The major challenges in teaching large-enrollment math and science courses are (1) providing continual feedback to students even in the face of acute staff shortages and (2) dealing with a diverse student body that has become more media oriented and less amenable to conventional instructional methods. The chemistry electronic homework system, that has been used for over a decade at the University of Massachusetts, has demonstrated that electronic homework is an effective means of engaging science and engineering students, and that its use requires far less faculty time than conventional alternatives when administered and delivered electronically. This project is developing a web-based electronic homework and intelligent tutoring system suitable for large enrollment chemistry classes, and a tool set which will allow it to be used both by other universities and other disciplines. The system is interactive and incorporates elaborate feed-back, multimedia elements and automatic record keeping. In addition to extensive testing of the electronic homework system in our introductory undergraduate chemistry classes, the chemistry software is being tested at Boston University and at SUNY Stony Brook. A non subject-specific shell and electronic homework system has been developed, with authoring capabilities, that is used by our mathematics and physics departments as a test of the portability of this technology to other disciplines. The effectiveness of the system will be carefully evaluated and improved in chemistry classes over a two year period. Once developed, it can be used for on-line placement testing or in distance learning environments. Because students will have considerable freedom in choosing the ways in which they interact with this software, it will also address the challenges associated with teaching increasingly diverse student populations. It will be promoted via demonstrations and distributed widely through a publisher. NSF FORM 1358 (1/94)
