Summary

Observations from the classroom experiences demonstrate that HMLE supports learning by providing a means to organize and present the information in alternative ways (i.e. linear text, implicit links from mathematical concepts to their definitions and concept maps). HMLE also supports problem solving by providing interactive exercises, hinted exercises and educational activity nodes, such as Matlab scripts. Our experiences from HMLE have showed how important it is from the point of view of understanding the theory to visualize the numerical solutions [1].

In the laboratory demonstrations students were more active than in ordinary exercises. The student teams had a lot of discussion and cooperation together. The discussions between students were related to the development of the mental model of the learning topic. Explaining their own ideas and how to solve the problem helped the students to reorganize their thoughts and thus learn better. The effect is not unique in hypermedia based learning but generally it can be found in all team work. However, the power of the hypermedia learning environment is that it supports the reorganization of the thoughts by organizing the material into the concept maps and providing hypertext links.

The changes observed in the learning of the hypermedia group are similar to what is presented in Table 1. The learning in hypermedia group was clearly team learning where the teams explored the material individually. Apprenticeship was observed when the teams tried to solve exercises and team members discussed how they understand the problem. The teacher was a guide who was available in the classroom, not over a network. The content in HMLE for Matrix Algebra material was easy to update, but in general, the content of the course was quite stable. A variety of access tools were available and were also used during the course.

HMLE for Matrix Algebra is evolving to contain more problems from engineering applications. Currently, such exercises are exercises on numerical methods and 3D-graphics [2]. For example, control engineering and electronic engineering problems will be added to the course material. These kinds of exercises will serve as motivational factors, because students see in their early mathematics studies that they will need matrix algebra in their professional studies. >From the technical point of view we are studying the possibility to use Java to implement interactive exercises and interfaces to mathematical tool programs.

The preparation of hypermedia based hinted exercises required considerably more time than the preparation of ordinary exercises. However, most of the time were used to design exercises that support learning - the conversion of the material to the hypertext form was straightforward.

The most used features in HMLE for Matrix Algebra were hinted exercises and the possibility to use Matlab in conjunction with HMLE. It was possible for the students to quickly test their ideas i.e. validate their orientation basis of the learning topic. The communication between students was also seen to be an important factor in the learning process.

Based on our experience there are a few ways to use hypermedia based learning environments. Hypermedia can be used in normal lecturing by replacing transparencies with hypermedia based presentation. The advantage is that in addition to actual text the teacher can quickly use the mathematical dictionary as a reference. Hypermedia learning environments can be used in laboratory exercises as a problem-solving tools. It is also possible to give specialized exercises to students who are already familiar with the basic material.

As yet there are not much experiences regarding the use of the WWW version of HMLE at home. However, the quality of the network connection will certainly affect strongly to the usability of the HMLE from home.

Continuing education

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