, etc. Use VB.NET, but could be any language Stress terminology and concepts Conventional topics

8. Topic areas Programming languages and terminology The VS.NET development system User interface creation and widgets Event handlers -- sequential execution and assignment statements Interactive programs Numeric, string and Boolean data Continued …

9. Topic areas, continued Expressions Variables and scope Type conversion and checking Algorithms Functions Conditional execution if, case and loops Sequential files Arrays

10. Using the modules in class Lecture/demonstration using topic note One or more assignments with due dates Food for thought questions on their own Responsible for key terms

11. Presentation outline The modular courseware format The programming course Demonstration Assessment of efficacy Advantages and disadvantages Further work

12. Context: six dimensions Isolated instructional modules vs. an integrated course Self-study vs. instructor mediated Face-face vs. distant education Joint, open authorship vs. editorial control Repurposed textbook vs. interactive/executable material Degree of correlation between classroom and courseware

13. Presentation outline The modular courseware format The programming course Demonstration Assessment of efficacy Advantages and disadvantages Further work

14. Assessment: four sections Section TermDayEvening Textbook1724 Modules1823 Number of students

15. Assessment: outcomes TermMeanStDev. Textbook77.612.7 Modules78.911.0 Combined78.211.7 Final exam scores

16. Assessment: mean scores DayTextbookModulesBestEve.TextbookModulesBest Mid 144.644.1TMid 144.445.7M Mid 248.646.8TMid 249.547.7T Home Work 81.980.7THome Work 77.982.4M Final Exam 77.077.8MFinal Exam 78.179.6M

17. Assessment: standard deviations DayTextbookModulesBestEve.TextbookModulesBest Mid 110.48.5MMid 17.37.6T Mid 213.710.7MMid 213.111.8M Home Work 14.611.6MHome Work 14.215.7T Final Exam 14.910MFinal Exam 11.112.4T

18. Presentation outline The modular courseware format The programming course Demonstration Assessment of efficacy Advantages and disadvantages Further work

19. Advantages Save cost for students Executable content Easily modified and extended Close correlation between classroom and course material

21. CalPIRG: Textbook spending 2003-4 GAO: Textbook prices rose 186% between 1986 and 2004.

22. Textbook cost distribution Publisher64.7 % Bookstore22.6 % Author11.6 % Freight1.1 %

23. Textbook cost per dollar

25. Disadvantages Lot of grading and bookkeeping No integrative exercises

26. Presentation outline The modular courseware format The programming course Demonstration Assessment of efficacy Advantages and disadvantages Further work

27. Capture live presentations Pre-record presentations Other languages Solutions and answers – wiki/threaded discussion Database-driven implementation

28. Modules for these topics Introduction to programming Network applications Introduction to Web development Image processing Audio and video processing TCP/IP networking technology Wireless networking VoIP Connectivity History Encoding data Press, L., "Information Processing at Tomorrow's University," Communications of the ACM, Vol. 37, No. 7, pp 13-17, July, 1994.