Article: Smarter maths education online

MapleNet will help educational institutions offer dynamic, self-paced maths courses remotely.
SAMIR KHAN looks at how students can learn with a real mathematical tool through a web browser.

Maple’s pedigree as the most powerful mathematics tool on the PC is well established, and perhaps nowhere more so than in the education sector. Whilst it’s in everyday use at the likes of Nortel, Raytheon, Boeing and DaimlerChrysler, you’ll also find that academic institutions from MIT and Stanford to Oxford have adopted Maple in both their education and research activities.

The use of Maple in education is now set to be enhanced significantly with the global launch of MapleNet, a new release that enables the rapid creation and delivery of online mathematics education. MapleNet is designed to help educational institutions offer dynamic, self-paced, asynchronous courses and exercises in distance education.

MapleNet is a suite of software tools enabling the creation of dynamic “software learning objects” (specialised interactive teaching and learning applications) and providing the ability to deliver them over the Web. With these “learning objects”, students can explore complex mathematical concepts using a standard browser.

MapleNet components include a mathematical server derived from the full Maple symbolic software engine; a system administration module that ensures easy installation, efficient operation, security, and easy maintenance of even large deployments; and tools for creating learning objects through Waterloo Maple’s innovative Maplets technology.

MapleNet began in 2001 as a special initiative in co-operation with a group of academic partners. The partners tested product prototypes and offered valuable guidance to tune the product to meet the challenges of online education.

The scope of learning objects that can be created with MapleNet is virtually unlimited, as the Maple engine supports computation ranging from high school level algebra to research-level theory. Unlike any other web-based mathematics engine to date, however, MapleNet is more than just “technology”, it’s a complete package.
MapleNet Publisher is the component for creating and publishing interactive learning objects. Instructors can create learning objects either as ‘maplets’ or Java applets, then publish them to a web site administered by the MapleNet Server component.

The MapleNet Server manages and delivers the mathematical course content over the web. The Server is equipped with the Maple symbolic software engine, which runs the maths computations invoked by students logged in to the system, and a system administration interface, which provides authentication, security, and easy maintenance of even large deployments. An average system administrator can install the whole system in a few hours or less.

The MapleNet Client is the component the students see. Students log on to the web site where the instructor has published the learning objects. Using only a web browser, they can run the learning objects in the form of maplets or Java applets. The students don’t even need Maple locally installed to run them!

In its brief history, MapleNet has already begun making a difference. Before MapleNet, many instructors were writing learning objects in Java for online courses, which often replicated mathematical capabilities already in Maple. MapleNet is now saving instructors’ time and multiplying their efforts by tying their learning objects to the Maple computation engine.

A few early adopters of MapleNet in North America, including Seton Hall University, Simon Fraser University, and the University of South Carolina, are now using MapleNet to create learning objects to enhance a variety of online courses.

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