WebMath: Re: Finding and Sharing on-line Math Resources

[Alan Cooper]

Gisele Glosser wrote:

> Perhaps we could learn from the SMARD Web Site at:
> http://smard.cqu.edu.au/
>
> Thay have done a nice job of listing resources by topic.
>
> Also, The GEM Project has "an automated database of resources with
> metadata that include very detailed topic identification."
> They are at:
> http://www.geminfo.org/

These are both interesting, but neither is quite what I had in mind.
(For one thing, both are directed primarily at K-12 teachers and I am looking
for a resource that more senior *students* and their teachers can actually
*learn* from)

The GEM project is a good example of metadata in action, and includes very
detailed item descriptions but not as detailed "topic identification" as I
think we need for a student math resource. It also demonstrates some of the
weaknesses of an automated system in that its listings for "Calculus" include
many irrelevant entries and several pages of links to material that
purportedly deals with 'calculus' at an early elementary school level (there
are indeed appropriate 'foreshadowing' activities for calculus at the
elementary level but that is not what is provided) (And yes, 'Dr.Math'
operates at 'all levels' and tutors topics including 'calculus', but rarely
answers calculus questions from kindergarten students!)
Also the browsing system lists topics alphabetically without either a deep
heirarichal breakdown or a *restricted* keyword search. And so we see a
keyword list that includes both 'Mathematical concepts' and 'Mathematical
Concepts' (listed several spaces apart!)

The SMARD site has (imnsho) the right sort of heirarichal browsing structure,
but has a teacher-oriented 'lesson *plan*' as opposed to *'lesson'* focus,
and its materials are not themselves web-based. By this I mean that despite
being available over the net, they are primarily word processor files that
cannot be read by a web browser. There's nothing wrong with such a good
'electronic library' of teaching resources, it's just not what I had in mind.
But you are right that the organization of the material is quite good.

A site which does attempt to organize *web-based* 'learning objects' (but
primarily just Java applets and not exclusively math and so without detailed
topic breakdown) is the "Educational Object Economy" at
http://www.eoe.org/

One problem with combining resources from all these sources - even 'by hand'
with a human brain available to resolve ambiguities - is the lack of a common
set of topic identifiers. So even if a computer could, if it wanted, easily
combine 'Mathematical concepts' and 'Mathematical Concepts', it  might miss
adding a resource to its category
'Calculus/RatesOfChange/Average&Instantaneous' if that resource was listed in
another service under 'Derivatives/Motivation/Secants&Tangents'. There may be
little reason to prefer one or the other, but unless we can develop and adopt
a common approach, quite soon we will not be able to take full advantage of
the possibilities that this medium could provide if we let it.

There are various groups working on these issues. One is meeting, as we
'speak', in Berkeley (as a pre-event to the ACM Digital Library conference)
and their proceedings are reported in one of the MathForum discussion groups.
But it may be worthwhile to have a similar discussion on this list, and
whether or not we focus on the issues of 'metadata' and standardized topic
descriptors, there are many interesting questions raised by Deborah Kell's
posting.

How can we and our students best locate material on the topic of any
particular day's study by using currently available catalogues?
How can we most effectively share our products so that our time and effort is
well-used ?
What kinds of resources are of most interest to ourselves and our students?
How can we protect our students against wrong or misleading material?
etc!

Alan

P.S. With regard to my own site, I would appreciate any feedback that any on
this list care to provide, and especially any particular examples of good
free web-based items that have not been included in the appropriate sections
of our resource guide.

===============================================================
Alan Cooper (acooper at langara.bc.ca , http://www.langara.bc.ca/~acooper)
Dep't of Mathematics and Statistics (http://www.langara.bc.ca/mathstats)

Langara College        (http://www.langara.bc.ca )
100 W 49th Ave. Vancouver BC
Canada    V5Y2Z6       Tel(604)323-5676,Fax(604)323-5555

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