Can I Teach One Class in Three Places?
Can We Use Technology to Improve
Education, Instead of Just Cut Costs?
Jeff Offutt
Software Engineering
George Mason University
www.cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/
offutt@gmu.edu
2008
I taught SWE 763, Software Engineering Experimentation
In 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
This was a traditional class in a regular classroom
Focused on research
Mostly PhD students
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2011
Department chair at Linköping University in Sweden asked
me to teach the class to their students
No … but I could teach it at Mason …
Could I use the Internet to also teach in Sweden?
Mostly asynchronous
Multi-university
Online
One class, three universities
George Mason
Skövde University (Sweden)
Linköping University (Sweden)
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2012—Piazza and Camtasia
Same structure with lectures, discussions, and projects
Lectures 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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2008 vs. 2012 Comparison
2008
Time per week 2.5 hours
Depth Tired students
Feedback on 6 minutes per
design student
Students
Very positive
comments
Project Quality 25% published
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2012
Avg 5.5 hours
Time to reflect
& re-read
30 to 120
minutes
More positive
25% published /
50% publishable
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Summary
Yes!
Can I Teach One Class in Three Places?
Yes!
Can We Use Technology to Improve
Education, Instead of Just Cut Costs?
Jeff Offutt
Software Engineering
George Mason University
www.cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/classes/763
offutt@gmu.edu
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EXTRAS
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Students
14 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 :
–
–
–
–
–
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6 Americans
4 Swedes
2 Indian
2 Chinese
1 each from Brazil, Argentina, Pakistan, France, Russia, Iraq,
Africa
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Challenges
Merging students
 Not feasible for students to get on other university’s CMS
 Impossible for Swedish students to enroll at GMU
 Piazza is free and independent
Course 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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… Challenges
Criticism
 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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Results
After 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
understanding
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… Results
Student 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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Summary
I 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
You should try it too !
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