Academic Technology

Students enrolled in “Applied Mathematics 104: Complex and Fourier Analysis” tackle topics from series expansions and their convergence; to complex functions, mappings, differentiation, integration, residues, Taylor and McLaurin expansions; to wave (Fourier) and wavelet expansions and transformations, and their uses in signal and image analysis and solving differential equations. The course emphasizes the application of these concepts through examples from the physical and social sciences.

The goal for this project was to set up an online question tool that would allow students to ask questions (synchronously during lectures or asynchronously) in order to encourage collaborative learning for a course whose content is usually challenging to grasp. Ideally, the tool would support mathematical equations, allow students to post questions anonymously, and enable feedback so that students and staff could evaluate the quality of both questions and answers. The best tool would also be easy to use, have an engaging, dynamic interface for both students and teaching staff, and provide good user support.

ATG staff identified Piazza, a wiki-style online Q&A platform, as the product of choice for this purpose after researching several Q&A tools (Piazza, OSQA, and the Berkman Question Tool) and evaluating them based on the criteria above.

Learn more at the course iSite and at Piazza.com.