We are pleased to announce that the WeBWorK project has been awarded
a 5-year CCLI Phase 3 grant (DUE-0920341 "WeBWorK: Improving Student
Success in Mathematics") that will be administered by the MAA. The
grant will help create a permanent supportive home for WeBWorK at the
MAA, providing the mathematical sciences community with dependable,
long-term access to WeBWorK, and, at the same time, strengthening the
ongoing maintenance and development essential to its continued
viability.
The WeBWorK documentation and forums have already been transferred to
MAA servers (http://webwork.maa.org). Other WeBWorK resources
(distributions, development code, problem libraries, etc.) will soon
be moved to MAA servers, as well. In addition, the MAA will set up,
host, and support WeBWorK courses on professionally maintained servers
for institutions that choose not to run WeBWorK on their own. We see
this as a very important new service. We anticipate that there will
be a modest fee for hosting courses, but the MAA is committed to
providing this as a service to the mathematical community throughout
and beyond the grant cycle.
Dissemination is a core part of the project that involves the WeBWorK
community. The PI's will conduct two Consultant Training Sessions
annually (at JMM and MathFest) during which we will train members of
the WeBWorK community to conduct their own WeBWorK Outreach
Workshops. We envision the WeBWorK Outreach Workshops will be held
at regional meetings of the MAA, AMS, AMATYC, and similar venues.
The Consultant Training Sessions will be organized in two 2.5 hour sections.
The first section will equip the consultants with the information and
skills needed to introduce WeBWorK to new users. The second section
will include a model WeBWorK Outreach Workshop to allow the
consultants-in-training to gain experience in leading workshops
themselves. We will proactively recruit for the sessions, using our
existing contacts in the WeBWorK community to locate people who will
be successful consultants. Participants in the Consultant Training
Workshops will be paid a $300 stipend, and in addition limited travel
funds will be available for those without their own resources.
Experience has shown that outreach meetings are more effective when
conducted by at least two facilitators; thus, consultants from the
same institution or the same MAA Section will be encouraged to attend
the sessions in pairs. Eight pairs of consultants will be recruited
for each training session. The goal is to create regional networks of
consultants to facilitate future interaction among participants. Each
pair of consultants will be required to commit to leading two Outreach
Workshops within two years of their training session and will be paid
$200 per Outreach Workshop to offset expenses.
To support the community of consultants, the PIs will (1) hold two
web-based follow-up training sessions for all consultants each year in
order to provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences and
promote community among the consultants, (2) maintain a forum on the
MAA site where trainers can share techniques, successes, and ideas,
and (3) promote informal gatherings of all trainers from all sessions
at JMM and MathFest. If you would be interested in participating in a
Consultant Training Session, please contact Arnie Pizer (with a cc to
Mike Gage).
Another core part of the project that involves the WeBWorK community
is assessment and evaluation. The project evaluation team consists of
our long-term evaluator PI Vicki Roth and Flora McMartin, owner of
Broad-Based Knowledge, an LLC specializing in evaluation services for
innovations in technology and education. Flora will bring an outside
viewpoint to the WeBWorK project. Two questions will be at the center
of assessment and evaluation efforts, one focused on student outcomes
and the other on our dissemination activities: (1) Does WeBWorK
promote student learning in mathematics? (2) Do dissemination
activities result in the successful implementation of WeBWorK? If
you have an interest in either or both of these questions, please
contact Vicki Roth.
In addition, the grant will support upgrading the WeBWorK
documentation, establishing a formal support position at MAA, and
updating the WeBWorK system code, including the instructor interface.
Arnold K. Pizer <apizer@math.rochester.edu>, University of Rochester
Michael E. Gage <gage@math.rochester.edu>, University of Rochester
Vicki Roth <vicki.roth@rochester.edu>, University of Rochester
J. Michael Pearson <pearson@maa.org>, Mathematical Association of America