Using Online Homework to Assist Research in Undergraduate

Mathematics Education

Nicole Engelke, West Virginia UniversityGulden Karakok, University of Northern Colorado

Aaron Wangberg, Winona State University

2012 MAA MathFest PanelAugust 3, 2012

Potential as a research tool …

• Free, Open Source• 25,000+ problems• Designed by

mathematicians– randomization– Answer Form and

Checkers– LaTeX, Graphs, Data

http://webwork.maa.org/

Assess Student Strengths and Weaknesses

Assess Student Strengths and Weaknesses

Post-Score

Course Grade

Potential as a research tool …Course Grade vs. Ability

.

Potential as a research tool …

Potential as a research tool …

Capture How they solve the problem

• Tons of Quantitative Information

• How about Qualitative Information?

Open Source!

Capture How they solve the problem

Study Clusters of Students

Assist with Classroom Research

• What are some characteristics of students’ understanding of concepts?

• What kind of “actions” students take when they know their answers are incorrect?

• How can these “actions” be improved towards understanding of the concepts using the technology in class and in the wild?

SIGMAA-RUME Conference2012: http://sigmaa.maa.org/rume/crume20122013: Denver, Colorado

Contact Information: Nicole Engelke, nengelke@math.wvu.edu Gulden Karakok, gulden.karakok@unco.edu Aaron Wangberg, awangberg@winona.edu

RUME WeBWorK Working Group