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WebCHARLIE - A New Open-Source Web-Based Tool Used To Improve Mathematics Skills

Steven Barker

Buffalo State College

Abstract A new web-based open-source computer-managed homework tool called webCHARLIE is described and compared to four competitors. WebCHARLIE is part of an asynchronous learning network (ALN) that has been used to help engineering technology students improve their mathematics skills. Lessons learned using webCHARLIE over the past six years are also discussed.

Introduction WebCHARLIE is one component of an asynchronous learning network (ALN) with traditional HTML web pages separately providing the usual course information such as syllabus, bulletin board, tutorials, laboratory guidelines, and homework samples. WebCHARLIE is a tool used to deliver individualized homework and exam exercises, receive students' numerical answers, give instantaneous feedback, encourage students to find and fix their errors, discourage homework procrastination, enforce the college's policy of two hours of homework for each hour in class, and record usage log files which permit numerous assessments. Students learn more when they do homework that is assigned, collected and graded every week. The continuous availability (24/7) of webCHARLIE is a significant feature. WebCHARLIE helps some students with their conflicting goals; they like knowing exactly what is expected of them to succeed, and they also like the feeling of accomplishment after a successful course, but they also give homework a low priority in their busy schedules. It is very simple, do the homework and succeed, or avoid homework and fail. However, homework must not be forced on them. True choice is given to the students throughout the semester by computing two final course grades, one with and one without a homework component. The higher grade becomes the final course grade. Based on final homework scores, most students choose homework.

Using webCHARLIE to improve math skills is the most recent benefit, but that is not the reason it was created. It was created to grade homework given the model that most of our students learn primarily through homework that is assigned, collected, and graded every week.

History CHARLIE (the predecessor of webCHARLIE) was born in the summer of 1996 after a frustrating year of manually grading homework. It became clear that a homework grader, other

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ã 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Barker, D. (2002, June), Webcharlie A New Open Source Web Based Tool Used To Improve Mathematics Skills Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--11058