• Background
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• Interactivity
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• A Bit of Dreamweaver
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Interactivity in upper-level math courses

Early in the CLASS™ Project, technical difficulties developed with interactive software programs, such as Geometer's Sketchpad® in the Basic Geometry course. Finding other interactive software programs that were compatible between platforms/browsers often proved to be unsuccessful.

Instead of spending time and effort into developing interactive ideas for use in the higher-level math courses, CLASS™ courses use websites containing java applets, flash animation, and other student-manipulated activities. These sites, however, are not nearly as effective as they would be if they were part of the course itself.

Short, graded student assignments called "Notebook Assignments" were given at the end of each unit for the Precalculus courses. These occasionally had the student searching the web and other resources to answer difficult questions or research a historical mathematical figure. The CLASS™ attempt was to provide some level of interactivity as well as to relate the concepts presented to the students' real life. This effort was somewhat productive, however, there simply were not enough of these activities.

The development time, and lack of understanding and expertise by the CLASS™ staff of the Precalculus concepts combined with the minimal amount of content experts consulted furthermore limited the amount of interactivity in the course.

The inherent technology limitations with using mathematical applications on-line also became an important inhibiting factor in keeping interactivity in the higher-level math courses.

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