The strategy
We chose to develop and deliver the modules using multimedia technology, thus providing a direct example of the technology as part of the curriculum. Our goal was to add new materials to our curriculum and convey the excitement of the content.
The project began in 1998; seven faculty started developing six modules to be used throughout the computer engineering program. The six modules, covering various aspects of multimedia systems, are: Video Coding, Graphics Data Structure (under construction), Multimedia Networks, Multimedia Architectures and Operating Systems, Design/CAD for Multimedia Hardware (under construction), and Testing of Multimedia Systems. One or more faculty members are in charge of each module, with assistance from at least one graduate student and one or more undergraduates. We decided on a seven-member team to encourage creativity and to take advantage of a wide variety of teaching styles. It also helped with the critique process--we've actually been much more self-critical as a group. This has prevented us from falling in love with a technology we've developed and then forcing it down students' throats.
We developed a generic module template (interactive video lectures, interactive video demonstrations, links to related design projects), but the modules vary significantly overall because of the different content and teaching styles. We basically had three thrusts in the project, and all of the modules crossed all three thrusts: 1) the presentation format--WebDVD; 2) instructional utilities--hallmark systems, quiz systems, collaboration systems; and 3) design projects--to create an archive of multimedia products.
The latter we felt was very important, to support what we feel is the way most engineers really learn about their discipline: project-based courses. This tends to be very informal, students working together closely with a faculty member, which is much more like real-world engineering. We felt that we could contribute to that process with an archive of materials and descriptions of hardware, of software, of media that would help people. And the "value added" idea was that those projects would leverage our research into multimedia engineering, since we are a research institution.
The learning technology
The six modules are designed to introduce multimedia concepts into traditional computer engineering courses. These modules use a combination of interactive Digital Video Disks (DVDs) and web technology, providing high-quality audio and video combined with hot-links to the World Wide Web. Besides the web-links for timely materials, the modules present video lectures and demonstrations. These modules allow for demonstrations of multimedia and hands-on interaction by students that would otherwise require expensive labs. You can explore the entire project at the Multimedia Systems: An Integrated Modular Curriculum home page or just visit a sample topic (video coding using MPEG) within a module (video coding and compression).
Some examples and URLs that visitors can browse:
- In a large freshman networking course, Multimedia Information Networking, we used a Web-based homework system and demos--this was very successful.
- The Multimedia Information Networking site and Multimedia Systems: An Integrated Modular Curriculum site also show two styles of DVD lectures and demos in a small graduate-level course. Interestingly, this was less successful; here we found that the students preferred a real live professor and more interaction. We realized it was difficult to re-target static materials to different audiences. We faced the same limitations as with a textbook.
- We used an audio-html RealPlayer format for a module on VLSI (very large-scale integration) design, to create an Internet-based slide show with synchronized audio. We captured the video lecture in our Video Instructional Program professional studios, just like any regular UMass academic or short course. We then digitized the video and combined it with additional course materials before putting in on the DVD. We used MANIC (Multimedia Asynchronous Networked Individualized Courseware) software, developed by the UMass Computer Science Department, which allowed us to integrate slides and video stills with synchronized audio; the software puts the multimedia into an Internet-based format viewable by standard browsers like Explorer or Netscape and the media player RealPlayer. Students can halt the presentation at any point they choose and interact by navigating through the slides; linking to glossaries, other slides, or outside Websites; or searching for keywords in the slides or text. You can see a screen capture of MANIC to get an idea of the interface.
- Students can also interact when they're viewing the lectures by choosing examples and demonstrations. These are presented as small applications (visit the Multimedia Information Networking site for example Java Applets or CGI programs) that are inserted into html pages like images. For example, an applet can be a demonstration that allows the students to enter their own algorithms onto the page and then see how the outcome changes in the way a piece of video runs.
We also want to customize the homework by tagging the questions by both topic and difficulty--what the researchers call "intelligent tutoring." If you're having a hard time, you get easier, remedial-type questions. If you're on top of the material, you get harder questions. We're starting to do this with a database of questions, but it's not yet as sophisticated as we want it to be.
The project support
This is a three-year, $800,000 project, with funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate, Educational Innovations Program; with matching funds from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. To meet the dissemination requirement of the NSF grant, we will be working with and sharing the multimedia products with five institutions: Springfield Technical Community College; Smith College; Pusan National University, South Korea; ENST Paris (English version); and National Technological University.
The results
After our first experiences, we are now shifting a bit to try and get the best aspects of computer technology-based and traditional methods. The students are extremely multimedia literate from the exposure they get from entertainment and such; our technology is still a bit rough, not even matching VHS quality yet. We also found that we needed to pay attention to how static the "talking heads" are in the video lectures. In one, for example, the professor was holding a microphone in one hand and using a mouse pointer with the other, so her hand gestures were severely limited. The students preferred the VHS video format rather than streaming video from the web; the web was too slow and unreliable for quality streaming.
You can't just show students a video in class and nothing else; no matter what the subject matter, many of them will just nod off. When I used another instructor's video, I had better results when I stopped it every 10 minutes or so to ask questions and relay some anecdotes to illustrate the material.
Our target is having students run the DVDs off their own machines; they can stop, take the quizzes, be interactive. But this can be lonesome, too. The only solution is to have a fully networked classroom in which students are all sitting at machines and interacting. The University has some fancy classrooms like that but it's extremely expensive to do.
The grand vision is to enable distance education and leverage the distance-ed infrastructure for on-campus students. DVD will allow students to take lectures without scheduling hassles and focus on both face-to-face and web-based interaction instead. Since it is DVD, students don't require a streaming, high-speed Internet connection; they can study in libraries, cafes, outdoors, just as they do with regular textbooks.
If you have any questions about our project, you can contact me at:
burleson@ecs.umass.edu
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Wayne Burleson