Multimedia Courseware for
Computer Science Education

This project, sponsored by NSF, is focused on building and evaluating multimedia courseware for computer science classes, in particular, the different computer graphics classes. The project has three main components: Developing courseware that goes beyond the simple text and pictures multimedia so often found (i.e., has some sound pedagogical principles behind it and involves interactivity); Developing authoring tools that facilitate the building of pedagogically sound material; Evaluating the authoring tools and the courseware for their effectiveness. We have chosen to use the World Wide Web as our delivery platform.

Our first prototype consists of modules for undergraduate computer graphics courses. It involves courseware and materials, with a particular emphasis on interactive tools and student engagement.
The modules constitute an instructional framework of 'cognitive apprenticeship', where the apprentice (i.e., the learner) is engaged in learning from experts experiences and knowledge represented in two modules: the interactive notes (the reference material) and the case library (i.e., reports of research and development projects in computer graphics).

The INTERACTIVE NOTES module is accessed through a table of contents page which presents an overview of the important areas in computer graphics. Each topic has a link to a set of course notes that correspond roughly to a set of transparencies about a topic. Underneath some of the course notes are elaboration pages that discuss a topic in more depth. On some of these elaboration pages you will find visualizations, animations, interactive quizzes and videos. The Elaboration page under the "Primitive Transformations" topic is particularly interesting.

The EXERCISES module consists of edifferent types of exercises in particular topics in computer graphics ( check out the 'Modeling Curves' exercises, for example). In each topic you can select an exercise to deepen you comprehension, apply your knowledge to new situations and be engaged in construction of artifacts that are the focus of that topic (e.g., construction of curves). The construction exercises are realized through visualization tools which provide the work space for construction, as well as tips on how to achieve the exercise objectives.

Annotated links from the exercises module to the interactive notes and the case library modules, are part of the scaffolding features available for the learner in each exercise.

The STORY LIBRARY module is still under development. There are two main objects in the library: stories and issues/problems. Stories are reports of research and development projects in computer graphics, usually in the form of a technical report or a paper. Issues/problems are general discussions of major problems in computer graphics which have typically more than one approach to solve them (e.g., hidden-surface removal, curve rendering). The different approaches to address a major issue/problem are presented in a form of a comparison table, to emphasize the pros and cons of each solution.



Also, we are working on integrating WebCAMILE, a COLLABORATIVE LEARNING TOOL, by linking learners solutions from the exercises module into a WebCAMILE discussion.

Current Research Projects

• GRAPHICA - Multimedia & Web courseware for Computer Graphics
• WebCAMILE- Collaborative and Multimedia Interactive Learning Environment
• STABLE- A Smalltalk Apprenticeship-Based Learning Environment

Affiliated Researchers

Faculty

• Jim Foley
• Mark Guzdial
• John Stasko

Postdocs:

• Amnon Shabo

Students

• Rodney Scott McManus
• Solomon A. Duskis
• Viren Shah
• Joycelyn L. Ward