Can I Teach One Class in Three

Places?

Jeff OffuttSoftware Engineering

George Mason University

www.cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/

offutt@gmu.edu

Can We Use Technology to Improve

Education, Instead of Just Cut Costs?

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@ GMU 2008I taught SWE 763, Software Engineering ExperimentationIn a classroom– 1 day per week, 2.5 hours

Schedule– 3 weeks of lectures– 9 weeks in-class discussions of research papers– 2 weeks student project presentations

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This was a traditional class in a regular classroom

Focused on research

Mostly PhD students

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@ GMU 2011Department chair at Linköping University in Sweden asked me to teach the class to their studentsNo … but I could teach it at Mason …Could I use the Internet to also teach in Sweden?

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Mostly asynchronous

Multi-university

Online

One class, three universities

George Mason

Skövde University (Sweden)

Linköping University (Sweden)

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@ GMU 2012—Piazza and CamtasiaSame structure with lectures, discussions, and projectsLectures recorded and posted online– Camtasia—Recording voice over PPT– Piazza—Independent free bulletin board for

education

For each research paper :– Two students wrote summaries and evaluations– One student “dissented”– Other students joined the discussion

Each student designed and performed an experiment– Classmates comment on experimental design– Submitted a research paper– Presented to the class, conference style

(synchronous)

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@ GMU 2008 vs. 2012 Comparison

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Time per week

2.5 hoursAvg 5.5 hours

DepthTired students

Time to reflect & re-readFeedback on

design6 minutes per student

30 to 120 minutes

Project Quality

25% published

25% published / 50% publishable

Students comments

Very positiveMore positive

2008 2012

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@ GMU Summary

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Can I Teach One Class in Three

Places?

Can We Use Technology to Improve

Education, Instead of Just Cut Costs?

Jeff OffuttSoftware Engineering

George Mason University

www.cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/classes/763

offutt@gmu.edu

Yes!

Yes!

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@ GMU EXTRAS

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@ GMU

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@ GMU Students14 students from George Mason University– 8 PhD students– 5 MS students (1 CS & 4 Software Engineering)– 1 visiting PhD student from Brazil

5 students from Linköping University (Linköping, Sweden)2 students from Skövde University (Skövde, Sweden)Origin country :– 6 Americans– 4 Swedes– 2 Indian– 2 Chinese– 1 each from Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, France,

Russia, Iraq, Africa

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@ GMU ChallengesMerging students

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Not feasible for students to get on other university’s CMS

Impossible for Swedish students to enroll at GMU

Piazza is free and independentCourse credits

The credits are different at Swedish universities

Swedish students often get the credits for “theory” (lectures) without “practice” (homeworks)

Motivation Graduate school in Sweden is free All grades are Pass/Fail – you either get the

credits or not No penalty for not getting credits Two Swedish students “dropped” near the end

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@ GMU … ChallengesCriticism

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Swedish students are more willing to criticize than American

American students are more critical than most foreign students Time zones

Six hours difference weren’t important online

Deadlines were “COB in Virginia, 23:00 in Sweden”Personal connections

Two students commented that they missed getting to know their classmates in person

Four said they “talked” more because the rest of the class wasn’t looking at them

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@ GMU ResultsAfter the first weeks, students did not differentiate based on university– They were all together

Much more feedback on their experimental designs than in the traditional classroom setting– 2008 : 6 minutes presentation, 6 minutes Q/A– 2012 : 1 page document, hundreds of words and a

full dialogue

More discussion– 2.5 hours per week in the classroom– Over 5 hours per week online– Time to reflect made for deeper comments and

better understandingGMU FHE 2012 © Jeff Offutt 12

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@ GMU … ResultsStudent course evaluations (max = 5)– Rating of teaching : 4.93 (2008) 4.79 (2012)– Rating of this course : 4.71 (2008) 4.83 (2012)

More publishable papers– 2008 : 15 papers, 4 published (26%)– 2012 : 19 papers, 2 published, 2 submitted, 5 being

revised for submission (21% + 26% … 47% publishable work)

– The worst paper in 2012 would have been above average in 2008

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@ GMU SummaryI was shocked at how well the course worked

The success has nothing to do with the topic

This model can be used by any class that features discussion and thinking– Engineering … science … liberal arts …

Both Swedish universities, and numerous Mason students, have asked me to do it again

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You should try it too !