UW-ACE Fall Term 2006

1. Starting Date, Course Checklist and TA Support
2. Teaching and Research Resources on Campus
3. Course Development Grants
4. Increasing Class Activity in Large Classes
5. Math Quiz Engines
6. UW-ACE Training Session Dates 
7. Models for UW-ACE courses
8. Questions and Comments
    

1. Starting Date, Course Checklist and TA Support

    Fall students will be able to access their UW-ACE courses on Monday,
    September 11th.  Access to Winter 2006 UW-ACE courses will end that
    day.

    A UW-ACE course checklist is available at

        www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~pkates/LT3/fall06-uwace-checklist.txt

    It points out some course features and settings that
    can be of help for a trouble-free launch of your UW-ACE course.

    Some suggestions for using TAs with course preparation are located at

        www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~pkates/LT3/fall06-uwace-ta-prep.txt

2. Teaching and Research Resources on Campus

    Liaisons, LT3, TRACE and others on campus can help with course
    development, UW-ACE tools, teaching grants, research on teaching etc.
    See the folder "LT3 Faculty Liaisons, Department Support Groups and
    UW-ACE" under the "Lessons" tab at the site 

	http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~pkates/liaison-uwace-course.html

    I can direct you to the right party to handle your request.

3. Course Development Grants

    Course development grants from the Office of Learning Resources and
    Innovation (http://avp-lri.uwaterloo.ca/index.html) are typically
    available in the Spring term.  Grants can be worth up to $15,000 or
    more and can be used over a two year period.  Details about the
    kind of projects funded can be found at
	http://www.learning.uwaterloo.ca/LIF/.  
    Liaisons can help with proposal and project development.

    Throughout the year, TRACE offers Instructional Development Grants of
    up to $1000 per year for smaller projects.  See
    http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infotrac/idhp.html.

    Every term, the Mathematics Endowment Fund (MEF) disperses a pool
    of up to $40,000 for student and faculty projects that promote the
    education of undergraduates in the mathematics faculty. Past projects
    are listed on their web site

	http://www.student.math.uwaterloo.ca/~mefcom/home

4. Increasing Class Activity in Large Classes

    The folder "Learning and teaching with online systems" at the site

	http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~pkates/liaison-uwace-course.html

    has some ideas of how to use UW-ACE in teaching.

    Other examples in the folder concern teaching heavy theory courses like
    mathematics with the techniques of just-in-time-teaching (JiTT) and
    concept-tests (ConcepTest).  These techniques have been found to
    increase class activity and learning in large classes in science and
    math courses.

5. Math Quiz Engines

   MapleTA is an online mathematics quiz system using the Maple math engine 
   for answer evaluation.  It is particularly useful for

   * practice questions with instant, automatic feedback,
   * student progress monitoring,
   * student pre-class preparation

   The system is currently under evaluation and access is available
   with or without use of UW-ACE.

6. UW-ACE Training Session Dates 

    IST training sessions for UW-ACE (overview, action editor, quizzes, etc)
    begin Friday, September 8th, 2006.  See page

	http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/cs/Course_Registration/welcome.html

    If the session times are unsuitable or you would like a session in your
    office, I'd be happy to show you what the system is capable
    of and to work with you to set up the features you want.

7. Models for UW-ACE courses

    Over the last three terms, faculty liaisons have collected information on
    how different users are making UW-ACE work effectively for a variety of
    course activities.  There are some good models to follow.  Please get
    in touch with me if you would like to learn more about making use of
    UW-ACE for the special needs and goals of your course.

    You may be interested to swap experiences with other faculty members
    using UW-ACE.  You can find any course in the system by using the
    "Find a Course" link at the head of the course list on your Home
    page.  Click the link, select a term (e.g. 1069 for the current Fall
    2006 term) and a subject e.g. MATH or CS, and the search result will
    show links to the current MATH or CS courses.  Clicking a course name
    will bring you to the default starting page of a course, usually the
    Resources tab page with a syllabus link.

8. Questions and Comments

    If you have any questions, comments or opinions about 

    * various models for courses in UW-ACE
    * UW-ACE features or settings
    * effective web-page designs for learning activities
    * Internet web sites for specific subject matter or applications
    * student assignments using Maple, Mathcad, Matlab, R/S, ...
    * the use of clickers in the classroom to promote student thinking
      and class interaction
    * conducting research in teaching mathematics or computer science
    * the services of the LT3 Centre (http://lt3.uwaterloo.ca/),
      e.g. the LT3 FLEX lab offers a classroom with two-way audio/video
      remote lecturing facilities and two-dozen tablet PCs

    please get in touch with me by email.

Paul Kates
Mathematics Faculty LT3 Liaison
x37047, pkates@uwaterloo.ca